Worship Lessons from Hollywood

 

Anna and I got up extra early the other morning and headed out fromSacramento to San Francisco. The Oakland Bay Bridge was still closed for repairs, so since our destination was Treasure Island, our round-about voyage took us across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to Sausalito, over the always beautiful Golden Gate, through mostly empty Frisco city streets, and onto the eerily deserted Bay Bridge. We arrived on the island at 6:15.

 

Here’s why we went: Anna is a budding model and actress. She’s just ten and aready has several catalogs, a few small films, and the odd photo shoot or two under her belt. Her “take it or leave it” attitude toward the whole thing is the most refreshing part. (Some parents and kids we run into would put the folks on “Toddlers and Tiaras” to shame– honestly). But the most fun for us is the behind the scenes look at the entertainment industry.

 

That day Anna was working for the NBC television drama called “Trauma” (left). The shoot was fun and interesting but, as always, filled with long hours of waiting. “Trauma” has taken over several of the huge buildings on Treasure Island. The island was home to a World’s Fair in 1939 and used by the Navy in World War II. These days the City of San Francisco has re-purposed the land and many of its war-era buildings for the entertainment industry. Films like The Matrix, Rent, and the third Indiana Jones movie were made there. Anyway, our day was spent in one of three mammoth sound stages filled up with towering green screens and giant sets: We saw hospital interiors and exteriors, ambulance bays, apartments, a helicopter landing pad (with helicopter), and all kinds of emergency vehicles.

 

Anna was in a classroom scene, with other kids, where the teacher collapses and a medical crew arrives to save the day. It will air on the Monday after Thanksgiving on NBC.

What struck me first was how joyless the whole thing was. You’d think that the “entertainment business” would have some joy, some fun, in it. Yet folks scurry around fairly joylessly doing their thing, stressed, making phone calls, shouting out instructions.

But the big thing that hit me was how much money is spent on creating a false reality– and how incredibly easy it is to make something fake look genuine. Things on TV that seem so real– even “outdoor” scenes– are as fake as can be. We walked up to “concrete walls” with years of grime and flaking paint and discovered they were made of little thin sheets of wood. I strolled through a “fully stocked ER” that wouldn’t actually be able to help anyone in a real crisis.

And all of this made me a bit sad.

Beloved, we belong to a Kingdom that can’t be seen but is Real. The entertainment business has a kingdom that can be seen but is false. We’re amusing ourselves to death, to coin a phrase, and spending billions on entertainments. All while the Creator of the Universe calls us to a different, joy-filled reality.

 

Theologian Walter Brueggemann writes that worship is a constitutive act. A constitutive act. Think about that idea for a moment or two: When we worship– when we answer the Sovereign’s call to come worship, when we recite His mighty saving acts and deeds, and most especially when we gather around the Table and remember the Body of Christ– we are participating in something quite subversive. We are saying that there is an alternate reality, an alternate world, an alternate Kingdom. And we are declaring that all other “realities” and worlds and kingdoms are false.

I just saw a colossal false world on Treasure Island.

There’s nothing wrong with being entertained– nothing wrong with enjoying a place of make believe. But we can’t live there. We can’t take up residence in a place that may seem real to the eye, but is as false as a movie set. The Lord of the Kingdom we belong to is the Unseen Real. And worship of Him stands this false world of ours upside down.

What I’m Hearing in “Fly-Over Country”

I’m in what you might call “fly-over country”. You’ve heard that phrase before, haven’t you? It’s used by social elites who live on the coasts to dismiss, well, everyone else who doesn’t live on the coasts. But it’s not just the jargon of politicians or Hollywood types. It also has a home in worship circles. Honestly.

I bring this up because it reminds me of a conversation I had, not too long after moving to California, with an aging Baby Boomer who was telling me the all the merits of his generation’s “Seeker” worship service. I had been talking about the increasing thirst from the pastors and parishioners I talk to around the country for something deeper, something more authentic in worship. After I finished describing my heart’s desire to see a return to some of the ancient ways, he kind shook his head and looked at me as if I were a little bit slow. “That may be what you were used to in Tennessee,” he said, “but you clearly just don’t understand California.”

This week I’m Lexington, Kentucky, leading a series of studies and workshops on worship. The content has been my passion: A return to ancient Christian paths and convergent worship. Most especially, though, I’ve been listening. Want to know what I’m hearing? Here’s a sampler:

The Seeker model of church has given the world immature Christians– it’s let them down.

We’re tired of the church trying to put on a show to attract us.

I don’t think we have the Lord’s Supper often enough.

We’re doing too much ’stuff’ in church and not doing much of it well.

The worship wars are killing us. We have to stop trying to make everybody happy in our services.

I want to go deeper. I want more of God.

Wow. The folks in “fly-over country” may have something to say worth listening to. Truth is, this is the kind of thing I hear from folks all over the country (including the coasts, by the way).

Beloved, the church of Jesus Christ is in precarious, transitional times and I fear that she is producing selfish, consumer-oriented Christians who can tell you what kind of worship music they really like, but are utterly unprepared to defend the faith and live bold lives of holy significance for the Kingdom’s sake. Our attractional brand of church has so fed people’s felt needs that they have lost all ability to articulate and then live out any other story than their own.

There are competing stories in our culture, for sure. Who’s going to tell God’s story? Who’s going to narrate the world? What to do?

Let me tell you what kind of Christian community I want to be a part of:

A community…

…that has made worship its purpose.
…whose tasks include loving each other and the world and making disciples the way Jesus does.
…where meeting Jesus at Table is embraced weekly.
…whose worship is not driven by music preference.
…that marks its time according to the Christian calendar.
…that helps and encourages its people to live lives of holy significance and narrate the world with God’s story.
…where the pastor isn’t the CEO or the “vision guy.”
…where the leaders are accountable.
…that is soaked in prayer and Scripture.

How about you? Anyone else feeling these same things? Is this kind of community possible?

Let me hear from you….

Carefully Considering the Ancient-Evangelical Call

Chief among the aims of The Call to an Ancient-Evangelical Future (2006) was to highlight the great need for Evangelicals to reflect more deeply on the substance of the biblical narrative, its articulation in the historic faith (that is to say, what the church has always believed), and to recover the fullness of that heritage.

As a pastor, I have embraced (and signed) The Call and believe that it should inform and shape the way we go about doing church. For our purposes in this edition, I’d like for us to focus on the section of The Call that more particularly addresses worship, and begin to unpack its meaning and implications. Next time, we’ll take a look at one of the other portions of The Call.

Ready? Here we go:

Section Four: On Church’s Worship as Telling and Enacting God’s Narrative

We call for public worship that sings, preaches and enacts God’s story. We call for a renewed consideration of how God ministers to us in baptism, Eucharist, confession, the laying on of hands, marriage, healing and through the charisms of the Spirit, for these actions shape our lives and signify the meaning of the world.

Thus, we call Evangelicals to turn away from forms of worship that focus on God as a mere object of the intellect, or that assert the self as the source of worship. Such worship has resulted in lecture-oriented, music-driven, performance-centered and program controlled models that do not adequately proclaim God’s cosmic redemption. Therefore, we call Evangelicals to recover the historic substance of worship of Word and Table and to attend to the Christian year, which marks time according to God’s saving acts.

It sure seems there’s a lot to unpack in those few sentences, don’t you think? Where to begin? Try starting here: Can you sense an emphasis on the “big picture”? For example, notice the phrases, “God’s story”, “actions [that] shape our lives and signify the meaning of the world”, “God’s cosmic redemption”, and “[marking] time according to God’s saving acts.” Those are some big themes. Those are some really big themes. You get the idea very quickly that The Call is urging Evangelicals toward the truth that we are part of something much, much larger than ourselves. Imagine this: We are part of God’s Story (and not the other way around).

So, scroll back up a bit and re-read section four of The Call (above), this time through the mega-lens of “God’s Story”. Then ask yourself this question: “If we’re partipating in God’s Story of cosmic redemption, how might that change the way we approach worship?”

Three other questions to ponder about the worship portion of The Call:

1. The first paragraph lists some of the ways God ministers to us in worship. Ever thought of those things as shaping our lives and giving meaning to the world?

2. The second paragraph (the part that usually causes the biggest stir, by the way) calls Evangelicals to turn away from certain forms of worship and lists some of the results of those forms. Do you agree? Do some of those hit close to home?

3. Finally, the section ends with a plea to recover some elements of worship (say, for example, the Christian year). What do you think about Evangelicals following the Christian year, and how might doing so renew and enrich worship?

Lent: The Journey to Easter

The Season of Lent: The Journey to Easter

Sometimes when people consider Lent, they think Roman Catholic observances. But Lent isn’t a Catholic thing or an Episcopal thing– it’s a Christian thing! Lent has been observed in one form or another since the very early Christian church, long, long before there were “Catholics” or “Episcopals”. What’s more, growing numbers of historically non-liturgical churches are finding new meaning in Lent. They are discovering that the journey of Lent helps prepare them for the great celebration of Easter and is a welcome spiritual enrichment to the late winter and early spring months.

What is Lent?

The season of Lent, a period of forty weekdays, follows Epiphany. Beginning on Ash Wednesday and culminating in Holy week, this season of both sorrow and joyful expectation is a time for the church to proclaim, remember, and respond to the atoning death of Christ. The traditional violet/purple color usually associated with the season is meant to convey the reflective, penitential tones of Lent.

The Bible has many things to say about reflection and repentance. Consider these four verses– and notice what kind of picture they paint of our relationship with God:

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. -Psalm 51:7

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. -Psalm 139:23-24

Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. -Job 42:4

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. -Daniel 9:3

Lent is the time during the Christian year when we traditionally focus on the awareness of the need for repentance and cleansing. To do so links us with countless believers across the ages– a long line of Christian brothers and sisters– who saw this time as an opportunity for both personal discipleship and paying attention to the needs of others.

So, It’s Lent…. Now What Do I Do?

Perhaps the most well-known cliché associated with the season is the question, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Many people “give things up” for Lent– sometimes frivolous things of little consequence– and don’t really know why. Sometimes rituals grow old and meaningless when we forget their original purpose.

But one of the best ways to approach Lent is not by thinking about what to “give up”, but rather what to “take on.” At the very heart of the Christian faith is our common participation in the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian is to follow Christ.

Through the ages, the church has been called to remember and live out this kind of new life, an incarnational life, with Jesus Christ right at the very center of who we are and how we live.

The Christian life has been referred to as a journey of faith. Lent, too, is often thought of in terms of a journey. So, in some ways, the season of Lent is the perfect time of the Christian year to walk in the footsteps of Christ as He draws closer to the cross.

You may be intrigued to learn that in the very early church, the season of Lent was used to immerse new believers in matters of the faith so they could grow in their discipleship during the weeks leading up to Easter. Then, on Easter Sunday morning, they would be baptized and partake in their first Lord’s Supper. What a wonderful, glorious time that would have been for new Christians! This was also a time when anyone who had lapsed in their faith or were out of fellowship with the church could be reconciled and restored.

In our own time, nearly every major Christian denomination and tradition has begun to recover the significance of Lent as a time of common preparation and community. The three practical suggestions that follow are all rooted in the hope of this recovery of the season: how best to “take on” forms of devotion and common life which flow from and prepare for the realities made present at Easter.

1. Searching the Scriptures

Lent is the perfect time for common Bible study, as well as a time to renew personal reading. One good place to start is to read in preparation for Sunday worship services. You might like also to look into getting a special Lenten Bible study for personal devotion. Many people use a book of prayer (the “Revised Common Lectionary” for example) or devotions to help them meaningfully organize and focus their readings.

2. Prayer and Fasting

Over the years, prayer and fasting have been the most visible aspects of Lent. More frequent and intense personal prayer time is something that most Christians could use. Perhaps Lent could be a time for you to make good on some well-meaning resolutions to spend more time in prayer.

Many people, especially during these busy times, find it helpful for personal discipline to have a season intentionally dedicated to “simplify” the way they live. For example, Lent can be a meaningful time for learning how to eat in less costly and indulgent ways. But merely “giving up” food for physical self improvement is not the point. Rather, we want to learn about the connections between living more simply to unclutter our senses and showing some solidarity with those less fortunate. The idea is to put off the things that might possibly keep us from putting on more of the disciplines of the Christ life.

In some ways the disciplines of Lent are similar to two of the goals of worship during Lent: simplicity and sobriety. There needs to be an obvious and intentional desire to help worshipers find a place where they can encounter God and make the declaration, “Search me, O God….”

3. Acts of Love and Devotion

Historically, the season of Lent has been a time to focus on the needs of others, especially the poor and needy. Acts of love and devotion, also called acts of piety, have been overlooked in Lenten observances. Of course, acts of love and devotion are not for show (we should always be careful not to let our right hand know what the left is doing) but rather for God’s glory and for the sake of the Kingdom of Christ.

Consider incorporating personal offerings of time, talents, or money into this season of Lent. Find a deserving charity or organization that could sorely use your help and/or resources. Lent is the perfect time for this kind of outward demonstration of love and devotion.

Copyright 2009 Chris Alford

Some handy Lenten references for you:

Daily Scripture Readings

Scripture Lessons for Sundays

Resources for Lenten Study

A New Year Epiphany

So, Just What is Epiphany?

Epiphany (which means “revelation” or “a revealing”) is the season of the Christian year when believers focus on the revelation of God’s ultimate gift, Jesus Christ, to the world. In Epiphany we celebrate that God’s Son came to earth for all humankind and the whole created order. That’s a lot of biblical truth to pack into one short season of the Christian year!

So, here’s how Epiphany works: The season begins when we leave Christmas behind, with its emphasis on the Christ Child, the Incarnate Word, revealed first to the Jews (as seen in the coming of the shepherds). Now the focus shifts to the Good News that God also revealed the gift of His Son to the Gentiles (as seen in the coming of the wise men). For this reason, and also to remind us that the visit of the Magi came a few years after that wondrous night in Bethlehem, the wise men are more appropriately associated with the season of Epiphany, rather than Christmas.

Beginning with the day of Epiphany (always January 6, wherever it may fall in the calendar), the season continues until Ash Wednesday and can include from four to nine Sundays. The length of Epiphany is slightly different from year to year in order to accommodate the season of Lent which immediately follows it. (Lent always begins with Ash Wednesday on the 40th day before Easter, not counting Sundays). The color green, which throughout Christian history has represented growth and renewal, is often associated with Epiphany.

Epiphany centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ, beginning with His baptism (Russian icon, above left), that act of humility as the Jesus submits to His earthly mission, and ending with the Transfiguration (right), the exaltation of Jesus as the Christ. Here’s a tidbit you may have not thought of before: Both events have some interesting similarities, especially given the audible voice of an approving Heavenly Father. Because of this, they serve as “bookends” to Epiphany. In between, believers contemplate the nature of Christ, including His ultimate authority over all things. Though Jesus came to earth as a tiny baby, He also came as Messiah– a conquering King– and Lord over all.

Go “Green” This Epiphany

The content of our Christmas celebration isn’t shaped by what
we do in the weeks that precede Christmas, but by what we do in the weeks that follow. How can that be? Believers who observe Christmas as a stand-alone event might find it difficult to get past the sentimental picture of a cute, mild-natured baby in the manger– the deepest of any of the religious images that the world “allows” us to have this time of year.

But the Incarnation involves much, much more than the drama of Christmas itself; it brings a vision of God’s great glory to all the nations of the world. You could make a theological case, then, that Epiphany is the perfect time for missional learning and, better yet, missional doing.

So, go “green” this Epiphany by growing and being renewed in your Christian life and discipleship.

Copyright 2009 Chris Alford

Christmas Old School Style

Marking Time in an Ancient-Future Way

How do you tell time? I don’t mean in terms of the hour of the day. Rather, how do you mark time through the year? It’s difficult not to let the world shape the way we think about time. Many Christians arrange their activities around the civic or academic calendars and think little of it. But if we’re not careful, we can let the retail stores tell us what season it is: If the decorations are out and the sales are on, then Christmas must be near (even though it’s October). And it seems to get earlier each year!

A funny aside: Some years ago while teaching a class, I asked “What are some of the signals that Easter is on the way?” A lady piped up: “When The Ten Commandments comes on television.” It wasn’t quite what I was going for. (But I still wait to see each year if Charlton Heston is going to make an appearance at our house).

But the Bible’s view of time is much different than the world’s. For the ancient Hebrews, and for the early church, all of time was meant to be redeemed for the Lord. Our contemporary notion of worship being a “Sunday thing” would have been foreign to the first century believer. We know that worship happens 24/7, all week long.

These days, as the world demands so much of our attention, droves of evangelicals are returning to the ages-old, traditional Christian Year as a meaningful way to mark time. The Christian Year (also called the Liturgical Calendar) was developed over the centuries to help believers order their steps and “redeem the time.” In following the Christian Year, we join with believers all over the world and across the ages in a pilgrimage toward redeeming time for the Lord.

Walking through the Christian Year means following in Christ’s footsteps and learning more about discipleship, all while marking time in a spiritually disciplined way. While the concept of the Christian Year is not one that you’ll find explicitly prescribed in the Bible, it is thoroughly immersed in Scripture. Better said, it is immersed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The idea of marking time in a Christian way comes to us from the first centuries and grew out of the belief that our whole life finds meaning in the death and resurrection of Christ. Beginning with the Easter season, early believers extended the Christian calendar forward to Pentecost, then backward to Lent. In about the fourth century, Advent and Christmas and Epiphany were developed and added to complete the cycle.

So, here’s something that might help you get into the holiday spirit: Christmas (also called “Christmastide”) doesn’t arrive until December 25, and then extends for 12 days (that’s where we get the nifty song) until January 6. If we don’t first walk through the preparation season of Advent, and instead jump straight away to “Christmas” at the beginning of December, then we might very well be tired of the holiday before we even really get there. And then to celebrate for 12 days? Most folks are ready for Christmas to be over by New Year’s Eve.

It’s so hard to wait for something, isn’t it? That’s part of why Advent is so challenging: We want to get to the good stuff right away! But imagine some of the ways your Christmas might be enriched if you wait. And meditate. And prepare. And then imagine celebrating – with all of the joy you can muster – for 12 full days the Nativity of the Lord. What a Christmas that would be!

So, rather than wait for the department stores to tell us what time it is, or worry that we might miss Easter if we don’t catch “The Ten Commandments” in the TV lineup, consider following the Christian year: Use a lectionary for your weekly Bible reading or Sunday worship preparation; incorporate some of the spiritual disciplines of the Christian Year into your personal or family worship; subscribe to a free internet-based calendar that will keep you up to date on the changes in Holy days or seasons.

Jump on board soon: Epiphany is just around the corner!

Precious Moments Christianity

I’m re-reading Robert Webber’s The Younger Evangelicals these days and thinking about one of the characteristics of young adults when it comes to the arts. Do you think bad theology leads to bad art? That question reminds me of a conversation I once had with someone about what I call “Precious Moments Christianity” (Webber used to call this mentality “Valentines for Jesus”). Turns out they were a big fan of “Precious Moments” figurines and I think the whole thing really offended them (I honestly didn’t mean for it to). But it occurs to me that this issue might very well work itself into a debate about meaningful community. Here’s what I mean:

I wonder if part of the “Valentines for Jesus” or “Precious Moments” kind of sentimental Christianity reflects a desire to artificially create community? Bad theology produces bad art. In my opinion, “Precious Moments” figurines are bad art. Kind of a “Christian kitsch.”

You know what “kitsch” is, don’t you? Webster’s defines it as “something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality.” Kitsch has been called the “optimistic fantasy of pessimistic modernity.” This latter description particularly intrigues me. One by-product of bad theology is the undeveloped Christian who hasn’t learned to cultivate genuine relationships or to communicate genuine care and concern. Sadly, for too many Christians, and to the peril of their own growth in Christian character, it’s too difficult to tell the difference.

J.M. Cameron, in a review of The Historical Jesus for the “New York Review of Books”, writes about kitsch: “I think [it] presents us with a serious theological problem and stands, far beyond the formal bounds of theology, for something amiss in our culture, as, for example, when well-washed fat babies or puppy dogs presented on the cinema screen evoke disproportionate cries of delight. Kitsch is a form of lying, and religious kitsch lies about what is, for the believer, the deepest reality.”

The ability to meaningfully communicate genuine care and concern – mature Christian love – is difficult for Moderns. These are things that come with a deepening and ever maturing discipleship, aren’t they? But we know that some folks never really grow very much spiritually beyond their conversion experience. So, this is doubly difficult for the Modern, who may already have a problem communicating deep feelings, much less relating to symbolic language. The spiritual life is retarded, and so is the ability to relate and communicate, especially with a group. Communion can’t be adequately expressed in a “Precious Moments” figurine; maybe that’s why the modernist church avoided the Table.

And so, here is the point: When we can’t achieve authentic relationships with others – when we can’t express genuine care and concern – we may try to artificially create it. Giving an ooey-gooey “Valentine for Jesus” card to someone, or expressing the same, is sort of the Christian conversational equivalent to talking about the weather. If all you ever do is talk about the weather, you never have to talk about – or experience – much of anything else.

Christian kitsch is about more than bad taste: I think it’s a modern by-product of an inability to communicate some of the deep parts of our faith only born in genuine community. Modernistic churches were great at covered dish fellowships; they were not as good at genuine koinanea. In the modern world, we plowed broadly; now, it’s time to plow more deeply.

One of the things I’ve noticed about the younger evangelicals is that they are keen detectors of the insincere, shallow, and tacky. Thank goodness. Know what else I’ve noticed about them? They can develop deep and lasting relationships and create authentic community.

By the way, would you like to know the name of the “Precious Moments” figurine posted at the top of this article?

Wait for it;

…wait for it:

“Behold the Lamb of God.”

© 2008 Chris Alford

Core Values on Worship

Recently, I started a little list of core convictions about worship– sort of a “here are the basics according to Chris”. These ten items don’t make for an exhaustive list and they don’t inlude your contributions yet.

See what you think about these, and if you’d like to add to them, please do so: let’s keep the conversation going.

1. Congregations made a mistake when they divided themselves along purely stylistic lines in worship. This plays into a consumeristic culture of felt-needs and self-centeredness in worship. Once divided, it’s very difficult to ever meaningfully come together again.

2. Style is not the same thing as content: The content is the gospel, style is how we communicate the content, and we musn’t limit the communication of the gospel to one style.

3. Neither style nor instrumentation should dictate what repertoire we use in worship; theology should dictate what repertoire we use in worship.

4. We should use the whole of church history to inform and enliven and enrich our worship experience. Not just “contemporary” or “traditional” expressions. Besides, no one can adequately define what those labels mean anyway.

5. The music is not the worship, and neither is the sermon. Worship is the totality of what we do in corporate worship including gathering, prayers, giving, Scripture, testimony, music, sermon, the Sacraments, and dismissing.

6. Worship tells– it “does”– God’s story, not ours. Worship has almost nothing to do with us, and almost everything to do with God.

7. Presentational, non-participative worship is spiritually dead, no matter how “lively” the music.

8. If worship doesn’t lift up Christ, and not the worshiper, then it is spiritually dead. If worship isn’t propelling people into the world to love and serve the Lord, it’s missing one of its primary purposes.

9. Churches, in general, have an impoverished view of the Lord’s Table and have neglected it in frequency and depth of expression.

10. God is the audience, the clergy the encouragers, and the congregation are the performers. Not the other way around.

Is Worship the Purpose of the Church?

In a recent newsletter, I posted the conclusion of an article I wrote– out of angst– when I was wrestling with some notions about worship and where it fits into the big picture in church. Is worship one of the “functions” of a healthy church, or is it something more? If you’d like to weigh in, please do. And if you’d like to read the entire article, just click here: Worship: The Purpose of the Church.

Here’s the conclusion of the article for a quick perusal:

One basic premise of my ministry has been that the single purpose of the church is worship. Her important tasks, alternately, are several, and include discipleship and evangelism. To suggest, for example, that missions is the purpose of the church seems like the right evangelical perspective, but, in the end, is a narrow slice of the larger, biblical view. Here’s why:

To view church life through the “purpose/task” lens lets us see a broader, more complete biblical theology of the relationship of worship to the church. The difference, indeed, is one of perspective, but may also be the difference between a challenging plot of land, and a vast, breathtaking landscape.

The tendency to focus on task apart from purpose is understandable and even natural. Our “task” is certainly a challenge, but it may also strike us as manageable: With even a little vision we can see the patch of ground before us and pull up our sleeves and get to work. This is an enterprise we can get our minds around– we can understand it– a project we can accomplish. We will clear the ground, tear out the brambles, remove the rocks, and till the soil. We will sow seeds and cultivate the growing plants and pray for a great harvest. We will sing about our work while we are working and we will work knowing that God is indeed pleased with this kind of work. It is our duty.

Yet I appeal for us to widen our perspective, to lift our gaze, and see the plot of land in the larger context of the awe-inspiring panorama beyond it. This kind of viewing takes more vision. Our “purpose” is much, much bigger and stretches out far beyond the familiar territory around us and exceeds our ability to fully see. It is a boundless vista, an endless, untamable country. We will never find its limits and its exploration is our birthright.

Copyright 2003 Chris Alford

The Call to An Ancient-Evangelical Future

These days I’ve been encouraging folks to read and comment on Robert Webber’s “Call to an Ancient-Evangelical Future.” Folks who subscribe to my worship newsletter will have recently read a little article and had a chance to especially look at the section on worship. What do you think? Does it stir your heart, like it does mine? Let’s talk about it.

The section of the “Call” that speaks specifically to worship is as follows:

“On Church’s Worship as Telling and Enacting God’s Narrative

“We call for public worship that sings, preaches and enacts God’s story. We call for a renewed consideration of how God ministers to us in baptism, Eucharist, confession, the laying on of hands, marriage, healing and through the charisms of the Spirit, for these actions shape our lives and signify the meaning of the world.

“Thus, we call Evangelicals to turn away from forms of worship that focus on God as a mere object of the intellect, or that assert the self as the source of worship. Such worship has resulted in lecture-oriented, music-driven, performance-centered and program controlled models that do not adequately proclaim God’s cosmic redemption. Therefore, we call Evangelicals to recover the historic substance of worship of Word and Table and to attend to the Christian year, which marks time according to God’s saving acts.”

If you’d like to read a .pdf copy of the entire call, click here: Call to An Ancient-Evangelical Future