pointe of worship

Biblish

One of my professors, Dr. Sandy Richter, coined this term: "Biblish - biblical words that have been so overused we have forgotten the content that they communicate." Her concern is that we often canonize our own culture into biblical culture. Rather than attempt to understand biblical society, we infer our norms as the norms of Abraham, Moses, David, etc. Additionally, she reminded us that Biblical history is not World history. It is not meant as an exhaustive recount, a claim of all that happened. Rather, it is a specific story told by a select group of authors for a definitive purpose. Hearing all this peaked my interest, so I started thinking about what forms of "biblish" I might be using. What am I talking about without really understanding the socio-context behind the words? The answer to that is surely "a lot", and one that accompanies a lifetime goal to reduce. 

So, do we all need to be theologians to read Scripture? I don't think so. However, ALL of us can increase our prayer surrounding the reading of scripture. The Bible is the Living word; it is text that God continues to speak to us through. But if we do not approach God with reverence and openness, how can we hear Him? Listen to this brief excerpt from John Wesley's thoughts on how to read scripture: "Serious and earnest prayer should be constantly used, before we consult the oracles of God, seeing 'scripture can only be understood through the same Spirit whereby it was given.' Our reading should likewise be closed with prayer, that what we read may be written on our hearts." (read more)

There is a story from my preschool/kindergarten years that my Mom likes to tell. Often I would escape from Sunday School and wander the church halls, apparently looking for something more interesting. Caught, sitting in the hallway and not wanting to go back inside, I said, "I already know everything I need to know about Jesus." Funny, here I am some 35 years later in seminary trying to learn more.

in Christ,

Remember letters? (the explosion of social networking)

We all know about myspace and facebook. Adults (a term I am now strangely forced to consider myself classified under) used to think these were social websites for teenagers. Parents would participate only to keep an eye on what their children were doing... that was just a few years ago. Now these sites have evolved into social tools. Through Facebook I stay connected with friends from all over the country, friends that I would have easily lost touch with years ago. Our church has even started a facebook group to bring the congregation closer to each other - a beautiful way of showcasing our image as "the body of Christ", rather than the ministers and staff as "Christ's head" (what an incredibly silly and pretentious idea!). Now we have sites like "Twitter" that continue the social evolution in ways that I am just now starting to grasp. To glance at Twitter from the surface I can put it very simply this way: as email was to letters, Twitter is to email. But there is so much more! For example, you can get twitter text-updates on your phone (i.e. I now have twitters from CNN Breaking News sent to my phone). Some churches are even starting to use Twitter as a way of communicating to their congregation! Amazing. 

I am still a social network novice, so I've placed a couple blog-links that I highly suggest you read to better understand this phenomenon... it is not going away. 

Tony Morgan - "Is Twitter Replacing Blogging?" 

Jack Fisher - "Social Networking"  

The 5 Most Useful Twitter Apps and Clients

 

p.s. - I am still a fan of writing and receiving letters. I believe they carry a personal touch that technology will never replace. For a long time now I have wanted to start a routine of sending brief (maybe a paragraph at most) prayer letters or cards to various people each week. I have yet to begin.  But as my new goal of blogging once a week has begun to take fruit, maybe I'll just finish this and begin a quick "hand-written" note card to someone...  

in Christ, Mitch 

amos continued

Here is a great example for the continuing Amos discussion (see previous two posts). A friend of mine loves the song "Days of Elijah" ("...behold He comes, riding on the clouds..."), and I'm not a fan. This has resulted in an ongoing back and forth (all in fun) of when and if we'll play this song. Now I can sit here and tell you all the reasons I think this song is dated and misses the mark of our musical and seeker-oriented vision, but is this an acceptable measure of choosing songs? I'm not sure, so let me hash out a couple points and hopefully you can offer me some thoughts.

1) I believe that keeping up with music style is important for a seeker-driven church. It is our job as worship leaders to help direct that style, but am I being driven by personal preference or a desire to lead others more effectively in worshiping God? Every worship leader I've known, including myself, has a style that they lean towards. We all have favorite artists that we use more frequently. To worship is to approach God with honesty, so we cannot attempt to be something we are not for the sake of a "performance". However, worshiping God is also about giving our entire selves to him... all of me for all of God. The primary focus is about God, not us... not me. 

2) I state this loosely - this particular song is filled with Old Testament language referencing Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel and the dry bones, David and the temple, etc. OT references are fine, but in my humble opinion, this song is a little deep for seekers. A seeker service is a delicate and unusual thing. We are creating an atmosphere that feels safe and comfortable for the unchurched. At the same time we are worshiping in a way that will elicit strong, curious emotions to the seeker that attracts them to the unknown. We are there for God, but we are also there for the seeker. If we filled them with layers of theology that only strong believers could understand, are they (and hence God) served?

So, where is my heart? I am here to serve God and His church. If I don't like a song but it serves His purpose... I need to sing it. I must sing it and sing it with everything I have. So it seems the greater question in this is; have I asked God if we should play this song?  Curious - have you ever asked God a question with the answer you want to hear already playing in your mind? It's REALLY hard to hear His answer.  

in Christ,

Amos - revised?

A friend of mine challenged the reference from Amos in my last post ("there is no such thing as Christian music"), and I thought it worth clarifying here as well. The more I learn about scripture, the more difficult and dangerous I find using it... too often we use passages out of context to make our point rather than God's. I hope this was not the result of my last post, it was certainly not my intent.  Let me know your thoughts as well - do you agree or disagree with me on this passage? 

My response below:

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by the way - my apologies on Amos. I don't think my meaning came across very well and I need to be much clearer when using scripture. I am not for abolishing music and instruments, just the opposite... I love it loud and I love it big! However, if we are putting on a show for the sake of our selves, to bring attention to ourselves, then what are we doing? It is back to the heart of the artist... if my heart is about my self and not on God... then I am not making a joyful noise, I am just making noise. I believe this is what Amos is talking about here… a superficial heart in worship. He is telling the Israelites that God will not listen to our false worship. Worse yet, the word “hate” (english translations) is used for religious ceremonies conducted by those who live sinful lives but use these events to make themselves appear righteous. Curious - does this come closer to your thoughts on this scripture or am I still off base? Don't let up - keep me accountable! :)