Journal,
Whatever happened to awe? It's a question I ask often, because over the past semester I have seen a huge need for this sense of awe. I have had many struggles in different worship services. Sometimes I struggle with apathy, boredom, and being over critical in worship. But to be honest, awe is something I rarely struggle with. Sadly I can't attribute this to very many of the Church worship services I've been a part of. I developed a sense of awe from a few sources. A few Don Saliers also talks about like: nature, reading and hearing about the vastness of the universe and the limits of humans, and in the birth of my baby niece.
I feel like far too often we lose this sense of being in awe of the presence of God in our worship services. I have to speak on this from a strange stance, through conversations I've had. I have to speak from this rather than personal experience, because God has been radically showing me His presence in so many ways over the past year. But being involved in the lives of so many people on campus and at Southern Hills, I constantly talk to people who don't feel anything and haven't been able to grasp even a glimpse of the Grandeur of God. They want to badly, but they haven't seen it yet.
We have some pretty awesome encounters with God in Scripture: the burning bush, the crossing of the Red Sea, the mount of transfiguration, and the vision of a new Jerusalem. Saliers says, "unless we bring to the speaking, the singing, the praying, and the meal our sense of life and death, the liturgies will remain 'churchy.'" and the mystery of God will not be shown.
So how do we do this? Saliers says there are but five ways to accomplish that (which is pretty lame to limit it to five ways, but here are his ways).
1) Reawaken a view of the grandeur and intricacy of the natural world. One practical way to do this is on a retreat. Spend a good portion of the retreat outside and it will bring a great rhythm to the weekend.
2) Expose them to a current knowledge of the vastness of the universe and the limits of our own perspectives. This has been especially formative for me. I especially remember Louie Giglio's keynote at a Chris Tomlin concert, on his "How Great is Our God" tour. Wow! Did we ever get a picture of the BIG God we serve!
3) A Funeral Service. The whole church can grieve and celebrate their friends and loved ones in the face of the mystery of our mortality.
4) The joy of a newborn baby. This helps us to see the extraordinary grace of God. And the awesome being it must take to make life from nothing.
5) Healing services. "For the heart of Christian worship is the promise that Jesus Christ stands in our midst, ready to receive us, to heal and give blessing.
I would add one more HUGE one that had been extremely formative to me. The Eucharist. I have been so amazed at God on many occasions when I take of the Lord's Supper. I am awestruck that I along with saints from across the globe and across time can all come together at the table and eat and drink our Lord Jesus Christ. We must bring back a sense of awe to our time together at the table.
When we get back this sense of awe, "this is when we learn again to offer our lives, all we have an all we are, in adoration of God." This is true worship.
Jordan
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Worship Come to Its Senses: Part One
I'm reading a short book called "Worship Come to Its Senses" by Don Saliers and I'll be writing a five part journal over the next few days about it and posting it here. So I hope you enjoy...
Journal,
After reading the intro to Worship Come to its Senses, I am pretty excited about the book. It is apparent that Don Saliers and I share some of the same frustrations with modern American Christian Worship. And according to Saliers, its time to “Come to [our] senses about this.”
Saliers says that "this book is an invitation to think again about how and why we worship God, and to awaken our hearts and minds to a fresh perspective." This is what excites me. I am very passionate about worship and I feel like this is going to be the book that I shout "AMEN" at throughout the book.
He brings a good point in saying, "To see ourselves from another point of vies, and to discern what keeps us from flourishing, requires questions from the outside." So often we only ask people on the inside about why we can't reach the outside though our worship. Maybe we should ask the outside. I will be very interested to hear more about what he has to say on this subject.
Saliers also says, "After the past quarter-century's wide spread effort at liturgical reform there is a deeper hunger for a renewed connection between liturgy and life, between common prayer and ministry... many people today are yearning for a truly evangelical and sacramental liturgy." One of the main things I took from my Christian Worship class is how meaningful liturgy written specifically to your congregation can be powerfully life changing to the members of your Church.
I really like that he is going to talk about the senses in worship and how engaging in all of them can be powerful. He says, "Christian worship is physically, socially, and culturally embodied."
This should be an exciting journey to see how worship in the life of the Church can once again "Come to Its Senses."
Until then,
Jordan
Journal,
After reading the intro to Worship Come to its Senses, I am pretty excited about the book. It is apparent that Don Saliers and I share some of the same frustrations with modern American Christian Worship. And according to Saliers, its time to “Come to [our] senses about this.”
Saliers says that "this book is an invitation to think again about how and why we worship God, and to awaken our hearts and minds to a fresh perspective." This is what excites me. I am very passionate about worship and I feel like this is going to be the book that I shout "AMEN" at throughout the book.
He brings a good point in saying, "To see ourselves from another point of vies, and to discern what keeps us from flourishing, requires questions from the outside." So often we only ask people on the inside about why we can't reach the outside though our worship. Maybe we should ask the outside. I will be very interested to hear more about what he has to say on this subject.
Saliers also says, "After the past quarter-century's wide spread effort at liturgical reform there is a deeper hunger for a renewed connection between liturgy and life, between common prayer and ministry... many people today are yearning for a truly evangelical and sacramental liturgy." One of the main things I took from my Christian Worship class is how meaningful liturgy written specifically to your congregation can be powerfully life changing to the members of your Church.
I really like that he is going to talk about the senses in worship and how engaging in all of them can be powerful. He says, "Christian worship is physically, socially, and culturally embodied."
This should be an exciting journey to see how worship in the life of the Church can once again "Come to Its Senses."
Until then,
Jordan
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Order of Worship
I have decided that from time to time I will post an order of worship that I have planned under the leadership of the Spirit for the people God has placed me in leadership for. (I say it that way because I lead a few different groups of people, anything from my LIFE Group of about 18 to the people at Southern Hills of about 500 at our Wednesday night service to ACU chapel of about 4000). I'll let you know the context of the people and place each time, because this is a huge factor in planning worship. I want to post these so that you can use them or use parts of them in planning meaningful experiences in worship, or to inspire you to write your own liturgies as well. I pray that these will help create space for God to transform hearts.
The orders of worship I will post will typically (but not always because some contexts are not conducive for this) follow this basic outline because I believe this is they way the Lord has called me to lead worship.
-Gather- The first thing we do in worship is come together as the Body of Christ
-Confess- Next we must confess that we are human and therefore imperfect.
-Praise- Because Jesus gives us Salvation and freedom from our imperfectness we must give Him praise.
-Word- Next we move into a time with the Word or preaching to hear God speak to us
-Table- This is the climax of Christian worship. It must be connected to the Word. The table is what brings us together as a people and is the supreme symbol of the presence of God among His people. It is at the table that we have direct communion with the Divine and with His people.
-Offering/Sending- Here we offer our lives as a sacrifice to the living God and go out into the world to be Kingdom agents.
This first order of worship is for my LIFE Group. My LIFE Group consists of about 18 college students from ACU and Cisco. We have met weekly over the past semester and have had discussion over the Gospel of Luke. Tonight is our last meeting for the semester and ends our discussion in Luke. This is a service of worship centered around the cross.
Gather
• “We come here together with wondering minds, because we have so much on them. Thoughts of papers, projects, and finals. Some of us are making decisions that will change the rest of our lives and searching for God’s will in those decisions. Others of us are just trying to make it past finals week. But amidst all of these thoughts we set aside this time be still… together as a community of faith, and celebrate Immanuel, God with us.”
• Play O Come, O Come Immanuel while writing confession
Confess
• (Write on a note card your confession to God and put it in the box)
• “As we come together we confess that we are a people unworthy of Immanuel. We try to contemplate how it could be that such a love could be possible that the Great Creator would come to earth and become human, and freely die for shameful men and women like us. And so we confess that we are undeserving.”
• Why Did My Savior Come to Earth? (vs. 1&2)
Praise
• “We have asked ourselves and each other why we are worthy of Immanuel. And yet we still have no answer. But none the less we have still been freely given the gift of “God with us.“ And so the only response we can think of is to give Him the praise He so richly deserves.”
• He is Lifted Up
• He is Exalted
• O Come Let Us Adore Him
Word
• Luke 23:26 - 24:12
Table
• “People of God, we come to the table after a semester long conversation about the life of Jesus Christ. And tonight we have heard from the Word of Truth, how He willingly offered Himself to the Roman executioners and gave His body, and His blood, so that we, like the criminal on the cross may be with Him in paradise.”
• Thank you Lord for your body, the Bread of Life…
• Thank you Lord for your blood, the Cup of Salvation…
Offering
• “It’s been said, “it is better to give than to receive.” And so as we fellowship here together and as we go home to our families at the end of this week we give you the offering of our lives, acknowledging that it could never match up to your Great Gift.”
It should also be noted that this was around Christmas time. I think these songs could be used year round, but they are usually labeled Christmas Songs.
The orders of worship I will post will typically (but not always because some contexts are not conducive for this) follow this basic outline because I believe this is they way the Lord has called me to lead worship.
-Gather- The first thing we do in worship is come together as the Body of Christ
-Confess- Next we must confess that we are human and therefore imperfect.
-Praise- Because Jesus gives us Salvation and freedom from our imperfectness we must give Him praise.
-Word- Next we move into a time with the Word or preaching to hear God speak to us
-Table- This is the climax of Christian worship. It must be connected to the Word. The table is what brings us together as a people and is the supreme symbol of the presence of God among His people. It is at the table that we have direct communion with the Divine and with His people.
-Offering/Sending- Here we offer our lives as a sacrifice to the living God and go out into the world to be Kingdom agents.
This first order of worship is for my LIFE Group. My LIFE Group consists of about 18 college students from ACU and Cisco. We have met weekly over the past semester and have had discussion over the Gospel of Luke. Tonight is our last meeting for the semester and ends our discussion in Luke. This is a service of worship centered around the cross.
Gather
• “We come here together with wondering minds, because we have so much on them. Thoughts of papers, projects, and finals. Some of us are making decisions that will change the rest of our lives and searching for God’s will in those decisions. Others of us are just trying to make it past finals week. But amidst all of these thoughts we set aside this time be still… together as a community of faith, and celebrate Immanuel, God with us.”
• Play O Come, O Come Immanuel while writing confession
Confess
• (Write on a note card your confession to God and put it in the box)
• “As we come together we confess that we are a people unworthy of Immanuel. We try to contemplate how it could be that such a love could be possible that the Great Creator would come to earth and become human, and freely die for shameful men and women like us. And so we confess that we are undeserving.”
• Why Did My Savior Come to Earth? (vs. 1&2)
Praise
• “We have asked ourselves and each other why we are worthy of Immanuel. And yet we still have no answer. But none the less we have still been freely given the gift of “God with us.“ And so the only response we can think of is to give Him the praise He so richly deserves.”
• He is Lifted Up
• He is Exalted
• O Come Let Us Adore Him
Word
• Luke 23:26 - 24:12
Table
• “People of God, we come to the table after a semester long conversation about the life of Jesus Christ. And tonight we have heard from the Word of Truth, how He willingly offered Himself to the Roman executioners and gave His body, and His blood, so that we, like the criminal on the cross may be with Him in paradise.”
• Thank you Lord for your body, the Bread of Life…
• Thank you Lord for your blood, the Cup of Salvation…
Offering
• “It’s been said, “it is better to give than to receive.” And so as we fellowship here together and as we go home to our families at the end of this week we give you the offering of our lives, acknowledging that it could never match up to your Great Gift.”
It should also be noted that this was around Christmas time. I think these songs could be used year round, but they are usually labeled Christmas Songs.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Transformation, my word of the year
This year I've been doing a lot of reading about and practicing different spiritual disciplines trying to practice being in the presence of God in new (for me) and ancient ways. It has been an extremely transformative year. I have found that when you put yourself in the presence of God he transforms you. For this blog I will define transformation in this way... Transformation is God continually converting the parts of your heart, body, and mind that have yet to be converted.
In my "Teaching the Good News" class with Dr. Chris Flanders we've talked about different theories of atonement. My experience in God's transforming presence has made me really start to side with the "Theosis Theory." This theory of the atonement in a nutshell says that we were formed or created by God perfectly and that over time sin has corrupted us. But because of Jesus we are able to become uncorrupted from sin and take on the Imago Dei (Image of God). In this theory it is a constant cycle of sin corrupting us and Christ molding us back into the Imago Dei. Athanasius said, "He (Jesus) became what we are, so that we might become what He is." I have this kind of idea that our final destination or goal is to be in "Complete Communion with the Divine." I am not sure if that can be accomplished on earth or not, but I'm open to it being possible (Not to say I stand a chance of getting there, but I'll try). But I believe that is what will make Heaven so awesome, "Complete Communion with the Divine."
This has radically changed my life. I am a very different person than I was a year ago. Not to toot my own horn because trust me I am light-years away from total Divine Communion! and the change has been the work of God, not me! But God has done some serious work on converting some hard areas of my heart, mind and body. I am fully convinced that this can only happen through putting yourself in space where He is present. Cane told the LORD his punishment was more than he could bear because, "I (Cane) will be hidden from your presence." It was way too much to handle being out of God's presence for Cane and I believe the same is true for us. We try to fill this void with so many other things but as Augustine wrote so beautifully in his, "Confessions," the void can only be filled with the Presence of God.
So make space for Him, and He will transform you.
In my "Teaching the Good News" class with Dr. Chris Flanders we've talked about different theories of atonement. My experience in God's transforming presence has made me really start to side with the "Theosis Theory." This theory of the atonement in a nutshell says that we were formed or created by God perfectly and that over time sin has corrupted us. But because of Jesus we are able to become uncorrupted from sin and take on the Imago Dei (Image of God). In this theory it is a constant cycle of sin corrupting us and Christ molding us back into the Imago Dei. Athanasius said, "He (Jesus) became what we are, so that we might become what He is." I have this kind of idea that our final destination or goal is to be in "Complete Communion with the Divine." I am not sure if that can be accomplished on earth or not, but I'm open to it being possible (Not to say I stand a chance of getting there, but I'll try). But I believe that is what will make Heaven so awesome, "Complete Communion with the Divine."
This has radically changed my life. I am a very different person than I was a year ago. Not to toot my own horn because trust me I am light-years away from total Divine Communion! and the change has been the work of God, not me! But God has done some serious work on converting some hard areas of my heart, mind and body. I am fully convinced that this can only happen through putting yourself in space where He is present. Cane told the LORD his punishment was more than he could bear because, "I (Cane) will be hidden from your presence." It was way too much to handle being out of God's presence for Cane and I believe the same is true for us. We try to fill this void with so many other things but as Augustine wrote so beautifully in his, "Confessions," the void can only be filled with the Presence of God.
So make space for Him, and He will transform you.
Jesus Party!
In case you don't know, I love my Church! We do some of the most amazing things for people. About 4 or 5 times a year we have a Jesus Party, which is basically a big dance party for the people we thing Jesus would throw a party for, the mentally handicap adults of Abilene. Those people are so much fun! And absolutely hilarious! We had a blast dancing with them. Most of the people from Southern Hills that come are college students so that makes for an extra exciting atmosphere because we all just get jiggy wit it! It's so much fun because you can just dance crazy however you feel like it and nobody cares. It is one of the most freeing experiences ever! This is how I know God loves dancing! What better way to worship our God than to dance with his people who badly need love shown to them.
Talk about a fun night!
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