In the Coracle
“It’s almost like you’re writing a book one post at a time” - Kedge
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Song of the Day
This morning, running on the treadmill, reading the Psalms and praying, this song has life of its own and brings life to me:
In the glory of Your presence
I find rest for my soul
In the depths of Your love
I find peace
Makes me wholeI love, I love, I love Your presence
I love, I love, I love Your presence
I love, I love, I love You Jesus
I love, I love, I love Your presenceI Love Your Presence
Darren Clarke, Jesse Lane
CCLI 2678085Saturday Morning Worship
Saturday morning worship at the Loughery home: Shannon’s upstairs reading Scripture; Kaileigh and I are downstairs dancing to our newly aquired Vertigo//2005. U2 Live from Chicago DVD.
Life’s good this morning.
Community Journal
Another thing that has captured my attention from Bob Hyatt’s sermon//discussion podcasts was how he introduced their response time: I’m not sure of their liturgy’s flow, but based on what I heard after the discussion there are a few more songs to sing, an opportunity for prayer, and a table holding a community journal that people are invited to write their thoughts upon.
Two things captured my attention, actually - first, the reversal the worship music portion from the more traditional (at least in my tribe’s worship form) many-songs-at-first, maybe a song or quiet music at the end. I know that Vineyard Community Church in Shoreline where Rich and Rose Swetman pastor, does their liturgy this way as well - a song that acts as a call to worship, then the announcements and such, then the sermon, then the majority of the musical worship at the end. This flow gives people more time to interact in the various prayer stations that VCC sets up around the room. There are some great possibilities in this liturgical flow.
One of our current challenges is how we allow people to prayerfully respond to what God is doing among us during a worship gathering. We don’t have a prayer ministry team (partly due to our gathering size; partly due to our expectation that we all can minister to each other); we don’t do an altar call for prayer. Basically at the end of each discussion time, I simply try to lead people to response, based upon whatever I or others sense God doing then. We do a lot of “Come, Holy Spirit” moments of waiting. But usually this time is short, only 4 or 5 minutes unless God is clearly doing deeper work. We close with a blessing of some kind, and an invitation to refill coffee cups.
The main thing that’s capturing my attention, though, was the community journal. It would be wonderful to have a way for us to express our hopes and frustrations, our laments and our praise. And it would be awesome to be able to look back at those prayers in a year, in five years, in 40 years, to be able to say that we saw God answer our prayers here, and here, and this one too.
This weekend, we look at the Holy Spirit’s role in prayer. I think we’ll introduce this method of expression now as well.
On a similar topic,
Spiritual Worship
As our church is continuing along in our study of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, tomorrow we’re looking at the role of the Holy Spirit in worship.
In my study, I’m intrigued by a particular translation. Check out Ephesians 5:15-21 in the English Standard Version:
15Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, 20giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
A few things come to mind as I’ve been looking at this. First, I absolutely love how verse 21 fits with the paragraph. Actually, I think verse 21 is a bridge and fits both with v15-20 (walk the God-walk together) and also with v22-33 (husbands and wives in submission). I hate it when translations leave v.21 dangling in never-never land between the two sections, as if it has no relation to either. In this case, at least it isn’t dangling out between the two sections without attaching to either one.
Also, there’s also the good verb play here. Here are the actions of a community who is filled with the Spirit: addressing; singing; making melody; giving thanks; submitting. That is how we worship. This is how the community on God’s mission is formed.
Expressing Faith
I’m using Gordon Fee’s book
for some of the background in my current sermon//discussion series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I was deeply impacted by Gordon’s presentations this past summer at the Vineyard national conference (blogged here and thereabouts; poke around). You can also find streaming audio for the conference at www.vineyardusa.org, and listen to Philip Jenkins and others.While doing that research, I found a blog entry on Waving or Drowning that is priceless. Here it is, in its entirety:
Faith As Art
The Whatever Moving Company has another job today, so I can’t talk for long. Here’s one for the artists in the crowd.
I’m still digesting last week. Here’s a quick thought for you that has nothing to do with Galatians. At one point during the week Dr. Fee told us about his son and daughter-in-law, who are both artists. He laughed and said he sometimes wondered where his son got his genes. He then reflected on some of the more arts-based events that had taken place during the last week of summer school.
Then Gordon got quiet for a moment. (The thing you may not know about Gordon Fee if all you’ve been exposed to is his writing is he is a fiery Pentecostal preacher. 71 years old and he still pounds the pulpit and yells with the best of them.) He looked at us and said that if he had any artistic talent at all he
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