Everyday Liturgy

Two Rock Solid Ways to Know God's Will For Your Life

Thomas — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:16:55 +0000

People like to talk a lot about how to discern God's will for your life. What to eat? to wear? to buy? to drive? to crave? to do? to be?

People spend time and money contemplating these things endlessly.

If that is you, your toil is over. Because I know two rock solid ways to know God's will for your life.

1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.

2) Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

Those are the two ways you know God's will for your life. If you seek to do these things, you are doing God's will.

The same goes for our churches. Any church accomplishes God's will if always before them is loving the Lord, loving their neighbor, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God. Churches try to discern ways, means, programs, buildings, radio ads, TV dramas, and complicated committees to try and do God's will. But it is right there before us. Let's just go do it.

Church Turned Inside Out

Thomas — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:26:03 +0000

In their purposeful, insightful, and empowering book, Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr have given the call to church leaders to begin to craft a church that is designed, not programmed.

Bergquist and Karr, using the ideas of "designers, refiners, and re-aligners" flip church planning on its head and begin to discern how a church can be designed as a beautiful communitas and not programmed for maximum market potential as churches usually are.

Mission is the orientation of church growth, and Bergquist and Karr desire that church growth be seen, to take economic terminology, not as product but as throughput: that is, the church should not just produce "something" (whatever your church decides that something is). Instead, the church, when designed inside out, permeates its whole locale and culture for the kingdom. They write,

"Mission" in Western civilization needs to assume a posture of responsibility toward future generations. This is a new idea for Christians, to ask ourselves how our present actions, activities, and decisions may affect future generations of Christians. The word for this is "sustainability." Consider these words attributed to Aristotle: "A barbaric culture consumes all of its resources for the present; Whereas a civilized culture preserves them for later generations." What then, are the resources that the Church is consuming?

And follow with their desire for the future of church growth:

We need to imagine and take responsibility for stewarding our shared future, remembering that our own interwoven beauty pays tribut to God's handiwork and not our own.

I recommend this book to all who desire to be in lay or paid leadership within the church, that we may all begin to dream what the design of our local church will be, and have the courage tochange it when necessary.

Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners
Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr
Jossey-Bass
$16.47 (Amazon)

Advent Without Candles: What To Do?

Thomas — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:45:21 +0000

The church plant I am involved with made the decision to switch our location from a local church to a local school "cafetorium" back in the early summer. The transition went well, and it has been a good one for the church's presence in the community.

However, we are not allowed to use candles in the school for obvious health and safety code reasons. This certainly isn't a make or break issue for the church, but it leaves us with an Advent conundrum:

What do we do about Advent candles?

I am really hoping that the Everyday Liturgy community can kick into high gear and give some good ideas because I have a few ideas but don't think they are really good. How can we as a community mark Advent in a non-flammable yet meaningful way? Please share your ideas and we'll get some discussion going.

You can also share via twitter. Just write your response to @everydayliturgy. You can follow Everyday Liturgy's twitter feed here.

Baseball: A Great Metaphor for Church

Thomas — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:08:12 +0000

In his commentary "On the Meaning of Baseball" in the excellent online journal The Curator published by International Arts Movement, Michael Toscano writes about the metaphor of baseball:

Simply put, baseball has a visible level—a physical dimension viewable by all, even cynics—and an invisible level—a metaphorical dimension experienced by fans only (often on the subconscious level) which is unknown to cynics; especially empirical statisticians. If baseball is a body, the rules are the bones and flesh, and story is the blood. Only together does it have fullness and its fullness can only be found in fandom.

What he writes about baseball can apply to the church as well. If Church is a body, the rules are the bones and flesh, and the story is the blood. Only together does it have fullness and its fullncess can only be found in participation with the story.

Find more great articles at The Curator and follow them on Twitter.

We're All Mixed Bags

Thomas — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:18:42 +0000

When I was a kid I always liked getting those mixed bags of candy at Halloween or birthday parties. It was my own personal buffet of treats. A buffet that allowed me to trade candy I didn't like for candy I did like, in my eternal quest to end up with all Mr. Goodbars and Special Darks.

I think people are mixed bags too, just like those party favors and treats we received as kids (and Lord willing as adults as well!). I came to this conclusion after a brief episode of anger. A screed if you will. Let me explain...

I came into my house last night and saw a printout of material Andy Stanley had written about kid's ministry that my wife was looking over. This did not enthuse me one bit. I do not want to take the advise of someone who champions McChurch franchising and building five million dollar bridges over fragile wetlands so that his congregation can attract peple to the church because of the increased ability to speed away in their SUVs faster. I certainly don't want the bridge perspective effecting kid's ministry. I just imagine all the solutions as ways to streamline goldfish cracker disbursement and more efficient passing of infants from the hands of nursery workers back to their parents.

Yet I have read an Andy Stanley book on leadership and there was good advice in it. He talked about how his church had a specific vision and focus and that even if someone has a great idea for ministry if it doesn't fit the vision of the church he will not bend the vision to accept a good idea. That would break the focus of his church's ministry. I really think that is sound advice. I have no idea how Mr. Stanley takes this approach to his church's vision and gets church franchising and environmentally damaging suburban sprawl bridges out of it, but it is a good approach to controlling vision nonetheless.

So maybe the kid's ministry advice my wife is reading is good advice from someone I deeply and immensely disagree with. We are not all bad advice. We are not not all good advice either. We are mixed bags.

I am a mixed bag. I think I have very good advice and perspectives. I think I am moderate and right about many things. I compromise a good deal. I see the other perspective and love facilitating ways to mediate and expand the horizons of faith and practice.

Yet sometimes I couch these ideas in big words. Sometimes I am too academic. Sometimes I let ideologies supersede and disallow my mind to change. I have a vast archive of Xanga posts that detail my love for conservative politics. I was a warmongerer in the past. If I met my past self I would be in vehement disagreement with him. But that person is still a part of me that can appear in different ways.

We are mixed bags. We must be treated as such. We must always approach people we deeply disagree with knowing full well that we agree in part and disagree in part. And that's hard. Let's just try, shall we?

But really, a five million dollar bridge? That's a piece of candy that shouldn't even be traded to your younger brother...it should be thrown in the nearest wastebasket...give it to your dog...use it in a slingshot...just don't, don't eat it, please! It's bad for the church's health!

I'll keep trying.

A Prayer to Our Father

Thomas — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:28:46 +0000

Co-authors Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson explore the Hebrew foundation of the Lord's Prayer in their book A Prayer to Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer.

The authors intend for this book to be very exciting. They are excited people. They are Hebrew nerds, and they go on a dramatically and suspensefully told quest to plumb the depths of time and manuscripts to flush out the Hebrew underpinnings of the Lord's Prayer, or in Hebrew, the Avinu Prayer.

Gordon and Johnson do not publish anything radical, controversial, or suspect. They back up their supsicions and hunches with adequate scholarship. The book proves to be part theological book and part travelogue as the pair criss-cross continents and the Holy Land in search for the authentic roots of the Lord's Prayer.

Their quest is admirable, and achieved, but its not one I really wanted to go on. If you are a language nerd or think of reading a Hebrew dictionary or studying Hebrew as a fun and enjoyable activity, I suggest you buy this book. You'll enjoy it.

Myself on the other hand, the book started boring me about half way through. I just am not interested in the peculiarities of Hebrew to Greek to English translations, and most of their insights I had read in N.T. Wright's book The Lord and His Prayer.

The book does try to be exciting, and it deserves much credit on that point. It just didn't click with me. There are many books I read (and review) that people would find boring as well, so this book is in the eye of the beholder, and at $19.95 for a paperback (a high price in my opinion) I would suggest that unless you are a Hebrew nerd or transfixed by the Holy Land buy Wright's The Lord and His Prayer instead (it's $8 on Amazon).

A Prayer to Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer
Hilkiah Press
Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson
$19.95 (Hilkiah & Amazon)

Sacramental Life

Thomas — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:11:54 +0000

David DeSilva presents a thoughtful and reflective account of the rich applications that the Book of Common Prayer has for our daily spiritual formation in Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation Through the Book of Common Prayer.

This book does not have a full narrative flow, resembling a hybrid theology book, handbook, and collection of essays. The chapters are more spaces for thought and further reflection on the three main sacraments of the Book of Common Prayer—Baptism, Communion, and Marriage—and how the liturgy of these sacraments applies to our daily spiritual formation.

The key to our liturgy in DeSilva's thinking is that the sacraments should permeate our Christian life. We are all in different places on our spiritual journey, but through our participation in the lifeblood of the church, which is our common prayer, we experience the foretaste of the sacraments, the sacraments themselves, and the aftereffects of the sacraments. Even if we are not married, we can experience the spiritual formation of marriage in different ways, just as communion forms our spiritual outlook even when we are not receiving it on Sunday. We live out the reverberations of communion on Thursday at midnight the same way we live out the immediacy of communion on Sunday at 10:30. In the same vein, the importance of baptism, especially our reaffirmation of our baptism throughout our life, is beautifully expounded on as DeSilva distills the essence of the Book of Common Prayer and gives us the desire to seek the sacramental presence of God in every facet of our lives.

DeSilva has created a handy source to the wealth of Christian devotion in the Book of Common Prayer and serves as a discerning and reflective guide.

Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation Through the Book of Common Prayer
InterVarsity Press
David DeSilva
$12.24 (Amazon)

Tony Jones Reviews Generate Magazine

Thomas — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:42:11 +0000

Tony Jones has given a generous and approving review of GENERATE Magazine:

There have been several efforts to begin a paper journal that capture the exploits of emergence, and none has quite succeeded. GENERATE does.

First off, there's a fine defense from the editors to the question of, "Why a paper journal in this day and age?" Then there's the commitment to sustainable printing practices -- a stronger commitment than I've ever seen elsewhere.

Then, of course, there's the content. An interview (by Troy Bronsink) with the founders of Paste Magazine, beautiful and challenging poetry, arresting photography, Soup's amazing sketches, and... music reviews from DJ Word (which, alone, are worth the subscription price). Then there's Julie Clawson and Thomas T. Turner II [that's me!] calling out Soong-Chan Rah for his caricature of emergence and even asking if he employs reverse racism in The New Evangelicalism -- I don't suspect you'll find that in Christianity Today.

Tony Jones has subscribed today, will you? Click here.

About GENERATE:

GENERATE exists as a forum to retell the stories of the grassroots communities and individuals who are finding emerging and alternative means of following God in the Way of Jesus. We hope to create an artifact of this historical conversation. These stories will be transmitted through narrative, works of visual art, documented performances, verse, fiction, non-fiction, essays, and interviews.

Drinking Wine and Community

Thomas — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:57:59 +0000

The Church and Postmodern Culture blog recently featured an article dealing with many of the themes I bring up on this blog concerning liturgy and community.

In his piece "The Liturgical Turn: Public Display of Worship" Eric Speece notes concerning wine and community:

Wine, in this [sacramental] way, as a part of that same [Eucharistic] blessing, suggests both feast and community. Wine must be shared. If hoarded and possessed as a commodity it only leads to drunkenness, which is a misuse of the drink. However when properly shared, it brings joy to all and gives the community a sense of transcendence.

This is a great approach to alcohol, as well as food and leisure. We are not made to be alone, but to share all in hospitality. In old stories even the hermits, when someone comes to their door, greet the travelers with hospitality and feasting (along with wisdom). We make the world sacred through the sharing of Christ's work in anticipation of the Great Feast.

Featured throughout Speece's discussion is the work of Gordon Lathrop in Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology. Read my review of that book here.

Being Missional = Build A Five Million Dollar Bridge

Thomas — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:56:03 +0000

What are some ways a church building a five million dollar bridge makes sense?

a bridge to allow relief workers and oppressed people better access to goods and services...

a bridge in an area of the world decimated by a natural disaster...

a bridge in an adopted village...

That would make perfect sense.

But that's not what is happening here.

No, this is just a good old fashioned materialistic atrocity being championed by an American church that is so disconnected from the real world value of money that it would rather build a five million dollar bridge over a sensitive environmental area like wetlands so that its parishioners can get out of the parking lot in under twenty minutes.

Is there any reason, any reason at all why a megachurch should spend $5 million dollars building a bridge? For a second exit? In a wealthy Georgia suburb?

Andy Stanley tries to explain:

Is it worth it? It all depends. If our mission is to be a church thatʼs perfectly designed for the people who already attend, then we donʼt need a bridge. But if we want to continue to be a church unchurched people love to attend, then yes, itʼs worth it. From my perspective, this is not a “nice to have” option. Honestly, I donʼt want to raise money for, or give money to, something thatʼs not mission critical. I believe creating a second access point allows us to stay on mission. That is why weʼve been working on this for nine years.

This makes me sick. This is completely un-missional. Missional churches are not attractional churches. Missional churches send out their parishioners as missionaries to the world, not bring them to church over a five million dollar edifice set up to speed up their exit and entry?

Your thoughts?