I was recently in a friendly yet passionate dialogue with a pastor-friend of mine, for whom I have a lot of respect. We were wrestling through whether a more overt liturgy (one with readings, congregational responses and prayers, etc.) worked with more “simple” folk–people who think simply, need things simplified, and aren’t attracted to high-level theological abstraction. My friend contended that his context was one where high liturgy would not thrive because people weren’t interested in heavy theology, antiquated language, … Read More
Distinguishing Between Songs that are Theologically Incomplete and Songs that are Theologically Wrong
From XKCD.comMy last (provocatively titled) post sparked a brief but helpful comment-dialogue between me and my friend, Bobby Gilles, over at My Song in the Night. It got me thinking about an important point of distinguishing when appraising songs for use in corporate worship. There’s a necessary distinction that worship pastors, planners, and leaders must make between songs that we can describe as “theologically incomplete” as compared to songs that are just wrong. Sometimes in our zeal for truth, we … Read More
Defending Mushy Worship Songs: Could Jesus Be Our Boyfriend?
When people begin to think critically about worship, one of the first analytical dominoes to fall is the criticism that modern worship songs take too much of a “Jesus is my boyfriend” approach. Many (including myself) have often said that if one could substitute Jesus’ name for the name of a significant other in a worship song, it’s not a good (or biblical) worship song. Others have taken the analysis a step further and said that romanticized language in worship … Read More
New Liturgy Site a Sign of the Times for Evangelical Worship
Over the years, I’ve attempted to catalogue and explore the shifts that we’re observing taking place in mainstream evangelical worship. Many of these shifts, in my opinion, are in the right direction, and encouraging them has been one of the chief aims of this blog since its inception in 2009. Those of us who have been in the contemporary worship biz for a while are probably aware of one of the leading sites to provide music and resources for worship … Read More
Worship as Gospel Target Practice
I continue to slowly read through James K. A. Smith’s book, Desiring the Kingdom. It has fast become one of the three most important books on worship I have read in the last decade. The book’s central point is pictured through a hundred different metaphors and explored from a hundred different angles. I would like to tease out just one metaphor. Smith says, The liturgy is a “hearts and minds” strategy, a pedagogy that trains us as disciples precisely by … Read More
How the Doxology Shapes Us
One drop of water on a rock has little effect, but a steady dripping will eventually wear a hole into seemingly impenetrable stone. Singing the Doxology every week is like getting a steady drip of life-giving Trinitarian water over hardened hearts. James K. A. Smith, in Desiring the Kingdom, reminds us that the very form and rituals of worship have a shaping effect on us. We don’t just become more godly by learning the theology of the songs and imbibing … Read More
Worship is Not Escape From But Entrance Into Reality
I was struck recently by this statement by Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann: Our entrance into the presence of Christ is an entrance into a fourth dimension which allows us to see the ultimate reality of life. It is not an escape from the world, rather it is the arrival at a vantage point from which we can see more deeply into the reality of the world.* (Cue Beastie Boys.) This is very similar to what John Jefferson Davis was trying … Read More
Why We Gather for Worship
“Constituting and Fulfilling the Church”…Yikes Bloggers can easily tell when a post resonates with a large amount of people because of the way their hits spike over a given 48 hours. A recent post on Why We Need the Call to Worship did that. My hunch as to what resonated was how all those various short blurbs on the Call to Worship pointed to the gravity and depth of what corporate worship truly is. Some of the best advice … Read More
In Worship, We Not Only Encounter God But Encounter the Church
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. (Hebrews 12:22-23, NIV) Experiencing the Church Many distill the essence of corporate worship as “encounter with God.” That’s a great summary. When we gather, God chooses to reveal Himself in special ways and through special means, many of which He reserves ordinarily only for that … Read More
Singing Theology So That We’ll Eventually Believe It
The band and I recently rocked the faces off a few hundred kids several weeks ago as we led music for our church’s Vacation Bible School (VBS). It’s a fun time where we musicians are able to get a little flamboyant and wacky, where our inner rock star (rightly suppressed on Sunday mornings) can come out. We had a blast, and the kids really loved it. Since VBS, my family has been bumping that music in our car as we … Read More