Values Synthesis (Essentials Green)

Spiritual Formation Of The Leader (Essentials Green)

Kingdom Expectation (Essentials Green)

Accessibility and Cultural Relevance (Essentials Green)

Values of Intimacy and Integrity (Essentials Green)

For The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

This week the value of integrity is the one that really jumped out at me.  As long as I can remember intimacy has never really been a problem for me.  I quite easily and willingly share myself with others both the good and the bad, however when it comes to integrity I really feel there is a lot for me to learn and to master.

For those who don’t know my story, I served the Lord up until I was around 19 years of age.  At that point a combination of factors led to me leaving the church and turning away from God.  One was the lack of good fellowship with people my own age who embraced Jesus as fully as I did, and the other was my secret struggle with my sexuality.  Coming from a Pentecostal background, I was quite ashamed and afraid to admit that I had this ‘problem’.  I prayed and prayed but nothing seemed to help.  Eventually, I just gave up.  I threw in the towel so to speak and  walked away from God cause he wasn’t helping me.  7 years later though, after coming out and living as a gay man for that entire time, God found his way back into my life.   I broke up with my BF of 2 years, rejected my lifestyle and returned to church.  I’ve been living a single celibate life ever since, but that is where my struggle with integrity comes in.  As a young single guy, I find it so hard to be pure…to resist temptation…to live a chaste life.  As I have progressed in my faith, I have found that I am continually moving into a place of responsibility, and yet there is a tension within me because I feel like a fraud as I have this part of me that is not submitting and surrendering to Jesus.  Its like Satan’s one last stronghold within me that he’s desperately trying to hang on to.

Anyways, all of this has only been highlighted that much more by the teaching this week and the need for integrity amongst all those who lead.  I pray that God will continue to work this out of me as His values, concerns, and desires slowly replace my own.

Worship History and Creative Synthesis (Essentials Red)

For The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

I have really been excited by all the material and thoughts that this most recent module has opened up for me as a worshiper and worship leader.   Surveying the whole spectrum of worship expressions has really challenged me to think outside the box when it comes to facilitating worship.  Questions like how can i use space and time in my worship? or is there ways i can incorporate art?  Realizing that music is just one part of a bigger picture has opened my eyes to new possibilities.

I feel like these past 5 weeks have really raced by, but my hope is that over the next few months I will digest all this information and truly have it influence me as i think about how I can expand the ways in which we worship in my community.

Thanks again Dan!!

Art and Music (Essentials Red)

For The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

I believe that music and art are the perfect means to involve the whole congregation.  It could be as simple as offering free music or dance lessons or similarly for the fine arts (painting, language, sculpture) and technical arts (floral, culinary, decorative) as well.  It’s all about encouraging and developing the gifts of those in the community.

As I mentioned in the facebook discussion, we could even go so far as to engage with people who do not feel they have ‘artistic’ gifts, and ask them to help inspire our work.  They could contribute by providing a verse or idea or concept that has deep spiritual meaning for them or their community. 

I sincerely believe that the next evolution in worship will be for communities as a whole to begin to produce music and art in various forms that no one person can take credit for but are an expression of that church’s deep desire to worship God.

Baptism and Eucharist (Essentials Red)

For The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

Tracing the full history of both these symbols this week was both fascinating and enlightening.  I would have never guess that ancient baptisms could have been delayed up to 3 years after conversion or that the Eucharist was  put on display for public adoration or housed in a special building.  You can see the progress from simple memorial acts to mystic rites and back again after the reformation.

Somethings to consider though (as someone in the protestant tradition) are that at times we have either hung on too tightly to catholic tradtions like in our treatment of the Eucharist, or conversely, in an attempt to get back to basics, followed the scriptures to ‘word for word’ and not heeded the wisdom those early fathers gleaned as they wrestled through putting these symbols into practice.

For one, I love the idea that the Eucharist found itself placed within the context of a larger meal.   A moment of remembrance mixed right into the middle of something as mundane as eating.  What better way to remember God incarnate than to have the sacrament placed within the context of something so very human and mortal.  I think it may do us well to ‘incarnate’ the Eucharist once again, and release it from the cathedral we have trapped it in.

Another nugget I was intruguied by was the preparation period for new believers prior to baptism.  What a wonderful way to help converts build deep roots and focus their development towards a tangible goal.  Spiritual development can sometimes seem so nebulous, but having arrival points like this along the way would be so gratifying to everyone in the church.

There is so much to be gleaned.  These two ideas are just teasers.

Prayer and Scripture (Essentials Red)

For The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

I was fascinated to read this week about how the ancient church structured their worship gatherings.  Larger amounts of scripture reading, a feast, and even group prayers.   As I consider the various forms of protestant services nowadays, I can’t help but wonder whether our current gatherings could use a little dose of ‘ancient church’.   Music and sermons seem to be ‘it’ these days.  Scripture reading??  Too boring.   Prayer??  Too much pressure.  We’ve made it so that church can be ‘attended’ rather than partaken.  The clergy do the hard work, and we pay them.   I realize that may be a bit simplistic, but where’s the challenge?  Where’s the difficulty?  What I mean is…hearing a passage of scripture in church and not having it explained, leaving the hard work up to you to go to God and figure out the meaning.  Or in terms of prayer…making it so that all people in attendance pray…and not just written out prayers but prays that come form the heart.  Wouldn’t it challenge those who never pray? or don’t feel any sense of urgency about the world?

I realize Im a radical, but church could be so much more than it is.   I really believe the ancients can teach us a thing or two that we may have forgotten along the way.

Time and Space (Essentials Red)

For The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

I’ve have really appreciated this weeks articles on time and space.  It is wonderful to have a glimpse at how the different Christian traditions have taken the common elements of human existence and infused them with spiritual meanings that relate to God’s Kingdom.   As a worshiper I now feel like I can also be thoughtful about the different daily, weekly, and yearly occurences that are unique to my location, and pray to find ways to make those moments have spiritual depth as well.

The idea of space for me is a touchy one as I see it as something that can easily be both a great aid and a hindrance to worship.   I was disappointed that the idea of space causing problems was not considered as it is very much a part of our tradition.   Unfortunately, human beings quickly become accustomed to certain surroundings and this can actually hinder our ability to worship God at times.    Imagine a wealthy couple that moves into a new neighbourhood and choose not to attend their local church because it meets in a school house, or vice-versa the homeless man who feels unworthy to enter a cathedral.   What about the church who expends a large portion of their budget maintaining a large building full of high tech equipment, at the expense of social justice initiatives?

I feel in general we all need to be very flexible about where and how we perceive space playing a part in our worship.  Ultimately, we are the temple of God, and should be aware that if this emphasis starts to shift to much to external building or location we a bound to create and experience problems.