Worship and Theology: Boundaries and Fences; Staffs and Clefs (3)

As we embark on this conversation, it may be helpful to be clear and narrow in our scope. When anyone brings up the topic of worship, hackles go up and some people immediately take a defensive position. Rich and I want this discussion to be specific rather than vague.



Scotty Smith, a Presbyterian pastor from Tennessee, spoke at a workshop at the Gospel Coalition Confrence this past April. He was careful to distinguish between “services of worship” and “worship services”. This was a helpful distinction, but still lacks a bit of clarity. For the purpose of these blogs and this one in particular, let us set the terms Services of Worship and Worshipful services. Services of Worship are the time we spend on Sunday morning gathered together with our local bodies to express our Worship to the Covenant Lord. Worshipful service is any good and profitable thing we do which brings glory to that same Lord. These themes flow from the pages of scripture from start to finish.

While in Eden our forefathers experienced both services of worship (when they walked with God in the cool of the day) and worshipful services as they carried out the commands of the Cultural Mandate (sometimes called the Covenant of Eden or Covenant of works). They were not simply prohibited from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but they were positively commanded to be fruitful and multiply and push the borders of the garden outwards (Gen 1:28-30).

Later as redemptive history moved on, we find Moses and the people of Israel at the foot of the mountain. Here they are given the Ten Commandments by Charlton Heston. These Ten Commandments deal essentially with services of worship and worshipful service. The first four commands instruct Israel in her behavior towards God (or her services of worship). The next six commands deal with the way the people are to treat one another in everything from sexuality to business. Here God is dealing with their worshipful services.

Later still, Christ meets a Samaritan woman by a well. After a lengthy discussion she tries to bait him into declaring one place of services of worship illegitimate and another approved. Jesus masterfully navigates this complex and culturally loaded issue and declares that a time is coming where worshipers will offer services of worship all over the world and offer them in “Spirit and Truth”.

Paul and the writer of Hebrews pick these themes up as well. Paul speaks of our worshipful services in Romans when he calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. The author of Hebrews weaves the tow themes together seamlessly. He speaks of the excellencies of coming to heavenly Jerusalem as opposed to Sinai then urges us to offer acceptable services of worship. (Hebrews 12:18-29) He then launches into a treatment of our worshipful service, tying them together in chapter 13:15-16.

The scriptures even give us a peak into the world that is to come. Revelation continues the dance between services of worship with worship service, giving us pictures of both celestial services of worship and new earthly worshipful service.

So where does that leave us, to be more specific, where does this leave this series of blogs. Rich and I will be focusing on services of worship. We both understand the importance and biblical significance of worshipful services, but are not seeking to address it here. We want to deal with those specific activities that are practiced on Sunday mornings, the world over. The Church has put an emphasis on these since the earliest times. From the Hebrews author urging members not to neglect coming together, to the significance of the mass in the middle ages to the importance the reformers put on the Sunday service to the very models of ministry taught and used today, Sunday morning services of worship are a centerpiece to modern Christianity and we are seeking to address what goes on in them.

(This post is part of an on going series. You can find the previous posts here and here.)

New Blog Series: Theology and Worship Music (1)

As many of you may know, one of my closest friends is Rich Van Voorst. Rich has been an incredible friend to me since we met nearly 5 years ago. Rich is a Jazz composer and talented Saxophonist. He holds two masters degrees from USF (in Composition and Jazz preformance). On top of this he has an excellent mind for theology. He has often been my sparring partner on a number of theological issues. He reads and thinks through a ton of material.

Rich and I share a passion for our Reformed heritage and a desire to see our churches (both local and global) live out the mantra of the reformation, "Soli Deo Gloria". We both would like to turn our hearts toward improving the quality of worship on our communities.

That being said, we come from different vantage points. Over the next few weeks,we will be corresponding over our blogs. I will be taking the premise, Worship is first theology and second, music. Rich will be taking the position, Worship is equally theology and music.

We understand there is a lot of nuance in worship discussions and we are limiting ourselves to the idea of corporate, Sunday morning worship; specifically music.

In the mean time, check our Rich's blog at http://www.richvanvoorst.com/

Sermon on the Shrewd Manager

Yesterday I had the privileged to preach for the first time since I have served at Surfside Presbyterian Church. We have been studying an excellent small group study called "Modern Parables" and the sermons have been following the same passages. As fate would have it, the passage that fell to me was the most difficult. I was assigned the parable of the Shrewd Manager.

This text is by far the most difficult sermon I have ever preached. The text was extremely difficult to fully wrap my head around and therefore, difficult to communicate. I would like to share a few thoughts before sharing the link to the sermon.

> This text is part of the same encounter with the Pharisees that began in ch. 15.

> This story is tied very closely to the story of the Prodigal Sons

> Though verses 10-13 are related, they are not a part of the parable. Instead they are a complex poem contrasting Mammon and the Kingdom.

> There are as many opinions on what this text means as there are commentators.

> I do disagree with the narrow application of this parable simply to finances.

So there are some of the complexities of this passage. Feel free to comment below.

Idolatry and the Aloft Hotel

This week I have the privilege of being in Chicago for the Gospel Coalition Conference. It has been amazing. Yesterday I heard messages by Tim Keller, John Piper, Phillip Ryken, and Mark Driscoll. Far and away the one that struck me the most was Keller. Keller did a fairly typical "Keller-esque" message on idolatry of the heart. He artfully identified and tore down numerous God's that we as Christians bow down to.

This was an interesting contrast with the hotel we are staying at. The hotel is called "Aloft", but should, perhaps, be called "Aloof". I am grateful for the church providing a hotel near the conference center and grateful that I am staying here. Nevertheless the attention to detail in the hotel is astounding. The entire hotel seems to have been designed, decorated and furnished by Ikea.

Cool lamps

Cool staircases

Cool color schemes that bounce alternately from stark solids to vivid patterns.

Even the music in the elevator music is cool.

In fact the elevator is a great microcosm of the hotel as a whole. The elevator is brush finished stainless steel from top to bottom and from a crown near the ceiling, a soft and beautiful blue lights seeps out. Then from some unscene (sic) speakers, a barrage of hip European sounding techno lurches out.

I walked in the hotel and (at least in my mind) made a motion like a 5th grader. I pumped my fist and elbow by my side and said in a loud whisper, "Yessssssssss". Again, this is all going on in my head. I love cool. A lot. A whole lot.

In fact, I worship cool. I kneel at the altar of pop culture and drink deep of the swill-y Kool-aide.

God help us, because I have a feeling, I am not alone.

New Tape Letter #2

After much delay, here is the second Screwtape Letter:

Dearest Wormwood,
Well done young one! You have fanned the flame of fanaticism into a full-blown wild fire! Before you get too pleased with yourself, however, we must now carefully direct this passion. The best course of action at this point is to direct your patient into a strong sense of escapism.
We all know that the Maker created these beings much differently than he created us. We, Wormwood, are celestial beings meant for the heavens. They are not. In fact, they were created for the hideous blue-green ball they call earth. If, using fanaticism and poor end-times theology, we can move the attention from this world to the world to come, we have won no small victory!
Perhaps a bit more specifics here may help you in your quest. I have noticed from your correspondence that your subject continues to paint. By focusing his attention on escaping from this world to another, his painting will take one of two directions. It will either devolve into an over-romanticised myopic of a past that never really existed ( a sort of Rockwell-Redux), or he will abandon the painting entirely. Either one of these is acceptable.
The first option is in vogue in many circles of the enemies followers. They have so trivialized art and aesthetics that they have created mountains of what we demons call, Jesus Junk. It is an incredible sight, they have created stores that are wall to wall with this hackneyed, trite art. We have successfully eradicated true beauty in the church since the 1800’s. It has been a beautiful time. Long ago, when you were still cleaning the smokestacks of hell, we had to fight against imaginations inflamed with the beauty of creation and the stories of scripture and history. The music of the enemy had the potential, along with their architecture, to transport the average churchman to another plain. We, by introducing this eschatology of escapism, have bled the church of this. We invented a phrase, “Polishing the Brass on the Titanic”. It has worked wonders in dissuading followers of the way from creating beauty and art.
Above all, just remember the idea is to pull his focus from this world and keep it on endless study on misinterpretations of the world to come. If you can keep him convinced that the future is a spiritual world, disconnected and disembodied from the physical, we will be just fine. Tell Nefarii I send my regards.

Smirking in anticipation of Demise,
Your Uncle, Newtape

New Tape Letter #1

I am writing a series of mock Screwtape Letters for a class in Theology. The letters all have to focus on Eschatology (the end of the world). Also, I am in the process of uploading the videos of Conner's Baptism to youtube. I'll post'em here when they are done.



Dearest Wormwood,
It seems that your patient has become heavily involved with our Great Enemies organization. This is most disappointing, but it is not the end of the road for you. While we cannot take him away from the Good One, we can sidetrack him. One of the easiest areas to get the new convert distracted with is the “inevitable end”. I know you are trained not to think about this, but young Wormwood, desperate times call for desperate measures.




If you are to successfully derail the patient, there are two thankful options for this maneuver. One the one hand, you can make sure the patient steers completely clear of talking about the apocalypse. Convince him that John’s detestable metaphor is too difficult to understand. This apathy could easily spread to other areas. If the Revelation of John is too difficult, so is that detestable account by the tax collector. The publican often quotes Jesus and his sermons on the end and from there the apathy may be a foothold for doubt in general. Though we cannot completely take him from our enemy, we can render him useless with this tactic.

The other option, I have found, is even more powerful. Fanaticism can actually be an incredibly powerful tool in our hands. Mind yourself if you decide to pursue this course. It is terribly risky, but can be terribly rewarding. We in upper management have been working on this track for many years. We have planted seeds that have distracted His followers from many of the main points of His teaching. These seeds primarily result in endless searches of that evil book. The beauty of this is that the patients are not looking to experience that detestable Spirit, rather they are looking for proverbial bread crumbs to bolster a view that we have planted amongst the ranks of the so called faithful. Encourage you patient to read and be involved in endless speculation regarding the end of days. In doing so, he will become so engrossed in this study that he will never come out. We have promulgated much literature to this end in their bookstores. This endless (excuse my pun, nephew) study of the end times can actually cripple his development and be a great victory for you.

Above all, dear Wormwood, make this a cerebral exercise. Your patient must never begin to see that any of this information can affect his daily life. If you allow him to live out these nefarious truths the last state will be worse than the first. You must keep this on the level of unbridled, unthinking fanaticism, not on action. If you must allow for action, make sure is simply arguing with others on this topic. In fact, it may wise to consult our mutual friend, Absinthe. I believe he is working with a patient along this track. If they were to meet and strongly disagree, we may have a real plot! This could be the beginning of years of distraction for your subject, if you play your cards right.

Smirking in anticipation of Demise,
Your Uncle, Newtape

Spiritual Formation and Music

My friend Phil encouraged a few friends to make a list of songs that have impacted our spiritual formation. I thought that this was a really interesting exercise.

Here's my list:

Just because You can't see... - Anathallo

Declared, Bannered - Anathallo

Intervention - Arcade Fire

(Antichrist Television Blues) - Arcade Fire

Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor (for its meaning tied to Owen
Meany)

Priest and Paramedics - Pedro the Lion

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Pedro the Lion

Vito's Ordination Song - Sufjan Stevens

Come Thou Fount - Sufjan Stevens

Guerrilla Radio - Rage Against the Machine

All that You Can't Leave Behind - U2

Miracle Drug - U2

Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead

God of Wine - Third Eye Blind


What songs would make your list?