Comments on Reform worship.: Chant: Pure Music

I just bought that cd not too long ago because it ...

2009-03-06T15:14:00.000-06:00

I just bought that cd not too long ago because it looked intriguing (and amazon was promoting it in some flyer)! Yeah, other people I played it for were not so thrilled with it, but it is one of the few things I can play while reading or writing and not get totally off track. It seems to add clarity instead of bring confusion. Simple and lovely.

I'm glad to see so many friends of Dan Wilt and th...

2009-03-01T10:44:00.000-06:00

I'm glad to see so many friends of Dan Wilt and the Essentials Courses here. Dan is an awesome dude, and we have very similar convictions.

Kelsey (The Sun Also Rises),

Our church is not a Catholic parish. We would probably fit best in the independent, evangelical, non-denominational, Contemporary Church category. (Let's start a denomination!) We often implement ancient worship practices in our Celebrations. In fact, our weekly Sunday worship structure is a contemporary twist on the historic four-part service, Gathering/Word/Table/Dismissal. I can't tell you how freeing the Divine Liturgy is is, and how much it ensures we live the Gospel as a church.

Concerning ashes, this was the third year we imposed ashes on foreheads. The first year wrought a whole bunch of pushback from people. I wasn't here at that time, praise the Lord. Now, the negative pushback has morphed into positive feedback, especially from former Catholics and ignorant evangelicals. We always teach our people thoroughly before throwing something like this at them. And, as it turns out, the tradition of ashes is actually pre-Catholic Church, although it is most popular in the Catholic Church. The Old Testament reveals to us the Jewish, and possibly other-cultural/religious, usage of ashes in mourning and repentance. In fact, the ritual was a lot messier back then. Imagine if we poured buckets of ashes on our congregants instead of a simple mark of the cross! Additionally, the New Testament speaks of us being a "marked" people, sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Bible also constantly exhorts us to walk humbly with God. Combine these biblical images, teach it to your people before just doing it, and it's amazing how receptive evangelicals can be to this act of worship.

There were about 300-400 people who attended this service.

I do have thoughts on how the Contemporary Church has sacrificed historic practices for new innovative ideas. I have strong feelings, in fact. That's pretty much what this blog is about. I think the Contemporary Church has, in large part, provided church-goers with more distractions than they have pointed them to Jesus. My newest, most concise definition of worship is "Living the Gospel" or "Living Christ". That's it. I could write a book explaining those two words, but that would be counter-intuitive to the simplicity it demands.

Andy,

Thanks for sharing. I love when God moves me emotionally like that. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen as often as I would like, or allow. I often have so much clutter in my life that the Gospel either can't break through my layers of sinful clothing, or my layers of clothes keep it from getting out. Either way, I spend more of my life bound by selfish desires than free in Christ.

It's getting better, though.

Ryan

I remember that morning....beautiful!

2009-02-28T13:38:00.000-06:00

I remember that morning....beautiful!

Ryan, I think it's really good that you're redisco...

2009-02-27T22:44:00.000-06:00

Ryan, I think it's really good that you're rediscovering a jewel of your past that helps direct your heart in worship. My past is marked all over with artists, cd's, books, significant moments in relationships, etc. where God made more space in my heart for Him, and I love remembering them. Recently I recalled a time when I was in a choir also and sang a phrase that brought me to tears. It's the last paragraph of the post linked at the end of this, if you're interested.

-Andy
http://andybiddy.blogspot.com/2009/02/time-and-space-essentials-red.html

I think it's great how you were open to using diff...

2009-02-27T22:40:00.000-06:00

I think it's great how you were open to using different types of music in your services. Is this church that you attend and lead at a Catholic Church or were you just implementing the Catholic tradition of the ashes on the forehead?? I think the symbolic action of the "walk with Christ" is a beautiful thing as well... I am taking a class called essentials red with the University of St. Stephens and the whole point of the course is how the deep history of the early church can be gleaned from to help make us more effective worship leaders today, and maybe instead of looking for new innovative ideas to make our worship sets better, we could look to the past and the way the early church shaped their lives around Jesus and never let themselves get away from the story of Jesus. Do you have any thought on this??

My blog website is www.kehrich.wordpress.com

I never knew you sang with Celebrant Singers! I ha...

2009-02-27T08:56:00.000-06:00

I never knew you sang with Celebrant Singers! I have a good friend from college who toured with them for 2 years.

Interesting post...I'm going to check out that Gregorian Chant on iTunes.