The Incarnation is aimed at man’s transformation through the Cross and to the new corporeality of the Resurrection. God seeks us where we are, not so that we stay there, but so that we may come to be where he is, so that we may get beyond ourselves. That is why to reduce [...]
Archive for the ‘Liturgy’ Category
The Historical Jesus & Worship
Posted in Contemporary Issues, Jesus Christ, Liturgy on 2 June 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Church History: Episcopal deja vu again
Posted in Anglican, Current Events, History, Liturgy on 9 May 2007 | Leave a Comment »
My wife receives the print version of the Global Prayer Digest, a daily devotional dedicated to praying for missions that is published by the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, California.
Yesterday morning she was cleaning out old stuff from her Bible and tossed out the February 2007 edition which was dedicated to praying for the people [...]
Heard On the Street
Posted in Contemporary Issues, Liturgy, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching on 13 April 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Is it still church when the pastor doesn’t show up, but gives his message by video?
The following set of facts is a true story overheard literally on the street last night.
Everything else went as it usually does in this very large church in a very large city. The congregation was led in music by the normal [...]
Word in Worship
Posted in Liturgy, Pastoral Ministry on 12 April 2007 | Leave a Comment »
My liturgical church friends will think this post is strange, but having spent the past twenty years or so inside the free-church, low-church, evangelical world I do not think it is so strange or off the wall.
If proper worship consists of Word and Sacrament, how can we do a better job as evangelicals in our [...]
Rightly Dividing Worship?
Posted in Liturgy, Pastoral Ministry on 11 April 2007 | Leave a Comment »
If worship is to be divided into two parts, it should not be divided between “worship” and “message,” nor between preaching and music. If we must divide worship, it ought to come between Word and Sacrament. Even then this is no division, but only a means of worshipping in the ways that God has ordained [...]
Divided Worship?
Posted in Culture, Liturgy, Pastoral Ministry on 10 April 2007 | Leave a Comment »
When did Christian worship get bifurcated between “worship” and “message”? I have heard pastors of all kinds of stripes divide their services this way. I have done it myself without thinking about what was happening with the words I was using. Churches I have attended in the past while in seminary or before also divided [...]
It is Not Supposed to Be Funny
Posted in Culture, Jesus Christ, Liturgy, Pastoral Ministry on 2 April 2007 | 1 Comment »
Last night my church put on a drama skit called The Trial during our Sunday evening worship service. It was the culmination of weeks of practice for the 12 people involved in the skit. Overall they did a fairly good job considering only one or two of them have a sense of drama or acting [...]
Worship as Performance Art
Posted in Contemporary Issues, Liturgy on 31 March 2007 | 1 Comment »
Whether or not your church claims to follow a liturgical tradition or claims to be non-liturgical in its worship, there is a common denominator which both groups claim. Worship for both sides of the liturgical divide is found in re-telling of the Great Story, the story of God’s plan of salvation. Both the liturgical and [...]
Something is Missing
Posted in Liturgy, Mystery on 30 March 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Somewhere in my lifetime, something was lost in Christian worship. It is hard to put one’s finger on it and say “Aha! That’s it!” But it seems to be something that is fundamentally at the center of what worship is for Christians.
Among North American evangelicals an ethos has developed which seems to say that worship [...]
Why Another Blog?
Posted in History, Liturgy, Mystery on 29 March 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Why am I adding to nearly infinite numbers of blogs out there? Haven’t we had enough? Isn’t it time to surrender? Doesn’t the Bible say something about the making of many books which has no end? Yes, Solomon wrote that in Ecclesiastes 12:12. Doesn’t it also say that where there are many words transgression is [...]
