glenn packiam's blog

Reflections on Religious Freedom From A Christian Immigrant Perspective

I don’t want to take sides. I don’t want to stir up controversy. I don’t want to weigh in ‘just because…’ 

But I think it’s worth saying that religious liberties are nothing to sneer at or treat lightly. I get the disdain for culture wars. Decades of trying to achieve religious agendas through contentious public discourse have left a bad taste for any Christian dialogue in the public square. I get it.

I believe deeply and try to live out the “Jesus Way”—the quieter, counter-cultural ethic that only makes sense if we believe in a God who raises the dead. I have been shaped by Hauerwas and his imagination of the Church as an alternate society. I think embodying the Gospel is the Church’s mission, not boycotting culture. I don’t even think we need to “take a stand for Jesus.”

I get it. I understand where my peers—and dare I say now, the younger generation emerging behind me—are coming from.

But…religious freedoms are precious. Can the Gospel thrive without them? Certainly.  And it has. But let us not be quick to overlook how much the Gospel has been helped (insert the *) by political conditions that were favourable to its spread—from Constantine’s edict to Luther’s “godly princes”. Do I think this was all a good thing? Certainly not. I am not ignorant of the dangers of a ‘civil religion’, and the confusion that ensues when a Christian identity is confused with a national one. I had my church history classes in seminary where we had to grapple with the good, the bad, and the downright ugly parts of the relationship between church and state in Western Christianity.

And yet…we must not dismiss religious freedom as a trivial thing.

God does not work in a social or political vacuum. God works from within. There have been times when the prophetic voice challenges the Empire (see: Moses), and there are times when the prophetic voice speaks  within it (see: Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon). Paul seemed adept at using both approaches, challenging Agrippa and ripping Caesar language from Rome and applying it to Jesus (‘savior’, ‘lord’, ‘freedom’, ‘peace’, ‘son of God’, ‘salvation’, and more)…yet also claiming his Roman citizenship where it gave an advantage to his proclamation of the Gospel.

So we must work from where we are. And where we are is America—a place that has a rich history of religious freedom (even though it is not absolute). America is a place where citizens have a voice. Much more can be said—and has been said by those more learned than I—about a “political theology” for public engagement, and how to use this "voice", so I’ll leave it to them.

I’m simply weighing in to ask us to take seriously the value of religious freedoms…to look honestly at how God can and has used it for His purposes…and to not dismiss those who are working kindly and carefully within the privileges of American politics and culture to preserve these freedoms.

And why do I care? Because I came to America from a country that doesn’t have these freedoms. No, I wasn't persecuted. Yes, there are large churches and thriving Christian ministries in Malaysia. Nevertheless, in Malaysia there is religious toleration but not religious freedom. And there is a difference. I know my brothers and sisters in Christ in Malaysia are working to change this, for the common good. We dishonor their efforts by treating our freedom here too lightly. We may—and I’m not sure about this, but it's worth considering—even be cheapening the plight of persecuted Christians around the world by pretending that theirs is not such a great cost to bear. We trivialize their suffering when we treat the freedom to practice our faith in Christ as a "take it or leave it" proposition. Let’s not do that. Hear it from one who came here by choice; one who is grateful to be an American citizen; and one who is giving his life to make the most of these freedoms for the glory of God and for the good of others. And though I wear this citizenship lightly, I wear it gratefully.

May it be so for us. 

What is Sanctification FOR?

In the flurry of conversation about sanctification-- thanks to the public disagreement between Pastor Tullian and The Gospel Coalition-- I keep wondering if one question is being ignored:

What is sanctification for?

We've explored what it might mean-- a looking back or a striving toward-- and if it results in transformation or not...but why does it matter? What is it for?

In our day, we seem to force everything through the grid of acceptance and rejection. So, when it comes to sanctifcation, we ask, "Will I be accepted if I am not fully sanctified?" Or, "How sanctified do I have to be in order to not be rejected-- by God or by the Church?"  While these might be sincere questions, I suspect they are misguided. 

Consider the following:

(a) If we were created to be God's image-bearers-- to reflect God's wise and loving rule into God's world, and

(b) if the Fall has marred that image (at best), and

(c) if Jesus is the perfect image of God, and 

(d) if salvation-- in its totality-- is about setting us right, putting us and the world back together again in such a way that we and all creation are being made 'new', 

(e) then sanctification is about restoring the image of God in us for the glory of God and for the life of the world.

When God incorporates us into Christ, His righteousness becomes ours, the Spirit in-dwells us, and we are called children of God. And then the Spirit begins to work in us both to desire and to do (Phil. 2:12-13), conforming us to the image of the Son of God...not so we can become children of God, but because we are dearly loved children of God (Eph. 5:1).

The Spirit helps us become the children of God that we already are in Christ so that we can once again be God's image-bearers in His world. In short...

We are being conformed to the image of the Son of God not so we can be 'accepted' but so that we can reflect God's glory into His world.

But as long as we're fixated on acceptance and rejection issues, we'll miss the wider and more glorious call to bring God's wise and loving rule into His world, anticipating the day when His Kingdom arrives in fullness.

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[N. T. Wright's fabulous but lesser known book, "After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters" is a helpful exposition of these ideas.]

Evangelicals and the Book of Common Prayer

Alan Jacobs, Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Baylor University and former professor of English at Wheaton College, wrote a sweeping (yet not dense), elegant "biography" of the Book of Common Prayer. It is part of Princeton University Press's "Lives of Great Religious Books" series and is one of ny favorite recent reads. In an interview published by Christianity Today, Jacobs explains why the Anglican prayerbook has had such an impact. The whole interview-- not too long to read in a few minutes-- is well worth and read and can be found HERE.

Some of my favorite bits are excerpted below:

What makes the Book of Common Prayer a distinctively evangelical form of worship?
Well, I'm not sure it is, at least in its liturgies. Cranmer strove to maintain as much continuity with traditional forms of worship as he could, given his commitments to the Reformation. So in the liturgies themselves there is little that a medieval Catholic Christian could find fault with—except that they are in English...

[The second difference-- of two-- between the Book of Common Prayer and existing Catholic liturgies of its day] and for Cranmer most important, is the strong emphasis on a lectionary that took people through the whole Bible—and, if people went to Morning and Evening Prayer, read through the whole of the books of Psalms each month. Cranmer wanted the literate to read the Bible thoroughly and faithfully, and for the illiterate to hear it read every day...Saturation in Scripture was Cranmer's primary goal for the people of England, and I don't think you can get more evangelical than that!

What about some of the problems that evangelicals have had with the BCP over the years? ...[S]ome evangelicals have viewed the prayer book as a kind of rote formalism that quenches revival and the free movement of the Spirit.
The more intractable protestors have always been those who prefer "free" (unscripted) worship, who disdain all set forms. One of the more hard-core in this group was the great poet John Milton, who not only rejected all liturgy but did not even believe that Christians were permitted to say the Lord's Prayer (he saw it merely as a template which we should adapt for the needs of our own hearts). For people like Milton, the very existence of any kind of prayer book is offensive.

What would you say are the strengths of the historic prayer book tradition? More specifically, speaking as an evangelical Anglican yourself, what do you think evangelicals can learn from it?
In making his prayer book, Thomas Cranmer wanted to make sure that the people of England were constantly exposed to Holy Scripture in a language they understood, working through the whole of the Bible regularly and the Psalms every month, while following a calendar that rehearsed in every church year the whole story of salvation starting with the Fall and culminating in Christ's unique sacrifice of himself on the Cross and his glorious resurrection, the benefits of which we are not worthy to receive on any merits of ours—"we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs from under Thy table"—but only through the purest grace extended on the basis of Christ's unique status as Lord and Savior.

How can you get any more evangelical than that?

 

How Many Minor Keys Are We Singing In?

Why ask the question?
I'm preparing a 90-minute seminar as part of doctoral work at Durham University (England) on the place of sadness in contemporary praise and worship. Needless to say, my project includes many facets of research on this topic.

One aspect is to explore musical modes of contemporary praise and worship songs. Below is a chart on the relevant emotion of a particular musical structure. I have highlighted the lines that mention sadness.

What list of songs is being used?
Dr. Lester Ruth at Duke University began compiling a list of songs in 1994 that have appeared on the US Top 25 lists published by CCLI twice a year. As of February, 2014, Ruth has identified 104 unique songs that have been on the US Top 25 lists in the past 25 years (since CCLI began publishing such lists in 1989).

What does it mean?
We must be careful in saying too much about what this means. Not all "laments" are in minor keys, and not all songs in minor keys are "laments". A more detailed analysis of words and themes is necessary. (Dr. Lester Ruth has done an analysis of verbs; I will mention his findings in my project but not here for now.) 

How you can help
Since none of the songs are technically in a minor key, I have created a range of categories for "minor motifs". I'd appreciate your help in going through the list and seeing which songs belong to which category.

UPDATE: I'm working on making more precise notes to my Word Doc. Here are some new categories:

“Minor Motif Scale”

mm 1: verse or chorus begins or ends with minor chord

mm 2: verse and chorus begin or end with minor chord

mm 3: verse or chorus begins and ends with minor chord

mm 4: verse and chorus begin and end with minor chord

Would you add comments to the blog with songs I've missed and which category they'd fit into, please?

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1	Above All	Major
2	Ah Lord God	Major
3	All Hail King Jesus	Major
4	Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)	Major
5	Arise and Sing	Major
6	As the Deer	mm 1 (chorus begins w minor)
7	Awesome God	mm 3 (verse begins and ends with minor; chorus ends with minor)
8	Beautiful One	Major
9	Because He Lives	Major
10	Better Is One Day	Major
11	Bind Us Together	Major
12	Bless His Holy Name	Major
13	Blessed Be Your Name	Major
14	Breathe	Major
15	Celebrate Jesus, Celebrate	Major
16	Change My Heart, Oh God	Major
17	Come, Now Is the Time to Worship	Major
18	Cornerstone	Major
19	Days of Elijah	Major
20	Draw Me Close	Major
21	Emmanuel	Major
22	Everlasting God	Major
23	Father I Adore You	Major
24	Forever	Major
25	Forever Reign	Major
26	Friend of God	Major
27	From the Inside Out	minor
28	Give Thanks	Major
29	Glorify Thy Name	Major
30	Glory to God Forever	Major
31	God of Wonders	Major
32	Great Is the Lord	Major
33	Hallelujah	Major
34	Happy Day	Major
35	He Has Made Me Glad	Major
36	He Is Exalted	Major
37	The Heart of Worship	Major
38	Here I Am to Worship	Major
39	His Name Is Wonderful	Major
40	Holy Ground	Major
41	Holy Is The Lord	Major
42	Hosanna	mm 1 (verse begins with a minor chord)
43	Hosanna (Praise is Rising)	Major
44	How Can We Name a Love	Major
45	How Great Is Our God	Major
46	How Great Thou Art	Major
47	How He Loves	Major
48	How Majestic Is Your Name	Major
49	I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever	Major
50	I Exalt Thee	Major
51	I Give You My Heart	Major
52	I Love You, Lord	Major
53	I Stand in Awe	Major
54	I Will Call Upon the Lord	Major
55	I Worship You Almighty God	Major
56	In Christ Alone	Major
57	In Moments Like These	Major
58	Indescribable	mm 1 (verse begins with a minor chord)
59	Jesus, Name Above All Names	Major
60	Jesus Messiah ?	Major
61	Joy to the World	Major
62	Let There Be Glory and Honor and Praises	Major
63	Lord Be Glorified	Major
64	Lord I Lift Your Name on High	Major
65	Lord Reign In Me	Major
66	Majesty	Major
67	Mighty to Save	Major
68	More Precious Than Silver	Major
69	My Life Is In You, Lord	Major
70	O How He Loves You	Major
71	One Thing Remains	mm 1 (chorus begins with a minor chord)
72	Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord	Major
73	Open Our Eyes Lord	Major
74	Our God	mm 2 (verse and chorus begin with a minor chord)
75	Our God Reigns	Major
76	Praise the Name of Jesus	Major
77	Revelation Song	Major
78	Sanctuary	Major
79	Seek Ye First	Major
80	Shine, Jesus, Shine	Major
81	Shout to the Lord	Major
82	The Stand	Major
83	Surely the Presence of the Lord	Major
84	There’s Something About That Name	Major
85	This Is the Day	Major
86	Thou Art Worthy	Major
87	Thy Lovingkindness	Major
88	Trading My Sorrows	Major
89	Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus	Major
90	We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise	Major
91	We Fall Down	Major
92	We Have Come Into His House	Major
93	We Will Glorify	Major
94	What a Mighty God We Serve	Major
95	When I Look Into Your Holiness	Major
96	Whom Shall I Fear God of Angel Armies?	mm 1 (chorus begins with a minor chord)
97	The Wonderful Cross	Major
98	You Are My All In All	Major
99	You Are My King	Major
100	You’re Worthy of My Praise	Major
101	Your Grace Is Enough	Major
102	Your Love Never Fails	Major
103	Your Name	Major
104	10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)	Major

 

 

What Makes Us Lucky?

What makes us lucky?

We think of luck as simply a positive reversal of fortune or chance occurrence that worked out in our favor. Like winning the lottery.

Jesus sees it as far more. He knows it takes more than changing your conditions and surroundings to make you lucky. It takes more than money or comfort or success. It takes the arrival of the kingdom of God. And that is no chance occurrence.

The crowd that gathered to hear Jesus’ pronouncements of blessing—the Beatitudes—were not the important big-city types. Those would come later, when Paul joined the team and traveled to various cities. These first followers were country folks. Simple, well-meaning, kind-hearted peasants. Luke, the gospel writer, doesn’t mention a name we might know or even a grouping—like Pharisee or Sadducee or scribe or lawyer—we might recognize other than “the disciples.” This is simply a crowd. A crowd of ordinary, unspectacular people. Sure, the twelve He had chosen were there, but they may not have looked like the most promising bunch either.

So when Jesus began to speak, it’s important to remember that He wasn’t sermonizing, delivering a prepared oratory masterpiece to a mass generic audience. It wasn’t a canned speech He had taken on the circuit. Jesus, full of compassion, sat on the plain and spoke. To them. To the unlucky, to the outcast and the insignificant, to the overlooked and undervalued.

And He began with this word: “Blessed.”

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Except it wasn’t quite that word.

Both Luke and Matthew chose the Greek word makarios to capture our Lord’s opening word in the Beatitudes. Makarios simply means “fortunate, happy.” In secular Greek literature, it is used to describe the blissful state of the gods. It is not an inherently religious word. The Greek word more like our words “blessed” or “blessing” is eulogia. Eulogia is often used to invite or invoke God’s blessing and also to bless God. That word was, of course, available to Jesus—and Luke and Matthew. But He—they—chose makarios instead.

If we were to use a word today for makarios, we might choose the word lucky. Not lucky as in the result of randomness. Not lucky as in the reward for properly acknowledging a superstition or a charm. It is neither the product of erratic chance nor the result of currying favor with some capricious god. It is simply lucky as we use it conversationally: You lucky dog, you get to take a vacation next week! Or, Lucky you! You just got a promotion in the middle of a recession!

The irony of this word choice is heightened when we imagine Jesus looking at these ordinary, unspectacular people and exclaiming, “Lucky you!” He might as well have said, “Lucky are the unlucky!”

Lucky are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Lucky are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Lucky are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

Lucky are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

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Why would Jesus say that? Why would He call these unlikely and unlucky people, lucky?

What if Jesus was announcing blessing on these people not because of their state but in spite of it?

Could it be that Jesus is not saying, “Blessed are you because you are poor,” but rather, “Blessed are you in spite of being poor, for the kingdom has come to even such as you”? Reading it this way begins to make more sense. In this light, those who are mourning are now blessed because they will—in God’s kingdom that Jesus is bringing—be comforted. They are not considered lucky because of their mourning; they are lucky because they are receiving and will receive in fullness the unexpected good fortune of God’s comfort in spite of their mourning now. The focus of the blessing—especially in Luke’s gospel—is on the latter portion of each Beatitude, not on the opening phrase. “Luck” is not in their initial conditions—of poverty and hunger and mourning and persecution—but rather in their unexpected outcomes: The kingdom of heaven in its fullness, comfort, and reward is theirs. 

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So it is for you. God has come to you in the midst of your mess and mistakes. He is announcing His arrival into your ordinary, unspectacular life and inviting you to follow, to surrender, to live in a different way. God is rescuing and redeeming the world, and you—unlikely you!—have somehow gotten in on it. The trajectory of your life has been altered. You now have a part in the future that God is bringing. Like Abraham, you have been blessed to carry blessing, to live as luck-bearers to the unlikely and the unlucky. You are receiving and participating in the kingdom of God.

And for that you are Lucky. So Lucky! 

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This was an adapted excerpt from my book, LUCKY: How the Kingdom Comes to Ordinary People. Read more samples-- including the Foreword by Eugene Peterson-- HERE.

Thoughts on the Liturgical Moments

I am the furthest thing from a liturgy expert. I'm a student. But some times, as C. S. Lewis once wrote, a student may be helpful to other students because he knows what it is like to not know what the teacher knows! I made these short videos (2-3 minutes each) to help fellow "students" to learn about certain moments in the liturgy. A true liturgist will know that these aren't formal names or moments; I am referring to parts of the service in informal ways. But I think this may help those of us from non-liturgical backgrounds to understand what we can gain from saying the Creed, confessing our sins, turning to each other, coming to the Table, and more.

First, an overview of my forray into learning from the liturgy:

 _________________________

INVITATION: Calling Each Other To Worship (The "Sursum Corda" and the "Sanctus")
Why do we gather with one another? What is the reason we turn to each other in worship?

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PROCLAMATION: Remembering the Church Historic and Universal (The Nicene Creed)
What connects us to the Church-- the people of God all around the world, and those who have gone before us? If our many church-specific statements of faith have built unnecessary walls between us, what can unite us?

 _________________________

INVOCATION: Inviting the Spirit
God has turned His face toward us, ever and always, in Christ! So, what do we mean when we invite the Spirit to come in the midst of corporate worship?

 _________________________

CONFESSION: Acknowledging Our Need (Prayer of Confession)
Why do we confess our sins? Are we trying to convince God to be merciful? Or is there something more beautiful at work?

 _________________________

EUCHARIST: Meeting Jesus at the Table (The "Memorial Acclamation")
What is communion all about? Isn't it just a remembrance-- something in the past that we look back to? Or is there something about the Table that makes us look forward? And is there something happening in the moment that is beyond what we can grasp or know?

_________________________ 

CELEBRATION: Leaving with Hope
Can Christians rejoice? Why are we people of hope and how does our corporate worship remind us of that?

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For the music featured on these videos, check out the music project I released with Integrity Music based on these liturgical moments, called Mystery of Faith HERE.

 

Related articles

What's So Great About the Past?

How Worship Forms Us

Why I'm Becoming an Anglican Priest...at New Life Church.

I grew up in an Anglican home. My mother comes from several generations of Anglicans, in Singapore and Sri Lanka. As a baby, I was christened at St. Hilda's Anglican church in Singapore. When my parents were introduced to the move of the Holy Spirit in the mid-1980's in Malaysia, however, their parish wasn't quite sure what to do with all of it. So eventually, we began attending a non-denominational Pentecostal church. I was 8 years old.

What followed has been almost three decades of a rich and meaningful spiritual life in churches within the non-denominational, Pentecostal or Charismatic streams. I have experienced and continue to experience profound “encounters” through the Spirit in times of prayer, praise and worship, and Bible reading. I have been a witness to and a participant in the good and proper use of the gifts of the Spirit. I love the spiritual vitality that comes from believing that God is at work within His world today!

So when I tell you that I am on a journey to become an Anglican priest (I was ordained as a deacon on February 17, 2014, and, God-willing, will be ordained as a priest in August), it can seem like I have either taken a sharp turn off course or have come home at last. I think there is a sense in which both are true.

Let's say this is a sharp turn off course...Imagine that you are about to embark on an adventure and you suddenly realize that you do not have what you will need when you get there. You will surely turn around to go and get it.

Over the past few years, I have become more aware of how our practices—what we do and say and sing—shape our faith. While our expression in worship has become more vibrant, our formation as the people of God seems to have become more anemic. As a pastor in a non-denominational church, I cannot help but feel that we do not have the resources that we need for the future that awaits us. We have been too easily swayed by the cult of personality, too quickly enticed by trends and innovations. We need an anchor amidst the waves, a rope that guides us home in a blizzard, roots strong enough to hold up in a storm.

Anglicanism has stewarded many practices from the early Christians, cultivating them and re-setting them in beautiful ways. One might even say that the Anglican gift to the wider Body of Christ is their prayer book. As I’ve visited and participated in other historic Christian worship practices, I’ve gleaned something from each, but have found something special within Anglicanism.

But let’s be clear: this turn in my journey is not a rejection of the non-denominational church; it is—I hope—a contribution to it. I am called to work within the non-denominational church for a renewal that may come from re-establishing our roots. This is, in fact, a bit of what we are witnessing at New Life. What this ordination gives me is perhaps a bit of credibility and legitimacy in borrowing from the rich treasury. Maybe now I’ll be less like a liturgical thief and more like that wise steward Jesus spoke of who brings out treasures both old and new!

Let's say this is my coming home... I have learned and continue to learn from the diverse and beautiful Body of Christ. But there is something about how the Spirit weaves the details of our story together. I sense that this ordination, first as deacon, and later—God-willing—as a priest, is something of a capstone to what God has been building in me. It feels like my vocational identity as pastor and priest has been named and confirmed. The very best parts of my spiritual heritage are being brought together. The life of the Spirit, the richness of Scripture, and the mystery of the Sacrament are a threefold cord—not easily broken—that I hold onto (or is it holding me?) as I follow Jesus.

But let’s say this is something more… Could this be a bit of a bridge to help us realize how much we have in common in our worship of the triune God? If we become convinced that our little corner of the world is the whole world, we will see any bridge as an invasion not an invitation. But what would happen if we trusted that the Spirit is at work, carrying out Jesus’ prayer that the Church would be one? How might the Spirit help us transcend our traditions in ways that allow us to borrow freely and be enriched by each other’s practices, even if we remain distinct in other ways?

Here is a 12-minute video interview that my amazing, gracious and wise pastor, Brady Boyd, and I did explaining a bit more:

VIDEO BLOG | FEBRUARY 2014 from New Life Colorado on Vimeo.

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Questions and Clarifications

1. Is new life downtown becoming an Anglican Church?
No. New Life Downtown is a parish of New Life Church. Your giving goes 100% to New Life Church. I am “sent” as an Anglican priest to serve New Life Church. As such, I continue to be under Pastor Brady’s covering and authority, along with the elders of New Life Church. While New Life Downtown does not come under any Anglican authority, I personally hold a “dual citizenship” of sorts, with Bishop Ken Ross as my covering in the Anglican world.

2. What do Anglicans believe?
Anglican theology is, to put it simply, Protestant theology. Their central document is the Bible --  they are committed to the Bible as the Word of God -- it is God breathed and it is the truth by which we order our lives. They also believe that Jesus is the unique Son of God -- that salvation is found only in His sacrificial death and resurrection.  This faith in what the Bible reveals is summed up in the historic statements of belief such as the 39 Articles and the Nicene Creed.

Because Anglicanism is not a denomination with a solitary authority figure—it is a communion of bishops—the diversity within Anglicanism worldwide is rich and varied. The majority of Anglicans are in the global south—in Africa and Asia— where Christian orthodoxy and missionary zeal are combined in ways reminiscent of the early church.  The majority of them are Evangelicals who affirm the authority of Scripture and embrace the work of the Holy Spirit.

3. Is this the same as the Episcopal Church?
No. Anglicanism has grown out of the missionary expansion of the Church of England over the past 500 years - spreading to 164 countries, with tens of millions of members. This global fellowship of churches is experiencing tremendous growth in the Global South, where these churches are known for their vibrant faith in God and their passion for Mission. The Episcopal Church (of America) is one of the “provinces” of Anglicanism worldwide. Because of their departures from the authority of scripture (though there are certainly many bishops and priests who remain faithful to Scripture and are trying to work for reform from within), Anglicans in the Global South decided that there was a need for a biblical and missional Anglicanism in America. The Anglican Church of Rwanda was the first to plant churches in the US as missionary outposts of the Anglican Church of Rwanda in 2000.  The name for Rwanda’s Missionary District in America is PEARUSA, and my ordination is through PEARUSA. In 2009 Anglicans in the Global South also established the Anglican Church in North America as a province – PEARUSA is also part of this province while still being primarily connected to the Anglican Church of Rwanda. These are all separate from the Episcopal Church.

And now, a picture of my pastor (Brady Boyd) and my bishop (Ken Ross):

 

Related articles

What's So Great About the Past?

The Liturgy: What the Community Builds Together

 

Why An Ash Wednesday Service?

"As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust."

Psalm 103:13-14 (ESV)

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You don't need to observe Ash Wednesday. This isn't a command. There is no rule for it. In fact, as far as Church traditions go, it is a fairly late development-- and by late I mean around the 8th century.

But ashes have long been a symbolic part of YHWH worship. 

• There were a sign of sorrow and mourning (2 Sam. 13:19, Is. 61:3, Jer. 6:26, Ez. 27:30).  
• They were also an act of repentance and turning toward God's face. Daniel says that he "turned [his] face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes" (Dan. 9:3). Jesus uses ashes symbolically to speak of repentance (Matthew 11:21).

As with all spiritual practices, the practices themselves are not the point; the practices point to Jesus.

So, how does-- or, rather, how can-- Ash Wednesday, point us to Jesus?

Let it be an act of humility. Make yourself low before the Lord Almighty, the One who formed us from the dust.

Let it be a confession of mortality. The psalmist urges us to "number our days", to remember that we have limits, that we are finite, that we shall one day return to the dust (Ps. 90:3, 12). Kneel before the "Lord our God our Maker" (Ps. 95:6).

Let it be a time to repent. We do not confess our sins to make God gracious; we confess because we have found that God is gracious. We turn away from self-reliance and self-destruction, and we turn toward the God whose nail-pierced hands are ever and always open to us. Repentance is not about shaming us; it's about making us whole.

Let it be a time to receive God's grace. When we humble ourselves, we find we are met by God's grace (James 4:6).

So, no, you don't have to observe Ash Wednesday. You don't have to have a service or even go to one. But it is a beautiful way to join with the Church-- for the past 1200 years-- and with the people of God-- for thousands of years before that!-- and humbly repent and seek God's face.

It is the beginnig of a fast season, Lent. Lent-- like every other season of the Church Calendar-- is about marking time around the life of Christ. We tend to mark time around our own events; there's nothing evil about that. But there is another way to keep time. Christians for centuries have marked time in way that reminded them of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, in short, this is about being centered on Christ and being connected to the Body of Christ, historic and universal.

This an invitation. Spiritual habits like marking time by the Church Calendar can be a habitation for the Spirit, a way to make room for His work in us and in our churches. It is, as Peterson paraphrases Jesus' words, a way to "keep company" with Jesus (Matt. 11:28-30).

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If you live in Colorado Springs, and would like to join us for New Life Downtown's Ash Wednesday service, here are the details (The Pinery at the Hill is at 775 West Bijou Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80905):

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Advent Resources, 2013 Edition

Why the Church Calendar?

ON GOING TO CHURCH

I don't want to talk about Donald Miller. This is in part because in 2006, when I was working on my first book, my publisher kept bringing up Donald Miller's name in every email or phone conversation we had, wondering why I couldn't write more like him. (Ha!) It is also because I don't know Donald Miller, or the nuances of his meaning. But mostly I don't want to talk about Donald Miller because I what I really want to talk about is church, specifically, going to church.

Why do we go to church?

This is the question at the bottom of all this musing, right? Miller speaks for many who see the hollow-ness of what the gathered church has become. I see it. You see it. So we ask, "Why go to church?" Immediately, someone is going to say, "We don't go to church; we are the church!" There is, of course, something true about this statement. But it misses a very crucial point...and we'll start with that point:

1. We go to church because being and place belong together.
Those of my readers who are more philosophically inclined will be able to cite various French and German philosophers and social theorists who talk about the necessity of human beings being grounded in place. We are not free-floating entites unconnected to particular points in space and time. We find our identity and memory and sense of being by being in a place.

There is, I think, a simple illustration for this: a family and a home. A group of people living together in a house doesn't make them a family (See: house, fraternity). And a family will always be family even when the kids grow older and move out of the home. But what is a family that has no place, no house to make a home? Arguably, it is the memory of living together in a home that shapes the sense of identity as a family-- long after the kids leave home. (This might be why children who grew up without one of their parents might say, "I don't really think of him as my dad." Why? Because he didn't live with them in their home.)

To force the disctintion between "being the church" and "going to church" is to deal in abstracts. Life doesn't divided being from place. We are formed as the famliy of God by gathering together, with those we know and love and with those we do not yet know or love.

2. We go to church because we belong to the human race.
Since the Enlightenment, Western cultures have tended to view humans as free-standing, autonomous agents (a sweeping generalization, I know!). But Christianity, having grown out of the East, has a more communal identity at its core. Paul wrote that in Adam "all sinned". And all who are in Christ are part of a "new creation". Going to church, then, is not really an individual act. It is part of how we "take our place"-- there's that word place again-- in the great drama of the cosmos.

Ben Myers wrote about this beautifully last year:

I go to church and take bread and wine not necessarily because I feel hungry but because the common human condition is, at bottom, hunger and thirst and nothing more. It is the hunger of my mothers and fathers that I am feeding when I take the consecrated bread. When I take the cup it is the burning thirst of Adam that I slake. It is for the whole huge accumulated mass of human arrogance and stupidity and meanness that I hang my head in shame and say (embarrassed to be asking yet again), Lord have mercy.

I do not go to church because it is enjoyable (usually it's not), or because it is never dull (usually it is). I do not go to church because it satisfies my private needs and wishes (it seldom does). I do not go to church for myself. I go because of Adam.

Yes, religion is a crutch. But it's not my own personal crutch. It is Adam's crutch. It's the human race that walks (if it walks at all) with a limp.

3. We go to church because it is where faith is found, and where faith finds us.
Yesterday I had lunch with a successful businessman in his late 50's and coffee with a young writer in his 20's. Both told me the same thing: we need something larger than ourselves, something to carry us when we cannot walk, something to belong to, to be committed to, something within which we can be located and identified.

To not go to church is to make me the arbiter of truth; it is to place myself as the final judge over what humanity needs, or what a person should believe. But to go to church is to surrender. Going to church is a confession at its core that I cannot make sense of the world on my own, that I cannot connect the dots, that I need the wisdom of the ages to be passed on to me. Not going to church can be, in a sense, the ultimate arrogance; going to church can be the ultimate humility. (Though, admittedly, this is often reversed; such is the mystery of pride and humility!)

Medi Ann Volpe, a Catholic lecturer at Durham University whom I admire, wrote about her own struggle with faith and doubt and the Church in this way:

 “I used to wonder why I still had my faith, after all I had done to lose it, and after it was challenged by my experience of life. Eventually I came to see that it wasn’t ‘mine’ to lose, really: it is the faith of the Church, and I participate in it, I don’t possess it.”

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You may think all this too flowery, that I am living in a fairy tale, or trying to "weave a spell". But to paraphrase C. S. Lewis, remember that in fairy tales, a spell is often just what is needed to wake us from an enchantment. "You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us."

 

Is Genesis 1 An Argument Against Evolution?

"If Genesis 1 isn't literal, the Gospel isn't literal either!"

"If the earth isn't 6000 years, then we can't trust the Bible on anything!"

These statements are a kind of rally cry for some Christians. Yet, it has also been the source, sadly, of much consternation for sincere, devout followers of Jesus who cannot accept a young earth or a literal six days. Convinced that they must either "take it or leave it", they walk away. Countless others, one might guess, have never even ventured to ask about Jesus, the cross, resurrection and redemption because they've been told they need to accept everything or nothing.

In the wake of the recent "creation debate", I wonder if Christians have achieved much besides driving yet another artificial wedge between "faith" and "science", as if the two have not happily co-existed-- indeed fed each other!-- in past centuries. I have no interest in re-hashing or critiquing the debate, not only because I am not the person to do so, but also because I didn't watch it! My interest is a more modest question: How are we to read Genesis 1?

Let's begin...

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The Cosmologies of the Ancient World

The cosmology in Genesis does not stand alone but within the landscape of many ancient creation stories, each providing different answers to similar questions. No one was asking, "Did god create the heavens and the earth?" The question was, "Which god, and why?" It is in comparing the Genesis account against these other stories that one may discover the significance of the Genesis cosmology. And perhaps along the way, you'll also see why I don' think Genesis backs you into a corner having to make the false choice between creation/young earth and evolution/old earth.

The Sumerians had no specific creation story text, though descriptions of creation appear in a few Sumerian texts. There are basically two traditions. In one, Heaven-- the god An—is united with Earth—the goddess Antum or Ki, fertilizing the earth and causing life—humans, animals, vegetation—to spring up and flourish. In the other tradition, Enki the god of fertility produces a spring that carries life to the earth through streams and rivers, with life springing up around it. In both traditions, humans exist “to serve the gods, to save them from having to work” (Lucas, 132).

Perhaps the best known ancient cosmology, besides the Genesis account, is the Enuma Elish. This Akkadian account was a copied numerous times and often recited at the New Year festival. The story is lengthy and bloody. It is essentially an account of a power struggle among the gods, driven by jealousy and anger. Marduk, the descendent of Apsu and Damkina, becomes greater than his divine predecessors. Though at first this provokes the jealousy of the other gods, he strikes a deal with them: he will fight on their behalf if they give him the power of “fixing destinies” (ibid). They agree. Marduk kills Tiamat, splitting her body in two, one half becoming the sky and the other half becoming the earth.  Marduk orders that Ea make humans out of the blood of Kingu, the leader of the rebel gods. Once again, the reason for making humans is so they can do the work of the gods.

There is a Canaanite cosmology as well. The Canaanites had no “undisputed cosmogony”, but there is the Baal cycle of texts in which the chief of the Pantheon, El, is called “creator of creation/creatures”, and his wife, Asherah, is called “creator/begetter of the gods” (Lucas, 133). These epithets are possible indications that the Canaanites thought of the origin of the cosmos in procreation terms.

Egyptian cosmologies are a bit more variegated. Several strands exist, each connected with local deities like Re, Atum, and Ptah (Lucas, 134). Lucas, writing in the IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch summarizes them by pointing out that Egyptian cosmologies are primarily concerned with the origin of the gods, each identified with basic elements of the cosmos such as earth, sky, and sun (Lucas, 134).

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So, What Is Genesis 1 Saying?

The meaning of Genesis 1 can be drawn out by two considerations. The first is the consideration of context: imagining what was going on in Israel’s story when these chapters were being formed and woven together. The second is the consideration of competing narratives: contrasting the Genesis creation story to the other creation stories of the Ancient Near East.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, meaning of Genesis 1 for the children of Israel can be summed up in the “Shema”, which appears in Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is one.” Genesis 1-11 reveals an entirely different view of the divine or spiritual realm. In contrast to the many gods that fill the scenes of other creation stories in the Ancient Near East, YHWH stands set apart as the sole sovereign over creation. There is no division of divine jurisdiction; no god of the sea, and a god of land, and a god of war. There is only one God. “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is one.” As the lead character in the opening scenes, God not only is, He acts. God is all through the opening passage as the only active character. There are no rivals, no one else adding input or ideas. There is simply, God. He is clearly the main character. God speaks, God forms, God makes, God calls, God blesses, God commissions. The primacy of God is must have been striking to a young Israelite child hearing these stories for the first time.

Secondly, this sole sovereign God creates the world on purpose. Creation is not the result of a bloody battle among the gods, or the result of mutated divine excretions, nor is the gods’ way of getting some help around the universe. The God of Genesis sets out to make the world, carefully, deliberately, methodically, and yes, even poetically. The opening chapter does, after all, have a song-like cadence to it.

Thirdly, as the sole Sovereign and intentional Creator, YHWH does not simply create, He blesses what He makes. In this way, all that is good and beautiful in the world—Hebrew, tov—is the result of YHWH’s blessing. One can imagine the people of Judah in Babylon straining their eyes to see something of YHWH’s hand, training the ears to hear something of YHWH’s voice, when all of a sudden, they remember: this world itself was made by YHWH. This tree, this stream, this flower, this fruit—all that flourishes around them—flourishes because YHWH has blessed it. The blessing of YHWH on the material world would have been a source of consolation and a spark of worship in an otherwise difficult land of exile.

Genesis 1 is a hymn of praise to the one, true God who made the world on purpose and with pleasure, and who lovingly blessed it and called it good. Now, let's tell the world about that. 

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For Further Reflection...

Here are two 3-minute videos from the Principal at St. John's College in Durham University (yes, where I'm doing my doctorate in theology) on Genesis, human origins, and the song of creation:

 

 

What We Sing About When We Sing About God

Ever wonder what we sing about?

Lester Ruth, Research Professor of Christian Worship at Duke Divinity School, decided to find out. Ruth examined the CCLI Top 25 lists for North America since those lists first appeared in 1989. He discovered that in the almost 25 years since, 100 songs had appeared in those lists.

He then indexed the nouns and verbs in those songs for a comparative study he was doing between contemproary worship songs and evangelical hymns. You can read his paper (with this appendix) HERE.

I offer four observations, listed here with no comment:

NOUNS: We address God generically-- with no name-- TWICE (8% of the songs) as often as we reference the Trinity (4% of the songs).

VERBS: We sing about human action roughly 1.5 times more (562 times) than we sing about divine action (380 times).

Our favorite verb for God? Save.

Our favorite verb for us? Praise.

But lest we get nostaligic about the "old hymns", Ruth's research was a comparative study of contemporary worship songs with Evangelical hymns, and the hymns (about 200 years old or so) don't fare too much better. See his slides comparing verbs HERE and comparing nouns HERE.

 

What Does It Mean to "Take a Stand for Jesus"?

Nobody's talking about Duck Dynasty star, Phil Robertson's comments in GQ anymore.

Which is why I thought this might finally be a good time to talk about a question that I kept thinking about during the uproar.

[To be clear, when the interview went viral and the temporary suspension from A&E ensued, there were several issues that were worth discussing. There were issues related to civil liberties, and I think Russell Moore and others did a good job addressing that. There were issues related to the complexities of how human sexuality works, and there were Christians who addressed that.]

But the question that kept nagging me as Facebook and Twitter exploded with opinion, was this:

What does it mean to take a stand for Jesus?

It became clear to me that many Christians believe that speaking out against gay marriage in particular or homosexuality in general is the equivalent of taking a stand for Jesus. The logic goes something like this, "If Christians are silent about the truth, then the lie will win. Therefore we must be bold and call sin, sin."

Can we talk about this? Let's consider a few things:

1. Jesus didn't take a stand for himself.
There were many occasions when people tried to trap Jesus--usually religious leaders, mind you-- that he gave a circuitous answer. He didn't often give them the "black and white" response they were looking for. That is not to say, of course, that Jesus was what we would call "soft on sin." Certainly not. It's just that He didn't pay much attention to answering their "hot button" issues in their terms. 

Many Christians want other Christians to give a stock answer to the issues of our day. But Jesus seems to not engage on the grand level of "issues"; He stoops low to the personal and the individual. He talks to the woman caught in the act of adultery; but when asked about when a man could divorce his wife and not be guilty of adultery, Jesus reframes the question. He's not a puppet of our social agendas.

And when Pilate puts Jesus on trial-- Pilate, the one who represents the systerms and structures of the world-- Jesus remains silent. He simply won't go there. 

I keep wondering why.

2. When Peter tried to take a stand for Jesus, Jesus told him to put his sword away.
When they came to arrest Jesus, Peter knew this was his moment. Don't be a coward, Peter. Stand up! Speak up! Do something! So he did. He drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant! We often think of Peter's cowardly denial, but forget that moments earlier Peter had done an incredibly risky thing; this could have gotten him arrested or even killed.

It was brave. It was remarkable.

And it was wrong. Jesus picked up the severed ear, placed it back on the man's face, healing the wound, and told Peter to put his sword away. No need to "take a stand Peter". 

Why?

3. Jesus knows that death and darkness don't win.
It may seem like weakness, but it is really strength. It may sound like foolishness, but it is true wisdom. It may seem like we're letting the enemy win and have his way, but God will have the Day.

We don't have to live or act from a place of panic. We are not the Kingdom-bringers; Jesus is. And Jesus brough the Kingdom by laying down his life. The cross redefined power and wisdom at last. Now we know what Love looks like. 

How would you live and speak and love if you knew that the Light wins?

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Am I saying that across the board, Christians should be silent? Nope. There are many issues-- from abortion to trafficking to violence-- that we can and ought to speak up and do something. And we have the privilege in America of engaging these "issues" through social and politlical action. This is a privilege not to be squandered.

What I am saying is that we need to think carefully about the why and the how.

Some things must be addressed in the public square for the good of the society-- because the powerless will suffer unless we speak for them. Other things are trickier because in a pluralistic society, there may be little agreement on what the "good of the society" means. But even if you were convinced you were "speaking out" for the good of the city, it is not the same thing as "taking a stand for Christ".

To preach Christ and Christ crucified-- this is the Gospel. And the Gospel, as Leslie Newbigin argued, is "public truth''-- it is for the whole world to hear and know.

From that public truth comes a set of implications-- and yes, moral implications.

IF Christ is the crucified and risen Lord and Savior, then this is what we must now do: repent, put our faith in him, trust His Spirit for the power to live in a new way with a new community of Christians.

But we do not start by announcing morality to the world. We start by preaching Christ.

This is my reading of 1 Corinthians. Paul addresses "the church of God in Corinth"; Paul begins with "Christ crucified" and then goes on to the moral and ethical implications of this truth; Paul then concludes with "the risen Christ" who gives us power to become new. [For the podcast along with my sermon notes of this new series on 1 Corinthians, click HERE.]

I wonder if we would do better to stop trying to "take a stand for Christ" and to seek instead to embody Christ-- His cruciform Way that appears weak and foolish to the world but is the power and the wisdom that triumphs in the end.

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For further reading: Last year around Good Friday, my pastor, Brady Boyd, wrote a blog on a similar theme, pointing us once again to our Savior. Read it HERE.

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ADDENDUM
Since not all readers will scroll through the comments, I'm going to add some notes I've written in the comments in response to some thoughtful questions:

What about John the Baptist confronting Herod, Jesus confronting the Pharisees, and Peter (later) confronting the Sanhedrin?

All these are examples of confrontations with Jewish leaders-- Herod was a half-Jew who called himself "king of the Jews" and John the Baptist was exposing him as a fraud; Pharisees were Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus and trusted in their own obedience; the Sanhedrin were rulers of the Jewish synagogue who claimed to know what God was but yet rejected Jesus; 

What's my point? Jewish leaders in the early NT would be analogous to church leaders in our day-- they are people who are "of the faith", who claim to know and worship God, and who ought to know better. Paul says judgment begins in the church...Paul talks about sexuality in fairly clear language to Christians, in a letter to a church he knew well...and he does so in love. In a similar way, we can and should talk about it to our church, our faith community-- in sermons, small group convos, personal convos and more!-- not in a "megaphone" to "the world." 

For all the above reasons, I think the situation in Corinth is worthy of reflection because it was the first (and largest until Ephesus) pagan city in which the Gospel took root. And Paul's modus operandi is to address, pastor, teach, correct the church, not the "culture at large." Part of the challenge of accepting this as American Christians, is we still think we're living in Jerusalem (a city of shared religious beliefs) and not in Corinth (a "secular" city of pluralistic beliefs).

What's the point in preaching Christ (as Savior) if we do not make clear what they need saving from?

It is true that preaching Christ means proclaiming Him as Savior and Lord...which implies something to need saving from...So what concept of sin is needed?

I think of Paul in Romans saying the Gentiles have some sort of law written on their hearts. In our day, most outside faith don't accept Christian sexual ethics or morality. But many have some place where they draw the line: they agree that injustice and exploitation is wrong, they agree that extreme selfishness is wrong, etc... Perhaps our approach is to find that desire and show how they don't have the power to (fill in the blank): love like they want to, care like they should, etc. We can then point to Christ as the Savior and Lord. (This, I think, is what Timothy Keller does REALLY well in his sermons.)

On the Limits of New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions are powerful things. We feel all the energy of a new year rushing forward, washing over past failures or shortcomings. I like goals and fresh starts and reset buttons. But they have their limits. And as with so many things, the better we are at recognizing their limits, the more likely we are to enjoy them for what they are.

Five years ago, I wrote a blog on why resolutions miss the mark. And while I may have been a little gloomy about the topic as a whole, there are a few thoughts worth repeating as we step into 2014 together. 

 

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Why does it seem that no matter how hard we try, we can't seem to make ourselves better? If Life gave out report cards, we would be lucky to hold a B average. 

What if the whole approach is off target? What if life-- and life with God-- is not first about progress and improvement?

The Bible has two favorite word pictures for our life with God. The first is of a potter and clay. We are reminded that God is the potter and that we are the clay. Using this imagery, God rebukes Israel for trying to take over what only God can do:

"You turn things upside down as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He did not make me'? Can the pot say of the potter, 'He knows nothing'?" (Is. 26:19)

Jesus picks up on this theme by pointing out the futility of worry:

 

"Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matt. 6: 27)

We cannot make ourselves more like Jesus any more than a lump of clay can make itself into a vase. We are not the initiator of change; we are the responder. From the picture of a potter and clay we learn the first reason resolutions often miss the mark: 

God is in charge of the process and the progress; we are responsible for our response.

We often defend our addiction to progress with the word "growth". We need to grow this year-- that's why we have so many goals. The second Biblical image speaks to the concern for growth. Life with God is often pictured as a tree planted by streams.  

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." (Jer. 17: 7-8)

Here again we are reminded that growth is God's work. But there is another lesson from the tree:  

Bearing fruit is a byproduct of faith in God.

 

Will our lives be different as a result of walking with God? Yes. Will we be changed to become more like Christ? Yes. Is that the point, the focus of our efforts? No. The point is faith-- trusting obedience-- in God. The point is relationship and connection. Growth, fruit, is the external result of an internal work.  

Paul places our work, our effort, in the context of God's work in us:

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." (Phil. 2:12b-13)

God is at work in us. And He is in charge of the process and the progress. That's why it's slightly misguided to set our own timelines for growth.

 

Can we have goals? Yes. But maybe our goals should be more about how we can create space for God to work in our lives, how we put down roots by the River, how we can respond to His molding. 

 

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The words of the psalmist make an apt prayer for New Year's:

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom..."

 

It's the numbering of our days, the acknowledgment of our limits, the confession of our finiteness-- not the delusion that we can "do it all" or "have it all"-- that leads to wisdom. Don't let resolution-making spring from the myth that we are unbounded; don't make goals from a confidence in our own strength.

 

The psamist concludes:

 

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!"

 

What we find when we confess our limitations and the limitations of our own resolve is the blessing of knowing that only God can establish the work of our hands.

 

So, may His favor be on you this year.

My Top 3 Posts of 2013

Well, it's that time when we look back and reflect on the kind of year it's been. In that spirit of reflection, here are the top three-- as in most read and most shared-- posts from my blog this year.The truth is, I didn't blog much in the second half of 2013, due to travel and begining a doctoral program.

So, I'm thankful that when I did sit to write, you took the time to read. I blog as a way of discovering what I think...and your reading and interacting with me here is a very helpful part of that discovery!

Most surprising is that my most read blog of 2013-- in fact, it's the most read blog I've ever written, by far!-- is a personal tribute to an old friend who died suddenly this year. What this says to me is that we're all dealing with pain in some way. Grief touches everyone. And perhaps my little piece about a friend most none of my American friends know was so widely read because it helps to know that even pastors are not immune to the sadness that befalls us in life. There is hope even in the grieving...but the sorrow is all too real.

Anyway...here they are, the top three posts of 2013 from my blog-- one a personal reflection, another an idealogical response, and the final one a resource:

 

1. In Memory of a Friend Who Taught Me Courage (Nov. 3, 2013)

A personal tribute written for a dear friend from my youth group in Malaysia who passed away suddenly this year. This piece was read at his memorial services. Continue to keep his dear wife and children in your prayers, even as you read this.

 

2. A Response to Pastor Mark on Pacifism (Oct. 22, 2013)

I'm not fond of responding to others on the internet. I have made too many errors of tone and tact in the past and have tried to avoid disputes in public with people I don't know. I wrote this piece not in the attempt to "correct" Pastor Mark Driscoll. That is not my place. I wrote it in the hopes that it would help others process what Christians who adhere to a view of non-violence mean when they do so, and how this is different that the label or category of "pacificism."

 

3. Introducing... "The Mystery of Faith" Project: New Book, New CD (Feb. 19, 2013)

I released a project that is very special to me: a short new book and new CD that helps capture and explain the journey that I've been on over the past several years. It's a journey of discovery, a journey of deepening my understanding of faith and worship and how the two things go together.

For decades, church leaders have told us that how we worship--what we do when we gather-- is just an expression  of our faith, so adjust it according to the people you want to "reach." But for centuries, the Church Fathers have told us that how we worship actually shapes our faith, so choose wisely. This project is about the difference between those two approaches and the consequences they have on our faith, not only as individuals but as the community of believers worldwide.

 

GUEST POST: A Thoughtful DIY Advent Calendar

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a guest post from our friend, Brooke Mikulas. Brooke is part of our new life downtown staff and is full of vision and creative ideas for bringing beauty and hope in practical ways. This was a fun and thoughtful creation for Advent that I thought you all may enjoy. For more Advent resources-- prayers, books, music and more-- click HERE.]

 

A meaningful Advent Calendar anyone can make? Yes, please! 

Just over a year ago, my husband and I opened up our home and cottage to 9 other people. Call us crazy, but we're both extroverts, we both love people, and we both embrace the ways community can sharpen, shape and mold us. In the shared spaces of life, we discover not only who we are but also grasp the courage to embrace and live our unique identities. Not all things we do are intentional, but...

For Christmas time this year, as a household I wanted to embrace Advent in a new way. How could we all be involved in a meaningful, reflective journey...that might remind us to participate in and celebrate the exuberant anticipation of Advent? 

I'd always wanted to make our own Advent calendar, but December always seemed to creep up so quickly. This year, December 1st rolled around and I decided this was the year. I grabbed some paper bag lunch sacks, some Christmasy tape, and ran to the store for some goodies. 

 

I imagined the calendar to have a diverse purpose by filling the baggies with challenges to stretch, Scriptures to edify, treats to enjoy, and gifts to add a sense of giddy, Christmasy wonder.

I gave my housemates 2 rules after they picked random numbers for who gets what days:

1. You must complete or partake what's inside, and
    2. You must share the experience with the rest of us! 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

 

Here are some ideas for you to include in a DIY Advent Calendar, fit for your family:

CHALLENGES
{Buy a meal for somebody else}
{Start a 'pay-it-forward' train in line at a coffee shop}
{Mail a letter of encouragement to someone // enclose letter, stamp & envelope}
{Give something you love away} 
{Memorize a Scripture // enclose passage}

GIFTS & GOODIES
{Chocolate, mints or candies}
{Gift cards to Chipotle, Starbucks or a bookstore}
{Lip balm, nail polish or accessories for the ladies}

FUN ACTIVITIES
{Make a popcorn Christmas garland // enclose popcorn kernels}
{Bake the household a treat // enclose baking cups}
{Start a new tradition // enclose on Dec 24th}
{Play a game with the household // enclose a small game or dice}

 

What did you put in your Advent calendar this year?

 

"The Importance of C. S. Lewis"-- from Alister McGrath

Fifty years ago, today, C. S. Lewis passed from the Shadowlands to the realm of glory. While many of his contemporaries thought his work would fade in its influence shortly after, the opposite occured. His books-- both fiction and non-fiction-- have made an indelible mark on Christianity.

To commemorate his life and legacy, a headstone is being installed in the famous "Poet's Corner" in Westminister Abbey, a profound honor. Additionally, several new books have released this year, most notably Alister McGrath's new biography of Lewis. Here is a brief video of McGrath's chapel talk at Wheaton College earlier this year:

Summary of McGrath's main points:

1. Lewis taught the importance of STORY

2. Lewis taught the importance of TRANSLATION

3. Lewis taught the importance of GRACE 

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Other C. S. Lewis resources of interest:

For a unique memoir of Lewis's imagination, seen through the lens of Narnia, this book from Alan Jacobs is matchless.

For those who've never read Lewis before, The Great Divorce or The Screwtape Letters might be excellent places to start.

Yes, the Chronicles of Narnia are children's books, but make no mistake, you'll get more from them as an adult than a child will. This was, of course, Lewis's test of good children's fiction: that a 'child' of all ages could read and enjoy it! My favorite of the Narnia books are: The Last Battle, The Magician's Nephew, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in that order. Oh, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe isn't bad either. :)

 

 

Advent Resources, 2013 Edition

I am getting really excited for the year to begin. No, not the calendar year...the Church's Year, the journey from Advent to Christmas, to Epiphany and Lent, through Easter and Pentecost, and down into Ordinary Time. But make no mistake: I'm no liturgical expert. After all, this is only my fifth journey through the liturgical year. 

But there's so much that I've come to love about it. It's a remarkably refreshing way to mark time. Here is a wonderful new calendar organized around the Church Calendar, yet easily compatible with our Roman calendar of months.

• For one, it helps us participate in the life of Christ by calling us into a rhtyhm that retraces His life on earth, His death, and His resurrection.
• Secondly, it helps us celebrate with the wider Body of Christ-- connecting us to the Church historic and the Church universal. 

[MORE RESOURCES ON THE CHURCH CALENDAR: I have excerpted and adapted something from a previous blog to make a new stand-alone blog on the Church Calendar and how observing as a spiritual practice can be helpful HERE.

And, there's a beautiful art-filled calendar that looks like a wall-hanging calendar but each page is the new liturgical season...Check it out HERE.]

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DATES, COLORS, AND THEMES:

• The Four Sundays:
• December 1
• December 8
• December 15
• December 22

• Colors and Themes:
• Week 1-- purple, HOPE
• Week 2-- purple, PEACE
• Week 3-- JOY
• Week 4-- purple, LOVE

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PRAYERS:

To me, it's hard to beat the prayers in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). Find a link to the 1979 version free online HERE. There is also a nice iPhone app with lectionary readings and prayers out of both the RCL and the BCP. Download it HERE.

First Sunday of Advent:

BCP TRADITIONAL:
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

BCP CONTEMPORARY:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary:
Unexpected God, 
your advent alarms us. 
Wake us from drowsy worship, 
from the sleep that neglects love, 
and the sedative of misdirected frenzy. 
Awaken us now to your coming, 
and bend our angers into your peace. Amen.

Second Sunday of Advent  

BCP TRADITIONAL:
Merciful God, who sent thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

BCP CONTEMPORARY:
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary:
Laboring God, 
with axe and winnowing fork 
you clear a holy space 
where hurt and destruction have no place, 
and a little child holds sway. 
Clear our lives of hatred and despair, 
sow seeds of joy and peace, 
that shoots of hope may spring forth 
and we may live in harmony 
with one another. Amen.

Third Sunday of Advent 

BCP TRADITIONAL:
Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let thy bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

BCP CONTEMPORARY:
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary:
O God of Isaiah and John the Baptist, 
through all such faithful ones 
you proclaim the unfolding of future joy 
and renewed life. 
Strengthen our hearts to believe your advent promise 
that one day we will walk in the holy way of Christ, 
where sorrow and sighing will be no more 
and the journey of God's people will be joy. Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

BCP TRADITIONAL:
We beseech thee, Almighty God, to purify our consciences by thy daily visitation, that when thy Son Jesus Christ cometh he may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

BCP CONTEMPORARY:
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary:
Shepherd of Israel, 
may Jesus, Emmanuel and son of Mary, 
be more than just a dream in our hearts. 
With the apostles, prophets, and saints, 
save us, restore us, 
and lead us in the way of grace and peace, 
that we may bear your promise into the world. Amen.

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MUSIC:

• My favorite neo-liturgical group is The Brilliance. And their two Advent volumes are spectacular. Full of beautiful, original songs and a few carols and hymns revisited, you'll find loads of inspiration for your services. Check out their "Advent, Vol. 1" and "Advent, Vol. 2" on iTunes HERE and HERE.

• For a more classical flavor, it's hard to go wrong with the King's College Choir. these choral arrangements are mostly of Christmas carols, not advent songs, but I confess: this is playing in my house all December! Check it out HERE.

• Though there are many Christmas songs, there are quite a few Advent songs-- songs of hope and longing-- on this amazing project from Paul Baloche. PLUS...it's medley-ed with some worship choruses for worship leaders need not fear the lack of congregational participation when doing Advent music and Christmas carols. Genius! Check it out HERE.

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DEVOTIONALS/PRAYER BOOKS:

• "Watch for the Light" is a great collection of essays and selected readings from Bonhoeffer to Lewis to many more. Check it out HERE.

• Richard Rohr's "Preparing for Christmas" is a great little book of daily reflections for Advent. Check it out HERE.

• Mark D. Roberts has a nice online devotional that guides you through each week. Mark is an Evangelical theologian, and his devotional includes Scriptures, prayers, and recommended hymns. Check out his free online devotional HERE.

• Phillip Reinders has combed through classis Protestant confessions and catechisms and put together a wonderful prayer book, called "Seeking God's Face." It is Holly's and my favorite one to use because of it's straightforward language, clean layout (no flipping pages to look up Scriptures; it's all printed out), and historic prayers and confessions. Each day includes a Psalm, a Scripture to meditate on, guided "free prayer", a written prayer and more. Check it out (and "Look Inside") on Amazon HERE.

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FOR FAMILIES:

The resource we've used for the past two years is Ann Voskamp's devotional and Jesse Tree ornament craft. It was free on her blog, but it looks like it's now been reworked and revised and compiled into a new book, "The Greatest Gift." We haven't tested it out, but it should be good! Check it out HERE.

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RECOMMENDED READING:

• For an evangelical perspective on practicing the liturgical year, you would be hard pressed to find a better voice than the late Robert Webber. His "Ancient-Future" series is a gift to the Church. "Ancient-Future Time" is an easy read, with chapters on specific seasons of the year, making it a valuable reference and resource. Check it out on Amazon HERE.

• Mark D. Robert's ebook, "Discovering Advent", is a short, helpful explanation of Advent. His story of discovering the practice of Advent as an Evangelical pastor late in his ministry life answers the "why" question many Evangelicals may have. Check it out HERE.

• If you're up for it, Joan Chittister's book "The Liturgical Year" is a beautiful explanation of how marking time can be a spiritual practice. Joan is a Benedictine sister and writes from that perspective, but has the modern person and not a monastic in mind. Check out her book HERE.

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What about you? What resources, prayers or even apps would you add to this list?

Why the Church Calendar?

I'm not in love with all things old.

I don't think then is better than now.

I'm not trying to get back to how things were.

My journey in learning about the liturgy and the liturgical year is not about nostalgia; it's about spiritual formation.

The people who wrote some of the best liturgical prayers-- from John Chrysostom (The Eastern Orthodox's "Divine Liturgy") in the 4th century to Thomas Cranmer in the 17th century (Anglican Book of Common Prayer)-- were passionate followers of Christ and diligent scholars of the Scriptures and of theology. When the seasons of the church calendar-- or the "Christian Year" or the "liturgical year"-- developed, it developed as way to aid in the spiritual formation of those who sought to follow Christ. 

Easter was the first church-wide event to commerate. (One could say the first Christians began celebrating the resurrection the very next Sunday after Christ's ascension as a "mini-Easter.") Lent was the earliest actual season to develop and be adopted by the church world-wide. It became a common Christian practice in AD 330, shortly after Christianity had been legalized in AD 313 at the Edict of Milan. The other seasons of the Church year (like Pentecost, Advent and Christmas) took shape later. By the High Middle Ages, the Church Year was fully developed, complete with special feast days for certain saints. 

But why? Why was this developed? Why would anyone today practice these things?

To say it simply, the liturgical year was developed as a way to help the spiritual formation of Christians. How does it do that? Here are two main ways:

1. It Centers Us On Christ
As Christianity spread, many of the Church's members (and for a time in the early Middle Ages, many of its clergy!) were illiterate and ignorant of the Scriptures and of theology. A year that would center them on Christ was a way of helping them, teaching them, placing them in a rhythm of living that helped them reflect on Christ.

You may not have seen this right away (I did not!), but the liturgical year follows the life of Christ. It begins with anticipating His arrival in Advent, celebrating His birth at Christmas, marvelling at His revealing during Epiphany, humbling ourselves in repentance as we join His fasting in the wilderness during Lent, reflecting on His love and sacrifice during Holy Week, remembering our sin and the weight of all the world's evil that He carried on the cross on Good Friday, embracing the silent emptiness of Holy Saturday, celebrating the breakig forth of new life at Easter and Eastertide, rejoicing at His giving of the Spirit and His work in the Church during Pentecost, and trusting that His presence is with us still during Ordinary Time. The liturgical year helps our lives revolve around Christ.

2. It Connects Us to The Body of Christ
Many of you began the new calendar year with a period of prayer and fasting. It's an excellent way to start the year. One of the benefits of celebrating Lent is that you'll be fasting along with millions of Christians all around the world at the same time! We talk all the time about wanting the Church to be in unity, but then dismiss traditions as empty ritual. But what if these sacred traditions can be a way for us to walk in unity together?

The bottom line is: no, you don't need to care about the Church Calendar. You don't have to celebrate Lent or participate in Ash Wednesday. These are not requirements or laws. But then again, you don't need to have a date night with your wife; you don't need to have family vacations. But rhythms and routines are ways of reinforcing a desire. It's because I want to nurture my relationship with my wife that we have date nights; it's because I want our family to be connected that we take vacations together, and have family traditions. In the same way, it's because I want to nurture my relationship with Christ and because I want to be connected to the Body of Christ that I am embrace the "family traditions" of the liturgical year. 

So, the liturgical year is not a requirement, but neither are they "empty rituals." They are sacred rhythms, routines that reinforce our desire to follow Christ and become like Him. They are helpful ways to center our lives on Christ. They create the space for His Spirit to shape us. And they are a powerful rememinder that we are not the first to follow Christ, nor are we the only ones attempting to do so. (For more on this, read my post written a few years ago called "Sacred Rhythms: Preparing for Lent, 2011.") 

We are joining a great company of saints and sinners-- the people of God!-- travelling up this mountain together.

In Memory of a Friend Who Taught Me Courage

[EDITOR'S NOTE: My friend Kevin Tan lost his life while saving one of his clients from drowining. Kevin was part of an adventure company that took teams and individuals out to be challenged and to grow togther. Kevin succeeded in saving his client, but was unable to escape the swirling currents of the river himself. He is survived by his wife and their two young children, pictured at the bottom with my parents.

Kevin was a big part of my teenage years in Malaysia, and was a de facto member of our family, eating/praying/laughing/playing often in our home. We were part of an extraordinary student ministry in Malaysia, where young people from 15-30-- or maybe even a wider range than that!-- were like a group of brothers and sisters, who cared for one another and helped each other grow. It often spilled over to include parents, making it a truly multi-generational 'youth group.' Kevin came into that group alone but quickly became a central part the family. The picture below is of him speaking at second wedding reception my parents had for us in Malaysia in the Fall of 2001. I wrote this to process my own grief and to honor his life. It will be read at his wake this week.]

I woke up on Saturday morning to the tragic news of Kevin’s passing.

Kevin Tan played a huge role in my life during my teen years. He was like a big brother to me in so many ways. We were in Bible studies together, worship teams together…We played football together—and I mean both kinds of football: the kind the rest of world calls football and the kind only Americans call football! He often went with me to play drums as we led worship at various small churches and mini-seminars.

Why he let me drag him to some of these things, I’ll never know!

But then again, that was Kevin. He was always up for an adventure. A new town, a new church, a new song, a new challenge—he never shied away from any of it. And that courage was contagious. When I say that Kevin was an encouragement to me, I mean it as the word literally means: he put courage into me. He challenged me to find the edges of my comfort and to take at least one tiny step beyond it—which in my case was riding behind him on his motorcycle!

Though it has been over a decade since I’ve seen him last, and more than that since we’ve spent any real quality time together, I carry around with me the impact of Kevin’s friendship. The confidence I gained as a young man was sparked by Kevin’s influence on me. Whatever fears I let slip off of me were loosened first by Kevin’s admonishment.

Kevin lost his life the way he lived it: with courage. He put his own life in danger in order to save someone else’s. Kevin died because he took a leap—the physical embodiment of risk—to lift someone else up. This is, in his death, precisely what he has done in his life.

I know because I am one of those who has been lifted up by Kevin Tan. I am one who has had courage breathed into him because of Kevin Tan.

We will weep today. And for many more days. We will mourn because mourning is the good and proper protest to death. We know deep down inside that life was not meant to be this way. Our bodies were not made to break down. Love was not given so that it could be lost. And yet, this is how it is in a world breaking under the weight of sin.

But this is not how the world shall always be.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

One day, Death will be defeated; every tear will be wiped away. The world itself will be made new and we will be given bodies fit for such a world.

This is what inspires our hope. And this hope is what leads us to live now with courage—the unshakable belief that for those who are in Christ, Death will not have the last say. We cannot be taken down.

I know this. And Kevin knew it too.

On Saints and Celebrities

Today is All Saints' Day.

I used to never think of it that way. It was just the day that Starbucks brings out their red cups.

Besides, I, like most Evangelicals, am a little uncomfortable with the idea of saints. After all, nobody's perfect, right?

Right.

But here's the thing: we can't help but look for people to inspire us, to show us what it looks like to follow Jesus and embrace His Kingdom here and now.

So much has been written about our obsession with Christian celebrities. I've contributed to that conversation (with an article in Relevant). But one of the things that has not been said enough is that the way to correct an unhealthy obsession is to look for the healthy desire at its root. The way to heal a distored desire is not to kill it but let it be rightly ordered. Jonathan Edwards, drawing on St. Augustine, said as much in his work on 'religious affections.'

So, what does it look like to have our desire for a role model-- for faithful men and women to remember and honor and inspire us--  rightly ordered?

This, I think, is where the notion of saints comes in. You see, there are a few differences between saints and celebrities.

• Saints can't be canonized until they're dead so we can look back over their life as a whole. Christian celebrities can be made through savvy self-branding and high-cost PR firms.

• Saints are often admired for what they did not have in this world-- their lack of riches, of fame, of acceptance by the world. In fact, the first 'saints' were martyrs. The Church began to recognize and honor them around the turn of the second century. Celebrities, though, are often admired for what they have in this world-- their large churches, their fame (christened as 'influence'), their best-selling books or CDs, and perhaps even their houses and cars.

• Saints are ones whose deep 'interior life' with Jesus was often kept secret until others discovered it after their death. Celebrities are those who want to leverage intimacy with Jesus for popularity with others.

The list could go on. But I think you get the point: no, saints weren't perfect; but they are better images-- icons-- for our rightly ordered desire to see how a human is to live out the Jesus kind of life.

The Faith did not begin with us. There are others who have come along this Way. We can learn from them. We can follow them. We can thank God for them. 

So, here's to remembering the saints. Here's to praying that we would be broken of our obsession with celeberities, of our addiction to 'influence', and turn to the quiet hidden life of faithful obediece to Christ. May we seek credibility-- the mark of a life that is worth trusting-- and not popularity. 

Let renown come if it does. But let our lives point to Christ-- crucified and risen.

Just as it was with the lives of the saints. 

A Response to Pastor Mark on God and Pacifism

I cannot say all that I want to say in response to Pastor Mark Driscoll's piece, chiefly because I lack the time, the space, and the expertise to address it in the way it deserves. Nor do I want to start a war (literal or metaphorical) with the dear Christian brothers and sisters who think differently than I do about this complex issue. So, please: don't see this as me picking a fight. I can't possibly finish it if I did.

This is me thinking out loud...giving my string of tweets a bit more nuance. When I think about the Driscoll's piece, I think these things:

1. Asking if God is a Pacifist is the Wrong Question. We do not come to God because He lines up with our values or ideals. We see God in the face of Christ and ask what we now must do with this Jesus: follow Him or crucify Him.
   
   Pacifism is an ideal, a way of thinking about issues. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob does not deal in abstract categories. He is the tri-personal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   
   Pacifists follow an ideal and look for it in Jesus; Christians follow Jesus and discover a Way that is surprising, impossible, and compellingly beautiful.
   
   For all these reasons and more, it is more helpful to speak about what "Christian Non-Violence" is, rather than the "leading-the-witness" question Driscoll frames his piece with.
   
   
2. The Book of Revelation Must Be Handled Carefully. The first thing my Fuller Seminary prof pointed out about Revelation is that it is not a book of prophecy. I know: this can sound like heresy to all the end-times folks, but Revelation says of itself that it is a work of...wait for it...revelation. It fits very well in the apocalyptic literature tradition. 
   
   What is the difference, you ask, between prophetic literature and apocalyptic literature? Prophetic literature is designed to tell you something about what's coming so you can adjust your actions accordingly. Joseph interprets Pharoah's dream about the 7 years of plenty and the 7 years of lack so they can prepare for the years of drought. But apocalyptic literature is not designed to predict; it's designed to reveal. It pulls back the curtain and says, "This is what is really going on in the world."
   
   Revelation shows that contrary to the evidence of Christians being slaugtered in Rome, Caesar is not in fact ruling the world; Jesus is. Jesus-- the one who absorbed the most hideous blow of death, the one who was raised from the dead to show that this way of violence and death does not, in the end, win-- is Lord.
   
   Is it possible that Revelation borrows imagery from Roman conquests to show God's ultimate triumph? Is it possible that judgment is not the same as violence? Revelation does indeed show a God who will in the end hold evildoers to account; and, yes, sin stirs up God's wrath. But that is not the same as saying that Jesus will be angry and violent when He returns.
   
   The central image of Jesus in Revelation is of a "Lamb standing, as though it had been slain". This is in contrast to the Dragon. What's the difference between a lamb and a dragon? One is the victim; the other the perpetrator. This image resonated with early Christians, who were always the victims. Yet this death was not the end.
   
   
3. Christian Hope is Not Grounded in Eschatological Violence. Some Christians act like the hope offered in the book of Revelation is something like, "Don't worry, God's gonna nuke them in the end!" Listen: God will hold evildoers to account. There will be judgment. But judgment, with God, may not always be as we suspect.
   
   Moreover, the great hope-- from God Himself!-- at the end of the Book of Revelation is not, "Don't worry I killed them all"; it's, "Behold, I am making everything new!"
   
   He will wipe away every tear-- that means He will heal all the pain and hurt of all who grieve, all who have been victimized, all who have been broken by the violence in our world.
   
   And death will be no more.  There it is: Christian hope is not grounded in God's alleged future violence; it is grounded in the belief that death does not win. Jesus has the last word, not the Beast. Jerusalem-- the city of peace!-- is the new eternal city, not Babylon-- the city of rebellion and violence.

Now, the question is: How does a person who believes that death does not win live now? How does a follower of Jesus the Crucifed and Risen Lord, the Lamb who was slain (read: the victim, by the world's estimation, not the victor) live here?

These are all better questions to me than, "Is God a Pacifist?"

Technology, Sacrament, and the Imago Dei

[This is a rough sketch of the talk I gave at SALT 2013, a conference for church worship/creative arts/tech/media teams. The above visual summary was created by @NBYouthMinistry.]

I. ATTENTION: What Does It Mean To Be Made In the Image of God?

We hear this phrase often, but we are not always sure what it means. At a conference like this, we tend to think of the creativity that we have and how it is a reflection of the Creator-God. That is certainly true.

Let's look briefly at three ways the image of God has been talked about theologically:

1. Function: This approach sees the image of God in us in the things we are capable of doing, particularly our ability to be imaginative and employ our creativity.
2. Substance: This approach sees the image of God in usas a part of our very essence. It is from this view that we gain the notion of human dignity.
3. Relationship: This approach begins with the Triune God and sees the human longing to be known and loved as part of this desire and capacity for community.

There is truth to each of these ways of speaking of the image of God in humans. But there is another way to look at this. The Swiss theologian Karl Barth begins and ends his theology of the imago Dei with Jesus. For Barth, any discussion about our being in the image of God must begin with the recognition that Jesus alone is the perfect image of God.

When we want to know what it looks like to be fully human, we look to Jesus. Jesus shows us how we were created to be.

This has resonances with C. S. Lewis's famous words about Jesus being the only truly and fully human the world has seen since the first man and woman. The rest of us are "sub-human." So, when we fail, Lewis remarks that this is not because we only "only human" but because we are less than human.

To be created in the image of God, then, is to be created to be like Jesus.

I think of Dallas Willard's definition of discipleship as "learning from Jesus to lead my life the way He would lead my life if He were me." It is the imago Dei that makes us capable of living and loving and giving and forgiving like Jesus.

But, wait...

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II. TENSION: What About Sin and the Fall?

Ah, yes. Here's the unmfortable truth: We can't just "live like Jesus."

 Whethere your view of the "fall" is that the image of God is obscured (Eastern Orthodox?) or obliterated (Reformed?), we have lost the capacity to be fully human, to live out the imago Dei. 

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III. PARTICIPATION: What Does This Mean For Our Technology?

This fallenness has implications for how we use or misuse our technology.

But first, we need to define "technology"...Let's define it broadly, as British theologian Elaine Graham does:

Technology is “both a body of knowledge…and the material instruments and machines through which such knowledge is practiced.”-- Elaine Graham

With that broad defintion of technology in mind, and with the fall of the first man and woman in mind, we can trace the early stories in Genesis for Because of the Fall, we use our technology to…

1. Hide our flaws (Genesis 3): Yes, I'm talking about the leaves Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness.
2. Abuse others (Genesis 4): Think of Cain murdering Abel, perhaps with an instrument, or at the very least, a certain kind of knowledge of how to do violence to another.
3. Ascend to the heavens (Genesis 11): 

The narratives from Genesis 3-11 are a whirlwind tour of the fracturing effects of the fall. In Genesis 12, the Story slows down as God begins His plan to work His salvation into our world by calling Abraham.  But right away, we see humans using their knowledge, instruments, and machines to hide their flaws, abuse others, and ascend to the heavens.

How do we do the same thing with our knowledge, instruments, and machines?

I think of how we manage our image or our "brand" via social media, hiding our flaws and covering our shame.

I think of how a podium becomes a "bully pulpit", and a microphone becomes an instrument to beat others down with words.

I think of how our lights and smoke and music can simulate a spiritual encounter or manipulate people into a response, making us think we have ascended to the heavens and reached God for ourselves.

Is there a way out? Is there a way to properly use our knowledge, instruments, and machines?

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IV. JESUS: How Did Jesus Use His “Technology”?

If Jesus is the perfect image of God, then we must look to Jesus to see how He used His "technology."

The Greek poieo shows up only twice in the Gospels in reference to Jesus "producing something material"(According to BDAG-- the most comprehensive lexicon of New Testament Greek words that we have). Both instances are in John's gospel.

Now, John's gospel seems to have intentional parallels with the book of Genesis. Genesis 1 opens with, "In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth"; John's gospel opens with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Genesis 2 is about God bringing the first man and woman together; John 2 is about Jesus blessing a wedding. Genesis 3 is about the fall, creation coming apart; John 3 is about a new birth. And on and on it goes. (And, yes, I'm well aware chapter markings are non-canonical; I'm thinking here about the sequence not the numbers.)

The first thing Jesus made was a whip to drive out the money-changers. That's a sermon in itself!

But the second thing that Jesus, the God-man, the one who was with God before the world began, "through whom all things were made", made was...mud.

John 9:1-7 (CEB)
“As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked, ‘Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?’ 3 Jesus answered, ‘Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. 4 While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ 6 After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Jesus said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.”

In Jesus' hands, even spit and mud can be used to make blind eyes see.

This whole story is about Jesus' ministry to bring sight to the blind. Later in the chapter, it becomes a metaphor for spiritual blindness and sight (John 9:39). 

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IV. IMAGINATION: How Can We Use Technology in Our Churches to Help People See Jesus?

Some of us may have tools that may seem like little more than mud, but in the Lord's hands, they can help blind eyes see. 

There's something else Jesus takes and uses in the gospels: bread and wine. Luke shows Jesus taking, blessing, breaking, giving three times-- at the feeding of the five thousand, at Passover, and at the home of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. 

And it is at their home, after Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, that their eyes are opened. They begin to see Jesus...for the very first time.

St. Augustine described the sacraments as an “outward sign of inward grace”, or a "visible sign" of an "invisble grace." Working with this outward and inward language, Elaine Graham suggests that all technology has an outward form that has to do with its utility and an inward form that has to do with its beauty and mystery.

The question is: Can we use technology “sacramentally”?

No, that doesn't mean that technology become a means of grace the way the Sacrament is. 

But does mean that our knowledge and instruments and machines take on more than an outward form; they have more than utility. They have an inward form, a beauty and a mystery that point away from itself to Christ Himself.

Last month, I was in Durham, England, and got to see and worship in Durham Cathedral, built a thousand years ago.

The building certainly has a utility to it; it is made for people to be in.

But it was designed with more than utility in mind. It was made for worship.

There is a beauty and mystery, a sense of awe and wonder that is awakened as soon as one enters. 

 

 Everything speaks. Everything speaks.

What is it saying?

May we place our knowledge and instruments and machines in the hands of Jesus so that He can use it to open the eyes of the blind.

We are in this to help people see..to see Jesus.

Remembering Tragedy...Eucharistically

I was on my way to breakfast with Jared Anderson when he called. "A plane has been hijacked..."

When he pulled into the parking lot, we both walked briskly into the restaurant and stood transfixed, with a dozen others, on the TV screen in the waiting area. We joined the collective shock and horror of the civilized world.

Most of us will never forget September 11. The question for followers of Jesus is, "How will we remember?"

"Eucharistic remembrance" is what theologians call the practice of recalling tragedy through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It has several implications for the work of remembering well. Here are five:

Eucharistic Remembrance means that in remembering tragedy we also remember that...

1. We have a suffering God
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a God who is distant from our pain. In the Old Testament, the psalmist declared that God is near the brokenhearted. In Jesus, we see that God became the brokenhearted. Jesus became a man, walked as we walk, suffered pain and rejection and loss. His cry on the cross is the cry of every human in pain: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Christ took on Himself the suffering of our world; He drank the cup to its bitter end. Why? Not so that we would not have to suffer, but so that our suffering now becomes a way of knowing Christ. He shared our suffering so that in our suffering we can know that God is with us.

2. We were enemies of God
It is easy to forget that we belong in the company of sinners. We are not excluded from the rebel race that insisted on life apart from God. We treated God like our enemy.

When pain is inflicted on us by someone else, we quickly find ways to show how we are not like them. And while the degree of wickedness is certainly not the same, the scope of sin's reach affects us all. We are not, as Miroslav Volf has said, excluded from the company of sinners. Hatred, violence, lust, selfishness, pride and more are found in our hearts, too. 

3. Christ died for sinners
But the Gospel doesn't stop there.  

"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..." Even though we insisted on treating God like our enemy, God kept pursuing us to make us His children. All of us.

This means that the worst of sinners is not excluded from the grace of God. The most vile criminal, the most wicked human, is not outside the bounds of God's love. It was for them-- the group you have separated yourself from, the company you think you are different from, the "enemy" that you have names and shamed-- that Christ died.

4. Forgiveness is the most explosive force in the universe
Lots of people talk about forgiveness. But Christians hold it at the center of our Gospel proclamation. Forgiveness means that our sin is no longer the end of us. Forgiveness means our worst moments don't define us. Forgiveness is the most explosive force in the universe because it turns dead ends into new beginnings; it takes the horror of Good Friday and leads it to the joy of Easter Sunday.

Because of the forgiveness we experience in Christ, we are able to extend this same scandalous forgiveness to others. Think of the Amish community who went to the family of the gunman who killed their daughters and gave gifts and pledged to care for them. This kind of forgiveness makes no sense if Jesus Christ has not risen from the dead.

5. Death is not the end
Finally, to remember "eucharistically" is to know that for those in Christ, death is not the end. Death will not have the last word. The confession we say at the Lord's Table is, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." Death begins the story; resurrection continues it; the Lord's return is destination the narrative is moving toward-- a day of restoration and renewal of creation and life.  

So, when we remember, we sit in the moment of grief. We enter it and let is wash over us. We confess that this day was not a good day. But we remember that it will not be the last day. All is not well, but it will not always be this way.

This is what it means to remember, as followers of the crucified and risen Christ, to remember eucharistically.

City We Love

I LOVE being part of a church that looks for ways to serve our city...and uses art and film to subvert our fears about homelessness and poverty. 

Check it out! And if you're an artist in the city, there's a cool way for you to be involved!

This celebration will change your heart forever. We have two simple goals: first, to dignify people of our city, which includes demystifying the issues around homelessness, and second, to connect the vision of Mary’s Home with your heart so that we have an opportunity to invest together as we journey toward the common good of our city.

One way we desire to reach these goals is to partner with local and national artists who share their beautiful visual art to present the theme of the event, “City We Love”, which will include sculpture, photography, drawing, painting, music and film. If you are an artist and would like to participate, please do! Simply email Emile Ibrahim at [email protected] for more information. All art is due August 9th.

This semi-formal event takes place on Friday evening at 7pm. A silent auction will begin earlier that day and run through Saturday September 7th. Everyone who attends will get the chance to bid in the silent auction as well as vote on the artwork they desire to see become part of a permanent collection in Mary’s Home. The silent auction and Friday night event will help us raise funds for Mary’s Home. But most importantly, people in our city–everyone involved in this–will be celebrated and dignified. We can’t wait to spend this evening with you!

My "Oxford Paper" on Congregational Music

Next week, with fear and trepidation, I will be presenting a paper at an academic conference on congregational music at Ripon College, one of the Anglican (ministry training) colleges of Oxford University. I confess: I'm more than excited about it, honored to have this opportuniy...and scared out of my wits! I feel a little like Bilbo Baggins, wandering out into places that are far beyond my knowledge and experience!

Just to clarify, I'm not going as part of my doctoral studies, which are actually at Durham University and begin this September (long-distance, part-time).

This is an academic conference on congregational music that has been convened once before (2011), and was exclusively (I think) for academics. This year, however, they wanted to involve some practitioners, and by a strange series of events (one of the conference organizers sat in a workshop I taught at Mission:Worship last November in Eastbourne), I was invited to submit a proposal to present a paper at this year's conference. After sweating over 150 words, I sent in my proposal abstract and waited a few months til the decision about which papers were chosen was announced. When I received word that my paper had been accepted, I freaked out.

Then began the work of researching and writing.

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WHAT'S MY PAPER ABOUT?

The sub-theme I chose (of the list of possible choices they assigned) is the following:

A Futurology of Congregational Music
Papers on this subtheme will offer creative, considered reflection on the future of congregational music. What new emerging shapes and forms will—or should—congregational worship music take? Will congregational song traditions become more localized, or will they be further determined by global commercial industries? What must scholars do to provide more nuanced, relevant, or critical perspectives on Christian congregational music?

My paper identifies the implicit claim in the modern worship (and the closely related church growth) movement, outlines a framework for critiquing this claim, examines a proposal that functions as a corrective, lists challenges to such a proposal, and presents a case study that models this proposal.

To phrase it as questions:

1. What is the implicit CLAIM of the modern worship movement in the non-denominational church?

2. What framework can be developed to CRITIQUE the claim?

3. Whose proposal can function as a CORRECTIVE?

4. What are the CHALLENGES with such a proposal?

5. Is there a CASE STUDY of a non-denominational church modeling this proposal?

BLURB:
What if we haven't simply translated worship into the language of culture but have adopted the liturgies of culture as well?

There is an implicit claim in the non-denominational church, seen in both its worship and church growth movements, that forms are neutral and therefore interchangeable. But is it true? How can we tell?

Drawing on the work of Christian philosopher, James K. A. Smith, Packiam develops a framework to critique this claim. He then uses the late Robert Webber's proposal of an "Ancient-Future Worship" as a corrective, outlining the challenges with implementing this proposal in the non-denominational church. Finally, the paper concludes with a case study of a non-denominational church moving to re-form its congregational worship practices.

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HOW CAN YOU READ MY PAPER?

The paper is about 3400 words (12 pages).

 DOWNLOAD it HERE for only $0.99 Even if you don't really want to read it, think of it as a "Kickstarter" to offset my cost of travelling to Oxford! :) Oh....You don't have to have a Kindle to read it...you can download a FREE Kindle app for your computer, smartphone or tablet HERE. 

 

The Liturgy: What the Community Builds Together

        
        We stood for most of the two-hour service. The only time they instructed us to sit was during the priest’s homily. Even then, there were no chairs, just a woven rug on which to sit. And when we stood, we did not watch or listen. We participated, waiting for our turn to sing the replies. Fortunately the choir, which flanked the room on either side, standing perpendicular to the congregation, was well versed in the responses. Their voices were beautiful, echoing in the small dome-roofed room. The dome. I kept looking up at it. Every inch was painted, and the pictures told a story. Paintings of the saints lined the walls, moving in chronological order from left to right. In the center, up in front, was the altar, and behind it an inner chamber of sorts, modeled undoubtedly after the Holy of Holies. The service also included responsive music and specific actions and symbolic gestures. The priest wore robes meant to recall images of the high priestly robes. His going into the inner chamber to bless the sacrament and coming out to present it to us reenacted Christ’s coming from heaven to earth for us. Even his beard and long hair represented a living portrait of Christ.

        It was our first time to an Eastern Orthodox church.

        Holly and I talked about our impressions on the way home. “They didn’t cater to us,” she observed. And she liked that. It’s not that the people didn’t care about guests. Quite the contrary. This was the most welcoming community of people we’d been in as guests. They greeted us warmly at the door and were genuinely sad that we couldn’t stay for their weekly after-service potluck lunch in the adjoining room. But no part of the service put the worshipper at the center.

        The liturgy—the whole structure of the service and the very words that were said and sung (except the sermon)—was a translation of the liturgy written by Saint John Chrysostom in the fourth century. And they sang it, said it, and prayed it every week, with few exceptions. Joining this liturgy that Sunday reminded us that “church” did not begin when we arrived; the worshipping people of God is an ongoing drama. We joined a program that was already in progress. Sitting on the floor was a way of communicating: we are all on level ground. Your comfort can take a backseat for a few hours. There is only One who is seated on a throne. And the list goes on. Because everything spoke. And it told a Story. And the Story was of Christ and His salvation.

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        ...Attending the Orthodox church made me look more closely at the historic liturgies of the Church. I thought about the Anglican services I had visited. I began to read more about why those great theologians who wrote many of these liturgies did what they did. As I studied the European Reformations—because there were several, and they differed from each other—I discovered that many of the reforms applied to the worship service. Imagine that: to effect a theological change, many reformers began with corporate worship. I read most about Thomas Cranmer, the brave and brilliant mind behind the English Reformation and the architect of the Book of Common Prayer.

        Here’s what I learned: the people who, to say it in our parlance, “planned the service” were not creative directors or production managers; they were theologians. They weren’t primarily concerned with organizing volunteers or coordinating logistics. Those things are important, but they shouldn’t be the central concern. No, the people who labored over “service order” were preoccupied with the gospel—how it would be proclaimed and entered into and celebrated. My point here is not to denigrate creative directors but to show the difference between how people used to plan a worship service and how we plan them today. It wasn’t an event to produce; it was a salvation story to tell. Over and over, throughout the Church’s history, the brightest theological minds turned their attention to the content and context of corporate worship. Why? Because the way we worship becomes the way we believe.

        Liturgy is not just a fancy word for “traditional worship.” It carries meaning. Quite simply, it means “the work of the people.” It was often used to describe a civic project, like a bridge or a public park. It is what a community builds together.

        What is the work of the people of God when we gather each week in worship? It is to tell a Story and to participate in it. But, as we discovered in the previous chapter, we aren’t starting with a blank slate. We inherited our faith from others. Moreover, those who came before us handed down our faith through certain worship practices. You might say that part of how our faith was preserved and passed on through the centuries is through liturgy. This should be no surprise by now, because—say it with me—the way we worship becomes the way we believe.

        If that is true, then we ought not begin with the question “How would I like to design our worship service?” or even the more “customer-oriented” questions like “What kind of service would people respond to the best?” Those are valid questions, and they have their place. Many people, assuming that I prioritize questions of contextualization above questions of theology, ask if our new life DOWNTOWN “neo-liturgical” service was designed to “reach a particular demographic.” Honestly, I squirm when I hear questions like that, though I understand where the person is coming from. In our American church context, it’s a fair question to ask. After all, we’ve been trained to think first of pragmatic questions. We want to ask how before we ask what.

        I suggest that the first question is, “How has the Spirit of God led the people of God to worship God in corporate gatherings throughout the centuries?” In short: “What were the historic liturgies like?” Before we change anything—and we should change things in the name of contextualization (more on that in the final chapter)—we must try to see what was good and beautiful and true about the way the Church worshipped throughout the centuries. Then when we change something, we ought to ask, “What have we left out? What have we added? What’s better? What’s worse?”

        Or, better yet, ask, “What does our service say? Is it telling a story? What story is it telling? Whose story is it telling?”

        After all, as our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters taught me, everything speaks.

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The above is an adapted excerpt from my latest short book, "Discover the Mystery of Faith", explaining my journey of learning many of these concepts. 

Buy on Amazon HERE. 

Buy on iBooks HERE.  

Buy on Barnes & Noble.com

"A New Liturgy"

For awhile now, I've been watching Aaron Niequist from afar, admiring his work. He has undertaken the beautiful task of writing "a new liturgy"-- a mix of spoken word, Scripture, original compositions, and re-arranged hymns--  for the themes of life.

Aaron and I share the belief that all of life can be received as a gift and offered back to God in grateful praise. This is what it means to live eucharistically. He has made four of these projects around different themes, from God's love to the splendor of creation. I have been so blessed and encouraged and inspired by them.

Today, Aaron releases the fifth project: a liturgy about work. It is divided in two parts, one designed to be prayed along with on the way to work, and one designed to be prayed along with on the way from work. I frequently talk with people who are trying to find meaning in their work. At least part of the answer is found in offering our work-- our hands and gifts and time and moments-- to God at the start of each day. I think this project gives voice to such an offering.

When I have written or taught on the need for a fresh imagining of the liturgy, for the Spirit to lead us to give new voice to words and phrases that reflect and reveal the Trinitarian God we worship, I think of Aaron's work. 

This project is full of beautiful music-- songs and sounds that will awaken wonder and worship in the heart of the listener. This project is full of profound prayers, many culled from the rich prayerbooks of the historic Church. This project is full of well-placed words, from Scripture and from other places, that are sure to be food to your soul.

Here's a short video about this work about work....Find out more at www.anewliturgy.com

A New Liturgy No. 5: Here Are My Hands from A New Liturgy on Vimeo.

 

BUY the EP HERE.

What a Good "Liturgy" Does (Or, Why We Shouldn't Pit "Form" Against "Content")

I've been writing for a bit now on how worship--specifically, corporate worship-- forms us as the people of God. The central idea of my short new book, Discover the Mystery of Faith, is that worship is not simply an expression of our faith; it is what forms it. What's at stake in our decisions about Sunday services are not simply matters of "programming" the service or attracting the lost. In fact, this claim moves the conversation beyond the matters of style-- rock, folk, organ, etc-- to matter of form and substance.

While my writing on this has explored-- non-academically-- the historical-theology roots of this claim, there is a far weightier voice in the conversation (thank God!) who has taken this up from the philosophical anthropology side and set it in "conversation" with an Augustinian theology (all big words I'm not qualified to use!) of love. His name is James K. A. Smith. His core claim is that a "liturgy" (used broadly as a ritual, communal, embodied practice) shapes and aims our love at a particular vision of the good life.

Here is an excerpt from a recent interview with Trevin Wax over at The Gospel Coalition:
*(all highlights and bolds are my notes for emphasis) 

Trevin Wax: You speak of the power of a liturgy in terms of what is caught, not just explicitly taught. How does this truth influence the way we conceive of worship services?

James K. A. Smith: A core claim and outcome of Imagining the Kingdom is to help evangelicals see that we have bought into a reductionistic view of worship. When we say “worship,” many of us just think “music” or “singing,” which is already a reduction of historic understandings of worship that comprise the entire service.

But more generally, we have also largely reduced worship to “expression.” We have focused only on the “upward” movement of worship as our sacrifice of praise, which is probably why the grammar of so many contemporary worship choruses actually sing about us (“Here I am to worship…”).

Now clearly our expression of praise to God is part of worship, but it is not the whole of worship. In fact, the primary actor or agent in Christian worship is not us but God.

So historically, worship has been seen as not only expressive, but also formative. When the people of God are gathered by God around his Word and seated at his Table, that sanctuary is the space where God is molding and (re)making us. In that sense, worship is training, is formation.

As I argue in the final chapter of the book, if worship is going to be formative, that means we need to think carefully and intentionally about the form of worship. Not the “style” (this isn’t about pipe organs vs. mandolins), but the narrative form of the Story that is enacted in our communal worship.

Trevin Wax: How would you respond to the person who says the forms of worship are interchangeable, but the message must always remain constant? While admitting there is flexibility in forms from culture to culture, I think you’d want to push against the idea that the forms don’t matter.

James K. A. Smith: Absolutely. I think we buy into a form/content distinction precisely because we’ve reduced the Gospel to a “message.” So then we think we can just distill that “message” (the content) and then drop it into any “form” we want.

But as I argue in the book, forms are not neutral. Indeed, that was one of the core arguments of the first volume, Desiring the Kingdom: cultural practices that we might think are “neutral” – just something that we do – are actually doing something to us. They are formative. But what they form is our heart-habits, our loves and longings that, as we’ve already mentioned, actually drive our action and behavior.

So you can’t just go pick some “popular” cultural form and insert the Gospel “message” and think you have thereby come up with “relevant” worship. Because it’s more likely that you’ve just imported a secular liturgy into Christian worship. Sure, you might have changed the content, but the very form of the practice is training us to love some other vision of the good life. This is why I think a lot of innovation in worship, while well-intentioned, actually ends up welcoming Trojan horses into the sanctuary.

The response is not to come up with “the next best thing” in worship. It is to find new appreciation for historic Christian wisdom about the form of worship for the sake of discipleship. That’s the core argument of Imagining the Kingdom.

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Points For Reflection:

1. How can we be more thoughtful about the forms-- not styles or methods-- that we employ in our church services?

2. What "vision of the good life" do the dominant forms  of our day-- the mall and the arean (concert or sports) aim our love towards? Individual celebrities? Excitement? Adrenaline rushes? Enterntainment? Consumption?

3. Have we adopted some forms of our day without realizing how they are inadvertantly aiming our love at a different vision of the good life than what Jesus displayed? In what way is this like taking in a "Trojan Horse", undermining the very discipleship we're trying to achieve?

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Related Reading:

"How Worship Forms Us"

"What's So Great About the Past?"

Who is Church? Pt. 2

How Worship Forms Us

When we reduce discussions about worship forms to simply matters of style, we miss a crucial aspect of corporate worship: worship forms us. 

You see, it's not simply a matter of preference, of how one generation likes the "good ole hymns" and another generation likes rock n' roll. It's a question of what forms us as the people of God.

But...you may be wondering: Does worship really do that? 

To be clear, by "worship", I mean the whole church service, not simply the "music portion. And by "worship", I don't mean it in the generalized "all of life is worship" sense. I mean the particular thing: the corporate gathering of the people of God-- what we call the "church service."

Perhaps you think, as one prominent mega-church pastor/author/speaker suggests, that so long as we go "deep" in the message/sermon, we can go "wide" with our musical choices and decisions about the lobby and parking lots. Or, like his colleague (another wildly influential pastor/author/speaker) has said, we can do "anything short of sin" to get people to know God.

Who cares what we draw them with so long as we preach the Gospel once they get there, right?

James K. A. Smith, a philosopher at Calvin College, might say we're missing a crucial part of the conversation. In a recent interview with Christianity Today, Smith argues that we are more than the beliefs we confess; we are the way we "navigate the world"...and we learn that way in corporate worship (i.e. church services.)

Smith explains: 

"...I engage social theorist Pierre Bourdieu. He had an expansive notion of belief. He thinks your body believes things that your mouth could never articulate. The orthodox Christian tradition was launched with the Incarnation of God in Christ, the apostolic witness, and the Scriptures. But we inherit that rule of faith in two ways: first, in the creeds and confessions of the church (the articulated, explicit aspects of the faith), and second, in the liturgical heritage that hands down the know-how of the faith—our practices, our disciplines, our liturgical forms. Ideally, there's a feedback loop between those two things. If you had just the creeds and confessions without the practices of Christian worship, you would never get the full inheritance of what the Spirit has passed on to us. That inheritance is not owned by Constantinople or Rome or Canterbury. Rather, it is a common universal heritage of the body of Christ that can be renewed for any who call themselves Christians."

Smith argues that human beings are "at their core defined by what they worship rather than primarily by what they think, know, or believe." Here is he advancing the "central Augustinian claim that we are what we love." As Smith engages the French philosophers Merleau-Ponty and Bordieu, he proposes that "we are ritual, liturgical creatures whose loves are shaped and aimed by the fundamentally forming practices that we are immersed in."

Our worship practices-- what we do when we gather-- matter. I argued this in my simplified-for-the-layperson book, Discover the Mystery of Faith based on the Church's historic mantra: Lex orandi, lex credendi (way we worship becomes the way we believed). But Smith gives this claim its philosophical and anthropological teeth.

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Listen, I know that many people have stubbornly held on to traditions simply because they like them. And I know that many people have ditched all resemblance of "tradition" in favor of being relevant. Let me be clear: the point is not to be neither old-fashioned; nor is it to be current. The goal is for our worship services to be Christ-centered and Gospel-shaped.

And yes: we do need to translate. We can't be rigid and inflexible or selfish. We need to allow each generation the space to say these things and do these things in fresh ways for new contexts. (See previous blog.)

These conversations can be healthy and will serve the Church well so long as we remember one crucial thing about the worship service: it is not primarily about mission (reaching people) or expression (preference); it is about formation.

Hear Smith's words on this:

"My burden is that a lot of North American Christianity has reduced worship to expressive practice, where the most important thing is that we are sincere in our expression. We think of worship as primarily upward expressions of us to God. Whereas, if you recapture the formative, God-oriented action in worship, in funerals, in baptisms, and in the Lord's Supper, there is something at stake in making sure that the shape of the ritual tells God's story, so it gets planted in us."

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What if we thought of our gathering not as...

personal EXPRESSION + evangelistic MISSION but as...

spiritual FORMATION+ thoughtful TRANSLATION? 

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[NOTE: I am currenly reading Smith's "Desiring the Kingdom." It is definitely an academic book, though Part 2 is aimed at the practitioner-- pastors and worship leaders. Chapter 5-- in Part 2 of the book-- is pure gold as Smith details what each element of the historic liturgy does for our formation as the people of God.]

What's So Great About the Past?

Nothing.

It may surprise you, but I don’t think all churches should “go liturgical.” That's missing the point. Too often, discussion on worship gets framed as a "style" or "preference" issue: Some people like ancient; others like modern. Some like organs and choirs; others sense God's presence with drums and electric guitars, peopel say. But in this view, corporate worship, in so far as it relates to us, is about expression. Choose the expression that works for you.

For others, it's about what will "reach the people we want to reach." This isn’t about tailoring an approach to your “demographic” or “target audience.” Our obsession with missiology has made even Sunday worship about mission.

Both these approaches miss a crucial point: 

Corporate worship is the gathered witness in the world to the Gospel and the glory of God in Christ Jesus. When it comes to decsions about the particulars and how it relates to us, we ought not think first about expression or even mission but formation.

[For the academic philosophical and theological underpinnings of this claim, this interview with Calvin College philosopher James K. A. Smith is GOLD.]

So, now to the question again: What's so great about the past? 

Lots. There is a lot to learn from the way the Church has worshipped throughout the centuries. The Church has always believed that the way you worship becomes the way you believe. For Christians, what we have believed, we have received. But there's another reason the past matters...

C. S. Lewis wrote in essay on the necessity of reading old books on the reason to study the past:

We need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. 

For Lewis, studying the past is the only way to escape the tyranny of the trend, the grip of the present moment. How do we know if "modern worship" is forming us in the right way? We must compare it to the rich, Christ-centered, Trinitarian, Gospel-shaped narrative-formed liturgy of the past. 

Let me suggest a few exercises:

1. Familiarize yourself with ancient worship practices and services.
This is going to sound harsh, but it’s true: many of the most influential voices in “modern worship” know very little about the worship practices that the church has lived out for centuries... When the Reformers made changes to the worship service, they did so with deliberate theological reflection and careful attention to what the service said.

...[V]isit a few churches that practice a historic approach to worship. Go to an Eastern Orthodox Church and sing with them through the Divine Liturgy that Saint John Chrysostom wrote over 1500 years ago. Go to a Catholic Mass. Attend an Anglican service. Or go find a Lutheran church. Check out a traditional Good Friday service, where the room is dark and the altar is covered. Ask to meet with the priests—from each of these churches—and ask them to explain why they do what they do and where it all began. I’m sure they’d be happy to talk to you.

2. Reflect on what we’ve changed and why.
Before evaluating each practice, just train your mind to notice the differences. Journal it. Mark down as many things—from the visual layout to the spoken words to the songs—that are different from your own worship tradition (and yes, “modern worship” too now has a form, a predictable pattern). As you ask why you’ve made changes, be suspicious of the pragmatic reasons. Don’t be easily satisfied with answers such as, “Because it works!” or, “It’s reaching people!”...Don’t sacrifice the theology and content, the beauty and the narrative of our services on the altar of pragmatism. Think beyond what works.

3. Think about your context.
Context matters. Knowing your city and your people is important. I know I’m emphasizing theological reflection, but for the Word to become flesh, for us to live as the people of God here and now, context matters. Just as every good gardener must know the soil he works in, the field he is working, so every laborer in the kingdom must know his or her people...The gospel does not work in a sterilized laboratory; it works within the dirt of our world. Jesus came not as an angelic being or a generic “human,” but as a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and of David. God works from within.

So think about the particularities of your people. I’ve had people tell me that they could never use written prayers or the creed or even call Communion “the Eucharist” because of the baggage or the negative associations people in their area have with cold, unbelieving rituals or burdensome, angry religion. I get it. Others have told me that they had never prayed a written prayer corporately before, but doing it before Communion made them weep. I get that, too.

Who are your people? What “language” do they speak? How can you translate the rich, Christ-centered content and practices that the Church has said and sung and lived for centuries into their common, marketplace words? How can you retell the story of creation and fall and redemption and restoration in the services you hold?

4. Invite the Spirit to lead you.
The Spirit who filled the disciples of Jesus to carry out the mission of Jesus—the One who led the Church through the valley of death and persecution, through the dark forests of syncretism and superstition, through the wilderness of atheism and humanism—is the same Spirit with you and with me. He breathes on our churches. Invite Him into this. Ask Him to help you shape a gathering that unmistakably reveals Jesus. After all, the liturgy is not the point; Jesus is the point. The practices are not the center; Jesus is the center. The question is, what practices, what “liturgy,” or work of the people that we do when we gather in worship, point to Jesus as the center?

The above is an adapted excerpt from my latest short book, "Discover the Mystery of Faith", explaining my journey of learning many of these concepts. Buy on Amazon HERE. Buy on iBooks HERE.  Buy on Barnes & Noble.com

"Righteousness from Within"

[EDITOR'S NOTE: I had the privilege of preaching at the north campus of New Life Church on May 27, 2013. Because they have a video podcast, I decided to post the video of the sermon along with my full, unedited sermon notes on my blog. This is week 4 of our series on the Sermon on the Mount, called "Arriving." The text is Matthew 5:17-20.)

"Righteousness from Within" from Glenn Packiam on Vimeo.

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ARRIVING, Pt. 4: “Righteousness From Within” (Sermon Notes)

[attention/tension] 

How good is good enough? What does God require?

-       The Grace crowd: “No rules! Don’t give me that legalism!” 

-       The Correctness people: “What do we technically need to do to be saved?”

-       The Skeptic: “Why do you pick and choose what we obey from the Bible?”

 

[text/context] 

The Sermon on the Mount

-       Matthew 5-7; Most taught on, written about passage of Scripture

-       Arriving: God’s Kingdom is arriving; His reign. This is about how to live in light of it

Jesus is setting up the body of the sermon; He's told us who/what we are

-       the called (like the dsciples)

-       the blessed (the beautitudes)

-       the salt of the earth and the light of world

Now he's about to tell us who He is.

-       There were questions about his authority, his legitimacy (is he following Torah or dishonoring it?) 

Matthew 5:17-20 ESV
“ ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ ” 

Is the OT about law and the NT about grace? 

-       Torah = Teaching/instrctions not rules; (Jewish law not generic rules!)

-       The order of things: chosen by grace, saved by grace, then given 10 Commandments 

God has always been the God who calls and saves by grace! 

-       He has always been the God who would send Jesus! It’s completely consistent with His character (“You would!” not “You did what?”

-       Even now: this isn’t how we are saved, but how to live since we are saved (“dearly loved children of God”); don’t frame everything through “acceptance and rejection”!

 

[Jesus]  

What does Jesus do to the law? 

-       Cancel it? (God: “Just kidding!”)

-       Change it? (God: “OK, that didn’t work…let's tweak it a bit!”) 

Jesus fulfills the Law by bringing it to its intended goal.

“Law and the prophets” = whole OT; The OT points to Jesus!

• Don’t jump in the middle of the Bible and look for principles; look for Jesus!
• The OT is not the last word on God; Jesus is!
• STORY: Sophia, “How long til we see a good marriage?”
• The OT is not Aesop’s fables, full of morals and principles
• It’s more like Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”

Jesus is faithful on Israel’s behalf

• God chose Israel by grace but they couldn’t be faithful to the covenant!
• Jesus re-enacting Israel’s story:
  • Matt. 2 “…out of Egypt”;
  • Matt. 4 Temptation in the wilderness, etc
• Jesus’ faithfulness opened up the way for all! (What Israel was supposed to do!)
• Turns out He wasn’t just re-enacting the Israel story but Human story!

 

[participation] 

What does this mean for us?

-       Because Jesus brings the Law to its intended goal, He can show what the Law is after.

-       Torah is like a parent’s instructions to a young child (ex. talking to strangers)

Jesus shows the kind of righteousness God is after

-       Righteousness from the inside-out!

-       His commands are the ones we are not to ignore (ref. Matt. 5:19 and Matt. 28); Jesus really means for us to live this way!

-       The SotM is not new law, but the true Law

When you live this way, you’ll be exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees…

The righteousness of the Pharisees

-       These guys were the religious heroes, the radicals!

-       But their righteousness was

• built on exclusion (vs. Inward)
• focused on self (vs. the Other)
• driven by “No” instead of “Yes.”

 

[imagination]

Can you imagine a people who live this way?

-       No fakes, no hypocrisy; from the inside-out

-       People who live this way because they love one another!

-       All of us wants friends like this; we want to be these kind of people

 

[invitation]

We get excited…until we realize…but I can’t live this way!

-       The SoTM is more demanding than ever!

-       We cannot change ourselves; we cannot make ourselves different

-       The Gospel says: “You’re right!” 

The situation is worse than we imagined; but the Hope is better than we’ve dreamed. 

“Run, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands
Far better news the gospel brings
It bids us fly and gives us wings.”—John Bunyan

Gal. 2:16, 20b (Kingdom New Testament)
“16 But we know that a person is not declared ‘righteous’ by works of the Jewish law, but through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. That is why we too believed in the Messiah, Jesus: so that we might be declared ‘righteous’ on the basis of the Messiah’s faithfulness, and not on the basis of works of the Jewish law. On that basis, you see, no creature will be declared ‘righteous’….20b …And the life I do still live in the flesh, I live within the faithfulness of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

-       Jesus is doing this on our behalf

-       His faithfulness becomes our faithfulness

The question is not, “How good is good enough?” BUT “Whose goodness do we trust?” 

The Gospel

-       Because of what Jesus has done, we are declared righteous! (Justification)

-       AND: the Spirit of God is in you, transforming you!

• Pentecost Sunday: in OT—giving of the law; in the NT—the pouring out of the Holy Spirit! 

-       STORY: Eustace and the dragon skin

• When our exterior life reflects our interior life; (apples and apple tree)
• only Aslan can change us from deep within.
• “…he began to be a different boy…the cure had begun.” (diagnosis: sin’s death)

Do you want to made new from the inside-out?

Do you want live in this new way?

 

Invitation: Why Corporate Worship Matters

One of the unintended consequences of telling people that "everything is worship" is that we've lost the sense of why corporate worship-- the gathered people of God-- matters. If everything is worship...and if I can listen to favorite worship music wherever I am, whether in a car or on a mountain trail, then why does it matter if I gather with the family of believers to worship?

There are several responses to such questions, some of which I attempted to address in a sermon at new life DOWNTOWN on corporate worship, called "Come Together."

There is a power in the invitation: "Come and let us worship." The Psalmist said he was glad when they said to him, "let us go up to the house of God." Here's a short 2-minute video on why corporate worship matters:  

"When we worship we do so with the whole people of God."

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[Note: These videos are part of "The Mystery of Faith Project" and are available as part of the iTunes LP. GET the ALBUM HERE. 

There's also book that accompanies this project, called "Discover the Mystery of Faith", explaining my journey and many of these concepts. Buy on Amazon HERE. Buy on iBooks HERE.  Buy on Barnes & Noble.com]

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UPDATE: Here's the song the above video is based on, "The Lord Be With You." Get chord charts for the song HERE.

N. T. Wright on the Gospel, the Gospels and Paul

Would you like to hear N. T. Wright answer a few questions on the Gospel, summing up in person the rich theological research he's devoted his life to developing? Whether you've read Wright or not, this 13-minute video interview is a great summary of Wright's work on seeing the Gospel in the Gospels and in Paul as a unified whole, the culmination of the salvation narrative that begins in the Old Testament.

Krish Kandiah (of the UK's "Evangelical Alliance") interviews NT Wright and asks the following questions:

• Why do we need to ask the question: ‘What is the gospel?’
• What is the gospel according to the gospels?
• If you only had a couple of minutes, how would you communicate the gospel with someone?
• Do we need to talk about repentance when we present the gospel?
• Why do you emphasise the importance of talking about Jesus’ life, as well as his death, when presenting the gospel?
• Is the gospel of Paul different to the gospel of Jesus?
• What would your advice be to a young evangelist?

The Evangelical Alliance provides the following questions for small groups and for ministry leaders. These are worth considering for reflection:

For Small Groups:

1) Before you watch the video, ask: “If you only had a couple of minutes, how would you communicate the gospel with someone? Once you’ve watched the video, compare and contrast your ideas with what NT Wright suggested.

2) Think about the times you’ve heard the gospel presented recently, how was the idea of repentance communicated (if it was)? How can we ensure that our understanding of repentance includes being part of something new as well as leaving behind something old?

3) NT Wright suggests that many people see Paul as presenting the actual gospel, with the four gospels providing the back story. What is the danger of this view? How can we ensure that our gospel includes the whole story of Jesus?

For Leadership Teams:

1) As a Church, how can we explore the question: “What is the gospel?” to ensure that the gospel we are communicating connects with the people around us?

2) NT Wright emphasises the importance of connecting Jesus’ death and resurrection to his life and kingdom agenda. Is this something we as a Church already do? What are the particularly points we need to take from this interview?

3) NT Wright encourages us to soak ourselves in the scriptures and prayer, and also to listen to our neighbours if we are to understand the gospel and what that means today. What new light have we had shed on the gospel message in the past few months? How can we go about ensuring that our understanding and experience of the gospel is always expanding?

 

New Communion Song: "The Mystery of Faith"

If your church does communion on a regular basis, you may be interested in a new communion song I wrote with Jennie Lee Riddle (Dove-award winning writer of "Revelation Song"). Of course, this song would fit as part of just about any worship set, but it is particularly poignant as people are preparing to come to the Lord's Table. Here's a bit about the song:

"The Mystery of Faith"-- a rising anthem based on the words of the Memorial Acclamation: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." Each verse is about an aspect of the Lord's Table-- His body and His blood in verse 1, His Spirit, and His coming in verse 2. The bridge is an "Alleluia" refrain fitting for Easter celebrations.

Download the chord chart: http://bit.ly/XLS9lY

Who Is "Church"? Pt. 2

In Part 1 of this blog series, we said that in order to answer the question of "who the Church is", we needed to first ask who Jesus is, and then ask what His salvation is. I walked through two examples of how we tend to answer the series of questions-- Who is Jesus? What is Salvation? Who is Church? What is Mission?-- and then offered an alternate set of answers from what I observe in the Book of Acts.

All this is foundational. But it is a paradigm shift. Most of us are not used to seeing Church as anything but individuals united by a common purpose-- reaching the lost (fill in the word of choice: evangelism, discipleship, mission). BUT...

Church is not a collective of individuals but a community-- one family, one body, made of diverse parts who are not members together of an organization but who are members of one another.

Church is united not by a common purpose but by a common identity: we have been marked as the people of God, drawn into the life and fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are, as my pastor is fond of saying, sons and daughters, not slaves and orphans, or even God's task force or missional operatives. The New Testament's favorite image for the Church is a household: a family.

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So, what does all this mean for our gatherings, our worship services? Who is Church for?

In one sense, the Church is in the world for the world. We are blessed, broken and given for the life of the world, because we are in Jesus and He was blessed, broken and given for the world. More than that, we are in the world as a sign in the world: we are, as I mentioned in part 1, an alternate society of sorts, showing the world that a new King is now on the throne and this is what it looks like to live under His reign. In this large sense, the Church as the people of God are in the world for the sake of the world and to be a sign of God's Kingdom in the middle of the world.

But what about the gathered Church, not the scattered Church living out in the world? 

Some say it is to reach people, to go "wide" on Sundays and then "deep" on Wednesdays or in small groups. But while that addresses the need for the Church to be both deep and wide, I think it is still answering the wrong question.

The question that not many today are asking is why the Church gathers at all? If we fail to undestand this, we will treat Sundays in a utilitarian way: do the most good for the greatest number of people. So, if a movie series does the trick, go for it. Or if launching a series on sex on Easter is the way to draw them in, by all means go ahead. Or if rock and roll is what the kids are into, ditch the choir and the organ and let 'em have it. The missional movement, I fear, is a reaction to this so-called "attractional" method. No, they say, if you want to reach people, go to them.

There is merit to both approaches and yet both the missional and the attractional seem to me to be built on the same faulty premise: the Church is here to reach people!

But what if the Church is not first about reaching people but about BECOMING a People? Certainly part of the identity involves being sent into the world to "bear witness in word and deed that Jesus is King." And certainly that witness looks like serving our city and eating and drinking with people in their homes and inviting them into our homes. But all that flows out of an identity.

You know what the Church has said about the reason it gathers? From the early Fathers to the Reformers, you'd be hard-pressed to arrive at a different conclusion than this: 

The Church gathers in worship to be formed as the people of God.

We gather in worship. To center on Christ. To be drawn into the communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To hear the Scripture proclaimed. To receive the Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist.

As we worship, we are formed as the people of God. The table is where families find their identity. At the Lord's Table, we find our shared, communal, familial identity as the People of God. We are one not because of shared interests or personalities or income levels; we are one because Christ has made us so. Gathering in worship at the Table reminds us of that. No, more than that: it forms us as that People.

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This discovery of how the Church talked about itself long before church growth experts showed up in America has messed me up in good way. I can't think about Sundays the way I used to. It's not just that I can't let the "end justify the means"; it's that I have begun to see a different end: not reaching people but becoming a People.

You see, for decades church leaders have told us that how we worship--what we do when we gather-- is just an expression of our faith, so adjust it according to the people you want to "reach." But for centuries, the Church Fathers have told us that how we worship actually shapes our faith, so choose wisely. I wrote about the difference between those two approaches and the consequences they have on our faith, not only as individuals but as the community of believers worldwide. Find our more HERE.

Who Is "Church"? Pt. 1

What is "Church"? Who is Church for? The lost? The disciple? What are Sundays for?

Many pastors jump right to the Great Commission and define "Church" through the lens of a "heaven and hell" crisis. The church invariable gets defined by what it does or what it ought to be doing. But with God, identity precedes activity. Adam and Eve were made in God's image before they were given a vocation. So, we need to ask what Church is...or more precisely, who Church is.

Before we can begin to properly wrestle with this question, we need to zoom out all the way out and ask who Jesus is. How we think about Jesus and the salvation He brings affects the way you think of Church and our mission.

To say it in theological language:

Our Christology shapes our Soteriology;

Our Soteriology shapes our Ecclesiology;

Our Ecclesiology shapes our Missiology.

Or in a series of questions:

• Who is JESUS? (Christology)
• What is SALVATION? (Soteriology)
• Who is CHURCH? (Ecclesiology)
• What is MISSION? (Missiology) 

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THIS IS HOW WE TEND TO THINK THROUGH THE LIST:

• Jesus = my personal Lord and Savior
• Salvation = forgiveness of sins and a ticket to heaven
• Church = a collection of saved individuals who pass time in the meantime
• Mission = optional extra credit

OR:

• Jesus = my personal Lord and Savior 
• Salvation = an escape from Hell
• Church = a lifeboat (functionally: God’s sales and marketing team)
• Mission = a mandate to rescue lost souls 

What results is an often frenetic pace of ministry, where the whole focus is on getting people to come to church or get saved. Songs and sermons are aimed at going "wide" on Sundays, while other "environments" are created for going "deep."

But imagine if you ran your home this way: What if you were constantly telling your kids to keep the house clean because guests were coming over? What if you told them to eat on their own time or in the back room? Eventully, the house would cease to be a home; it would be a showroom. The children would stop being family and would become housemaids. This is, in fact, how so many staff members at many churches feel. Everything  is geared for the "outsider."

[The rebuttal is often, "But we do a mid-week service for believers...Sundays are for the unsaved or unchurched." I hope to address this in the next post...but my short answer is, our practices are formative. What you do when you gather becomes what you are. This is perhaps most true of our most prominent gatherings: the weekend service. One might say, "What you do with the most people becomes who you most are."]

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THIS IS WHAT WE SEE IN THE BOOK OF ACTS:

• Jesus = "Lord" (YHWH & Caesar-- King of Creation & of the nations) and "Christ" (Promised Savior)
  Acts 2:36 (ESV) “ ‘Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ ”

It is not untrue to call Jesus our personal Lord and Savior-- the Triune God is deeply personal. But the Lordship of Christ is not, as Leslie Newbigin reminded us, a private opinion but a public truth. The rulers of Rome wouldn't have trembled if the Apostles preached Jesus as their personal Lord who was living in their heart. No-- Herod and Caesar and all the other "powers" trembled because these Christians were announcing Jesus as the true Lord of the Cosmos. For them, the resurrection and ascension were not "Jesus going home" (as though He were ET!)...but Jesus being enthroned!

• Salvation = God working within His world to redeem and restore all things
  Acts 3:21 (ESV) “…until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

By the same token, salvation is much more than the forgiveness of sins. It is the setting right of all  that is broken in the world. At the heart of what is broken is the human; and he must be set right with God. So, it is not wrong to emphasize the forgiveness of sins. It's just not the whole Story.

• Church = the Kingdom community, formed by the Spirit, living now as it will be then.
  Acts 2:42 (ESV) “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Church becomes not a collection of saved individuals but a new community. The first priority of the eleven apostles in Acts 1 is to replace Judas. Why? Because 12 was a significant number-- it signified the Church as the new Covenant People. The Church is a sign of the Kingdom-- a people who live as if Jesus is King now, and whose very love for one another point to the Future that Christ is bringing.

• Mission =to announce Christ as King here and now and to anticipate the Kingdom
  Acts 8:6-8 (ESV) "And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city."

We are not told to build the Kingdom. We are not called to expand it. Rather, Paul tells us to build for the Kingdom (1 Cor. 15), to do things here in Christ. So, we announce Christ as King-- we preach the Gospel-- and we live in anticipation of His Kingdom arriving in fullness. This idea of anticipation is how N. T. Wright frames works of justice and restoration done in Jesus's name. We are beginning to live now as it will be then. In living this way, the Gospel is both seen and heard.

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There are many more questions to be wrestled with regarding church, not least of which is how we ought to think about our gatherings. I hope to address that in the next post.

But for now, how does this broader framework change your understanding of Who Church is?

Celebrating our first year at new life DOWNTOWN

I cannot begin to tell you what a blessing it is to work for a gracious and generous leader. A generous leader finds ways to empower others, and in doing so, sees their own work multiplied exponentially. Pastor Brady Boyd, my pastor, is that kind of leader.

The story of new life DOWNTOWN is just one example of how.

new life DOWNTOWN is not a separate church; it is an extension of New Life Church. It's a campus, but not in the way you may be used to thinking of campuses. Many campuses are, for better or worse, replications of the "main thing." They follow a franchise model, and there's nothing wrong with it. But what New Life is venturing into is something of a hybrid between a church plant and a campus. There is unity of purpose and identity but there is freedom to let the work of the Spirit take a unique shape.

Pastor Brady saw the work of the Spirit in my own life and called it out of me. He invited me to begin a service on Sunday nights in the Fall of 2009, where I'd preach the same text and theme as he did that morning, but give the service a slightly different shape. Because he knew the ways I was exploring the practices and roots of our ancient faith, he encouraged me to let the Sunday night service reflect that. Then, in the Fall of 2011, we talked about what it might look like if that service became a campus-- a congregation--in downtown Colorado Springs...on Sunday mornings. The elders prayed about it and decided to commision it. And so, new life DOWNTOWN began on Easter Sunday, 2012.

It's been a year now, and what a year it's been. To see the people, to know their stories, to feel the warmth of their love for God and one another displayed in worship in fellowship...all these are more than stats and numbers could say. Becoming a congregation is a slow work, a hidden work. It will frustrate the pragmatic and disappoint the idealist. What it takes is a prophetic imagination-- the vision of an alternate reality-- the sight of the Spirit at work reshaping us, changing us, making us one Family. 

So...a big thank you to our amazing team who see with this imagination and serve each week so faithfully.

And a massive THANK YOU to Pastor Brady Boyd for living your life message by leading like a "son" (not an orphan or a slave) and raising up sons and daughters in the House of God.

 

C. S. Lewis on Art With a "Message"

For all who love the Narnia books, we cannot help but see Lewis's rich theology coming to life in the characters and conversations of these books. One might be tempted to think that Lewis scripted the "message" he wanted to communicate in each book-- or even in the series as a whole-- before he was writing. But this was not the case: 

"Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected the information about child-psychology and decided what age group I’d write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out ‘allegories’ to embody them. This is all pure moonshine.  I couldn't write in that way at all."

As a songwriter deeply interested in seeing our art reflect a rich view of God-- after all: worship shapes believing-- I have fallen into the trap many times of beginning first with a concept and trying to shoe-horn it into a melody. Sometimes it works; but most of the time, it's clunky. Lewis, surprisingly, says it's best not to begin by asking what "moral children need" (or in our case, what the Church needs?)...It would be better, he says, to ask what moral (or message) we need. But, there is something even better:

"But it is better not to ask the question at all. Let the pictures tell you their own moral. For the moral inherent in them will rise from whatever spiritual roots you have succeeded in striking during the whole course of your life."

What Lewis is proposing is more actually more serious-- and more difficult-- than simply trying to write songs or stories or create art that conveys a certain message. He is asking us to feed ourselves on the rich food of Scripture, to nourish our faith on the ancient theology of the Church, and to trust that the Spirit will draw it out of us in the process of creating. Lewis himself, as a good Anglican who faithfully attended Morning Prayer, prayed through the Psalter multiple times a year. He said the Creeds and Confessions each Sunday. He read the New Testament over and over-- in Greek, no less! He was fluent enough in Hebrew to instruct his stepson in it when Douglas was considering Judaism.

Lewis's life and art are proof of this: take in the richness of Christ and His Word and it will come out of you in your art. St. Paul said a similar thing:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.--Colossians 3:16, ESV

 

What Do We Make of the God of the Old Testament?

There is no escaping the fact that the Old Testament contains many troubling stories of violence, genocide, and even one famous story of God asking a patriarch to kill his only son.

What should we make of all this?

My aim is not to solve these problems. Such a goal is beyond my scope. My intent is far more modest. I simply want to suggest a few things that are often forgotten or not properly understood when it comes to reading the Old Testament. The first has to do with God, the second with culture and context, and the third has to do with how we understand the Scripture itself.

1. God Meets Us Where We Are
The beauty of the God of the Scriptures is that He comes to where we are. The Biblical narrative moves rather quickly from creation-- the original and beautiful design-- to Fall: the fracturing of relationships between God and humans, humans and each other, and humans and their world. This fracturing has resulted in a separation from God and a severely impaired (or "totally depraved", depending on your theology) ability to know God.

But it is often forgotten that when Adam and Eve sinned, God isn't the one hiding. Humans hide; God comes calling. And in saying that God comes to us, we must acknowledge that God is the one who condescends. He lowers Himself, comes into our world, speaks to us in our language. We will say more about this later, but this is the reason why we cannot take something God said in the Old Testament as the final word on a subject. Often, the Old Testament is the first word, the place God begins in His dealing with us.

Take, for example, the famous (or infamous!) call for Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.  As moderns, we find this request--even if it were a test-- to be simply appalling. What kind of God would ask a man to kill his son? As it turns out, the answer is, not YHWH. We are on solid footing to suggest that God spoke to Abraham in the only language the he, a pagan, could understand. Asking for a man to kill his only son was, in the ancient pagan world, the ultimate way to express devotion to a god (see: Molech). So, YHWH met Abraham where he was, asking for his devotion in a language that Abraham understood. BUT...the stunning part of the Abraham and Isaac story isn't that God asked him to kill Isaac, but that God would not let him do it! YHWH shows Himself to be not the god who asks for child sacrifice, but the God who provides the sacrifice! In this way, YHWH was slowly revealing Himself to be different from the gods of the ancient world. He had to start where they were, and then reshape their image of God.

2. The World of the Old Testament is Far Different From Ours
In aknowledging that God meets us where we are, we have also admitted that that world is different from ours. But more needs to be said about the world of the Old Testament. When we read stories of divinely commanded genocide, we cannot fathom how a good God would command that.

(A more liberal view of Scripture would say at this point that the Scriptures are simply what Israel thought God was saying to them, mingling their own motives with their theology, justifying their conquests with divine commands. This is further complicated by the lack of archeological and historical evidence for many of the conquests described in the book of Joshua.)

If one holds to a more conservative view of Scripture, things are trickier to resolve. But there are still things that ought to be considered. What if the nations that Israel was instructed to conquer were so wicked that the only way to give humans a chance of surviving was to eliminate entire sections of early civilizations? Could there be an evil that could not be stopped unless the people whom that evil inhabited were stopped? This was the logic of many of the decisions in the world wars of the 20th centuries. On a lesser scale, Bonhoeffer and others came to the conclusion that though murder was wrong, allowing Hitler to do what he intended to do was worse. Still, the horror of the after-effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, show that such a logic or an ethic has its limits.

Part of the underlying problem with the decisions to wipe out a people is, for many conservative Christians, the issue of final judgment and Hell. Were these people killed and left no chance to repent or be saved? Or, does the notion of Jesus preaching to the dead, the "captives", leave open the possibility that the physical death was not the final judgment on these people? If so, then it may have been a sort of mercy: saving them from damning themselves forever by "turning them over to death."

Though this is a far lesser scale and a much lighter note, an example of parents may be helpful. On a long road trip, a parent may instruct their children to not speak or touch each other. If this command were taken as an absolute--a command to be obeyed in all situations-- the parent would be viewed with horror. How could you tell your children not to talk to each other? Why wouldn't you want them to hug each other and love each other? What kind of parent does that? But if the children were yelling and screaming at each other, hitting and hurting each other, then the instruction to be quiet and keep their hands to themselves is not only necessary to keep order but also a mercy: it prevents the children from doing a kind of damage they may find it hard to recover from.

3. The Old Testament Is Not the Last Word on God.
The Bible is not a cook book of recipes and formulas for life. It isn't a coffee table book full of inspirational quotes and sayings. It is a Story. And one cannot jump into a story and make conclusions about the characters or the moral of the story.

In the same way, when we read the Old Testament, we must ask, "Where is the Story going?" The answer is: Jesus. The Old Testament is not God's last word on a subject; Jesus, the Word Who became Flesh, is the Last Word. (Tip of the hat to Dr. John Goldingay, the OT chair at Fuller, for the phrasing and concept.)

Take, for instance, the instruction on dealing with our enemies. I imagine that in a cutthroat, primitive and tribal world where life was cheap and death was commonplace, God had good reason for beginning His work of revealing Himself and redeeming His people out from this world gradually. God starts not by the affirmative instruction to "love one another" but by the prohibitive command not to murder. Furthermore, the instructions were not even universals at this point; it is, at least as it was functionally understood, Do not murder your brother. Later, the prophets challenge Israel (remind Israel?) to not oppress the poor or the foreigner, slowly extending the prohibitive instructions beyond lines of tribe and kin. YHWH cares not only out Israel, but about all people. The true nature of God comes to a clear focus finally and fully in Jesus. Jesus says, "Not only do not kill, but do not hate; and this applies not only to your brother, but to your enemies. And let's not just speak in the prohibitive but in the affirmative: Love your enemies."

In one way, the message of the Old Testament is similar to that of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings": The world is chaotic and rife with evil. It is crying out for a King. But no king was found that is worthy-- not an Egyptian Pharaoh, not a Babylonian king, and not even an Israelite king. In this way, the stage is set for the Messiah-- Jesus!-- to arrive as the world's true Lord and long-awaited King.

[NOTE: For more on the God of the Old Testament and the problematic perception of him, here is a five-part blog series based on responding to Richard Dawkins's claims about that "God."]

The Presence of God in Our Worship

We often speak of God's presence like it's a commodity, something we can have more of or less of. But the truth is, God's presence cannot be separated from God's person.

Here's the best news of all:

In Jesus, we have seen the face of God, we have beheld the glory of God.

So, why do we beg and plead for God to "show us His glory", when that prayer of Moses came to a brilliant fulfillment in Christ? It is true that through the Spirit, we can experience the power of this reality, and sense the manifest presence of God with us when we gather because of His abiding presence with us. But this experience-- whatever you think it is: warmth, chills, goosebumps-- is not the same as the presence of God Himself.

For all who are in Christ, we are not desperately praying for God to "show Himself"....He has! Jesus has come! Instead, we pray that our eyes would be opened, that our ears would hear. We pray that like the disciples on the road to Emmaus we would have eyes to see and hearts that burn because Jesus has revealed Himself through Scripture and Sacrament (this is what happened in Luke 24).

When we pray, "Turn your face to me", it's a way of saying that we will turn to Him, that we won't look away from the One who has turned toward us, ever and always, in Christ.

For more, watch this 2-minute video on the personal, presence of God:

[Note: These videos are part of "The Mystery of Faith Project" and are available as part of the iTunes LP. GET the ALBUM HERE. There's a book that accompanies this project, explaining my journey and many of these concepts. It's only $3 for a limited time. Buy on Amazon HERE. Buy on iBooks HERE.  Buy on Barnes & Noble.com]

"Victorious God" and the "Exsultet"

When Ian Eskelin and I were working on "Victorious God", we wanted to write something triumphant about the victory of God. I went right away to the liturgy for the Easter Vigil, found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. These stanzas below are where we drew inspiriation for the verses:

From "The Great Vigil of Easter", the Exsultet:

Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels,
and let your trumpets shout Salvation 
for the victory of our mighty King.

Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth, 
bright with a glorious splendor, 
for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King.

Rejoice and be glad now, Mother Church, 
and let your holy courts, in radiant light, 
resound with the praises of your people.

Here are the lyrics for "Victorious God":

"Victorious God" 
words and music by Ian Eskelin and Glenn Packiam

Verse 1
Rejoice
For death has lost its power

Rejoice
Now the victory is ours

O sing, you heavenly choir
Come on, church, lift your voices higher
Look what our God has done
Rejoice!

chorus
Jesus, You’re the risen One
Up from the grave you rose
Jesus, You’re the reigning King
You conquered all Your foes

Victor—ious
Victor-ious
Victor—ious God

Verse 2
Rejoice
For God has come to save

Rejoice
The night has turned to day

O sing, you heavenly choir
Come on, church, lift your voices higher
Look what our God has done
Rejoice!

Bridge
Look what the Lord has done The battle has been won

Here's the song:

Here are the CHORD CHARTS (FREE!).

Good Friday Service, 2013

[The image above was created by Stephen Proctor, a visual litrugist and friend.]

Welcome/Prayer (ALL): 

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

[from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 1979.]

--------------------

Worship Songs:

1. Here is Love 
2. How Deep the Father’s Love
3. There is a Redeemer
4. My Jesus, I Love Thee
5. The Cross Stands Above It All (Tim Hughes)

--------------------

The Lord's Prayer (ALL):
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your Name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
Now and forever.
Amen.

--------------------

Scripture Readings:
[NOTE: There are certainly specific texts for Good Friday, however, here is where the "living lectionary" idea comes to play for us. The preacher will choose the text and pair it with OT and NT texts that illuminate the chosen Gospel text. Readers from the congregation will come up to read each text.] 

OT Reading—
NT Reading—
Gospel Reading—

--------------------

Sermon

--------------------

Corporate Confession (ALL):
Most merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved You with our whole heart;
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.

For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways,
to the glory of Your Name.
Amen.

[from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer]

--------------------

Confession Song: “We Confess”

--------------------

Words of Institution (Leader):
On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

--------------------

Memorial Acclamation (ALL):
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

Communion Song: “The Mystery of Faith”

--------------------

Seven Last Words (Candle-light):
[NOTE: Individual readers will come up one at a time and read these. When the Seventh Word is read, the reader will blow out her candle and the congregation will do the same. The service will end in silence and darkness.] 

The First Word:
 “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.”
(Luke 23:34)

The Second Word:
 “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:43)

The Third Word:
 “Dear woman, here is your son.”
(John 19:26)

The Fourth Word:
 “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
(Mark 15:34)

The Fifth Word:
 “I am thirsty.”
(John 19:28)

The Sixth Word:
 “It is finished!”
(John 19:30)

The Seventh Word:
 “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!”
(Luke 23:46)

--------------------

[NOTE: If you're in town, the New Life Church(new life DOWNTOWN and New Life main all together!) Good Friday Service will be in the Living Room (main campus) at 7pm this Friday, March 29th.]

Why Do We Confess?

Why do we confess our sins? Is it to beg God to forgive us? What are we missing when we don't make room in our worship services for confession?

Here is an excerpt from Discover the Mystery of Faith, Chapter 4, "Retelling the Story"

A good story requires tension. There must be a conflict or a crisis, something to draw us in, to make us feel and hope and long. The trouble with laying out our worship services in a narrative format is that we’ve forgotten where the tension lies.

        What is the central tension of the gospel narrative?

        It is that we, though we long to do what is right and become God-like in our love for others, consistently fall short. We quickly aspire to virtue, for this is what it means to have the imago Dei. Yet we discover our limitations right away, and this is what it means to be fallen. We are good but fallen, or fallen but good. Either way, we cannot be who we hope to be.

        That is, without Christ. The gospel story doesn’t leave us in our hopeless state. God comes to us in Christ, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves, being for us what we cannot be in ourselves. This is what we call grace. It is the most beautiful word in the world.

        Yet our services, though they may praise grace and teach on grace, don’t often lead us to experience grace. Why? Because the story we tell lacks tension. We don’t bring people to the cliff. Our sermons leave people saying, “Wow. That’s a great insight (or a powerful principle). I’m going to try that this week.”

        Try that this week?

         When the apostles preached, people were cut to the heart, crying out, “What must we do to be saved?” And we want to preach in a way that allows people to readily run out and apply it?

        Don’t get me wrong: sermons must be fit to the world of the congregation. The Word must become flesh. We are not to give people heady lectures—something I’m all too often guilty of—and “trust God to help them apply it.” We must speak God’s Word in our world, as the saying goes. And there is a place for practical sermons, just as there are books in the Scriptures that are collections of wise sayings and generally true principles (Proverbs, for one). But if we leave people with the impression that they can do what God asked us to do without first pointing them to Christ and calling them to receive afresh His grace and His Spirit to change them and empower them, then our corporate worship services will fail.

        When we started the New Life Sunday-night service in the fall of 2009, the goal from the beginning was for it to be a slightly different expression of worship but connected to New Life as a whole. My pastor, Brady Boyd, encouraged me to shape the service around the growing convictions in my own heart—worship and liturgy and faith. He and I would continue to study together and preach from the same texts with the same overarching theme, but in our own ways. Because of his encouragement to give corporate expression to my personal journey of rediscovery, we began with many liturgical elements. We opened the service with about thirty minutes of “modern worship,” led by my humble and thoughtful friend and fellow pastor Matthew Fallentine. He worked carefully to choose songs that fit the new approach. Out of our time of worship, I would come up and lead everyone through a corporate reading of the Nicene Creed. We had a time of silent confession, a corporate prayer of confession, Communion, the offering, announcements, and finally, the sermon. Early on, we had good pieces of the service, but we put them together like a variety show.

        Then, Jesse, one of our leaders, said, “Hey, have you ever thought about putting Communion at the end of the service, like as the response to the sermon?” During Lent of 2012, we decided to try it: six Sundays on which the sermon led into a moment of personal confession and then into Communion.

        All of a sudden, there was a story to the service; it had a beginning and a tension and an end. Personal confession, you see, was the missing piece. Without confession, a sermon is just good advice. To end the sermon by giving people space to silently admit where they’ve tried to follow Christ and failed means we led them to the “crisis” in the salvation story. We brought them face-to-face with their own frailty and brokenness. Confession, though, is not about feeling bad about yourself or beating yourself up. In fact, confession is not the end, just as a good story doesn’t end with the crisis point. You might say that it is at the crisis point that the story truly begins. In the same way, confession is a gateway to receiving God’s grace.

        Some Christians, however, want to do away with confession. They want everyone to know that God has already forgiven us for everything, so there is no need to ask for forgiveness. In one sense, this is true: God freely offered us forgiveness in Christ. We do not confess because God is withholding forgiveness; we confess because we have been holding onto our own self-determination and self-reliance. Like a person with tightly closed fists, unable to receive a gift, we too easily cling to our own efforts instead of welcoming God’s grace into our lives. Confession is a way to let go. It brings us to the place where we finally admit that our hands are empty. It is in this place that Christ becomes our portion. We do not confess our sin because we hope to find a gracious God; we confess our sin because we know that God is gracious.

        Confession is the tension in the story that we’ve been missing. What is the rescue scene without the crisis point that necessitates rescue in the first place? Can you appreciate the relief if you didn’t know the anxiety? Can you celebrate grace without having been brought to your knees? However, confession cannot been thrown into the service like an ingredient in a Crock-Pot. It is meant to be more like a palate-cleansing amuse bouche before the entrée. We can program the service elements like a late-night variety show; or we can arrange it in a story, a gospel narrative that people can enter into and reenact and participate in week after week after week. Historically, the Church has opted for the latter.

        What would it look like if our services told a story, the Story of salvation?

-------------------------

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Here is a 2-minute video on why we confess our sins:

Preparing for Holy Week: Song Ideas for Good Friday and Easter

There are so many great worship songs about the cross and forgiveness and the sacrifice Christ made for us. And there are so many wonderful songs about the resurrection and the victory of God over sin, and death, and evil. Two, in particular, that have stuck in my head this week are Paul Baloche's hauntingly beautiful song, "Your Blood Ran Down" and Tim Hughes's new anthem, "The Cross Stands Above It All."

I want to just add a few more songs to your ideas for Holy Week. Three are brand new, and two were previosuly released but are included as bonus tracks on The Mystery of Faith LP. Each video includes a link to the chord chart for FREE. 

For GOOD FRIDAY:

"We Confess"-- a song of confession and repentance, based on the prayers of confession in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. The chorus, which comes after two verses of confession, is sung from God's perspective, announcing His forgiveness to us. (For a picture of what it would look like to sing is antiphonally, with people facing each other, check out this "live" video.)

Download the chord chart: http://bit.ly/15o3TR6

 

"Forgiven Forever"-- a song thanking God for the "once-and-for-all" forgiveness He provided for us through the blood of the lamb. The bridge contains an anthemic refrain based on Romans 8, declaring that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Download the chord chart: http://bit.ly/XIe9kU

 

------------------------------------------------------ 

For EASTER:

"Our Messiah Reign"-- a brooding anthem naming Christ as the long-awaited Messiah, the world's true Lord, who broke the curse of death, rescues the prisoner, and comforts the broken. Based on Isaiah 61 and Luke 4, the song culminates in a simple chorus giving glory to the Lamb who died and rose again.

Download the chord chart: http://bit.ly/ZK3dCo

 

"Victorious God"-- a simple, upbeat praise song, with verse lyrics based on the Easter hymn in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. With a driving verse and a chorus declaring Jesus as the risen One and reigning King, the song takes flight in a chant-like refrain praising our victorious God.

Download the chord chart: http://bit.ly/XtdqTv

 

BONUS:

"The Mystery of Faith"-- a rising anthem based on the words of the Memorial Acclamation: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." Each verse is about an aspect of the Lord's Table-- His body and His blood in verse 1, His Spirit, and His coming in verse 2. The bridge is an "Alleluia" refrain fitting for Easter celebrations.

Download the chord chart: http://bit.ly/XLS9lY

Proclaiming our Faith in Worship: How We Are Tethered to Our Story

One of the main reasons we gather as the people of God is to remind ourselves of who God is, what He has done to make us His people, and what it means to live as the people of God here and now. One of the key ways we do this is by proclaiming things that the Church has proclaimed throughout the centuries. When we rehearse these truths about God together, we remembed that we aren't the first ones to travel thie Way, and that we aren't the only ones who are following Christ now. In making these proclamations part of our worship, we keep ourselves tethered to the Story of God and His people.

Watch this 2-minute first:

Excerpt #1 from Chapter 3 of "Discover the Mystery of Faith":

        The object of our faith is a Person, not a proposition. We do not place our lives in an idea or a doctrine or a system or a set of values. We place ourselves in the personal God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Proclaiming the creed, then, is an act of worship, not a recitation of doctrine. Faith, after all, is not simple agreement or the acknowledgment of certain propositions or hypotheses. Faith is the placing of your whole life within God, the only One who is faithful enough to hold your life, redeem it, and save it.

        There is no worship without faith, and there is no faith without worship. It is faith that leads us to worship and worship that enlarges our faith. Why should our greatest, most central and unifying profession of faith, the Nicene Creed, not be part of our congregational worship?

        ...Early Christians spoke these words of worship and belief in the face of ridicule and scorn, confessed and clung to these words even when they knew that they could lead to their death. The creed, after all, didn’t form out of thin air at the Council of Nicaea. The words and phrases show up early in the Church’s life, early enough for Paul to say that he himself was only passing on what had been given to him.

        The question we must ask is this: “What sort of faith will we hand down to our children?”

        If the rope is no longer tethered to the house, how will we find our way home as we wander about in the snow? And how will we lead our children there? What will keep their faith? Unless we remain tied to our Story, our faith is sure to flounder. Worse yet, it may die with us.

Excert #2 from Chapter 3 of "Discover the Mystery of Faith":

        Proclamations like the Nicene Creed remind us that we are not the first and we are not the only. It is also important to remember that the Creed is not the only proclamation that does this for us. There is also “The Lord’s Prayer” and many of the aforementioned creedal formulas or statements in Paul’s New Testament letters. There are the old Hebrew prayers and the Psalms, as we explored last chapter. There are also the early Christian songs—songs based on Mary’s song (the Magnificat), Zecharias’ song (the Benedictus), and Simeon’s song (the Nunc Dimittis).

        All of these are old, well-worn words, prayed by mothers and fathers and sons and daughters in times of trial and on occasions of joy. These words form paths, a trail to walk on. When we say them, sing them, or pray them with worship and faith in our hearts we can remember how many others have prayed these words before us. We can think of the great church fathers, the Bishops and theologians, the peasants and farmers, the missionaries and martyrs. We can imagine all the saints around the world who gather each week on the Lord’s Day and say these very same words and sing them and pray them with one voice.

        All of a sudden, we are no longer alone. We are caught up in the great company of saints, praying alongside David and Jeremiah and Paul. We realize that we are not the first to face despair or hunger or fear. We are not the only ones desperate for mercy and redemption. Our joy of being found by God’s grace is multiplied in the praise of all the saints, in heaven and on earth.

        We are not walking up this mountain alone.

        The beauty of this truth came to me not in a Gothic cathedral or a remote monastery, but in a dusty cement building in the middle of an African village. I was on a trip to Swaziland—a country with the highest rate of HIV infection in the world—when we visited a community of orphaned and vulnerable children that our church supports through a partnership with Children’s Hope Chest. We greeted the local pastor who visited these children several times a week. We met the women who cooked them meals with the money that came in from our sponsorship.

        And then came the children. Singing. Dancing. Playing. Thrilled with stickers and face paint and games and songs and stories and lessons, they made the afternoon pass like a heavenly moment. When one of the local ministers stood to conclude our time, she told the children that it was time to pray together.

        I closed my eyes, waiting for a short, sincere prayer. Instead, in stumbling unison, their voices rose.

        Our Father, who art in heaven,
        Hallowed be Thy name.
        Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

        My eyes opened, blurring with tears. I caught the eyes of the others on our team. We gently shook our heads, all of us thinking the same thing: We pray this prayer…almost every Sunday!

        Give us this day our daily bread.

        Oh…what this simple, biblical phrase meant for these children. I could never say these words the same way again.

        Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

        Like the parents who abandoned them? Like the family members who chose a life that led to disease and ultimately to their demise, leaving these children to fend for themselves?

        For Thine is the Kingdom,
        the power and the glory,
        forever and ever, Amen.

        Amen. There is a rope to ties us to our Story; it is the same rope that binds us to each other. It reminds us that even in the most fearsome storm, when faith is all we have to guide us for our sight has gone, we will not falter.

        Others have come this Way before.

        Others walk it even now.

        The Creed, the prayers, the Psalms, and the Scriptures…all of these bind us to the Story, tether us to the narrative of God’s redemption.

        May we all find our way home.

--------------------

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Coming to the Table: Why the Meal is the Center

It's easy to say communion has been the centerpiece of Christian worship for 2000 years. But for those of us who haven't come from liturgical worship background or aren't well-versed in sacramenal theology, we can't help but wonder-- politely and silently-- why it is the center. Isn't it just preference? If I feel God more during a song, isn't that more important that an old, fussy ritual of a bread and a cup?

This is one of the questions I wrestle with in the Mystery of Faith project, particularly in the book. 

VIDEO: Experiencing the Mystery of Faith

If you missed being part of last night's worship in song, Scripture and Sacrament, here is a 10-minute video we made in January that shows "We Confess"-- the confession and absolution song-- being sung over each other antiphonally, the Eucharist, and "The Mystery of Faith" sung live.

Get "Discover the Mystery of Faith" (ebook) on Amazon HERE for only $3!
Get "The Mystery of Faith" LP on iTunes HERE.

"Discover the Mystery of Faith: How Worship Shapes Believing"

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.
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Join Us Live or via Live Stream for "The Mystery of Faith" Release Night!

This Tuesday, March 5, join us for a night of worship, prayer, readings, and communion as we celebrate the release of "The Mystery of Faith" CD and book at the Tent at New Life Church (main campus): 11025 Voyager Parkway, 80921, from 6:30pm-8:00pm.

If you don't live nearby, you can join in on the night of worship via live stream HERE! Make plans to go on online this Tuesday, March 5th, at 6:30pm MST.

The night will last about 90-minutes and will journey through the six liturgical moments of the project-- from celebration and proclamation all the way to confession and communion.

[For more on the "Mystery of Faith" project-- the CD, the book, and the short teaching videos-- click HERE.]

iBooks Exclusive: "Discover the Mystery of Faith: The Experience"

If you have an iPad, my publisher, David C. Cook, has created, with the help of iBooks author, a very special way to experience my new book, CD, and the teaching videos we made as part of the project. 

"Discover the Mystery of Faith: The Experience" contains three sections, each featuring a 2-minute teaching video, a 500-word excerpt from a chapter of the book ("Discover the Mystery of Faith"), and a new song from the CD ("The Mystery of Faith").

And...it's FREE!

Click this link to download it to your iPad.