Tag: Worship

Joy Comes in the Morning

When I was in college, my friend Eric and I came up with a worship leader comedy routine. Eric would stand with his guitar. I’d pick up my Bible and turn to the page I had bookmarked so I could read the way worship leader’s sometimes read Bible passages between songs. Eric would tilt his chin upward, eyes closed, a pious smile on his face.

I would inhale and in one breath read:

ThewordoftheLordthatcametoZephaniahsonofCushi-thesonofGedaliahthesonofAmariah-
thesonofHezekiahduringthereignofJosiah
-sonofAmonkingofJudah:

Eric would nod and smile,  and occasionally he’d interject with a yes Lord or an Amen as I continued to read, only slower now, pausing for emphasis:

“I will sweep away everything
    from the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord.
 “I will sweep away both man and beast;
    I will sweep away the birds in the sky
    and the fish in the sea—
    and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”

“When I destroy all mankind
    on the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord,
 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
    and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,
    the very names of the idolatrous priests—
 those who bow down on the roofs
    to worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the Lord
    and who also swear by Molek,
 those who turn back from following the Lord
    and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.

 

Then I would close my Bible and bow my head in silence. After about 10 or 15 seconds Eric would launch into song, ” ♪ ♫ There is joy in the Lord, there is love in His Spirit, there is hope in the knowledge of Him . . .”

 

I don’t think we ever finished the song. The juxtaposition of one of the judgiest Bible passages (Zephaniah 1) with happy-clappy, contemporary worship made us laugh. We enjoyed the joke more anyone else did.  Everyone thought we were irreverent.

The joke was better than Eric and I realized. The Joy of the Lord came as a happy surprise to those who only heard words of judgment and destruction. As goofy and impious as we were, we managed to touch on and demonstrate something of the joy that came with Jesus.

Christ’s Advent was the start of a great reversal. Though the world dwelt in darkness, full of wounded and dying people, living fragmented life, the promise of Christ opened up new possibilities: hope, shalom, wholeness, well-being, healing, deliverance, salvation.  Though “weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

✧

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy coined a word to describe this sort of reversal, eucatastrophe. In his essay, On Fairy Stories, he described a cataclysmic shift in a story where certain destruction is averted by a joyful sudden turn of events—the consolation of a happy ending:

The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially “escapist,” nor “fugitive.” In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.

Anyone who has read the Lord of Rings knows these eucatastrophic turnarounds (think Gandalf’s return or the eagles). But of course, eucatastrophe is not just an element in fairy stories. We see it Romantic Comedies where the despised jerks (Mr. Darcy!) turn out, in the end, to be truly quite wonderful. Good jokes, too, have this kind of joyful surprise. The eucatastrophe is written into the fabric of reality:

[I]n the “eucatastrophe” we see in a brief vision that the answer may be greater—it may be a far-off gleam or echo of evangelium in the real world. The use of this word gives a hint of my epilogue. It is a serious and dangerous matter. It is presumptuous of me to touch upon such a theme; but if by grace what I say has in any respect any validity, it is, of course, only one facet of a truth incalculably rich: finite only because the capacity of Man for whom this was done is finite

So, the gospel of Jesus Christ is eucatastrophe!  Tolkien called the “Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history (and the Resurrection of Christ the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation). Jesus’ return and the New Heaven and Earth will be the eucatastrophe for which all creation groans (Romans 8:22).

✧

So here we are, the third week of Advent. The world is still dark and days short (in the Northern hemisphere). Suffering, struggle, and sorrow is what we know. Our only experience of peace is a tenuous armistice of mutually-assured-destruction. We await eucatastrophic turnaround. Though weeping may last through the night, Joy comes in the morning.

Lessons from Bad Religion (Hosea 9)

Marriage vows presume that both spouses know, with all that biblical innuendo, and love the other; however Hosea described God as a jilted lover—unloved by the people He covenanted to be with, Israel. There was no knowledge of God in the land (cf. Hosea 4:1c). Hosea named the people’s wanton abandonment of God as the root of their problems, though clearly Israel had other sins (e.g. violence, injustice). Derek Kidner observes”Sin can be against oneself (1 Cor. 6:18) and against one’s neighbour; but the flouting of God is always the length and breadth of it.”1 The big sin of Israel was their bad religion: the worship of idols.

Politics and religion weren’t easily divided in the Ancient world. Kings were masters of coopting religious language to effect their imperial aims (not much changed there). Priests—purveyors of religious devotion—called afternoon showers signs of God’s blessing instead of speaking truth-to-power and naming where things went amiss. But kings and priests were not alone in rejecting their covenant God. The people of Israel likewise rejected YAHWEH and chased after the gods of the nations.

N.T. Wright writes, “You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship.”2 One of the problems with idolatry is that we become bad versions of ourselves. Bad religion makes us bad people. We are as in danger of spiritual malformation as Israel was. Hosea 9 begins with this snapshot of religion gone bad:

Do not rejoice, O Israel!
Do not exult as other nations do;
for you have played the whore, departing from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay
on all threshing floors. (Hosea 9:1)
Threshing floors were large communal properties, flat ground, where the farmers gathered to thresh and winnow the grain. Because of the economic importance of agriculture, these threshing floors doubled as open-air facilities for religious rituals, business transactions, and public gatherings. The Ancient Near East worship of the surrounding neighbors took the shape of fertility cults. Temple prostitutes were employed for their services—drunken orgies of delight were meant to appease Baal and ensure the fertility  and prosperity of the land.
Israel was simultaneously obsessed with sex and their own economic security. Imitating the nations, their worship employed sex with prostitutes as a technique to ensure a good harvest and prosperity for the nation. But economic security was meant to be a byproduct of faithfulness to Yahweh, and not a result of religious technique and ritual. False worship led to using people (in this case, prostitutes) to achieve economic growth. The unhappy result for Israel was crop failure and famine (9:2), military defeat and exile (9:3-7, 15-17). Hosea warned of the coming judgment but Israel decried this prophet as a mad fool (9:7).
We may cringe at the particulars of ANE religion, but are we really that far removed?  Are we not, as a nation, likewise obsessed with sex and economic security? We just elected a president who promises to fix our economy and bragged on video about sexually assaulting women. But Trump’s presidency is merely symptomatic of our American idolatry.   One curious feature of our democracy is that our government of the people, by the people and for people elects a leader every four years, which reflects the soul of the nation. We may decry Trump’s orange glow, petulance and his tiny hands forming a Vitarka Mudra, but he is a mirror to us of our own inner life. Like our president, we are fearful and angry at the world, worried about the economy, distrusting both the media and the establishment, and we prefer our own alternative facts to the true truthiness of truth.
If Wright is right and we are becoming like what we worship, what does this say about us? Israel’s worship of idols caused them to forgot their God which also caused them to forget the image of God in their women. They used them for sexual pleasure (and to procure financial gain). What is the god envisioned in America’s cultural landscape? Is it the god of the prosperity gospel, promises riches to those where to sow the right seeds? Is it the hedonist god of celebrities—narcissistic and decadent? Does the god of our nation value the dignity of all human persons as co-bearers of God’s image? Or are some humans viewed as less worthy than others? Does our god thwart justice for women, orphans and aliens dwelling in our land?
It is not enough for us to assert we are a Christian nation. In the years leading up to Israel’s exile, when they were an Assyrian vassal state, Yahweh was still nominally Israel’s God.3 In reality the people (and their leaders) were worshipping at a different altar. If the God who is revealed to us in Scripture was at the center of our national life, our priorities (political or otherwise) would look vastly different. Like Israel of old, bad religion has poisoned the well and there will be reckoning.

God break down our idols that we who are made in your image, can represent you and be your Presence on the earth. In our hearts and in our land, let us make You great again.

1. Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 208
2. N.T. Wright, Simply Christian (New York: Harper Collins, 2006), 148.
3. Interesting to note that the oracle of Hosea 9, never mentions Baal worship, just bad religion.

Revealing the Hidden Things: a book review

Christian films, books and TV preachers give their take on the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Speculation about end times is a Christian cottage industry with theories bandied about on things like the identity of the beast, the rapture, the role of Israel, or the nature of the judgments poured out on the earth. Revelation is written in highly metaphorical language, so there are tons of speculations. Other Christians read through Revelation once or twice but unsure of what to do with it, so they ignore it.  In The Heart of Revelation,  J.Scott Duvall offers a third way of of reading revelation. He attends to the vision of hope in the book without devolving into personal speculation about what we may or may not suffer.

TheHeartOfRevelation_hires+spine.inddAfter a brief introduction discussing the cultural context, Duvall explores the book’s message through the lens of ten themes: God, Worship, the People of God, the Holy Spirit, our enemies, our mission, Jesus Christ, judgment, new creation, and perseverance. By attending to Revelation thematically, Duvall provides a overview of the book rather than a detailed walk through the text (elsewhere he has published a commentary on revelation in the ‘Teach the Text Commentary Series).

In his introduction Duvall offers these guidelines for understanding the book: (1) attend to the meaning of the book to its original hearers in Asia Minor, (2)  Be aware of the symbolic nature of its language and (3) a focus on the main theological message of each vision (9-10).  The result is a historical-literary sensitive reading which doesn’t get caught up in theorizing about locust in smoke or Russia’s role in Armageddon (Sorry Hal). This isn’t to say that what Duvall says isn’t compatible with various eschatological options. He allows for the book’s future orientation without speculating about the minutia. His focus remains on the major themes through out the book and I think that mild Preterists, Millennialists and Dispensationalists can all read this book profitably.

The picture he paints is of a loving God who is the true center and source of life, a worshipping community drawn from every tongue, tribe and nation, a Holy Spirit who is living and active among us, an oppressor who is defeated by the cross and enemies we will overcome as we take up our cross and suffer. We also see our calling to be faithful witnesses to Jesus, the coming judgment against sin which takes seriously God’s holiness and  our human freedom, a new heaven and new earth where God will dwell with his people,  and the challenge and promise for those who persevere until the end.

If Revelation mystifies you and you want a book that helps you see the meaning and purpose of the book, this is a great place to start. Each chapter ends with a list of key texts, a reading plan and community group questions for exploring Revelation in a small group setting (or personal study).  I give this book four stars.

Note: I received this book from Baker Books in exchange for my honest review.

Worshipping the God of the Bible: a Bible book review

As an intermittent worship leader and a reader of the Bible, I was excited by the NIV Worship Together Bible. It promised to link song and reflection together with Bible reading. Included in this Bible is:

  • The text of the NIV (2011 edition)
  • Lyrics to the ‘top 50’ worship songs
  • song notes and reflections from the songwriters (and a short devotional  reflection)
  • Simple chords for 20 popular worship songs
  • A forward by Matt Maher (composer of Your Grace is Enough)
  • An index of the songs by scripture reference

These features enable readers to connect their favorite worship songs to their Bible reading, making this a resource which promises to enliven worship and enrich your personal devotional life.

I like the NIV so I am predisposed to like this Bible. I have spent less time with the 2011 version than I have the 1984 version or the TNIV, but generally like what I have seen from the 2011 NIV.  The gender inclusive language in this edition is curtailed when it conflicts with biblical idioms and prophetic references to Jesus, so it corrects places where the TNIV went overboard.

However I found myself underwhelmed by the devotional articles on worship. Certainly I learned some things from them. Notably, I learned that one of my favorite hymns, How Great Though Art, has its origins in the Swedish revival that birthed mmy current denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church. On the other hand, the worship songs included in this book are the most popular ones, not necessarily the best ones. Some of the worship songs included (I won’t share which ones in case they’re your favorite) I find vapid and shallow.  The song stories and reflections on these songs do not run very deep (how could they?). Other songs have interesting stories which enrich my appreciation of them and are personally instructive. However there is an unevenness in these articles.

Also I found the ‘worship’ articles lacked any cohesive unifying theme. They didn’t seem to be correlated at all. While an index gives you the scripture references for each song, when you look at the articles, they do not tell you where to find the next devotional article. This doesn’t strike me as very user-friendly. Certainly I can go to the index and make my own devotional reading plan, but I think that Zondervan should have put a ‘next lyrics and ‘behind the song’ article is on page___’ at the end of each article. It would have made it easier to navigate (I’ve seen other devotional Bible’s do this).

My major issue with the Bible is that I had hoped their would be more of a conscious effort to impart a theology of worship in the text. A single article by John J Thompson entitled “Songs as Worship” stands between Revelation and the Table of Weights and Measures. There is nothing wrong with this article. Thompson says some good things, but I wish that the complementary articles went deeper into a biblical theology of worship.

So  I give this a middle of the road review: just ★★★½. However I did actually like the inclusion of lyrics and chords of worship songs. It made me think this is the perfect Bible to take camping with your guitar, so when you need to pull out chords for a worship song to have that epic quiet time in nature, you can actually do it with out bringing along a song sheet binder.  I do feel like many of their song choices will be dated in a couple of year, so I wonder about the longevity of this Bible, but I think that guitar players and worship music lovers will probably appreciate having this resource.

Thank you to Zondervan for providing me a copy of this Bible in exchange for my honest review.

Prayer for Ordinary Time (second week after Pentecost)

We worship and we wonder. . .

 

We worship and we wonder

why the God of love would

deem to pour His mercy on us.

We recount our weeks and recoil

at how often our pettiness,

unlove, and immorality

have revealed themselves.

We know we do not deserve such love.

 

We worship and we wonder

how an hour a week makes

much difference in our lives.

We stand and strain to sing songs too high for us,

we listen as the sermons too long for us,

We keep the feast  with bread and wine (juice)

far too little for us.

 

We worship and we wonder

and wonders of wonders it is enough.

God’s mercy comes for us anew

and we are changed (if not instantly

incrementally).

We eat and, wonder of wonders,

we are filled.

 

 

 

 

. . .And Hearing by the Word of God: a book review

I love hearing the Bible read aloud in my worship service. It is a powerful experience. Unfortunately the scripture reading can be the low point in many  services. In many contexts  when the scripture reader stands up to read, eyes glaze over all over the congregation. The living and active Word obscured by a bad reading.

Devote Yourself to the Public Reading of Scripture: The Transforming Power of the Well-Spoken Word by Jeffrey D. Arthurs

Jeffrey Arthurs wrote Devote Yourself to the Public Reading of Scripture to increase the quantity and quality of scripture reading in church services (11). As professor of Preaching and Communcation and the Chair of  Practical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Arthurs is invested in helping ministers communicate the gospel. Yet this is not a book written exclusively for clergy. Anyone who is involved in the ministry of public reading will benefit from this book.

Borrowing the phrase ‘Eat this book’ from Eugene Peterson (who stole it from Ezekiel), Arthurs whets the appetite and discusses how public  readers can set the stage for a congregational feast on the Word. Seven chapters explore the eating/feasting metaphor. The first three chapters lay the groundwork  while the last four chapters  explore the dynamics of effective public reading.

In chapter one,  he ‘builds the appetite’ by making the biblical and theological case for reading the Bible in public.  In chapter two, Arthurs ‘sets the table’ by discussing what a reader of scripture does and does not  do and the necessity of spiritual, emotional and mental preparation. Chapter three talks about ‘inviting the guests,’ that is, creating a culture which values the public reading of scripture.

Chapters four and five talk about ‘serving the meal’ and the dynamics of effective communication. Chapter four focuses on nonverbal communication (i.e. distracting mannerisms, gestures and body language, posture, facial expressions). Chapter five examines the dynamics of verbal communication (projection, phrasing, pauses, pace,  pitch and punch).  In the final two chapters, Arthurs discusses creative methods  by ‘adding some spice.’ Chapter six  gives suggestions for solo readers and churches seeking to develop their public reading ministry.  Chapter seven discusses using a team of readers.

The book closes with  sample scripts which demonstrate the dynamics of public reading, and group readings. Additionally, the book comes with an accompanying DVD where Arthurs demonstrates visually what the book says about verbal and non-verbal communication and some examples.

Arthurs field makes him attuned to the dynamics of communication and he emphasizes that in the text and DVD. He recommends paying attention to bad habits and communicating with body language, diction and a good delivery.  I think a lot of the suggestions he makes are really helpful and I like the book enough to give it 5 stars; however some of the most powerful readings of scripture I’ve  heard were technically flawed. When someone opens up their Bible and reads a passage that is meaningful to them something special happens. They’ve taken the time to internalize it and the Word is not merely in their mouth but in their heart. This is real power. Arthurs alludes to this in chapter two when he talks about the reader preparing themselves spiritually but I would lay a stronger emphasis on living with the Word we speak.

But I didn’t write this book and I find it helpful, sound and informative. I would recommend this book to anyone entering the ministry of public reading or for those who would like to hone their skills at it. I am passionate about public Bible reading and Arthurs is a good guide as to how to do it well. ★★★★★

Thank you to Kregel Publications for providing me a copy of this book through their Academic and Ministry blog review program in exchange for my honest review.

Question for Discussion: How does your church practice the public reading of scripture?

Worship is Child’s Pray: a book review

As a frazzled father of three, I know how hard church can be.  While life at home is often pandemonium in church I feel like I have to reign those kids in.  At the very least keep them from kicking  the pew in front of them. Author Robbie Castleman  challenges us parents to enlarge our vision of what our kids can experience in church. Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children into the Joy of Worship, now in its third edition, brings together Castleman’s skill as a theologian, and her experience raising her sons in church.  This is a thoughtful book which challenges readers to invest in teaching kids to worship God (not just behave themselves) and leading them to a fresh encounter with God. Along the way Castleman shares insights, personal anecdotes and stories of how other parents have been able to  ‘parent in the pew.’

Parenting in the Pew: Guiding You Children into the Joy of Worship by Robbie Castleman

Castleman’s book  begins with a plea for parents to ‘pay attention’ to their children, how they learn and how they can participate in worship. She argues that participation in worship is formative for children (and the rest of us). But she knows the  challenge.   In one witty chapter, she discusses ‘Worship BC and AD,’ that is, ‘before children’ and ‘after diapers.’  When we seek to enter into God’s presence our children may be a distraction.  If we are not careful we will end up teaching our kids to be ‘quiet in church’ without really teaching them the meaning of worship and failing to participate in worship ourselves. Worship is about giving God his due glory, not about our own experience. God is not the least bit bothered by our kids participating (just ask Jesus).

From there Castleman explores the elements of worship and how to prepare your kids to participate. For  those who worship on Sunday morning, this preparation often begins the night before (making sure kids get enough rest, are awake and ready for church, the tone you set for the day, etc.).  Castleman  provides various strategies for maximizing attentiveness to the sermon, getting kids to sing, pray and participate in the liturgy.

This edition updates the examples for a new generation (the original edition was published twenty years ago). Earlier editions talked about Castleman’s experience of  training her own sons in worship. Those stories are still here, but  now her sons are grown and are parenting  their own children’ in the pew.’  Additionally there are examples from other parents she’s encountered at ‘parenting in the pew’ seminars and workshops.

What Castleman says here is really valuable. As Christians we were made to worship God and I believe our participation in corporate worship is formational.  The vision she has for including kids in worship, preparing them for Sundays and cultivating attentiveness to the Word is commendable and I think right on target.  She also communicates her vision of  intergenerational ministry with wit and grace. I  appreciate that while she has some clear directives (don’t bring a coloring book to distract your kids but seek instead to get them to participate) she also honors the differences in children’s personalities. If worship is about paying attention to God, teaching worship to our kids begins with paying attention to them.

Putting this book into practice may be challenging for parents if  their church doesn’t have a vision for intergenerational ministry and the participation of kids in worship. My family and I are lucky enough to be a part of a church community which really values getting the kids involved in the worship service. Other churches in town do not have the same value. For parents seeking to carry out Castleman’s suggestions, they may find that they are kicking against the goads.  There is enough in this book which challenges leaders to make the worship a more hospitable place for children but Castleman  addresses the leadership challenge more directly in Story Shaped Worship (forthcoming IVP May 2013).  Another challenge for parents is that some of Castleman’s suggestions work better for different developmental stages. Still parents of toddlers to teens can all benefit from this book. 

I think this is a great book and would recommend it  to both  parents and ministry leaders. There are a lot of kids who grow up ‘quiet’ in church who later quietly leave out the backdoor. I  think getting parents to invest in teaching their kids to worship and leading them to an encounter with God is necessary if we want our children to grow up in the faith. Pastoral leaders  also need to properly care for children and families in their midst and encourage their spiritual growth. Castleman’s focus on worship is particularly refreshing.  I give this book ★★★★.

Thank you to InterVarsity Press for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for this review.