COLLEGIUM 110605 What is worship?

rev. 110505

Well, things have changed since the first post on worship curriculum (thanks to an excellent book recommendation by tinman).

Main Idea: God is absolutely worthy and we have an obligation to adore him.

How is worship related to the concepts of towardness and withness? Passages to consider:

• "be with me" Exo 20:23; Lk 23:43; Jn 17:24
• "you will be my people and I will be your God" Exo 6:7; Lev 26:12; Jer 7:23; 11:4; 30:22; Eze 36:28; Hos 1:9 (negative example)

Questions

• Given the data from the passages and the terms, how do we know worship when we see it?
• How is worship different from praise? thanks? _________?
• What makes worship "worship" rather than something else?

Idea: use Psalm 5 to identify the various 'God-ward' activities

• Entreaty
• Assertion
• Exclamation

Psalm 5, translated from the LXX

To the Telos, ‘concerning the inheritance’, a psalm of David
ENTREATY
1 Pay close attention to my words
understand my crying
2 pay attention to the voice of my petition, my King and my God
for to you I will pray, Lord
ASSERTION
3 in the morning you will hear my voice,
in the morning I will be present to you and I will watch
4 in no way are you a God willing wickedness
nor will evil make even a temporary home with you
5 nor will the lawless remain in the sight of your eyes
you hated all the workers of wickedness
6 you will destroy all those who speak lies
a man of blood and deceit the Lord detests
EXCLAMATION
7 but I, in the fullness of your mercy, will enter into your house
I will bow toward your holy temple in your fear
ENTREATY
8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness
because of my enemies
make my way straight before me
ASSERTION
9 for truth is not in their mouth
their heart is useless
their throat is an open grave
their tongue is treacherous
10 judge them O God
ENTREATY
let them fall from their deliberations
according to the fullness of their ungodliness
drive them out because they rebelled against you, Lord
11 and let all those hoping upon you be glad
ASSERTION
they will be glad into the age
and you will dwell in them
and they will boast in you
all the ones who place your name first in their affections
12 for you will bless the righteous, Lord
as with an weapon of favor you surrounded us

Terms

• hupsoo: 'lift up (translated as exalt, rise up, high in the ESV)--Psalm 18:46; 21:13; 57:5, 11; 89:13; 94:2; 99:5, 9; 107:32; 108:5
• proskuneo: 'bow down' (translated as worship in the ESV)--Psalm 29:2; 66:4; 96:9; 97:7; 99:5, 9; Revelation 14:7; 19:10; 22:9
• phero: 'declare' (translated as ascribe in the ESV) Psalm 29:1, 2; 96:7, 8

Movements within the dicussion:

1. Definitions: lift up (hupsoo), bow down (proskuneo), and declare (phero).
2. Vocabulary of ideas: summary passages of salvation (Rev 5:9-10; Exo 20:2), names of God, and attributes of God
3. Vocabulary of behavior: visual, kinetic, language-oriented, and logical
4. Means: creating physical space and worship moments.

Insights from the Passages

• What is worship? toward God, for God, about God, and due God
• How are they worshiping? verbal, physical, emotional, cultural
• Why are they worshiping? because he is worthy, because love must respond
• When are they worshiping? in the eternal present (whenever we are)

Psalm 29
Psalm 5
Revelation 4:8-11
Revelation 5:8-14
Revelation 7:9-12
Revelation 19:1-5
Revelation 22:1-9

Blogs, etc. to check out:
God Oriented Assembly or Self-Experiencing Assembly

Resource book:
Teaching Kids Authentic Worship, by Kathleen Chapman

Related post(s):

WORSHIP CURRICULUM
RELEVANT OR CLEAR?
WORSHIP RANT
WHAT IT MEANS TO ME???

Tag(s): worship

ABORTION AND DEPRESSION

Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "Among women with an unwanted pregnancy, those who carry the pregnancy to term are more likely to experience later depression than those who terminate the pregnancy with an abortion, new study findings suggest."

Just another reason why an argument based on the effect to the mother is NOT the strong pro-life argument. If people do not value life as life, then no argument is strong enough.


Tag(s): prolife

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK TWENTY-ONE Princes persecute me without cause

Verses 161-168

WEEK: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

November 2: Verse 168--"I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you." There are two sides of the fear of God; I think both are included in the psalmist's comment here in verse 168 ("all my ways are before you"). The first side is communicated by the word 'fear'. We all know what fear is. God is almighty. He is quite able--in his might--to wipe us out of existence. Our ways are before him. We should shake in our boots. The second side is derived from the whole of Scripture. As we have seen in Psalm 119, God's hesed--his steadfast love--touches everything he does. God's might is ALWAYS accompanied by his hesed. Therefore we need not shake in our boots--BUT we must be grateful and fall on our faces in worship. Hesed is not a reason to slack off.

November 1:Verses 166-167--"I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments. My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly." We obey because we must. Now, God is the all-powerful Creator of the universe and can zap anything and everything into oblivion if he so chooses, but that's not the 'must' to which the psalmist is pointing. He points to love. He adores God and he's crazy about God's testimonies. Maybe...just maybe...worship really is the glue that sticks us to God.

October 31: Verse 165--"Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble." How is peace the opposite of stumbling?

October 30: Verse 164--"Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules." Whether the 'seven times' is literal or figurative (meaning 'many times'), it certainly helps explain how he is able to keep his focus in the middle of his distress. The psalmist's focus was on God--he constantly praised God for his word. A bit ago I started preparing for a series on worship. A friend recommended a book by Kathleen Chapman (Teaching Kids Authentic Worship). A key notion from this book is that God is absolutely worthy and we have a responsibility to adore him. She emphasizes that worship is all about God and not at all about us.

October 29: Verse 163--"I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law." Here the psalmist declares his boundaries: he knows what he hates and he knows what he loves. I'm sure that between the two there is a bunch of grey, but ya gotta know the black and white.

October 28: Verses 161-162--"Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words. I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil." The juxtaposition of these two comparisons caught my eye. First, a negative comparison: they persecute, but I stand in awe. Second, a positive comparison: I rejoice like one who finds great spoil. I was just sharing with someone the other day about how we as God-followers must interpret our experiences in light of the Word, rather than the other way around. God’s Word presents itself as the interpreter of the meaning of events and experiences. It is only from that perspective that we can understand the truth of what happens to us. This is what the psalmist catches here. Because his heart—the very core of his being—stands in awe of God’s words, he is able to cope with the unwarranted persecution. In fact, he considers his finding of God’s words to be a great treasure.

October 27: The dance of persecution and awe.

All verses are quoted from the ESV.

THOUGHTS ON GODBLOGCON…a week or so later

GodBlogCon clarified something for me that was in desperate need of clarification: I’m not trying to influence the entire world.

There. I said it.

I’m trying to influence 15-20 collegians, most of whom do not read my blog. Apparently blogs are boring: they have too many words and are not interactive. Go figure.

I’m also trying to influence myself. I exist in an extremely academic environment. I work at Biola University. I’m about to graduate with a Master of Divinity and move on to a Master of Theology in the spring. In all of this, I am trying not to become so academic that I’m no good to regular folk. I want to be bilingual—to speak ‘academic’ and ‘hometown.’

One of the most important ideas brought up at GodBlogCon was the suggestion to use blogging as a way to process, as a way to think through theology. I know for some who read/skim this blog, what I write here is most certainly not theology. Well, you are wrong. The notion that theology is a dry, intellectual exercise, far removed from daily life is one cause for a church full of Christians who do not have the tools or skills to study the Scripture and think through how they should live.

The Saturday morning session with David Wayne brought it home. Before the presentation, he led us in a discussion on the definition of theology. During that discussion something came out of my mouth that puts in context what I hope to accomplish in my Th.M.: “theology is the conduit between bare Scripture and daily life.” That’s it. Too often theology stops before meeting daily life. Most often the first steps—the part where we exegete and think and pray and ask funny questions and maybe ramble in disconnected blog posts—is left undercover. Well, this blog is my wanderings through those first steps of theology. The end result—some 2-3 years hence—will be buckets of polished curriculum and a 100 or so page masters thesis (with an entirely too long title). Until then, I ramble on, baring that process. In all, I pray that my ramblings will impact those 15-20 (and more!) collegians, and will prepare me to impact seminarians and pastors later in my journey.

As for you, dear reader, I hope not to bore you. If I do—if you require more polished blogs—or less polished forums—then this blog may not be for you. If you are seeking to put Birks on your theology and hit the street, comment away, post on your blog, join the journey.

‘Nuff said.

Tag(s): blogging theology

I'M IRELAND!

You're Ireland!

Mystical and rain-soaked, you remain mysterious to many people, and this
makes you intriguing. You also like a good night at the pub, though many are just as
worried that you will blow up the pub as drink your beverage of choice. You're good
with words, remarkably lucky, and know and enjoy at least fifteen ways of eating a potato.
You really don't like snakes.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

prayer pastor of norwalk station

prayer pastor
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

Every morning at the train station, this guy prays for whoever will accept his offer. Thank God for him! Pray for him!

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK TWENTY Look on my affliction and deliver me

Verses 153-160

WEEK: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

October 26: Verse 160--"The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever." The psalmist summarizes God's word with two ideas: truth and eternality. God's word holds these two absolutely. This means that what he says is absolutely trustworthy, for it is always true and always present. But let us always realize the direction of travel here: the Word is true and eternal because God is true and eternal. He--the lover of our souls--is absolutely trustworthy. Also important for the context of this psalm is the realization that this also means his justice is absolutely trustworthy. Those who worship and follow themselves will in the end experience his sure wrath. For those who worship and follow God, the end is endless relationship with him--also known as heaven. Oh, yeah!

October 25: Verse 158--"I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands." When I first started looking at this section a few days ago, I considered the 'disgust' in this passage to be a conscious choice. As I read it over this morning, though, the thought came to mind of the natural human response to something repulsive (Like the time I discovered tiny maggots in a dried fig I was about to eat. It was all I could do to keep from upchucking right there in front of a class of 12 three-year olds.) . Could it be that the psalmist's response here is more like my response to the maggots--that the very notion of faithlessness repulses him to the point of vomiting? Maybe.

October 24: Verse 157--"Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies." Two things come to mind. First, if this is David--and I think it is--did he not swerve with Bathsheba? But then, maybe that's a good point to make. David was God-focused when surrounded by enemies, but he was done in by his own desires. Second, do you think there is any skoosh room in not swerving? Is it an all or nothing? Is it like the trendline on a data chart?

October 23: Verses 156, 159--"Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules... Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love." While these two verses are separated by two verses, they may just form an inclusio/chiasm: mercy--steadfast love, rules--precepts. The verses between the inclusio deal with the enemies of the psalmist and of God. The contrast is stark. There really are two different worlds here--two different peoples.

October 22: Verse 155--"Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes." At first glance this sounds like works righteousness, but since other passages (Eph 2:8-9 for example) teach that salvation is by faith, the passage cannot mean that. What might it mean? It is possible, even likely, that the salvation here is not eschatological salvation, but rather temporal salvation--deliverance from trouble, etc. It may also refer to the experience of God's steadfast love. Either way (or something else), their life choices continually drive them further from God and his ways. Choices matter.

October 21: Verses 153-154--"Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!" This brings to mind the idea of 'facing' so common in the OT. When the psalmist calls God to look on his affliction, he is asking for more than an informing glance; he is asking for person-to-person, face-to-face relationship. It is here that deliverance and life are found. It is here that we understand the promise. It is here that we live lives that do not forget God's law. It is here that we love.
Related posts: IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AS FACING and EMERGENT DAY THREE.

October 20: Affliction. Deliverance. Life.

All verses are quoted from the ESV.

REVELATION 5--MOVED

Moved to Wiki

BIOLA BREAKS GROUND FOR NEW BUSINESS BUILDING

October 24, 2005, Biola University celebrated the groundbreaking of a building for the newly named Crowell School of Business. Check out the report at Eagle Vision (I'm not sure how long the link will stay--this is in the report dated October 25, 2005). There is also a report in the Whittier Daily News. As was repeated during the ceremony, it's not about a building; it's about making an impact for Christ.

Tag(s): biola

RELEVANT OR CLEAR?

First, a few pesky details from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

Relevant: Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand.

Clear: 5. Free from impediment, obstruction, or hindrance

Okay, given these definitions, can we agree that there is NOTHING we can do to make the gospel relevant. The gospel IS relevant because it has a bearing on the matter at hand. That matter is that humans have chosen to separate themselve from God by worshiping themselves instead of worshiping him. There is nothing we can do in ourselves that will remedy the matter. The gospel--that Jesus came in flesh, died, was buried, rose, ascended, and is coming again--is the only solution to that situation. The gospel is ultimately relevant.

On the other hand, too often it is not clear. We crud it up with fancy words, fake rules, easy believism, and a bunch of other stuff. It really is quite simple: believe in Jesus and you will be saved (Acts 16:31). In other words, stop trusting your own resources to get yourself out of the mess, stop worshiping your own marvelous self, and decide once and for all to trust and follow Jesus.

What we need to do is make that clear. There is a place for the specialized language of theology--but those places are rare. Most places need plain language, speaking the truth in ways that people can hear.

Related post(s):

GIVING UP ON RELEVANT CHURCH--ponderings on Bolger

Tag(s): relevant church

SUBTITLE UPDATE

...just my way of dealing with criticism. Not that I'm bitter. Nope. Not me. Nuh-uh.

By the way, if you're curious as to what I'm talking about, look up http://lauraswritings.blogspot.com/ on blogwise. And, hey, leave a helpful critique there if you wish.

GIVING UP ON RELEVANT CHURCH--ponderings on Bolger

The church person cannot 'guess' what the seeker wants, undoubtedly getting it wrong."

Frankly, we can't get in someone else's head at all, so why do we keep trying? Despite the glaring similarities (a la Barna), there are differences.

"Worship must reflect the culture of the community that is currently part of the church..."

Such an approach takes the local body seriously. If it is true that God has put these people in this place, then that particular gathering means something. The culture--especially relating to the arts--may end up looking like the surrounding culture, but new meaning and significance will be attached. Honesty demands that we be who we are; anything else comes perilously close to 'bait and switch'.

"A focus on the church service as connecting point perpetuates the idea that following Jesus is about going to church."

Understanding 'church' as place OR gathering has done enormous harm to God's purpose for the church. Frankly, if we assume a worship service, etc, to take up about 3 hours and that this service is the primary means of bringing people to Christ, then evangelism is filling only 1.8% of any given week. Assuming 8 hours of sleep per day, this leaves 66.7% of any given week possibly ineffective for the kingdom. What would happen if we spent the 1.8% focusing on God in worship and the 66.7% being the people of God in the world?

"Connecting happens not in a 'come to us' CHURCH service, but through 'go and dwell' church SERVICE..."

One way to describe love is as towardness. God as Trinity exists in a relationship of eternal towardness. Humanity is created in God's image; towardness is part of that image. So, going out into our communities--meaning the mile or so surrounding the facility--and being a people that lives toward that community in service should be what we are all about.

1. "A focus on the service as connecting point perpetuates the sacred/secular split..."

In Acts 10, Peter has a vision in which God tells him to eat food that he, as a good Jew, considers to be unclean. God tells him, "What God has made clean, do not call common." (v. 15). While this particular vision is applied to Gentiles being part of the people of God (Acts 11), the principle applies to the sacred/secular dichotomy as well. In Genesis 1, God declared everything he had created to be very good. We dare not say otherwise.

Taken a bit further, if we are holy, then we are holy everywhere we are and we make things holy by our intention. Could it be that worship is all of life?

2. "A focus on the service as connecting point perpetuates the clergy/laity split..."

When will we learn the lesson of Ephesians 4? Yes, leaders are given to the church--to equip all the others for ministry. Get that. Ministry is done by the people--the ministers. The "...the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers..." equip. The question is, how do we equip people to do ministry at Starbucks, the gas station, and Dodger Stadium?

3. "A focus on the service as connecting point perpetuates the producer/consumer form of spirituality..."

There's a maxim in missiology: don't supply the fish; teach them to fish. Worshipers do the worship. What does that look like?

"Mission happens in the 'world'..."

Consider:
Where do you regularly go that has nothing to do with 'church'?
What is your ministry in those places? Start with 'speak the truth' and 'do the truth', then get creative.


Best quote from the post:

"The worship service is no longer an evangelistic service for outsiders but a space to practice heaven for a period of time, facilitating the offering of the community life to God in worship."

This week I'm preparing to lead the collegians through Revelation 4. So, boy does this resonate. Now, how?


To wrap it up:
It is true that transforming an entire congregation may be next to impossible. But what if we intentionally transform a small group, Sunday school class, family, or band? That, I think, is doable. In fact, a small transformation just may turn viral.

Related Post: Worship Curriculum
Tag: worship

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK NINETEEN With my whole heart I cry

Verses 145-152

WEEK: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

October 19: Verse 152--"Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever." In the middle of a life filled with hardship and enemies, the psalmist declares the ground on which he stands and has been standing. This reminds me of Peter's statement in John 6:67-69, "...Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life..."

October 18: Verse 151--"But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true." Is God's nearness related to his truth? They seem to be, but how?

October 17: Verse 148--"My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise." I wish I could say this. Now, I do wake before dawn and meditate on God's Word, but that is not the reason I wake before dawn. I wake that early in order to get to work in a timely manner. I guess I am hoping--praying--that the behavior will begin to modify my desires. I do know that I prefer to cultivate the practice while life is easier. When/If life gets hard I don't want Lady Wisdom laughing at me.

October 16: Verse 147--"I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words." On weekdays, I get up and out of the house VERY early in the morning--usually around 5:30 am. I get up because public transit takes awhile and because my brain works well that early in the morning. The psalmist gets up early to cry. The pre-dawn hours are a good time to cry.

October 15: Verse 150b-151a--"...they are far from your law. But you are near, O LORD..." Too often it is easy to think of righteousness and rightness as matters of propositional truth. Yes, propositional truth is important, but righteousness is much more than having the facts straight. Righteousness is also having a heart that tends toward God--a heart that is near to his. In these verses, the psalmist sets up this contrast. Those with an evil purpose are far from God's law. In contrast, God is near to the psalmist. Questions arise. It seems that the psalmist is saying that not being near God is our choice, while God's being near us is God's choice. Sovereignty upholds this, but there is more. The almighty, sovereign Lord of the universe makes himself near to us. That is an amazing thing.

October 14: Verse 149--"Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O LORD, according to your justice give me life." There is a chiasm here: steadfast love ~ justice & hearing my voice ~ giving me life. The first thought is that steadfast love and justice are not parallel, but with God they are. Without his justice--giving to his enemies what they deserve--his steadfast love would be hollow. For the other half of the chiasm, it is in our intercourse with God--calling and being heard--that life is found, for he is the source of life. His breath made us living beings. So, all of life--both the very existence of it and our experience of it is in his hands. We are tied to God. If we are not tied to God, we are not truly alive.

October 13: Verses ALL--The psalmist continues to weep over those who are far from God's word.

All verses are quoted from the ESV.

REVELATION 4--MOVED

Moved to Wiki

THE MESSAGES TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

Revelation 2-3

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.”

This exact statement is made at the end of each message. Such repetition tells us that the concept is important. Let’s take it apart.

He who has an ear: Apparently, not everyone has an ear—at least not this kind, the kind that hears what the Spirit says.

let him hear: Seems like a bit of a ‘duh’ statement, but take a look through some of the other passages where ‘hear’ and ‘ear’ are found, and you’ll see that not everyone with ears hears. Some stop up their ears so they can do what they want.

what the Spirit says: This is important. Yes, John is the writer of the Revelation. But there is an ‘and’. John is the writer AND the Spirit is the speaker. John 16:12-14 tells us that the Spirit is the one who would guide the Apostles into all truth. When the Spirit speaks, we must listen. When the Word speaks, we must listen.

to the churches: Each message is crafted for the individual congregation, but each message is spoken and is to be heard by all the congregations. I think this extends today. We today, in 2005, who have an ear, MUST hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

So, when we look at the messages to the seven churches, what stands out? I see four activities that are important to God:

• Knowing the truth
• Defending the truth
• Loving each other
• Loving God

Further, each of these is to be done with passion. Think of the message to Laodicea: Jesus wants to barf up lukewarm churches.

Given all of this, what do these churches need to hear? In other words, what is the purpose of the rest of Revelation? Here's the tentative answer: some of the churches need comfort and others need comfort. Do the visions in 4:1-22:5 fill that need? We shall see.

Tag(s): biblestudy revelation

COLLEGE MINISTRY PONDERINGS

During the Sunday Collegium of the TFB College Ministry, we've been looking at who we are and why we are here. The goal is to set a path for the coming year. The following is a 'reader's digest' version of a longer post I wrote back in June that summarizes where we've been going on Sunday mornings.

The goal of the TFB College Ministry is to know the story, be the people, and expand the kingdom. Knowing the story begins with all the content of Scripture, and goes on to include our active participation in God's kingdom. Being the people involves a horizontal relationship with other believers and a vertical relationship with Christ. Expanding the kingdom involves increasing breadth by making follower-learners increasing depth by deepening our obedience to all Jesus’ commands.

We have three intentions: First, we intend to be so certain of Jesus’ continuing presence that we are free to tell God and each other the true story about ourselves. Second, we intend to expand God’s kingdom by recognizing, preparing for, and participating in God’s continuing story. Third, we intend to expand God’s kingdom by working together to tell God’s story to all who will listen and by challenging listeners to become followers.

The college years are a dangerous time for God-followers. In this time of upheaval it is all too easy to divide your life into separate boxes that allow you to keep up appearances while doing as you please. Because of this, Collegium and the Gathering must be a safe places to explore and own your faith; these must be safe places to fail or to succeed.

To this end, I will focus on three specific goals. First, I will intentionally guide collegians to understand the truth about God and the truth about humanity. To do this, we will study the Scripture in substantial chunks and relate those chunks to the whole of Scripture. Second, I will intentionally develop collegians as the people of God, connecting them to the church through ministry and challenging them to trust Christ and become follower-learners. Third, I will equip collegians as maturing disciples who go out into the world and make disciples. This means making space to investigate ideas and practice skills.

The college years are a time when individuals either successfully or unsuccessfully negotiate the transition from childhood faith to adult faith. Childhood faith is a received faith, believed because it was transmitted to the child by parents or other authority figures. Adult faith is owned faith, believed because it has been intellectually questioned and experientially proven by the individual. College ministry allows for and encourages such questioning, and provides opportunities for collegians to participate with God in his work and experience his Spirit in the daily life of the community. Effective college ministry creates an atmosphere where collegians challenge one another to follow God and move from childhood faith to adult faith.

To this foundation, the students have added:

To become what God wants us to be in three years, we will focus on:

• Inreach
• Outreach
• Being all about Jesus

We will put that into practice this coming year by

• Intentionally encouraging one another
• Having shared events with other adult groups at TFB
• Reinstating Worship Experience and starting Prayer Experience (alt.worship stuff)
• Having at least one concert in a local park or other public local

Long version: Philosophy of Ministry

Tag: collegeministry

See CC License

R & D for the Kingdom of God

How do we become the Research and Development department of the Kingdom of God?

One answer is to train up theologians who can think outside the box. But what does this mean? Sitting here on the tail end of a Master of Divinity, preparing for a Master of Theology in Spring '06 (in other words, as one in training), here are a few ideas:

• Train to search the scriptures before searching philosophy and theology, but search those too.
• Be willing to hold every practice and every belief under the scrutiny of Scripture, not vice versa. Scripture is the trump card.
• Put theologians together with practitioners—especially church planting missiologists. In fact, put them in local congregations (AKA R&D labs).
• Learn to ask “what if” questions AND make church a safe place to risk answering those questions.
• Make space for and insist upon crosspollination—get academicians into the local church and get practitioners into the academy.
• Listen to those outside the church—they speak truths about us that we rarely hear. But do scrutinize everything by Scripture—it alone is the Word of our Master (and, yes, I am showing my cards).
• Be intentional. Research and Development does not happen by accident—at least not usually.

I’m sure there is more…

Related Post(s):
CHURCH OR KINGDOM?

ecclesiology
theology

NANCY AND TONYA OPERA??

Now, mind you, I'm an Olympics ice skating fan, but come on... too weird

Figure skating goes to the opera with ``Nancy and Tonya'' - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

25 or 6 to 4

Does anyone know what these lyrics mean? I've read them. Lots. Don't get it.

CHURCH OR KINGDOM??

Broken Stained Glass is musing on some questions after the Emergent Gathering: Here are a couple that caught my eye:

How do we become the Research and Development department of the Kingdom of God?

Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God, not the church. Why do we as followers of Christ focus so much on church and not on the Kingdom of God? [Could the church block our understanding of the Kingdom of God?]

After I've had some pondering time, I'll post some thoughts.

WORSHIP CURRICULUM

rev 102005

I'm getting ready to develop a lesson series on worship for the TFB College Ministry and will be gathering web stuff here. If you have any ideas, links, thoughts, questions, etc, please leave them in the comments. When I'm done and it's given its first go 'round, I'll post it.

Ryan Bolger on why we should create meaningful worship for believers TheBolgBlog: Please, no more doing church for 'them' (my ponderings are posted)

Prayer Methods and Spiritual Practices from MethodX

Understanding Church Cultures (CT article)
Where 20 or 30 are Gathered (Leadership article)

Related posts:
What should our worship look like?
What it means to me???

Passages I'm looking at:

Leviticus 23
Acts 2:41-47
The Psalms of Ascent

Tag: worship

GodBlogCon 2

Friday night panel 4
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

101405 Panel Discussion: John Mark Reynolds, Mark D Roberts, and Tod Bolsinger; moderated by Hugh Hewitt

• Hewitt--how to get traffic
• Take one topic deep and have broad knowledge
• Take care of your tone

[this panel discussion was a bit engaging--a good thing--so I forgot to write down the questions--oops--these are the things that stuck in my mind]

Tod: The church re-presents Christ on earth
John Mark: life from the perspective of a Christian philosopher

• thoughtful self-disclosure
• be careful what you say
• ask youself hard questions and deal with them

Mark: key passage is 'speaking the truth in love'

Tod: write and then wait before posting

John Mark: treat detractors like David did in 2 Samuel 16

Who should not blog?

John Mark

• You have something to say taht the world must hear
• You don't want to dialogue
• You can't make any strong statements about anything

Mark

• You blog as an escape
• Your family needs your time
• You have a hard time dealing with anger
• You are a perfectionist
• You don't care about words and grammar

Tod

• You are not called to a writing ministry
• You are not blogging as part of your Christian community

101505 Theology Blogging, David Wayne

What is theology?

• stance, not merely study
• anytime you say anything that isnot a direct quote of Scripture, you are doing theology
• theology is an ongoing task

How do we do theology?

1. Exegesis

• the particular passage
• redemptive historical interpretation
• topical (systematic)

2. Community

• private judgment
• present representatives
• heritage

3. Christian Living

======================================
Thanks to Mark Olson and Brenda McGill for helpful rides and good conversation! It was great meeting you both and thanks for helping me in my carless condition.

Tag: godblogcon

GodBlogCon 1

101305 So far...

coffee and chat in the Buss patio, a bit of orientation (AKA welcome to Biola and, by the way, ain't Torrey great!), and then dinner (in the ever popular Biola cafe--which has marvy food).

101305 The grand opening session with John Mark Reynolds.

jmr thursday pm
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

First : Is it okay to be excited about blogging?
Second: Live or preserved performance?

Preserved performance:
Negative

• frozen: authorial intent isn't all there is in a performance
• no way to monitor harmful information
• text or performance cannot defend itself (public displays of beauty invite public displays of profanation)

Positive

• permanent: community and argument can build together
• extension of an idea
• community of experts--one person cannot do what a community can do

101405 First Plenary: Dr. Andrew Jackson, Joe Carter, and David Wayne.

plenary3 fri am
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

connection/community
conversation
formation
influence

"...all of life is lived before the face of God..." RC Sproul

blogging is
to serve others
an extension of who we are
a calling of God

the printing press --> systematic theology
the blogosphere-->dialogical theology

We are in the middle of it and don't really know what's going on.

We need a theology of blogging: how it should be used, the limitations, and the effect on culture.

101405 Breakout I: Blogging for Pastors, Dr. Tod Bolsinger and Dr. Mark D. Roberts

Are you a pastor who blogs or a blogger who pastors?

This session stirred up a number of thoughts:

What is my purpose in blogging? How does it fit with my ministry? First part of an answer to this is to ponder the parts of my ministry:

• collegians
• ecclesiology
• worship
• artistic expression
• the People of God

Questions to answer later:

• Who am I?
• What is my voice?
• What can I contribute?
• How can my blogging enrich my ministry in the TFB College Ministry, in the band, in Talbot, etc?

101405 Plenary II: Dr. Andrew Jackson, Joe Carter, and David Wayne.

I think the bottomlines to this rather random panel discussion are these:

• We should focus our energies on the deeper issues rather than on symptoms.
• We should start with a theology of blogging, which at the very least means that it happens in community.

Tag: godblogcon

TRANSCENDENCE, JUST THIS SIDE OF GOD

Elizabethtown

First off, I'm not much of a movie goer or reviewer, nor am I much for details ...nonetheless, here goes:

This is one of the best depictions of the human search for transcendence-this-side-of-God that I have ever seen. We follow this young man as he deals with failure and death, all the while meeting a young woman who accept him as he is, but does not leave him there. In one scene, they are kissing and through a small gap left between them we see his father's urn: death and life intertwined. In the end, we see something happen to his soul--he moves from death to life.

Yet, this search for transcendence is very clearly just this side of God, for God gets no air time. But do not let that deter you, for what is shown here is no less than the closest humans can get to transcendence without arriving. As one who follows God in the way of Jesus, I found Elizabethtown to be covered with God's fingerprints, yet also covered with the sad, uncrossable distance that humanity has chosen to put between itself and God.

Tag: elizabethtown

GodBlogCon

I'll try to squeeze in some posts in the next couple of days, but who knows. At the very least, I'll hand write (what a thought...) some stuff during the sessions, and blog it later as if it were live (sort of like the way west coast folks get the award shows :-).

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK EIGHTEEN Righteous are you, O LORD

Verses 137-144

WEEK: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17



October 12: Verses 143-144--"Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight. Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live." I'm thinking there might be a contrasting parallelism here, as in: 'trouble and anguish' versus 'your testimonies are righteous forever'. If so, how to the two second halves relate? Probably parallel; the other side of delighting in God's commands is receiving life from him. Maybe?

October 11: Verse 141--"I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts." This one raised my curiosity. How are these two things related? Somehow being small and despised is contrasted with not forgetting God's precepts. Maybe he is contrasting himself (perceived as weak) with his enemies (perceived as strong); while they are perceived as strong, yet they are weak and forget God's precepts. Not sure...

October 10: Verses 142a, 144a--"Your righteousness is righteous forever... Your testimonies are righteous forever..." Not much comment here except to say how much we need to recognize this when things are going well, because when the crap hits the fan, we'll tend to forget that he and his word are righteous forever--even when we just don't see it.

October 9: Verse 140--"Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it." At first I took this as cause and effect: because your promise is well tried, I love it. After a bit of pondering, I am now wondering if it is not both/and--a conversation of sorts--from God's side the promise is well tried and from my side I love it.

October 8: Verse 139--"My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words." How do we do this without becoming religious wackos. Now, we may well be perceived as such, but is there a way to be consumed with zeal without BEING a wacko. There may not be a way, so how willing are we to be nuts for God's ways?

October 7: Verses 137-138--"Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules. You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness." (emphasis mine). So, this is what I'm getting: even when we don't like what God has to say, his way is right and he really means it. This also means that God will absolutely stand by what he says; he can be trusted. Our--my--only logical response is trust in belief and in action.

October 6: Verses ALL--Words that came to mind as I read this: zealous, jealous, warrior.

All verses are quoted from the ESV.

GodBlogCon--One day to go

Friday night discussion between Dr. John Mark Reynolds, Dr. Mark Roberts, and Dr. Tod Bolsinger is only $8 in advance, $12 at the door! OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Oh, and we are seeing a pre-screening of Elizabethtown. Cool, eh?

HOW FAR, O LORD?

Maybe the researchers in India (see Scientists seek access to fresh embryos) need to converse with the researchers in Britain (see Adult Stem Cells Are Better) and stop killing babies.

One must wonder how far humanity's devaluing of itself can go...

BRAIN PATTERN--MOSTLY RIGHT...

Your Brain's Pattern

Your brain is always looking for the connections in life. You always amaze your friends by figuring out things first. You're also good at connecting people - and often play match maker. You see the world in fluid, flexible terms. Nothing is black or white.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

I just realized I may have made a pun... "mostly right" ...hmmm

intersecting stained glass

intersecting stained glass
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

Double exposure, etc, of the celestery(esque)stained glass at TFB.

UNITY WHEN WE DON'T AGREE?

Update 101205

A friend (who shall now be known as Jeff, since he linked to me and has come out of the blogging shadows :-) asks an excellent question.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear omen to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. Phil 1:27-28

~ My question is how do you stay in one spirit when you don't believe a 100% with what your fellow believers think is true?

Here is a bit from Matthew Henry, that may shed some light (emphasis mine):

Three things he desired to hear of them; and they are all such as become the gospel:—1. It becomes those who profess the gospel to strive for it, to use a holy violence in taking the kingdom of heaven. The faith of the gospel is the doctrine of faith, or the religion of the gospel. There is that in the faith of the gospel which is worth striving for. If religion is worth any thing, it is worth every thing. There is much opposition, and there is need of striving. A man may sleep and go to hell; but he who will go to heaven must look about him and be diligent. 2. The unity and unanimity of Christians become the gospel: Strive together, not strive one with another; all of you must strive against the common adversary. One spirit and one mind become the gospel; for there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There may be a oneness of heart and affection among Christians, where there is diversity of judgment and apprehensions about many things. 3. Stedfastness becomes the gospel: Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind. Be stedfast and immovable by any opposition. It is a shame to religion when the professors of it are off and on, unfixed in their minds, and unstable as water; for they will never excel. Those who would strive for the faith of the gospel must stand firm to it.

I'm not sure of the exact answer, but I think Henry points us in the right direction. The unity is in relation to the external opposition. In other words, don't let differences among believers hinder our standing fast in the world. When it does hinder our standing fast, something must be done.

light painting of the tfb jesus window

light painting of the tfb jesus window
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

WORSHIP RANT

I originally posted this on the TFB College eNews.

What should our worship look like?

First, and most important, worship must always focus on God and not on us. This means that worship is not the place for self-evaluation or getting preachy. In worship we focus on God, who he is, and what he is doing.

Second, when we are gathered as a community, our worship should be communal. There is a place for private worship, but the worship of the gathered community is public. Therefore, whatever we do, we do together.

Third, most worship in our church culture is musical. Music is an important means to worship God. The fact that Psalms is the largest book testifies to this fact. But in our culture, music is too often entertainment. Too often ‘worshipers’ say, “It’s not my style,” “I don’t like this song,” “It’s too loud,” ‘It’s too soft,” blah, blah, blah. Frankly, it’s not about you! It’s about God. For this reason at least, the TFB College Ministry practices primarily non-musical worship. For many, this is difficult to practice, both as a leader and as a participant. It is outside our box. Well, get rid of your box!

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK SEVENTEEN Your testimonies are wonderful

Verses 129-136


WEEK: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

October 5: Verse 136--"My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law." There are those in the blogosphere and elsewhere saying that by separating themselves from ABC-USA, PSW et al are going against Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17 and are going against Baptist distinctives. Well, as I see it here's the deal: the Word is the only sure revelation we have from God. Yes, Jesus is revelation and there are likely other forms, but the Scripture is stable. God's Word is the sure source of the content of our faith. When people do not hold to that content, then they are not believing what we believe. It is those who disbelieve God's Word who have broken unity. For those of us who remain, we must stand for truth, all the while shedding tears because of those who do not follow God's Word.

October 4: Verse 135--"Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes." Back in February, I posted a paper on Identity Development as Facing. There I concluded:

Great care must be taken by those of us in ministry. We must take care to spend sufficient time gazing at the face of God. We must take care to discover and articulate the distortions we may have, leaving those distortions in the care of a healing God. We must take care to be the face of God for the other.

We are formed as we gaze into the face of God. Where do we see that face? While there are many answers to that question, the primary--and crucial--place we see God's face is in his Word. Note that the psalmist connects facing God with learning God's statutes. I'm all for experience. I've had some amazing experiences with God, but the most amazing thing is getting a handle on the truth of his Word--the truth about him, about us, and about his love for his people. Too often our decisions are based on how we feel or what we want. It's a trap we all fall into. We must continually bring ourselves back to the Scripture, for it is the only clear revelation we have.


October 3: Verses 133-134--"Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts." Obedience itself is made possible by God's provision; apart from him I can do nothing. This, of course, does not negate our responsibility, but it does put our responsibility in perspective. It also eliminates holiness-by-bootstrap-pulling. There is a phrase that I either made up or found--I do not remember which--that has helped me and my students begin to understand holiness under the sun: Holiness is direction not destination. If holiness is a direction of the heart--a tending towards God--then our efforts should really focus on loving God.

October 2: Verse 132--"Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name." Once again, the psalmist turns to his knowledge of God and God's ways. There is great strength in knowing that God's usual way of dealing with his people is the way of grace. This reminds me of the lessons learned in Messy Spirituality.

October 1: Verse 131--"I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments." This is the source of righteousness: an extravagant desire for God and God's ways. I don't think I can say what the psalmist says. I wish I could. What I can do is say with the father of the sick child, "I believe; help my unbelief!"

September 30: Verses 129-130--"Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." If these verses are parallel (which they appear to be) what are the implications of the parallelism between keeping the wonderful testimonies and receiving understanding because God's words give light. It seems to me that this implies an earthed holiness--meaning a holiness that is completely intertwined with daily life. This is the very place where two main streams of Christianity get into trouble. On one side you have those who focus so much on living out God's ways that they forget God's truth. On the other side you have those who focus so much on God's truth that they forget to live God's ways. True God-following is both: we must declare and stand for righteousness and truth AND we must live out God's mercy and grace. Tod Bolsinger over at It Takes A Church has two quotes on the matter:

The command "Be ye perfect" is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.
--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

To be sure, law is not the source of righteousness, but it is forever the course of righteousness...(Jesus) knew that we cannot keep the law by trying to keep the law. To succeed in keeping the law one must aim at something other and something more. One must aim to become the kind of person from whom the deeds of the law naturally flow.
--Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy

September 29: Verses ALL--If the Word of God really is the Word of God, then our hearts should break when others willfully bring scorn or scandal to that Word. This month a separation began in the American Baptist Churches, USA. This separation takes place after years of discussion, revolving primarily around differences regarding the nature of God's Word. Some in the denomination have decided that their own opinions, motivated by experience and emotion, have more value than God's clear Word. Others have stood on the ground of sola scriptura. Between these two, there is no bridge. For each side, the view of the other is incomprehensible. But if we truly believe that the Word is indeed the Word, then we must stand for what it says and we must grieve when anyone casts scorn or scandal. As for me, I stand with those who stand for God's Word. I can do no other.

All verses are quoted from the ESV.

rev 100705 change Tom to Tod... oops.

GodBlogCon

October 13-15



Schedule

Speakers

Who's coming so far

Cost and other stuff

You should come.

Tag: godblogcon

PRAYER IS NOT MAGIC!!

Ann is discussing prayer over at through a glass darkly. Yesterday I happened upon this poster set up for Biola's day of prayer (October 5, 2005). I think this summarizes her point well.

BIG spider

BIG spider
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

I almost had a close encounter with this lovely on Monday morning. This is a BIG HONKIN' spider! (body was a little smaller than a dime)

EXEGETICAL APP--Epheisans 2:11-22

2:11-22

The point (as I see it today): The Messiah’s blood-accomplished work of horizontal and vertical reconciliation brings near the once-far Gentiles, creates one new humanity by reconciling Jews and Gentiles to God, and builds one new holy, worshiping people of God.

App One:
I am primarily a solitary ponderer and I wonder how much of this is personality and how much is brokenness. The ‘new humanity’ spoken of in this passage is one in relationship—reconciled with one another and with God. What does it look like to be a community ponderer rather than a solitary ponderer?

App Two:
The church has, I think, done a generally poor job of communicating the church as a people—a new humanity. This is especially true in the individualistic West. Our disconnectedness makes us more vulnerable to the world, the flesh, and the devil. What teachings and practices can be started to begin to remedy this condition?

Thoughts?

ODD BEHAVIOR...

Can I just say it creeps me out when, upon entering a public restroom, I notice someone sitting in absolute silence on the pot--making NO bathroom noises--especially when they are still sitting there when I've completed my business. What in the world are they doing? No, wait, I don't want to know...

YIPPEE!

It's a proud day ; )