Our Highest Priority

"The thing that makes us a community, the thing that binds us together, is the fact that we worship together. Make worship your highest priority. When you do the vertical work of worship, you will discover that much of the horizontal work is already done. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." (Douglas Wilson to the students returning to New Saint Andrews College)

O, let the nations be glad...

Peter Leithart once quipped that his ideal Sunday morning liturgy would be "Nigerian Anglican." In other words a worship service that blended the timeless truths and forms of historical Christendom with the full-bodied gladness of culture not yet calloused to the freeness of God's free-grace and eager to worship the LORD with hands as well as heart. Enjoy.



HT: Allie Bradley

Why We Worship the Way We Do

Several years ago our session of elders read and was profoundly challenged and encouraged by a book called "The Lord's Service" by Jeffrey Myers. The book is a biblical rationale for a form of worship that Myers' calls "covenant renewal." In the five minute video (below) Pastor Doug Wilson briefly explains the essence of the covenant renewal pattern. And then farther below is an excerpt from our weekly bulletin explaining the same.

Covenant Renewal Worship from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

The essence of true worship is covenant renewal. Lord’s Day worship is a time when God reaffirms His covenant relation to His people, communing with, informing and transforming them, and then re-sending them into the world in order to remake the world after the heavenly priorities, patterns and protocols revealed to them in God’s presence.

The rhythm of worship is antiphonal: Throughout the service, God speaks to us and we respond.

The mode of worship is spiritual and incarnational: We worship God with our spirits, our hands, and our voices, employing various appropriate bodily postures.

Call to worship: God comes near and calls His people out of the world to gather in His presence. He graciously takes hold of us and brings us near to Himself

Confession and Forgiveness: God reminds us what He has done for us in Christ and declares His interest in restoring us again to His favor in Christ. We confess our sins and God absolves us of guilt. God graciously reminds us that we bear the name Christian and are members of His family in Christ. He tears us from our old sinful ways and renews His love for us in Christ.

Consecration: God speaks to us through his Word read, sung and preached. We, His people, respond by giving ourselves and our gifts as fitting offerings.

Communion: God invites us to commune with Him at His Table, and we respond by memorializing His covenant and enjoying His faithful provisions at the family feast.

Commission and Benediction: God blesses us and charges us to extend His kingdom into the future and into the world, making disciples of all nations. We are dismissed from God's special presence, transformed, renewed and equipped for this task.

Alas and Did My Savior Die

After Jason and Aileen's wedding down in Enterprise, OR, some of us Trinity saints stayed around long enough on Sunday to worship with our CREC brethren at Christ Covenant Church. For the communion music we were introduced to the music ministry of Nathan Clark George. Below is a sample. Enjoy.



HT: Justin Taylor

Keith Getty on Writing Hymns

Keith Getty is the co-author of one of my favorite modern hymns: In Christ Alone. Here are his thoughts on the disciplines and purposes of hymn-writing and congregational singing.

Eyes-Open Worship II

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
(from Paul Simon’s I am a Rock)

“Beware of all isms, except for prisms.” (Unknown)

One of the idols du jour is individualism. If you are a modern American evangelical Christian you struggle, at least to some degree, with the pernicious notion that you are, as Paul Simon crooned, “a rock…an island.” But salvation, biblically defined, is salvation not only from sin and death, but to the holy community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to the community of Christ’s body, the Church.

This bent towards individualism shows up in many places, but perhaps most surprisingly in our observance of the Lord’s Supper. In the tenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul reminded the saints in Corinth that partaking of the communion bread made them “one bread and one body.” Two chapters later, Paul chided the Corinthians for thinking individualistically and not recognizing their place in, and need for, others in the one body of Jesus Christ.

Sandwiched between these two important references to Christ’s body (the Church) is Paul’s warning to not drink the wine of the Lord’s Table “unworthily” (1 Cor. 11:27). Two verses later Paul went on to define “unworthily” as “not discerning the Lord’s body.” Taken in context, this is another reference to the Church, the one body of Christ gloriously comprised of many diverse members.

This being true, to partake of the Lord’s Supper “worthily” we probably ought to be taking the bread and the cup with our eyes wide-open, looking around us to see our brothers and sisters in Christ and knowing ourselves to be joined together with them as “one bread and one body.” But inexplicably, most modern evangelicals seize this as an opportunity to close their eyes and thereby close themselves off from those around them, and individually meditate with guilt and shame upon the broken body of Jesus as he hung upon the cross. As pious as this sounds, this is not what Paul meant by “discerning the Lords’ body.” And therefore not a worthy partaking of the cup.

As the author of Hebrews reminds us, Lord’s Day worship is corporate worship; it is “the general assembly and the church of the firstborn.” It is not a collection of saints worshipping God individually whilst being in the same room together at the same time. Paul Simon is wrong. We are not individual rocks. Together we form the one loaf who is Christ. We are not islands. We are the many diverse members who together make up the one body of Christ.

Given our bent towards prideful individualism, eyes-closed worship is a dangerous posture to adopt in corporate worship. Eyes-open worship reminds us of our place in the one body of Jesus Christ, and our desperate need for the wholeness that can only be found in concert and community with other Christians.

Liturgical Permanence

"Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best – if you like it, it “works” best – when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.

But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping. The important question about the Grail was “for what does it serve?” “Tis mad idolatry that makes the service greater than the god.”

A still worse thing may happen. Novelty may fix our attention not even on the service but on the celebrant. You know what I mean. Try as one may to exclude it, the question “What on earth is he up to now?” will intrude. It lays one’s devotion waste. There is really some excuse for the man who said, “I wish they'd remember that the charge to Peter was Feed my sheep; not Try experiments on my rats, or even Teach my performing dogs new tricks.”

Thus my whole liturgiological position really boils down to an entreaty for permanence and uniformity. I can make do with almost any kind of service whatever, if only it will stay put. But if each form is snatched away just when I am beginning to feel at home in it, then I can never make any progress in the art of worship. You give me no chance to acquire the trained habit-habito dell arte [the practice of one’s art]. - C.S. Lewis (HT: Scott Welch)

Tattooshipping

"The sight of a woman being tattooed live on the altar accompanied by the sound of a buzzing ink gun provided a startling backdrop to Sunday's evangelical sermon.

Your parent's church service this was not. In the drive to stay relevant, the Gold Creek Community Church has been hosting a series called "Permanent Ink" that featured Sunday's live-tattoo finale." (from The Seattle Times article entitled, Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul - November 23, 2009)



The first time I read this recent article in the Seattle Times I was reduced to incoherent spluttering (ook...ack...erk...icky-btang.) But upon some reflection came up with three dissimilar comments. Let me know which one you like best (or least.)



1) These are hard times for satirists.

2) Do you keep find yourself wondering how you're going to find time to go to church and get a tattoo? Now you don't have to choose. You can do both at the same time!



3) Somewhere back in the seventies when the Church was busy abandoning the historic liturgies and music of her past, some older saint had to have prophetically warned some of the innovators at his beloved church, "Mark my words you young whipper-snappers: If you keep trading your liturgical inheritance for a mess of modern-pottage, someday the Church will be tattooing congregants on the altar as a part of its Sunday morning worship!" There would have been a brief pause broken by raucous laughter, knee-slapping, and the dabbing of mirth-induced tears from the corners of youthful eyes, followed by a breathless, "Oh yeah grandpa, like that could ever happen!"

He Descended into Hades...

(1 Peter 3:18-20) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Every week in our worship service we sing the Apostle’s Creed. And doing so we affirm that the Lord Jesus Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell, the third day he rose again…” But what do we mean by “He descended into hell”? Do we mean the place of fiery judgment? Actually, no, it would be more proper to say that Jesus descended into “Hades.”

In the Old Testament, everyone, good, bad and in-between expected to die and go to Sheol (the netherworld of departed spirits.) Recall how when the witch of Endor called “up” the spirit of Samuel, the spirit of godly Samuel told the ungodly (and still living) Saul, that he (Saul) would soon join be joining Samuel “down” where he (Samuel) was.

In the NT, God’s people referred to Sheol as Hades. Recall Jesus story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. In Jesus’ parable, both men died and went to the netherworld (which Jesus called Hades.) But it is important to note that within Hades there were two distinct districts. The rich man was in a place of extreme torment, and Lazarus was in a place of extreme bliss (which Jesus’ termed Abraham’s Bosom.) But both were in the realm called Hades.

Before Jesus’ death he prophesied that he would spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth (i.e. “down”.) But he also promised the repentant thief that on the day of Jesus’ death that the thief would be with him in Paradise. Hmmm…

So taking all things together, it appears that Jesus, after his death, descended to Paradise, taking the thief with him, where he then preached to the spirits (as Peter noted.) And then in Christ’s glorious resurrection, took Paradise with him into heaven above. So that when Paul later visited Paradise, instead of going "down" to it, he was caught "up" into Paradise (2 Cor. 12:2).

This also helps us understand the account of departed saints who appeared to their loved ones after Jesus’ resurrection and before his ascension. It seems that in that 40 day period between Christ’s resurrection and his ascension, a few of them dropped in to say “hey” to some of their family and friends.

In Jesus’ death he conquered death and the Lord of death (Satan.) In his descent into Hades he rescued the souls who by faith had known him and longed for his appearing. In his resurrection he took himself and the subterranean Paradise into heaven, temporarily re-zoning the cosmos until his final return when all the faithful who died before that return are brought back to an earth, transformed, renewed and glorified via the prayers of God’s people, the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the Sacraments and deeds of love and mercy.

This is what we confess every week as together we sing the Apostles’ Creed. What glory! Alleluia, what a Savior!

Eyes-Open Worship

"Ritual actions are important to us. They are significant in the Bible, and we don’t ever want to fall into the trap of relegating them to the status of being insignificant. But there is another important element in all of this.

We are gathered together as an organic body. This means that our liturgy is corporate. When we say amen, we say it together. When we partake of the bread and cup, we do it together. When we sing, or confess the Creed, we do it together. When we raise our hands in the Gloria Patri, we do it together. This is not accidental.

There is nothing wrong, obviously, with individual acts of piety. But individual acts of piety are not liturgical acts, and we want to lean against the notion that we are being individually devout while just happening to be in the same room. We are a body, and we want to function smoothly together as a body.

This takes practice, and discipline, and love, and like-mindedness. As Paul says with regard to the Lord’s Table, we are to wait for one another, defer to one another, stay in step with one another. As a Puritan once put it, we serve a precise God. That being the case, we want to serve Him with precision. This is not the same as serving Him as though He were fussy and persnickety. Precision and communion are glorious—we are not trying to worship in lockstep, but rather we are trying to worship God with one heart, soul, mind, and voice." (Douglas Wilson)

Eyes-Closed Worship

"Modern evangelical worship is not truly corporate worship. It is rather an assembly of individuals who worship God individually while standing in the same room together." (Unknown)

Note something in the videos below: All the saints are singing with their eyes wide-open. In Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth he identified several ways that the saints were misusing and abusing one another. Paul's solution to every abuse was the same: "Look to Christ and understand your union with him and all who are joined to him by faith."

Jesus died to unite his people to the Godhead in him (in Jesus). But he also died to unite us together as one body in him (in Jesus.) Worshipping with our eyes closed cuts us off from the very ones whom Christ died to unite us together with. Other saints are not distractions to be shut-out and ignored. They supply what we lack as we worship God in the assembly, and form a significant portion of the prize secured for us in Christ's death and resurrection.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, eyes-closed worship says, "I don't really need those around me to worship God in spirit and truth. And I really prefer to embrace Jesus "a la carte"; just the head, but not the body, thank you."

Eyes-open worship affirms our utter insufficiency apart from the many diverse members of Christ's body, and delights in God's gift of the same. Eyes-open worship embraces Christ as he offers himself; "totus Christus"; all of Christ, head and body.

O Sing a New Song!

O Sing a New Song to the Lord from Daniel Foucachon on Vimeo.

These are a couple of videos taken at a recent Christ Church (Moscow, ID) psalm-sing. The people singing are congregants and not necessarily members of any formal church-choir. They are joyfully singing divinely inspired lyrics from "God's Hymnbook" (Psa. 95:2). And they are singing loudly and skilfully (Psa. 33:3). I love how the four-part singing simultaneously pictures God who is one and many (one God and three persons) and the many diverse members of Christ's body who are gloriously fitted together to form one body in Christ (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12). Soli Deo Gloria!

Before Thee Let My Cry Come Near from Daniel Foucachon on Vimeo.

Worship with "Crowd Appeal"

Regarding worship, modern Christians tend to place a premium on creativity and immediacy. While the historic Church has favored biblical fidelity and long-term effect when crafting and preserving worship liturgies.

Sadly, we moderns have too readily set aside "tried and true" in favor of "new and improved" heedless of the long-term consequences of "worshipping God the way that I want to." As Simon Chan observes:

“One of the reasons many churches have abandoned good liturgical practices is a failure to understand why these practices developed. Sound liturgical practices may not have an immediate effect on worshipper, but if we know that they are right practices, then the absence of any obvious immediate effects should not prompt a quest for alternatives with greater crowd appeal. Instead, we should be looking for ways to improve the practices. We persevere in them because they are true; and the truth not only sets us free from the pressures of false demands that the world imposes on the church but also makes us into the people we know God wants us to be.” (Simon Chan, Liturgical Theology)

Modern Worship and Madison Avenue

Almost a year ago I attended a pastors's conference where it was asserted that the problem with modern worship music was neither it's newness nor the instruments used to accompany the singing of God's people. Rather, it was asserted, the primary problem with modern worship music was it's striking similarity to the jingles produced by the advertisement gurus on Madison Avenue. After watching the video below, I realized that Tim Hawkins most likely reached the same conclusion, not theologically or philosophically, but rather, just musically. Enjoy/Weep.

Comin' out his fingertips...

I am a long-time fan of Phil Keaggy. We hosted him for a concert at WSU many years ago and he was the epitome of humility and cheerful service in all of our dealings with him before and after the concert. My friend Doug Wilson likes to remind us that "theology comes out of our fingertips." With that in mind, turn up the volume on your computer a bit, click play below and enjoy a helping of Mr. Keaggy's theology as it comes rushing out of his fingertips. (HT: Derek Hale)

Entertainment in Worship

The following quote was published in 1971. I wonder what the good doctor would say about today's worship?

"Still worse has been the increase in the element of entertainment in public worship - the use of films and the introduction of more and more singing; the reading of the Word and prayer shortened drastically, but more and more time given to singing. You have a "song leader" as a new kind of official in the church, and he conducts the singing and is supposed to produce the atmosphere. But he often takes so much time in producing the atmosphere that there is no time for preaching in the atmosphere. This is a part of this whole depreciation of the message.

Then on top of this, there is the giving of testimonies. It has been interesting to observe that as preaching as such has been on the decline, preachers have more and more used people to give their testimonies; and particularly if they are important people in any realm. This is said to attract people to the Gospel and to persuade them to listen to it. If you can find an admiral or a general or anyone who has some special title, or a baseball player, or an actor or actress or film-star, or pop-singer, or somebody well-known to the public, get them to give their testimony. This is deemed to be of much greater value than the preaching and the exposition of the Gospel. Have you noticed that I have put all this under the term "entertainment"? That where I believe it truly belongs. But this is what the Church has been turning to as she turned her back upon preaching." (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, p. 17)

Why should the devil have all the good music?..

Growing up I was profoundly shaped by the Contemporary Christian Music movement of the seventies. I, and many just like me, adopted Larry Norman's song Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? as our anthem. To justify our desire to infuse popular music into Lord's Day worship we appealed to Martin Luther's use of "bar tunes" as an important historical precedent. And this we did feigning respect for how the Church has worshipped the LORD in ages past.

I intend to write more on this. But for starters, consider this quote from Leonard Peyton:

"Many Christians who appropriate the goods of popular culture cite Luther as a precedent. A common claim is that Luther used tunes “from the bar.” However, musicological research since 1923 is weighing in heavily for Luther as the composer of his own melodies. Luther did use a musical form called a “bar” form. But this is a technical term referring to the architecture of music, not, as would normally be expected, a place where alcoholic beverages are consumed. Others mistakenly cite Luther’s famous question, “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?” When Luther spoke of the devil metaphorically, it was directed at the pope, not the pub. To rephrase what Luther was saying, “Why should we leave the great old hymns to the Roman Catholics?” It was an apology for the traditional, not the contemporary!"

Hmmm...