If I've done my job well, The Mystery of Faith CD will provoke a series of questions.
Why create an album that moves through liturgical moments, culminating at the Lord's Table? Is this just the latest fad?
Or maybe other questions-- ones I dread-- may arise:
Does Glenn hate modern worship? Is he reacting in a knee-jerk way?
Though I hope your questions are more like the former than the latter, both have to do with the same larger question: Why do this? Why care about this? Should we care too?
The book, Discover the Mystery of Faith, is a short (just under 80-page) explanation of how my whole understanding of corporate worship has changed over the past few years. I hope it will whet your appetite to learn more about how Psalm-praying can teach us the language of prayer, how our services can actually tell the rich Gospel Story in word and deed, and how the Lord's Table can become the culminating moment in our corporate worship. And I pray that you will see-- as I have come to see, and as the Church has known for centuries-- that our faith is profoundly shaped by our practices, the things we say and do when we gather as the people of God.
From the Back Cover:
For centuries the Church has believed that the way we worship and pray becomes the way we believe. But if this is true, it’s time to take a closer look at what we say and sing and do each week.
Drawing from his own discovery of ancient worship practices, Glenn Packiam helps us understand why the church made creedal proclamations and psalm-praying a regular part of their worship. He challenges us to discover why the Lord's Table is the climactic point of our corporate “retelling of the salvation story.”
When our worship becomes a rich feast, our faith is nourished and no longer anemic. The more our worship speaks of Christ, the more we enter into the mystery of faith.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Ian Cron (Author of "Chasing Francis")
Chapter 1: A Pauper’s Meal
Chapter 2: Learning a New Language
Chapter 3: Tethered to the Narrative
Chapter 4: Retelling the Story
Chapter 5: Entering the Mystery
Chapter 6: Listening to the Spirit
from the Foreword by Ian Cron:
As I travel the country, it’s clear that a much-needed shift is taking place. Worship leaders are exhausted. The weekly pressure to plan and deliver innovative, seismically moving, crowd-attracting worship services is unsustainable.
Essential and far-reaching questions are surfacing: is contemporary worship compassing people toward a transfiguring encounter with God or pandering to our culture’s addiction to peak experiences, entertainment, and celebrity? Has the word relevant become code for “keep the consumer satisfied”? Do services designed around themes address the longings of people in search of a narrative that will make sense of their lives? Have we become more focused on “Lights, Camera, Action,” than on “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”?
More importantly, might reclaiming the liturgical practices and theology of worship of the early church help guide our course correction?
In this marvelous primer, Glenn Packiam proves he is an important voice in this emerging conversation. In a theologically rich, gracious, yet clear-eyed way, he addresses these questions and many more. It couldn’t be timelier. Anyone who cares about worship and the contemporary church would be wise to read, mark, and learn from its pages.
Ian Morgan Cron, speaker and bestselling author
Buy on Amazon HERE.
Buy on iBooks HERE.
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