Showing posts with label Worship. Show all posts

A Video From Today's Worship For Our Advent Conspiracy

O come, O come, Emmanuel, / And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here / Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, / Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show, / And teach us in her ways to go.  (Refrain)

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save, / And give them victory over the grave. (Refrain)

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer / Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, / And death’s dark shadows put to flight. (Refrain)


O come, Thou Key of David, come, / And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, / And close the path to misery. (Refrain)

O come, O come, great Lord of might, / Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law / In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree, / An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall; / All peoples on Thy mercy call.
O come, Desire of nations, bind / In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, / And be Thyself our King of Peace.

(And, before you even think it... no, they were not clapping because they wanted it the sermon to be over.)

As I had posted earlier this week, the sermon on Sunday was relatively dramatic, closing with the smashing of a golden calf (spray painted ceramic cow bank) on the altar.  Earlier in the worship, I had replaced the cross on the altar with that cow.  The point of the sermon was that, after crossing over to the promised land, the Hebrews forgot about the providence of God.  They forgot all that God had done for them.  They forgot to be thankful. And, when they forgot God, they looked for something more tangible, understandable that they could put their faith in.  So they built a statue of gold they could touch, and feel, and see, and put their trust in.  I argued that, if this was possible for the Hebrews, how much more possible is it for us who have far less dramatic and tangible experiences of God.  So, when we offer God our thanks, when we remember his care, for all things in life, we keep the sacred cows from taking he place reserved for God.

At that, I smashed the cow and put the cross back on the altar.  

And there was loud applause from the congregation.

And I wasn't sure what to do.

I was pretty vulnerable during this sermon.  This was a sermon where I truly felt carried along by God.  I was passionate.  I felt inspired.  It was a God-thing.  I know it doesn't happen near as often as I wish it would.  But, as I smashed that small statue, I felt pretty prophetic.  I hope that's not pride that has me writing it down here -- sometimes it can be hard to tell.  But, suffice it to say, I was emotionally spent as I got to the close of the sermon and wielded that hammer.

And, at that time, I truly did not know how to react to the applause.

See, for me, applause usually means that "I" have done a good job.  We applaud after a good performance in a play or a rousing song where we appreciate the singer.  We applaud after the game-winning hit or the great speech.  And, while I know that sometimes people clap after a particularly good music number in worship, I didn't know what to do when people clapped after my sermon.

For a little bit there--hammer in my hand, pieces of cow everywhere, people clapping--I was embarrassed. 

Let me be clear that his was not a standing ovation that went on for a while.   There were no shouts of "Encore!  Encore!"  The congregation did not ask for a curtain call. I went home to the same 6 groupies as I always do.

This was a short burst of hearty applause.  But it was enough to make me feel like the attention was all on ME when it had felt like--and was intended to be--all about God and what God has done for us. 

Over the years I've had many folks tell me that they thought a sermon was particularly good or that it spoke to them or things like that.  But I'd never had folks clap at the close of one.

And I was embarrassed.

Now, fortunately, I have a discipleship group that I'm meeting with for Sunday School.  And, in that safe environment I was able to share my embarrassment.  What those folks told me I probably already knew, but I needed to hear it.  The people in church weren't applauding for me.  They were applauding that God was given back his rightful spot…that the cross was going back on the altar.

It wasn't about me

I'm pretty sure I already knew that.

But I needed to hear it.

It is true that I sacrificed a cow on Sunday.

It is true that the cow was up on the altar.

I hit it with a hammer.

It was a powerful sermon illustration, one that I'll use again.

It is also true that the cow was merely a "piggy bank cow" and was only 12 inches tall.

It was empty.

It was spray-painted gold.

And it was dramatically broken into many more pieces than I could have hoped for.

Sunday we talked about the Golden Calf from Exodus, where Aaron and the faith-challenged Hebrews got worried when Moses was way too long up the mountain talking with God. They kinda' forgot all that God had done for them, even though he had just dramatically delivered them from captivity in Egypt. They wanted to put their trust in something more tangible, something they could touch...a cow statue. And it just so happened that this statue was made out of gold earrings...a sign of their wealth and material belongings -- things we too make an idol of.

Anyway, during the children's time, before the sermon, we talked about the golden idol the Hebrews had made and put our little golden cow on our altar in place of our cross. The cow was front and center and we talked about the worship that we offer to God (singing, prayers, offerings) that we could offer to the cow instead. That's what the Hebrews did. And that worship is reserved for God alone.

As we continued, the cow remained on the altar and more than one person said afterwards that they wanted to tell me I had forgotten to move it off the altar.  But it was there by design, taking the awkward space that's usually reserved for the cross, right there next to the communion elements.

Then, during the sermon we talked about the love and providence of our God and how, since the Hebrews, who had such a dramatic connection to our God, could forget God, that it must be must easier for us to forget.  Our experiences of deliverance are much smaller.  If the Hebrews wanted to put their faith in a God that was more tangible and material and understandable by making an idol, we, too, must have that problem.  And so, when we forget to offer God thanks and praise for what God has done, we'll find ourselves making idols of other things; putting our trust where it doesn't belong. We may not actually melt down our jewelry to fashion a statue, but we'll trust relationships, families, job situations, and, in our consumeristic western culture, MONEY.  And that "golden calf" comes in and takes the spot reserved for God.

All the while, our piggy bank cow was front and center.

So, as we kicked off our stewardship campaign, I challenged the congregation to PRACTICE THANKFULNESS this week; to remember what God has done for them and to put our trust and faith and hope in his providential care of us. If we remember to offer God thanks, then we'll keep him in his rightful place as the object of our worship and we'll destroy the golden calves, the sacred cows, of our lives.  We'll find that we don't need to put our trust and faith and hope in anything else.

I was passionate.

I was moved.

It was one of those times where I could tell I had been swept out of the way in the sermon and the Spirit was moving.

I was pumped.

At that point I grabbed a hammer from the pulpit and smashed the cow, sending pieces flying.

And I put the cross back on the altar.

It was dramatic.

...

And that's why I sacrificed a cow on the altar on Sunday.

Next time I'll go a little easier with the hammer.

I kinda' broke the plexiglass protective cover to the altar.

Nevertheless, it was a God-thing.

While I won't say that it's TRUE, it does appear to have some truth to it.  I thought this was a funny post for a Sunday as I head off to a worship service with some Catholics, some mainline liberals, some evangelicals, a charismatic or two, and at least one reformed.  And yet we're all able to come together at Girdwood Chapel.

Ahh, the beauty of grace.

From over at Thomas The Doubter Church.

This is a video from a church in Orlando, Florida last month.  It gets at our individualistic and self-centered approaches to worship while spoofing some popular worship songs.



While this is extremely funny....  it calls the state of worship in some our churches into question. 

How to we make it less about us and more about God?

How do we move persons to make worship less about Sunday and more about life?

No...the exclamation points just don't do it for me.  Let me try all caps.  Forgive me if it hurts your ears.

WHAT!  NO PRAYERS AT THE 9/11 MEMORIAL OBSERVANCE!?!?

Nope.  No matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get all worked up about this.

I don't know whether you've heard or not, but word on the street is that the ceremony of remembrance at the 9/11 memorial site is going to be free of any prayers, whatsoever.  There will be some moments of silence, which is always fitting for an occasion like that, but no prayers.  In fact, no religious leaders have been invited to speak.

This is, apparently, the same way it's worked for the previous nine anniversary observances in New York.  It's been geared to the families who lost loved ones there.

[New York Mayor] Bloomberg's office said the 10th anniversary ceremony would follow the pattern of previous observances on the date of the worst attack ever against Americans on their soil. Earlier anniversary events also have not included clergy, according to the mayor's office. The focus is to be on those who lost family members in the attacks.

"The ceremony was designed in coordination with 9/11 families with a mixture of readings that are spiritual, historical and personal in nature," said Evelyn Erskine, a spokeswoman for Bloomberg, in an email to CNN.

"It has been widely supported for the past 10 years and rather than have disagreements over which religious leaders participate we would like to keep the focus of our commemoration ceremony on the family members of those who died," she said.

There will be moments of silence in the 10th anniversary observance so people can have times of "personal and religious introspection," Erskine told CNN. (The Christian Examiner)

So, Bloomberg says this is how it's been done in the past. He said the planners don't want disagreements over who gets to be there and speak on behalf of this or that religion.  And he says that, everyone will get time for "personal and religious introspection."  OK, I get it.

But there is a point on the other side here that this was a religious attack on the US.  It was an attack by those who considered it a Holy War.  And, religion played a big role in how our country responded to the attack.  I can't deny that it was a different religious environment, even in Girdwood, for a few weeks.  There are others, however, who see this as a case of political correctness or the public square being hospitable to Christianity.


And there are some angry Christians making their responses known:


The Family Research Council has a petition with 55,000 signatures which says: "Your plan to exclude pastors and prayer from the Ground Zero commemoration is not only offensive to the families of victims, but strangely overlooks the role that faith played in bringing healing to countless lives."

Florida Pastor Joel C. Hunter also told The Christian Post in a prior interview that a 9/11 ceremony without church leaders or prayer paints an inaccurate picture of America. "It's going to be exclusionary, secularist only, and we are one of the most religious countries in the world. So, the bottom line is, this is not how we were founded. This is not who we are," Hunter said.


The American Family Association's Tim Wildmon, is encouraging its 2.3 millions subscriber to write to Bloomberg to protest.  He says: "I'm stunned. This event affected the whole psyche and soul of the country, and you are going to have no prayer? What's a memorial service if you are going to leave God out of it completely? It seems kind of hollow."

And, of course, we'd have to expect the Institute on Religion & Democracy.  Their Mark Tooley says:  “In a city where the most residents in recent memory now cite religious faith as strongly important, New York is tone-deaf to exclude all religion when remembering the slaughter of over 3,000 innocents.  To exclude clergy even at a memorial service implies that religion is not welcome in the public square, even in mourning.”

Look, I think I'd like a pastor or two to say some touching, maybe even important words at the service.  It would be cool if a rabbi and an imam were there as well.  No one can deny that the stories, the images, the words of faith took on new meaning to many people after the tragic acts of ten years ago.  Religion was very important...to many persons.

But it wasn't important to all.  And it wasn't my faith, the Christian faith, that was important to all of those for whom religion was important.  It may be political correctness on my part, but I'm not comfortable with lining up religious leaders from every faith under the sun...or at least every faith that responded that day or was represented among the victims.  And I'm not comfortable with having the big three (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) speak and ignore the rest.

But, most important for me, I'm uncomfortable with the kind of Christianity that we normally see in our "public square."  It's a "safe" faith...avoiding the calls to confession for sins, avoiding language that might offend other faiths, prettying up the message of salvation and justice and hope.  It might make people feel better.  The words might be "nice."  But oftentimes we make it safe.

And so, sure, I lament that there won't be a prayer or Scripture read or the message of resurrection (a powerful one in the face of tragedy) proclaimed.  But that's because it would mean a lot to ME.

There will be many other places and times for us Christians to proclaim the good news in response to those attacks ten years ago.  I will do that in Girdwood next week as we, too, remember.

But forgive me if I'm not too angry that they won't be praying at the 9/11 memorial that day.  Well, the people up front may not be praying.  There will be a whole lot of praying from the folks in the crowd.

This is a call from Bishop Larry Goodpaster, President of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11/01 with prayer.   It is found on the UMC website:

On behalf of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church I greet you in the name of Jesus the Christ in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven….” (Colossians 1:19-20, NRSV)

On this, the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I call upon United Methodists and all people of faith to a renewed commitment to ministry of reconciliation, and to being witnesses of God’s love and grace for and in the whole world. As people of faith, we approach this anniversary with the gift of both memory and hope.

None of us who watched in shock and horror as the events unfolded on that fateful day in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC will ever forget the images. We remember the innocent lives that were lost on that day. We remember the first responders who put their lives on the line to provide assistance in the midst of the devastation. We remember the ways in which the world reached out to embrace us in our pain and grief. And we remember the generous outpouring of more than $20 million through the United Methodist Committee on Relief and our “Love in the Midst of Tragedy” special offerings.

Even as we recall all of these events of a decade ago, we are also a people whose faith and hope in Christ Jesus turn our hearts and lives toward the future. We proclaim the Resurrection message that the future belongs to God’s reconciled new creation, and we live toward that time when the dividing walls of hostility will come down and God will wipe away every tear, and death will be no more. In a world of violence and revenge, of suspicion and fear, of mistrust and hatred, we dare to proclaim an alternative vision known throughout Scriptures as God’s Shalom. We believe that God works for good in all things, and that the goodness and mercy of God can overcome even the most tragic events and experiences in this world.

In the days and weeks ahead, communities will be marking this anniversary in a variety of ways, and we urge our churches to lead in planning for and providing services of worship and prayer. Let us build bridges of trust and reconciliation through these services by inviting and encouraging people of all faiths to come together for prayer. Let us work for personal and social holiness by practicing John Wesley’s General Rules for the people called Methodist, especially to do no harm and to do good. Let us seek to restore a sense of hope for the future by praying for and working for the healing of broken relationships. Let us remember that day of pain, suffering, and grief; but let us also seek to bind up the wounds and renew our efforts to work for peace with justice.

Above all else let us live as faithful followers of the Prince of Peace and, in the words of the author of the Letter to the Colossians: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other….” (Colossians 3:12-13, NRSV) May our memory and our hope unite to move all of us toward peace and inspire us to live with compassion, confidence and courage.

Larry M. Goodpaster
President, Council of Bishops
The United Methodist Church

We knew we had a squirrel in the church.  Friday it got into bags of chocolate chip cookies.  Saturday it came back and cleaned out one of our live traps (this was harder to set than I realized) and got into some oatmeal from the food pantry.  Saturday night it stayed away even though we tried to encourage it with three correctly-baited traps.  We loaded each with granola bars dipped in peanut butter.

Sunday we had church.

So did the squirrel.

I was about five minutes into my sermon at the early 8:30 AM worship service when I saw it crawl across one of the beams.  "There it is!"  I stopped and pointed.  Our 8:30 service is small and intimate.  We decided that even though the traps had been put away for worship, we'd bring one out and put it up high where right where the squirrel had just been.  We had a little break right there in the middle of the sermon while we got out a ladder and moved the traps.  (This, by the way, is not the most disruptive thing that's happened during a sermon of mine.  It ranks right behind a medical emergency -- where persons ended up being OK -- and a bear right outside the church window.)

We were prepared to hear the slam of the trap door and the sounds of a frantic animal who had merely been trying to get his paws on some peanut butter.  But the squirrel stayed away for the remainder of the worship service.  All was quiet.  The show was over.

And he stayed away from the 10 AM worship service too...at least until the end.  At that point, right before the closing song, some of the kids in back squealed as they ran out the back of the church and followed the squirrel into the library and saw a hole it ducked into. 

At the close of the worship service, the traps were moved out front and center.  Children peered into holes and wondered, excitedly if we'd catch him.

Then people went home.

Then, a third time the squirrel made an appearance.  This time it was during our administrative meeting.  We saw it run through the narthex, turn and look at us and keep going.

Later that afternoon, we came by the church and found one very unhappy squirrel in one of our cages.  our girls named him "Hammy" from the squirrel character in the "Over the Hedge" comic.  Hammy didn't seem very pleased although he had eaten the peanut butter.


We loaded him up in the car.



And, because everyone kept telling me that squirrels are smart and can find their way back unless you release them a long way away, we drove the squirrel all the way out to Portage, about 10 miles away, to the train depot there.


My girls released him.  And off he ran into the woods.


Hopefully he'll be able to find some food--food that's not in our church.

Hopefully he'll live a long and happy squirrel-y life.

Hopefully he hasn't told his friends how to get into our church.

That's our new Altar...thanks to Zeb Manning's team from Mississippi.

And, yes, that's a tie-dye altar cloth.

Our friends from Ellisville, Mississippi ("Zeb Manning's Team" as we call them around here), have been up to work on Girdwood Chapel SEVEN times now.  We have been blessed to have them up here and blessed to get to know so many of their workers over the year.  As a special treat, this year we asked if they would be willing to design an altar out of one of the support beams for the church.  This was a beam that we pulled into the church in the winter of 2005 and then had to cut.  This is a section of that beam...representing the support, the foundation of our church.  It has a story around it.

And now we have an altar made from that beam.

Thanks be to God.

Altar being constructed in the Narthex/Gathering Room.

Altar drying in the mechanical room.

Image via Wikipedia

--- Ed Stetzer

Image by DiscoverDuPage via Flickr“A church that can’t worship must be entertained; and men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide entertainment.”

A. W. Tozer

Image via Wikipedia

Another good cartoon from David Hayward.  Gets at one facet of the discussion of contemporary and traditional music.  The argument that it's cliche' is usually levied against contemporary music...but I think it can be said about some of our good, old traditional pieces as well.

Image via WikipediaWe have had some ongoing dialogue at Girdwood Chapel this year about worship style.  This is because we have some folks who would really prefer some more contemporary music--music which may be unfamiliar and of a far more different style than some of our more traditional folks are used to.  I, frankly appreciate a wide range of music styles.  Our limiting factor has usually been instrumentation.  We just don't have musicians who can handle contemporary Christian music at the level which is needed.  If you're going to go contemporary, it has to be done well.

This brought about good conversation of music style and worship and congregants "getting something out of worship."  I understand...I really do...that attending a "high church" worship service when you're a "low church" kind of person can make it hard to experience God fully in that place.  I understand that.  I also understand that, if you're a "high church" kind of person some contemporary Christian music, the latest by Steven Curtis Chapman or Third Day or Michael W. Smith or Chris Tomlin, can seem less theological and too "touchy feely."  It can seem shallow.  I understand that.

But, theologically speaking, isn't worship about God and not "what you GET" out of it?  Isn't God worthy to be praised, and, whether that's in a language or style that's comfortable to you, the act of worship is more important than how your spiritual batteries feel charged from that experience?  By catering to every experiential need of persons churches have turned the focus of worship to the individual worshiper and away from the God who should be at the center of the worship.  We have churches who are beginning worship design by asking what the churched or unchurched persons in their communities want, rather than beginning with the assumption that, no matter how it's done, it is a right an good thing to offer praise to our most Holy and awesome God.  It also forces smaller churches to try to keep up with the customer satisfaction of their bigger church neighbors, which may be completely impossible for them given limitations.

Mark Altrogge over at Blazing Center had and interesting article yesterday, about how we turn Scripture and religion on its head, making it all about us.  I'd never say out loud what he says about worship.  But I can remember a time when the thought may have crossed my mind.

Ever heard someone say, “Worship didn’t do much for me this morning.”  Awww, we’re sorry your majesty wasn’t entertained and enthralled today.  Maybe we should get Paul McCartney to lead worship next Sunday.  Sorry the smoke machines didn’t fill the room and a few of the explosions were softer than normal.  Maybe we should ask Jesus if he got anything out of our worship this morning.

And, this is not a critique of EITHER contemporary or traditional worship, a least from where I'm coming from.  The same words could apply either way. I think it merely gets to the backwards way we sometimes think of worship, beginning with US and not GOD.  It's all about MEEEE !

Well, here's what we're doing at Girdwood Chapel.  We are using more contemporary music.  And, yes,  it's the Third Day, Casting Crowns, and Steven Curtis Chapman variety.  But, in order to have pretty high quality music, we're using worship videos from YouTube that have already been designed by others.  The videos yesterday were for these two songs:



and




The Third Day song was to lead us into our discussion about prayer.  "I Will Follow," by Chris Tomlin is being sung each week as our sermon series theme is about following Jesus...and our folks seem to be appreciating the song.

For the 8:30 AM (older, smaller crowd) worship we use more traditional hymns in their place.  And at 10 AM we use the contemporary. 

I've enjoyed it.  I know I get something out of both styles and everything in between and I know that there will always be persons who don't like this or that song...this or that style...this or that prayer....  I merely hope that the change is helping our folk praise God, who should always be at the center of our worship.

It's not about us.

Don't worship in order to reach the unchurched. Worship because God is holy, worth it, and deserves it.

She has a way of taking this complex issue and making it simpler.

Image by babasteve via FlickrWhat a passage as we continue discussion about water and sanitation issues around the world.  Tonight, it's Ethiopia.

    ¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
   ²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
   ²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
   ²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
   ²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
   ³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
   ³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31, New International Version, ©2011)

Here is a good reflection on contemporary worship by one of the pioneers of it in United Methodism, Mike Slaughter.  (HT to Allan Bevere for the link).  I thought this was a good read, particularly since we're trying to find a way to appeal to the traditional folk and the contemporary folk and the folk who don't care what goes on in worship but love being there with each other. 

In our congregation, for a sermon series on the person and work of Christ, we don't have unison prayers.  There's no prayer of confession.  There are no responsive readings.  There's no creed.  We DO have communion, with the full liturgy from the Book of Worship, but the whole service has a more informal feel than some folks are used to.

And, I know this is a style that appeals to some folks.   I like it. Although I like the really high church services as well and wonder how we keep connected with the ancient traditions of the past while we try to move, still, into the future of worship.

Here what Mike Slaughter has to say.

I was sharing with my friend Adam Hamilton not long ago that contemporary worship has become boring for me. Those of us influenced by the Jesus' movement of the 60’s and 70’s pioneered early models of contemporary liturgies, which began in the informal gatherings of believers meeting together on college campuses, apartments and coffee houses, along with the influences of Christian rock and Jesus music festivals. The fresh new forms of relevant music, participatory sharing and free flowing spontaneous prayer created a welcoming space for our friends who had no connection to the ancient forms of traditional worship and for those of us who were just plain bored by tired repetitive traditional liturgies that had no connection to daily life. As many of us began to find our way back into the traditional church, we brought our guitars and new contemporary styles with us. I participated in some powerful guitar masses in Cincinnati in the early 1970’s. Contemporary worship forms were bringing Christians together from many different traditions. The Catholic and Protestant Charismatic renewals brought Catholics and Protestants together in conferences and worship experiences with the promising hope of a new horizon for Christian unity. The movement peaked in the 70’s and began to decline, somewhat due to emotional and theological excesses, in the 80’s. The contemporary movement became more distinctly evangelical protestant, connected to the church growth-seeker model in the 80’s. Drama, media and other artistic forms were also introduced during the next decade. Mainline churches began to experiment with the addition of contemporary worship services while maintaining traditional worship options.

So what are my issues with contemporary worship, which is a form that I have advocated and helped pioneer? 

•So much of contemporary worship has become a tired and predicable ritual. The same old-same old that begins with three songs, a drama, film clip, announcements and message, week after week after week after…

•Much of the music is just plain trite. Nothing like the words written by some of the early pioneers of the Jesus’ movement (check out Larry Norman).

•In our attempt to be relevant have we focused more on methodology than theology?

•I had an opportunity to worship with the good people at Custer Road UMC in Plano, Texas last week. Affirming our faith together through the Apostles Creed and the communion liturgy was meaningful. Much of what we have done in contemporary worship has lost all connection to the creeds and ancient traditions of the past.

I am not advocating for a return to traditional worship, which doesn’t work for many of us in the church nor is it relevant for those on the outside. What is a third way beyond traditional and contemporary that is ancient and future? Jim Belcher in his book, Deep Church, says: “Deep worship is rooted in two thousand years of the church and the historic flow of worship. The order of the service, the liturgy, should be both old and new. The goal is to take the best of the tradition and breathe new life into it for the 21st century.” He goes on to state that relevant worship “combines the best of the free church-moving extemporaneous prayers, longer sermons and room for the Spirit- with the ancient church’s commitment to set prayers and a liturgy of Word and Table.”

Thank you to the folks at Camden Baptist, for teaching me a new song today.  Now I'll need to work it into a children's sermon.  Can't wait.