For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt
Learning about the way the Sacraments were implemented throughout Christian history was very enlightening. I had never put much importance on symbolic acts, and many times thought they were silly. Then, I read this quote of Augustine: "A Sacrament is the visible form of an invisible grace." Such a beautiful statement. My mind had always viewed Sacraments as a visible act, and nothing more. I took them for their face value and never looked beyond the visual and into the spiritual (unless it was Baptism or Communion).
I loved the comments made in the book James White's book about how the power of a sacrament is not dependent on the character or moral value of the person performing it, but on God alone, and that he uses these symbolic acts to bring about his purposes [1]. It's all about grace, and the wonderful blessings He pours out on us through our obedience.
This being said, we have always put a lot of emphasis on communion and Baptism, but I can see how we don't focus on these sacraments nearly enough. I would be interested in incorporating communion at every service, but not only that, restoring the act through dining together in community. I also want to be able to do as the White mentions in his book: Being able "to communicate in human terms what God is doing [2]." He makes a good point on how this correlates with the responsibility of those leading worship. What are we showing people through our actions? What are we communicating? There truly is a high level of responsibility our my part as a worship leader to be able to communicate what the Lord is doing through my words and actions. I just had never related that with the symbolic acts of the sacraments.
Relating to the Lord in a tangible way is one of the most important things we can do in our lives. He cannot just be mere deity that we blindly follow through empty words an actions. I want to see the reality of God to be exposed in our midst, and now I have learned yet another unexpected way for our eyes to be opened.
[1] James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), Page 183
[2] James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), Page 194
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Language of Worship and Prayer (Essentials Red Fall 08)
For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt
This week, we have been looking into the languages of prayer and the reading of scripture and how they have been used throughout time in the setting of worship.
In our church setting, both of these are used frequently during our times of worship. There is always a floor mic open for people to come up and read scripture and pray what is on their hearts. I am thankful that this is not a new idea to us, because the fruit has been very good.
Nonetheless, I am going to switch gears a bit on some of the reading we were assigned this week out of the book, "Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year" by Robert E. Webber. Being in a charismatic and non-denominational church, we do not observe much out of the Christian Year, other than the obvious: Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
The idea of observing the Christian Year in it's entirety seems very "religious" and based solely on tradition, not spirituality. Although, when I started reading Webber's book, I was realizing how shallow my view really was. I had not looked at the meaning behind each of these specific observances. Webber writes: "Through Christian-year spirituality we are enabled to experience the biblical mandate of conforming to Christ. The Christian year orders our formation with Christ incarnate in his ministry, death, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. In Christian-year spirituality we are spiritually formed by recalling and entereing into his great saving events." [1]
This is fascinating to me! I had never thought about it in that way, but it makes complete sense. This is not about being "traditional" and following rules. It's about keeping the acts of Christ in the forefront of our consciousness. This is going to be an enlightening course for me, because I am so clueless about the Christian calendar.
I can see how incorporating scripture reading with the observance of the Christian year would bring us into thought processes that we normally would not have of the ways Christ lived out his life when he was on the earth. This would also allow the prayers that are prayed to be more on-purpose and in tune with the heart of Christ.
[1] Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), p. 22
This week, we have been looking into the languages of prayer and the reading of scripture and how they have been used throughout time in the setting of worship.
In our church setting, both of these are used frequently during our times of worship. There is always a floor mic open for people to come up and read scripture and pray what is on their hearts. I am thankful that this is not a new idea to us, because the fruit has been very good.
Nonetheless, I am going to switch gears a bit on some of the reading we were assigned this week out of the book, "Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year" by Robert E. Webber. Being in a charismatic and non-denominational church, we do not observe much out of the Christian Year, other than the obvious: Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
The idea of observing the Christian Year in it's entirety seems very "religious" and based solely on tradition, not spirituality. Although, when I started reading Webber's book, I was realizing how shallow my view really was. I had not looked at the meaning behind each of these specific observances. Webber writes: "Through Christian-year spirituality we are enabled to experience the biblical mandate of conforming to Christ. The Christian year orders our formation with Christ incarnate in his ministry, death, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. In Christian-year spirituality we are spiritually formed by recalling and entereing into his great saving events." [1]
This is fascinating to me! I had never thought about it in that way, but it makes complete sense. This is not about being "traditional" and following rules. It's about keeping the acts of Christ in the forefront of our consciousness. This is going to be an enlightening course for me, because I am so clueless about the Christian calendar.
I can see how incorporating scripture reading with the observance of the Christian year would bring us into thought processes that we normally would not have of the ways Christ lived out his life when he was on the earth. This would also allow the prayers that are prayed to be more on-purpose and in tune with the heart of Christ.
[1] Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), p. 22
Friday, November 7, 2008
Studies in "Christian Worship" (Essentials Red Fall 08)
For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt
Hi everyone! This is Blog #1! :)
My name is Rachel Byrnes, and I am the worship leader for Goshen House. I am going to be the one doing all of the "blogging" on this site, starting with some assignments from a class I have started taking called "Essentials Red." I am also going through two other courses, "Essentials Blue" and "Essentials Green." They are all courses on deepening one's level of knowledge on worship, what it means, what it's origins are, practical uses, etc. I am very excited to see what I learn from this class.
“Worship, in all its grades and kinds, is the response of the creature to the Eternal.”
This course is already beginning to challenge my thinking and my paradigms. I have always been fascinated with the word "Worship" and what connotations we give it. I have to say, that the above quote is the best I have found on worship, and yet so simple. What this speaks to me is that I need to be in a constant place of conciousness of my actions and their relationship to God. It's so far beyond the arts, beyond anything our mind can box it into. Our thoughts, actions, motives, emotions, words should ALL be for the Glory of God.
In this course, we are learning about how worship has been interpreted and implemented all throughout the last 2000 years of Christianity. To be perfectly honest, I have never enjoyed history, and I didn't see this as something I would want to learn about, but I am realizing the importance of understanding our past and not forgetting the trailblazers who went before us.
I have always been a worship leader seeking the "new." The "old" wasn't necessarily bad, in fact, I love the old Hymns. There is a just something in me that wants to have a uniqueness in my worship. I have a very strong desire to create "indigenous" music as a worship leader. As much as there is a lot of great music currently and from the past, the message doesn't usually resound exactly with the things our church community is experiencing. But, I am seeing how learning from history, on how others have created their own indigenous worship, I will see how I can relate to my current situations and relationship with the Lord through music.
The book, "Introduction to Christian Worship" by James White (our assigned reading) briefly mentions "spontaneity" as one of the things worship is based on, although, this is something that our church and myself definitely focus on. We are very open to letting the Spirit lead and being creative by removing a bit of the tight structure. It creates a time of worship that becomes SO personal and SO engaging. Of course, it has to have a good amount of balance.
Now, on to the discussion about the language of space. For me, a worship space has never been confined to four walls. I grew up having church in my parents basement. It was amazing and my faith roots grew deep in a place that most would call very non-traditional. I think this has very much helped with my view of worshiping the Lord being something that can happen ANYWHERE. For the first time since I was a child, we have finally bought property to put a building on for our church, and we will for the first time have an actual, solid, separate and permanent location! So for me, I have seemed to have a harder time understanding needing a building to have "church." When I go into those large, beautiful cathedrals, I'm dumbfounded. It's very hard for me to grasp, because my worship experiences have never included anything so grandiose. I love the experiences I had when I would listen to my dad play guitar while he sang with my mom and the others there. It was just so amazing to see it so stripped down and bare but SINCERE.
So, I have a lot of pondering to do. I am excited to learn about things that are outside of my own box.
Hi everyone! This is Blog #1! :)
My name is Rachel Byrnes, and I am the worship leader for Goshen House. I am going to be the one doing all of the "blogging" on this site, starting with some assignments from a class I have started taking called "Essentials Red." I am also going through two other courses, "Essentials Blue" and "Essentials Green." They are all courses on deepening one's level of knowledge on worship, what it means, what it's origins are, practical uses, etc. I am very excited to see what I learn from this class.
“Worship, in all its grades and kinds, is the response of the creature to the Eternal.”
This course is already beginning to challenge my thinking and my paradigms. I have always been fascinated with the word "Worship" and what connotations we give it. I have to say, that the above quote is the best I have found on worship, and yet so simple. What this speaks to me is that I need to be in a constant place of conciousness of my actions and their relationship to God. It's so far beyond the arts, beyond anything our mind can box it into. Our thoughts, actions, motives, emotions, words should ALL be for the Glory of God.
In this course, we are learning about how worship has been interpreted and implemented all throughout the last 2000 years of Christianity. To be perfectly honest, I have never enjoyed history, and I didn't see this as something I would want to learn about, but I am realizing the importance of understanding our past and not forgetting the trailblazers who went before us.
I have always been a worship leader seeking the "new." The "old" wasn't necessarily bad, in fact, I love the old Hymns. There is a just something in me that wants to have a uniqueness in my worship. I have a very strong desire to create "indigenous" music as a worship leader. As much as there is a lot of great music currently and from the past, the message doesn't usually resound exactly with the things our church community is experiencing. But, I am seeing how learning from history, on how others have created their own indigenous worship, I will see how I can relate to my current situations and relationship with the Lord through music.
The book, "Introduction to Christian Worship" by James White (our assigned reading) briefly mentions "spontaneity" as one of the things worship is based on, although, this is something that our church and myself definitely focus on. We are very open to letting the Spirit lead and being creative by removing a bit of the tight structure. It creates a time of worship that becomes SO personal and SO engaging. Of course, it has to have a good amount of balance.
Now, on to the discussion about the language of space. For me, a worship space has never been confined to four walls. I grew up having church in my parents basement. It was amazing and my faith roots grew deep in a place that most would call very non-traditional. I think this has very much helped with my view of worshiping the Lord being something that can happen ANYWHERE. For the first time since I was a child, we have finally bought property to put a building on for our church, and we will for the first time have an actual, solid, separate and permanent location! So for me, I have seemed to have a harder time understanding needing a building to have "church." When I go into those large, beautiful cathedrals, I'm dumbfounded. It's very hard for me to grasp, because my worship experiences have never included anything so grandiose. I love the experiences I had when I would listen to my dad play guitar while he sang with my mom and the others there. It was just so amazing to see it so stripped down and bare but SINCERE.
So, I have a lot of pondering to do. I am excited to learn about things that are outside of my own box.
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