Worship: Keepin' it Real

This blog corresponds with Season 3, episode 3 - Local, Organic, Natural Worship with a Small Carbon Footprint

One of the difficulties of worship is that it is not easy to keep it local and organic. Whole Foods does not yet have a worship section where you can stroll through and pick up a call to worship, a hymn or two, and a home-grown sermon. It is up to you to keep it real. Here are the main points we made concerning worship on our last episode:

v Challenges of Worship (those basic assumptions that drive us nuts!)

o   You must please people – everyone, all the time

o   Make sure it is interesting so you can draw people in

o   Make sure it is interesting so you can people in

o   But… don’t sell out (i.e. don’t bend to the will of others and run the risk of compromising the Gospel)

v What is the purpose of worship?

o   Praise – rah, rah

o   Petition (please, please) and assurance (oh… ok)

o   Inspiration (Aha!) and Challenge (Christianity extreme)

o   Commitment (I promise I will at some time commit to a Christian lifestyle)

o   Growth and education (inch by inch, row by row…)

o   Preparing to see God in the week

v How do we do it?

o   Know your tradition (T and t)

o   Know your context

o   Be creative and authentic

o   Honor the “safe space” of your congregation

There is not an easy answer to doing worship well and in a way that is effective. Anyone who says there is is selling something. No matter what we need to have a certain level of trust that God will be with us and will work with whatever amount of crap or glory we offer. Just keep it real!

Railage:

Charley is responsible of thePope’s resignation? Maybe (but probably not), but he is not done with his continued rant about some difficulties and marks against the current (soon to be retired) Pope. Here’s hoping for a Pope that Charley will like.

Jonathan has a problem with Episcopalians offering ashes to people on the street on Ash Wednesday. It isn’t that he is against being present in the world, but instead that such a ritual calls for a certain sacred approach.

A Liturgical Exegesis

Psalm 27 and Luke 13:31-35 – Speaking to the uncertainty of us all. When do we truly “know” that all will be well? It is an action of faith that calls for a deep level of humility.

Watcha Into?

Charley offered:

Not Your Parent’s Offering Plate: a New Vision for Financial Stewardship by J. Cliff Christopher – it is radical, uncomfortable, and may have a couple of good points to make.

Jonathan finished reading:

God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse by Slavoj Zizek and Boris Gunjevic – philosophy and theology mixed together. Fun, fun, fun!

Next episode - rites of initiation or hazing it Jesus style!

Angry, Arrogant, Humble Christianity

Season 3, Episode 2

A New Post - A New Approach (sorta) - A New Day!

In connection with our recent episode, I wanted to offer a summary of what it is that we are trying to offer. Again, I feel that we are still in the early stages of really articulating the kind of Christianity that we are practicing, so this is not an angry and well-articulated manifesto, but that might be a good thing. One of the neat things about the Spirit is that it is never really ordered and tidy and well organized so it is ok that we often are not clear about what we are doing. With all that said, here is an encapsulation of our Angry, Arrogant, Humble Christianity:

v Clear about our Christian identity

o   There are lines that need to be drawn, we need to be clear that we are Christians not Jedis without swords, but to do it with compassion and humility

v Pro Jesus

o   This means we should have an evangelical desire/passion for Jesus Christ in our lives and in the lives of others. We really like Jesus.

v Not opposed to the institution of the church

o   Christianity and Christians needs "religion," i.e. a deliberate community to belong to.

v Not dogmatic

o   It is important that we are clear about our identity, but beyond the basics of our faith we cannot dictate what is “right,” especially with the hot-button issues (like which kind of herbal tea Jesus would have used).

v Evangelical

o   Understanding that evangelism needs to happen in a overt, sometimes embarrassing way, not just in a missonal way that “shows” Jesus but sometimes actually tells about Jesus with words and stuff.

v Local

o   With our food, spirituality, etc. We cannot prescribe one way of doing things, one spirituality, one form of church growth because every part of the nation and the world is different.

o   packages do not work, and national movements do not work (and here we are trying to describe a different way of being Christian…kinda like starting a movement)

v Organic

o   All the sacred cows are grown here and will be killed here – kidding!

o   There is not “the way” to be a Christian but instead a way that is shown to us by the Holy Spirit one step at a time. That calls for a lot of trust.

v Mantra: There has to be a better way

So there you have it – a kind of declaration of something that isn’t clear and not really focused but does have a sense of direction. Hopefully it gives you something to chew on.

Railage:

Jonathan commented on the AlphaSeries banner “Got Questions? We Have Answers.” He already spewed about this in his blog.

Charley found a tasty but not violent irony in a seagull’s attack of a peace dove. Remember Benedict XVI – you do not speak for Charley or his seagulls!

A Liturgical Exegesis

We looked at one of the lectionary texts for the Transfiguration: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2. Remember, it is not an anti-Jewish text but speaks to something else. Don’t get stuck on the apology.

Watcha Into?

Jonathan is listening to his hippy, protest, folk music of America on the 3 disc set Song of America. He hears a story that is seldom told – think of Howard Zinn’s  A People’s History of the United States

Charley is appropriating Taoism into Christianity through the writings of William C. Martin’s The Art of Pastoring – give it a read, or let the words read you…

So…. What do you think? Are you angry? Do we need to do more things to make you angry?