I got up way too early yesterday so I could be sure to get my hands on the Droid that came out for Verizon. I’ve never had a phone that had apps or could check email or could use the internet. It is a really weird shift to be able to do all those things all the time, whenever I want. The phone change also reminds of the need for boundaries in internet usage. Anyone else get a Droid or going to get one? So far I’ve been really pleased.
Watch out for Nebraska to pull an upset on Oklahoma tonight….or not.
Blogs
- Interesting article titled, “Is the Bible actually true?”
- Incredible story of a former KKK leader who learned to love those he previously hated. Hated is probably a kind word compared to what it truly was.
- Jason Boyett wrote a thought-provoking post on the ways he is annoyed during times of “worship.”
- How you can “dislike” items on Facebook using Firefox.
- Check out some of what Eugene and One Days Wages is up to.
- How biking is shaping the upcoming culture in Portland. Does any church in Portland understand this?
News
- A church in Dallas has announced plans for building a $130 million campus downtown. Yes…you read that correctly. And no, I don’t think that is cool.
- Looks like Google might be making a play to get into the music business.
- Listen to the new album by The Swell Season once through for free. Definitely worth a listen.
- I could think of better places to crash land a plane.
Blessings to you.
This will be the last post in this series you can catch out the other posts if you want:
Part One // Part Two // Part Three
A Theology.
At this point it would be good to examine two different types of worship that James Torrance labels “Unitarian worship” and “Trinitarian worship.” At face value Unitarian worship is about worshiping God the Father and about us bringing a sacrifice to him. The problem with Unitarian worship comes when this question is posed: what, in and of ourselves, do we have to offer God that would be pleasing to him? The only answer is: nothing, absolutely nothing. Trinitarian worship is a bit more complex; through the power of the Holy Spirit we are connected with the Son in his worship of the Father. In his book, Experiencing the Trinity, Darrell Johnson offers the following:
“I am often asked to identify myself using one of the theological or ecclesiastical labels of our time. Am I Evangelical? Conservative? Reformed? Charismatic? If I must identify myself, I prefer the label ‘Christo-centric Trinitarian.’ For as I love and worship and obey Jesus Christ, I keep ending up at the feet of the Triune God. And then, all I want is all that the Father is, and wants to give me, and all that the Son is, and wants to give me, and all that the Spirit is, and wants to give me. What I want is to be alive in the intimacy at the center of the universe.”
This understanding of worship being an encounter with the Trinity has plenty of Biblical support, none bigger than in Ephesians 2:18, “For through him (Christ) we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
As I think through my previous times of leading worship (we can discuss the validity of that title another time) my worship was often more Unitarian, or at best, semi-trinitarian. Neither of which provide a full understand of how we ought to worship God.
My times of singing and playing music and bringing the congregation into God’s presence often become about me isolating one part of the Trinity to focus on, and then I do my best to pull off a music set with excellence. All this is done with a heart that is pure, but I often become what Robb Redman would call, “a producer of the sacred.”
My focus on providing a sacrifice of excellence often trumps my reliance on the Spirit to connect me with the Son. If worship is truly not about us, then my focus on excellence has got in the way of a truly worshipful connection with God. If excellence, from a human standpoint, has a limited role in worship then it should also be said that our disagreements over style, song choice, and volume have absolutely no role either.
If worship is truly not about us, then it provides us with an opportunity to join in a subversive act. This subversion is the shift we need in today’s worship understanding. I love how Marva Dawn talks about this:
“The focus (during worship) was on us, instead of on God and what he reveals. Such worship fosters the basic perspective that faith depends on how well we notice God’s glory, rather than on the gift of God’s revelation that God’s grace enables us to receive.”
The pragmatic side of me looks at this idea of Trinitarian worship being a subversive act and I wonder how that plays out in our churches. I don’t think it changes much of what we specifically do during our weekend gatherings, but it does provide a context in which worship can truly be an interaction with Christ, to the Father, by the Spirit. In this context the song, the style, the volume, the clothes, the people on stage, .etc; none of it matters in the least.
This is the way it should be because worship is not about us it is about Him.
Thinking through a normal week of my job, this seems unattainable, but it sure would be wonderful. Today’s church needs this in a big way. The weird thing is that it isn’t anything they can do.
I’ve written a couple of guests post that went up this week that I thought I’d share with you. Both are written on the topic of shared leadership but come at the topic from different angles.
I figured all of you would enjoy reading some of those posts and joining in the conversation that is going on already with those posts.
- The first post is part of LeadershipWeek on Ben Davis’ blog. You can read it by going here. Ben has a cool series going on with a lot of different people writing on the topic of leadership in the church. I was really honored to be a part of that.
- The second post is for a print and online magazine based out of Salem, Oregon named ReThink Monthly Magazine. You can read that post here. Make sure to check out the other great articles they have online as well. Rethink has a great thing going and they haven’t even been around that long.
I’m going to close the comments on this post to encourage you to comment over on these posts. If you have any questions for me about the posts just use the contact page (up and to the right, on the main tab bar) to send me an email.
I currently read 90 blogs.
I read about 40 blogs of friends and family and then 50 other blogs of people I enjoy reading and learning from.
I know…you are thinking I’m crazy to be reading all of those blogs.
The honest truth is that it isn’t that hard.
I use Google Reader and it takes care of most of the work for me.
If you read this blog and aren’t using a feed reader (Google Reader is a feed reader) then you really should be. In fact, if you read blogs at all and you aren’t using Google Reader you are spending a lot more time than you could be if you used it.
Watch this video on how to best use Google Reader and then be kind and subscribe to this blog on it. If you would rather read posts over email, you can get my posts over email by going here.
(If you can’t see the video go here)
I want to thank each and every one of you who comes by the site. To those of you who already are subscribed to this blog, thank you very much. I’m grateful for your willingness to read all of my posts and engage in the comments as well.
Worship in the New Testament.
If I could summarize the shift in how worship is presented in the New Testament from the Old Testament it would be with this: Jesus.
The book of Hebrews provides a beneficial outline for coming to this conclusion. The Old Testament placed great value in worship through the priesthood, sanctuary, sacrifice, and covenant, while in Hebrews Christ is presented as superior in all those areas.
Our main role in worship is to respond to this superiority of Christ (Hebrews 10-12). Many will say that the Old Testament valued external worship and the New Testament placed great value on internal (heart) worship. This, however, presents a great problem for the believer.
The Bible presents one God and therefore one holistic way of worship, not a worship that changes as the book continues. Rick Muchow connects this well,
“Jesus understood that worship includes living a life that honors God, the way you respond to temptation has a profound impact on your worship. When the devil confronted him in the wilderness, Jesus responded by talking about worship: ‘You must worship the Lord your God, serve only him.’”
Worship in the New Testament places great value on not only a heartfelt connection with God, but also on obedient living.
Many will also say that the Old Testament was merely a foreshadowing of the worship we are able to engage in today. James Torrance seems to echo that sort of statement as he connects the dots in how the priesthood is viewed in the Old and New Testaments. He says,
“The New Testament writers saw this as a foreshadowing of the mediatorial ministry of Christ. Firstly, he comes from the Father to be the true priest, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh…Secondly, he consecrates himself for this ministry of leading us into the presence of the Father.”
So for those of you dressing up…..what/who are you dressing up as?
Rose and I have had 3 people back out last minute for taking over our lease. We would really appreciate your prayer that it would work out for someone to do so very soon.
Blogs
- “My concern resides in our age old tendency to reshape the gospel so that it matches our own personal ideals and passions, with the result that we create a mythical moral high ground to stand on, and thus stop growing” (read the full article here).
- Confronting urban violence with Jesus’ non-violence.
- Should the goal of Christians be to convert others to their faith?
- How not to blog.
- How not to tweet.
- Interesting book on how to live life without having a car. I used my dad’s car for this past week while he was in California, but I think I enjoy a lot of aspects of being carless.
- Have you heard of Foursquare? I’ll be the first to say that I don’t think it is all it is being cracked up to be, but here is a good post on why it just might be.
News
- For those of you who live in the Bay Area…it must really be a hassle to have the Bay Bridge closed until Monday now.
- How can an independent bookstore like Powell’s keep up with the online price war going on in the book sales industry.
- Veteran White House press reporter has 5 lessons for Obama.
- Too much sleep might be making you groggy.
Happy Reformation Day! 
