Worship On Your Face

I'm moving

2010-03-30T12:21:00.001-04:00

This blog is moving. I've found Wordpress to be an easier format for blogging.

You can access the new blog @ http://steventnorris.wordpress.com/

I've transfered all the old posts to that new site as well.

Worship - Who exactly are we addressing?

2009-06-03T07:12:00.000-04:00

So my kids and I were at the Children’s Museum yesterday and we stopped all the fun playing to sit down and have lunch. As we bowed our head, my almost-three-year-old said the following blessing:

God is great, God is good

Let us thank Him for our food

By His hands, we all are fed

Thank You, Lord, for daily bread.

Amen.

It got me to thinking - to whom are we praying in this prayer? I know that the easy answer is God, but only one out of four lines is actually addressed to God. If prayer is supposed to be conversation with God, one would think that prayers should actually address God. Maybe my kids’ mealtime blessing should be something more like this:

Dear God,

You are great, You are good

Lord, we thank You for our food

By Your hands we all are fed

Thank You, Lord, for daily bread.

Amen.

Now, since I’m the one who taught them the first prayer, it’s my own dumb fault for teaching them to talk about God rather than talking to God. Is the same not true with much of our worship in the church?

worship |ˈwər sh əp| noun acts, expressions and/or a state of religious devotion typically directed to one or more deities.

As a popular song recently stated, our worship is for “an audience of one.” We worship as we direct our entire being on loving God, communing with God, praising and adoring God. Why, then, are many of our songs sung about God and not to God? Previously, I posted about the importance of thinking about the theology being espoused by the music selections we make as worship leaders. It is important that we make sure that our song selections reflect the corporate nature of our worship. Likewise, it is important to think about the subject, whether stated or implied, in our songs. For example, think about the following hymns and ask yourself, “Who is being addressed in these words? Who is the subject? Who is the object?” (If you need help remembering the words, click on the song titles for a link to the lyrics)

Amazing Grace

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

I Surrender All

How Great Is Our God

His Love Endures Forever

Trading My Sorrows

In the story of the Fall of Humanity in Genesis 3, the serpent comes to the happy couple and asks the woman, “Did God really say...” One pastor pointed out that the serpent’s first attack was to convince the woman to start talking about God rather than talking to God. The slippery slope to destruction began when prayer stopped and theologizing began (a good reminder for those like me who love theology). Likewise, in our worship, we have to ask ourselves, who are we addressing? Many of the songs listed above are songs about God, not songs sung to God. In fact, many of them have as the implied audience the congregation of worshippers. Is that what we want to promote in our worship - a time of talking to one another about God without talking to God?

I don’t want anyone to misunderstand me, I’m not saying that these songs should not be used in worship - I’ve included them here because we’ve used every one of them in my own church. What I am saying is that we need to think about our songs and the role we are expecting them to play in our worship. Do we use them to encourage one another? Good! Do we use them call one another to focus together on God? Great! But use them in the right context. These are not worship songs in the strict sense of the term. They are not expressing our love/adoration/worship to God. Instead, they are songs of testimony to the world (and one another) about our God.

Pastors cannot get away with preaching the same sermon week after week (although I know of some who come pretty close). They don’t have the luxury of instilling the message through repetition. As worship leaders, we do. We have the chance to sing songs over and over, week in and week out - to the point that these songs become a part of people’s lives. For this reason, we need to take heed with the music that we select. What kind of theology are you implicitly advocating because of your music selection? Are we encouraging people to a deeper communion with God or are you encouraging a deeper fellowship with one another and God is merely the topic of conversation?

What is "Relevant" in Church Music?

2009-05-20T07:39:00.000-04:00

After writing my last post, it got me to thinking more and more about the state of church music in today’s fast food, “have it your way right away” kind of culture. The word relevant gets thrown around pretty often in churches these days. We don’t want to be outdated or archaic. Cutting edge is the goal that many churches are striving to reach week in and week out.

I can’t help but wonder, however: what exactly does it mean to be “relevant”? To whom exactly are we trying to be relevant? Are we really trying to be relevant to the culture at large or are we using countless time and energy to keep up with the latest trend or fad in the Christian subculture that the rest of society couldn’t care less about? Why is it that it is the exception for a “Christian” artist to make it big in the mainstream arts world? When this happens, such an artist often gets labeled with terms like “sell-out,” “compromise,” or “hypocrit.” Does this lack of success merely reflect the cynical nature of the mainstream culture, prejudiced against anything that might resemble faith? Perhaps. Or maybe novelist Madeleine L’Engle had her finger on the pulse of the situation when she wrote:

Too much concern about "Christian" art can be destructive both to art and to Christianity. I cannot try to write a "Christian" story. My own life and my own faith will determine whether or not my stories are Christian. Too much Christian art relies so heavily on being Christian that the artist forgets that it also must be good art.

I read an article recently in an issue of Worship Leader Magazine (the fact that we even have such a magazine might very well be an indication of exactly what I’m talking about, and the fact that I have a subscription may also say something about my own complicity in this whole enterprise) that suggested that the average “shelf-life” for contemporary praise songs in today’s church is about six weeks. Could is be possible that the main reason that many of these songs are here today and gone tomorrow is that they were never really that good to begin with? Isn’t it sad that we have to have our own specialized stores to carry Christian music? Isn’t is pathetic that we put up little charts that say, “Do you like this mainstream band? Then try this Christian alternative?” It’s as though Christian music music is nothing more than a cheap imitation of what is really driving the culture (actually it’s not “as though,” this is exactly what is happening).

For me, it begs the questions: (1) What is the role of music in our faith anyway? (2) What is the role/function of music in our church? Music has a way of touching us in places that words alone cannot. I have come to believe that just as everyone has a “heart language” (i.e. the language that they were spoken to as a child and which is the language of their emotions), everyone also has a “worship language” based on where they grew up, the kind of music they grew up with, and significant influences on their spiritual development. Music is more than just a soundtrack for our lives. It has the power to take us to places where words alone fall short, and allows healing to happen when all else has failed. It has the power to unite our hearts when we are separated by linguistic dialect and the power to transcend cultural barriers.

What, then is the role of this music in our churches? If it is merely for entertainment, why do we use second rate mainstream music? Let’s do the very best cover tunes from the Billboard charts, or better yet, get some of those acts to come perform in our churches? If music is nothing more than a space filler, then why not get rid of all the live singing and everything all together and just used prerecorded CDs bought in the store? But if music is to have any significant impact the actual ways that we live our lives and our faith, we are going to have to give it time to sink in and begin to work its transforming power in us.

One of the powerful aspects of many of our hymns is that they were ways to teach people theology. Some have argued that hymns in the free church offer a similar function to the liturgy of the high church tradition. Rich Mullins once said that many of the church’s hymns were 1st rate theology set to 6th rate music. I’m not sure that he was entirely accurate in that statement, but we get his point. My concern here is that our consumerist attitude towards new worship songs causes us to discard them long before they have had time to go from our head to our heart and from our heart to our character. (The radio playlists and top 10 charts are so fickle that songs are here today, gone tomorrow. It is unlikely that anyone will be radically transformed by songs when we barely sing them long enough to feel comfortable with them, let alone long enough to have spent time meditating on them). Additionally, so many of the songs just contain bad theology. Why do we want to reinforce bad theology through our song selection? It just doesn’t make sense.

Here’s my bottom line: music ministers, worship pastors, and worship leaders need to be very intentional about the music they choose. In my opinion, most need to select fewer and better songs. We need to reject the practice of being relevant if by that we really mean being relevant to the Christian subculture. We need to dare to “unleash the arts on the church” and in the world. Maybe we might dare to allow the church to be the cutting edge of culture, driving the best music and art of day once again.

If you want to read more on this, check out these books:

Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts by Steve Turner

It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God edited by Ned Buster

Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle

(I'm sure there are other great books on this topic, these are just some of the goodies from my own library)

Corporate Lyrics

2009-05-18T10:13:00.002-04:00

I've gone through a process in my worship leading. As a self-avowed postmodern Gen-Xer, I've loved new forms of praise music - especially some of the newer praise choruses and new hymns. I cut some of my musical chops accompanied by a pump organ in a rural southern United Methodist Church in Mississippi, though, so I love the old hymns as well. One of the criticisms I've heard about some of the newer music is its inherent narcissism. Many of the songs seem to be all about me, what God does for me, and how I relate to God. Yet, the context in which many of these songs are used are corporate settings, where it's not about me, but about us - the Church, the body of Christ.

I used to not be phased by this at all, thinking that people were just looking for something to complain about, but then I got to thinking. One of the biggest problems in the church in America is that we have become slaves to the ideals of individualism. One of our cultural icons has been the Marlboro Man - the guy out on the range by himself, taking care of business without need of anyone's help. We lift up as role models people who "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps" and we esteem the entrepreneurial spirit.

These, however, are contrary to the interdependence and community called for by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, where we depend on one another, bear one another's burdens, and spur one another on to good works. For this reason, I have become very selective about the songs we sing in our church. I've even taken it upon myself to change lyrics of some songs to reflect a corporate nature and to emphasize that we are one body made of many parts - that together we are the bride of Christ. One such song that we are working on right now is Tim Hughes - below is the version that we are using in our church:

God in our living, God in our breathing

God in our waking, God in our sleeping

God in our resting, God in our working

God in our thinking, God in our speaking

Be our everything, Be our everything

Be our everything, Be our everything

God in our hoping, God in our dreaming

God in our watching, God in our waiting

God in our laughing, God in our weeping

God in our hurting, God in our healing

I encourage all worship leaders to think about the lyrics closely. What kind of faith are those lyrics encouraging/cultivating? Is it a private spirituality that doesn't need anyone else (i.e. an "it's just me and Jesus" kind of faith)? Or is it a faith that stresses the community of believers, working together for the Gospel? Do our songs stress only what God does for us, or do they praise God for who God is without making requests of God? It's worth all our time as worship leaders to think about it.

The Good Samaritan 2.0

2009-05-10T21:28:00.000-04:00

After hearing a few of Pete Rollins' parables retold, I became inspired to try one for myself. Since I said that I would offer any scripts or such that we have used in our church in the hopes that someone else might find them useful, I offer this one here:

The Good Samaritan 2.0

by Steven T. Norris

One person reads the story while others act out what is being said.

On one occasion, a well-known Pastor was speaking at a Wednesday night prayer meeting. One of the prayer warriors of the church asked him a question. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the scriptures?" the pastor replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," he replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked the pastor, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply, the pastor said: "There was once a young teen. This teen was from a broken home and had experienced much neglect and rejection from her family and suffered from poor self esteem. She went in search of anyone who would accept her for who she was. Quickly she found herself in the midst of a difficult crowd, pressured into things she never thought she would do - a drink here and there, which led to drugs, to shoplifting, and much worse things. She dressed to try to hide her shame. Her self-esteem fell further, even to the point of abusing her own body.

“One Friday night at the school football game, this girl was standing off by herself. A parent and her child from the local church walked by. This parent had gone to great lengths to raise her children in a Christlike way - sending them Christian schools, praying together every night, keeping a close watch on their friends, and protecting them from unnecessary temptations. Fearing that this young teen might negatively influence her child, the parent passed by on the other side of the sidewalk, keeping her child from interacting with this girl.

“Soon after, a youth group came walking up the same sidewalk. This youth leader had a great heart for teens. He knew that many of them just needed someone to show love and he wanted to reach out, but he remembered the complaints he had been getting. He remembered that some of the people at the church didn’t approve of the new teens he was bringing in. These kids didn’t act right, dress right, or talk right. He really couldn’t afford to bring one more kid like that into the church. So, fearing more for his job than the life of this girl, he distracted the group and they passed by on the other side of the sidewalk.

After that, a retired man from the church walked by. He saw the girl, not paying attention to the wild clothes, colorful hair, and scary makeup, but seeing the hurt in her eyes. He introduced himself to her, learned her name, and listened to her story. He introduced her to his wife and the couple became unlikely friends with this teenage girl. They spent time together, going out of their way to take a genuine interest in who this girl was.

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the girl looking for acceptance?”

The prayer warrior replied, "The man who had mercy on her."

The pastor told him, "Go and do likewise. For I was that teenager. I was hungry and someone fed me. I was thirsty and someone gave me drink. I was a stranger and someone welcomed me. I was naked and someone clothed me. I was sick and someone visited me. I was in prison and someone came to meet me where I was. Just as Jesus said, ‘as you’ve done it to least of these my brothers and sisters, you’ve done to me.’ "

Resurrection Worship

2009-03-12T13:36:00.000-04:00

I know that we are in the middle of Lent, but every Sunday is resurrection day. Every Sunday, we suspend our fasting, and allow ourselves to celebrate the power of the resurrection in our worship. I came across this passage from Eugene Peterson's Living the Resurrection today and thought I would share it as a meditation for all of us who plan worship on a regular basis:

Matthew gives us Mary Magdelene and a woman he names "the other Mary" making an early Sunday morning visit to the tomb in which on late Friday afternoon they had watched Joseph of Arimathea place Jesus' crucified body (see 28:1-10). As they approach the tomb, the ground suddenly shakes under their feet - an earthquake. This is followed by a blaze of lightening, which turns out to be an angel. The combination of earthquake and lightening puts the Roman soldiers who are guarding this tomb out of commission. Scarred out of their wits, they sprawl out on the ground in a dead faint.

But the two Marys stay on their feet and hear the angel address them personally with two phrases: "Do not be afraid" and "He is risen" (verses 5-6). The angel then gives them a message to be delivered to the disciples. They leave the site of the tomb, as ordered by the angel. Deep in wonder and full of joy, they are off on the run to share the news with the disciples. But then they are stopped in their tracks by a greeting: "Good morning!" (verse 9, MSG). They hear a welcome in the greeting and fall to their knees before the resurrected Jesus. their first response to the risen Christ was to kneel in awed reverence. There was also an element of intimacy in that reverence, for they dared to touch and hold on to his feet: They "worshiped him" (verse 9).

The two elements together became worship. Falling to our knees before Jesus - an act of reverence - is not in itself resurrection worship. Touching and holding the feet of Jesus - an act of intimacy - is not in itself resurrection worship. The acts of reverence and intimacy need each other. The reverence needs the infusion of intimacy lest it become a cool detached aesthetic. The intimacy needs to be suffused in reverence lest it become gushy emotion.

Reverence and intimacy. How well do we do as worship leaders to intentionally seek to balance these two? I must confess that I too often get up in the "What choir special have we been working on" and the "what is the chorus of month" type questions that I forget the heart of what we are called to do: bring the congregation before the LORD in reverence of God's glory, and to invite them to crawl up into the lap of our Abba, that we might be engulfed in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.

Maybe you didn't need this reminder, but I know I do. We cannot get so caught up in the what and how of worship that we forget the who and why.

Hanging of the Green (cont.)

2008-11-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

I've posted an additional sample of a Hanging of the Green service on our church website. You can access it by clicking here. This one is based on the idea of the marriage supper of the lamb and celebrating Christmas/Advent through those lens.

Hanging of the Green

2008-11-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but i've never been a part of a church that did a "Hanging of the Green" Service. For those who don't know what this is, this is the service where we decorate the church for the Advent/Christmas season. This has been a very important service in our church, involving a lot of people, as we hang wreaths, place poinsettias, put the nativity on the manger, etc. this year, I took on the task of writing our service. In doing so, I found that there just aren't very many resources out there for designing this particular service. Therefore, I've decided to make ours available for anyone else that might find it helpful. You can find it by clicking here. It is themed around some of the names of Christ - emphasizing an answer to the question: Who is this baby in the manger that we celebrate? I am also trying to get the script we used last year, which was written by one of our members and was based on the theme of the marriage supper of the Lamb. It was very powerful! Hopefully, I'll be able to post that in a future link.

National Adoption Month

2008-11-12T13:07:00.000-05:00

As a follow-up to my previous post, I am posting a link to a new ministry that our church has started to advocate for those in foster care and those up for adoption. Check it out here. It is just launching this Sunday and most of the work has gone into the physical packets, but we will transferring that information to the web soon, so keep checking back.

The goal is for this ministry is to not just be about our church, but to equip and empower other churches to seek God's heart and, if led in that direction, to start a similar ministry in their own context, with their own special gifts and calling.

Take a Moment for National Adoption Month

2008-11-12T12:43:00.001-05:00

November is National Adoption Month. Did you know that a child is orphaned every 18 seconds in the world? That there are 143 million orphans in the world today? that they will spend an average of 10 years of their life in an orphanage or in foster care if we do nothing to help? That if only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for the orphans, there would effectively be no more orphans? God has led the way by adopting us into God's family. The scriptures also tell us that pure religious that is faultless is to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27).

In honor of national adoption month, the very least we can do is to pray for these kids. This Sunday, we are using the following prayer, adapted from a poem/prayer by Ina Hughes. We are doing it with two readers and the congregation's response (it should make sense when you read it). Maybe you could use it in your church this week?

We pray for the children

who put chocolate fingers everywhere,

who like to be tickled,

who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,

who sneak Popsicles before supper,

who erase holes in math workbooks,

who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those

who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,

who’ve never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,

who never had crayons to count,

who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,

who never go to the circus,

who live in an X-rated world.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for children

who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,

who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,

who give hugs in a hurry and forget their lunch money,

who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key,

who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,

who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those

who never get dessert,

who watch their parents watch them die,

who have no safe blanket to drag behind,

who can’t find any bread to steal,

who don’t have any rooms to clean up,

whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,

whose monsters are real.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for children

who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,

who like ghost stories,

who shove dirty clothes under the bed,

who never rinse out the tub,

who get visits from the tooth fairy,

who don't like to be kissed in front of the school,

who squirm in church and scream in the phone,

whose tears we sometimes laugh at and

whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those

whose nightmares come in the daytime,

who will eat anything,

who aren't spoiled by anybody,

who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,

who live and move, but have no being.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for children who want to be carried,

and for those who must be.

For those we never give up on,

and for those who never get a chance.

For those we smother with our love,

and for those who will grab the hand of

anybody kind enough to offer.

Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.

*Adapted from “We Pray for the Children” by Ina J. Hughes

Unleashing the Power of the Blog

2008-10-20T17:36:00.000-04:00

How long do you really think that people remember the sermon after the hour on Sunday is over? What if you could continue the discussion started on Sunday morning all week long? One of the ways that we are trying to use the internet to help expand our ministry is through the use of the blog. If you are reading this, you probably already know about that, but how about using a blog to further expound on the Sunday morning message? Our pastor has been doing a series called "Freedom From Busyness," based on the book by the same title by Michael Zigarelli. There just isn't enough time to preach on everything on Sunday morning. In addition, there are readings from the book for every day as well that provide fodder for discussion. Therefore, Jack started a blog to give folks the opportunity to go deeper during the week.

If you check out his blog, you'll also notice that we have had a little bit of a hard time getting people to go there and post their comments (part of this has to do with the fact that this is the first time that we've tried this and we haven't promoted it a lot - I'm just trying to be honest, learn from our mistakes). That doesn't mean that it is not a great idea and that it could be a very useful tool that you will just have to train people to use (though you may not have to if they are young folks).

Like your mother always said, "Don't forget to say 'Thank You!'"

2008-09-29T12:47:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, our church celebrated 99 of ministry in our community with our annual homecoming service. (For those that do not live in the south and have no idea what a homecoming service is - it is a time for former members of the church who grew up in the church, but have moved away or for former pastors to come back and to have a big celebration complete with the obligatory covered dish luncheon afterward.)

In the past, someone would always write a history for the year and we would end up taking about 10 minutes of our worship service just to read it to the congregation. For the past couple of years, however, we have tried to make it less of a spectator event and more of a congregational time of thanksgiving. We group all of the years' activities together by type (children's ministry, youth ministry, mission projects, music celebrations and special guests, significant services/sermon series, etc.), then organize those into a special prayer of thanksgiving for the entire congregation.

It might go something like this (with the pastor/ministry leader for each area reading the regular print of the actual events while the congregation responds in the bold):

Lord, in this past year of ministry, we give You thanks for Your faithfulness.
   For...(significant events for the whole congregation)

Lord, we thank You for Your faithfulness.
   For... (significant events in the youth and children's ministry)

Lord, we thank You for the blessing of our children.
   For...(significant times of worship)

Lord, we are grateful for Your many gifts.
   For...(significant times of fellowship and community)

Lord, we honor You for the gift of friends and family.
   For...(significant mission projects or trips)

Lord, we thank You for choosing us be on mission with You. And we thank You in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

I don't know, you would have to find what would work best for you, but it is a powerful thing when the church gathers to not only remember and retell the story of Scripture and of Jesus, but also to retell the story of your local congregation and to celebrate God's faithfulness to that specific people. In doing so, praise becomes much more personal between your specific congregation and the God who has sustained you in ministry. Generally speaking, the Church, as a whole, needs to become better storytellers of God's work, not only in the distant past (Bible) but in the world of today as well.

The Incubator

2008-09-26T12:45:00.000-04:00

How many people should be a part of worship of worship planning? This is question we started asking ourselves a little over a year ago. We are a diverse staff:

Pastor - grew up Independent Baptist in New Jersey
Music Minister - grew up United Methodist in Memphis/Dallas
Youth Minister - grew up Non-Denominational in Puerto Rico

Now, us city boys are serving a relatively rural church in NC. It would come as no surprise to learn that our illustrations didn't always "work," shall we say. After attending a worship conference a couple of years ago, I suggested that we start a "creative arts team" to help us plan in worship. The idea had been birthed after reading a book by Bob Rognlien entitled Experiential Worship (you can read a couple of articles of Bob's summarizing the book by clicking here).

We decided to get more people involved with our worship planning, calling this group "The Incubator."

in·cu·ba·tor (ĭn'kyə-bā'tər) n. A place or situation that permits or encourages the formation and development, as of new ideas.

We invited about 15 people in our congregation that we felt had creative talents and abilities of all types (musicians, painters, interior decorators, florists, writers, poets, technology people, children's ministry representatives, youth ministry reps., etc.) and brought them together with this assignment:

"We want to invite you to be a part of a team of people whose primary responsibility would be to dream (and dream big). About 6 weeks before the start of a sermon series, this team would come together to brainstorm ideas about how we could enhance our worship (song selections, sanctuary decoration, use of drama or video, ways to engage the congregation in response, how to engage our children, etc.). The sky would be the limit, as this team would not be responsible for implementing the ideas, just dreaming big."

About 4-6 weeks prior to the start of a series, the pastor will send out a list of his titles, scriptures, and main themes for all the sermons in the series (yes, this takes more work on the part of the staff to think ahead). Then, we give the group a week or so to brainstorm on their own before coming together for a corporate brainstorming session.

We really try to create an environment where creativity can flourish - we don't judge ideas or throw them out because they are too crazy during these meetings - we just let imaginations run wild (if the best way to illustrate a sermon is to have a helicopter land in the parking lot during the service, we put that idea down). Now later, as the staff reviews the suggestions, we obviously have to narrow down possibilities to the resources we have available. By allowing people to think WAY outside the box, though, it gives birth to other ideas that may be more doable.

After a year of trying this, we have seen some really good results and have had some really meaningful times of worship. If you are more interested in the specifics of how we do it (the forms we send out and things like that), let me know and I would be happy to get more information to those who might find it useful. We have found that the more people involved in this process, the better.

Less Events, More Relationships

2008-09-23T07:56:00.000-04:00

Our pastor has been doing a series on Sunday mornings called "More or Less" in which he is talking about what our church should be about. The four parts are:

1. Less Events, More Relationships

2. Less Ya'll Come, More We All Go

3. Less Law, More Grace

4. Less Meetings, More Ministry

As we kicked off this series, we focused on the importance of relationships and on busting the myth that "A busy church is a healthy church."

One of the ways that we tried to highlight this was through the order of worship (the bulletin). We are a more traditional church that uses a bulletin every week chocked full of announcements, a calendar of events, prayer list, etc. When people came in to the worship service on this particular Sunday, they got what looked like a normal bulletin, but when they opened it up, there was a list of all the names of everyone who is on the membership role at our church. Instead of placing the focus on the events of the week, we wanted people to see the persons that make up our congregation. We wanted to focus on, what is now becoming a little cliche, the fact that we are human beings, not human doings.

For a number of people, they didn't realize how many "members" had not come in a long time and had fallen through the cracks. For new people, they knew folks on that list and didn't realize they had ever come to this church (or any church for that matter). All in all, it gave our congregation an opportunity to put aside the "busyness" for a little while and focus on the meaningful depth of what it means to be the body of Christ.

Then we canceled our normal Sunday evening worship in favor of encouraging everyone to get together with some other church member to fellowship together (sharing dinner, going over to one another's home, etc.). All in all, it was a very good Sunday, worth the extra effort!

A few worship blogs/resources I like.

2008-09-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

I thought I would just throw out some of my favorite worship sites that have some real "outside the box" ideas about worship. I don't know if anyone else will find them really helpful, but that's ok. The links are below.

Johnny Baker's Worship Blog

Nailscars

Free Dramas

Worship Ideas (there are also some good links here)

Worship Home Page

Experiential Worship

Changing Worship

These are just a few that I like to look at. I think it would be really helpful if others would add their own blogs/websites or ones they like to use. The church is going to be a lot healthier place when we stop trying to compete with one another and start "consider[ing] one another to provoke unto love and to good works" (Hebrews 10:24).

Framing your worship set

2008-09-21T13:53:00.000-04:00

This morning, we were doing a worship set on God's grace. We introduced the set with a paraphrase of Romans 6 (see below) followed by a corporate prayer of confession from the Common Book of Prayer. Then we used the Chris Tomlin's chorus for Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) to frame the set.

Romans 6

Silent Prayer

Prayer of Confession

Chorus (My Chains are Gone)

Glorious Day (Todd Agnew)

Chrorus (My Chains are Gone)

Amazing Grace

Chrorus (My Chains are Gone)

By finding some common theme to tie songs together, it brings a sense of cohesiveness to the service/set. This scripture reading and prayer also set the mood nicely for the congregation to be ready to receive the the message of the song(s).

Romans 6:13-23 (paraphrased)

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

We do not offer the parts of our body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but to God, as those who have been brought from death to life;

Offer your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master.

We are not under law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

We have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Prayer of Confession (from Common Book of Prayer):

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.

Litany: "The Church's Identity"

2008-09-09T15:46:00.000-04:00

Here is a litany (responsive reading) that I wrote and that we used in our church this past Sunday. We have been talking about who we are as a church and who we are not (dispelling some of the myths about church). We used this (underscored by soft guitar) in the middle of two praise choruses.

The Church’s Identity

It is a lie of the world that the Church is nothing more than a building.

We are the body of Christ –

seeing both smiles and tears,

hearing laughter and sobbing,

smelling home-cooked meals and the stench of filth,

tasting both victory and defeat,

reaching out to touch all with the love of Jesus.

It is a lie of the world that the Church is about religion (rituals, rules, and regulations).

We are invited into a relationship –

A relationship with the God who heals and restores,

A relationship with all humanity,

A relationship with all of creation.

It is a lie of the world that the Church is similar to an exclusive Country Club, letting some in while keeping others out.

We are the family of God –

brothers and sisters,

made one in Jesus Christ.

It is a lie of the world that the Church is a beauty pageant – a parade of perfect people with perfect lives.

We are a work in progress,

a gathering of imperfect sinners,

being renewed and transformed a little more each day

into the image of our Savior Jesus.

It is a lie of the world that the Church should be a showcase for the latest technology.

We are God’s storytellers –

using all forms of media

to tell and retell God’s story of creation,

of God’s faithfulness to Israel,

of the life, death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus,

of the sending of the Holy Spirit,

and the hope of Christ’s return.

It is a lie of the world that the Church should be a fashion show of outward beauty.

We strive for a deeper beauty –

the beauty of the inward heart,

the beauty of a purity and righteousness,

the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.

It is a lie of the world that the Church is dominated by the economics of earthly wealth.

We strive for the wealth from above –

the wealth of relationships,

the wealth of treasures laid up in heaven,

an economy where the last is first and the first is last.

It is a lie of the world that the Church is a democracy, ruled by the opinions of the majority.

We pledge allegiance to God alone –

we worship for God’s glory rather than our own preferences,

we do missions to spread God’s love rather than our own fame,

we teach God’s truth rather than our own opinion.

To Him be the glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,

forever and ever. Amen.

One more worship blog!

2008-09-09T15:19:00.000-04:00

I know, it's all the world needs - another blog from a worship leader about what we are doing at our church. I just know that I spend many hours each week planning for worship and find it very useful when I can borrow ideas from fellow worship leaders to make our worship more meaningful. I plan on posting resources that we have created for others to use (if they find it useful) and I hope that others may add their ideas as well so that we can all work together for the Kingdom of God.

I serve as Minister of Music and Mission in a relatively rural church near Winston-Salem, NC. As a city-boy, I have had to earn trust as I have been ministering here for the past six years. My congregation has been very open and willing to allow me to experiment and we have all grown through the experience. I am grateful for their patience with me for this long and the gift of allowing me to try new things to help us worship more fully. My prayer is that somebody might find this blog useful and that they may be able to use some of these resources in their own church. Soli Deo Gloria!