Filed under: Essentials Blue
For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.
As my friends gathered together last night to discuss the readings and resources we’ve been taking on, the topic of the Trinity came up as a particularly interesting discussion. It seems that everyone wholeheartedly believes in the Trinity, but strangely, Trinitarian theology makes practically no difference in the way we know and relate to God. It’s more of a concept to tidy up a few loose ends that’s used by people with more degrees than we do.
And yet how sad it is that one of the most beautiful and mysterious biblical doctrines in all of Christianity is little more than a footnote to a majority of us, let alone a central element in our worship and understanding of God. Being that we are the only Vineyard in Lexington, practically none of our band had any prior experience with the Vineyard before joining our community, and therefore came from a variety of theological and denominational backgrounds. What we found in our discussion was a diverse background in understanding Trinitarian theology.
For some, their past experiences were of overemphasizing one member of the Trinity. For the most part, this was the Holy Spirit for those coming from charismatic backgrounds. For others, their traditional backgrounds emphasized only the work of Jesus, ignoring the activity of the Holy Spirit and the role of the Father. One of our guys even grew up in an Apostolic background, where belief in the Trinity wasn’t even present (Jesus only).
This has me thinking – is our worship leadership Trinitarian in practice, not just belief? Do our songs reflect the beautiful Trinitarian theology in all it’s mystery? I can only think of a few songs off hand that explicitly mention or emphasize the Trinity, and so I’m pretty sure our song catalogue is lacking in this particular element. As worship leaders, I think our set lists need to allow our communities to connect to each unique person of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit. Otherwise we risk our congregations growing to have a limited view of the totality of who God has revealed Himself to be, which is beyond tragic.
In incorporating Trinitarian theology into our worship, we allow our communities to both know more and know less about God; to draw closer to the majesty and the mystery of our God.
Filed under: Essentials Blue
For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.
Well, we’re the through the first week of Essentials Blue, and I’ve truly been challenged by the learning community that is journeying together across the world. There have been several little nuggets of insight that have hit me on a micro level, but what has really come to my attention has been what is going on within me on more of a macro level.
I’ve been leading worship in some capacity for almost 9 years now, and for most of my journey throughout I’ve been frustrated with two things. The first was my inability to define and understand what my role was in the Church now and in the future as a “worship leader.” There’s something completely unsatisfying about just being the guy who plays the newer songs for the cool Church down the road. The second is that I’ve never truly been able to find any sort of mentoring/teaching/training that helped me in discovering and answering my first frustration. There are very few seminaries that teach what I do, and those that do are astronomically expensive. And so for the majority of the my time leading worship, I’ve felt like I’m on my own, for the most part.
One of the beauties of this class is that both of my frustrations, as I see, are coming to and end. Dan Wilt’s article “The Worship Artisan” is a powerful exposition of the present and future role of the Worship Leader in the Church, and reading it has opened up a new way of thinking about how God is shaping me as a leader. N.T. Wright (who I’m pretty sure I’d follow around like a Hannah Montana fan) and his book “Simply Christian are more fully shaping my ability to tell and retell the Grand Narrative of Scripture.
This leads me to where I am currently – if there’s anything I sense from God in the midst of all the material and training taking place, it’s that I (and the rest of us Worship Artisans) are responsible for being gifted Storytellers. He’s calling us to use our Art and Music and Culture-Shaping Influence to tell the Story of God in new and fresh ways for our ever-shifting world. Theologians should be the best storytellers – they should be the ones who teach and tell the wondrous Story throughout history. Coming to an understanding and knowledge of God is in many ways the culmination of understanding His Story, and our part in it.
So as the year begins, I ask God for the heart to not only be a great leader, a great pastor, a great worshiper , a great songwriter – but to be a great storyteller.
Filed under: Essentials Blue
Hey. Myself and 7 others in the Vineyard bands are going through some online classes called Essentials through the Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies. This will take place over the next 3 months or so, and being that one of the requirements is for us to keep an active thought process going on a personal blog, well, here we are. I’m really looking forward to it. So, even if you aren’t in the classes, feel free to respond or read as well.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Thlipsis is the Greek word translated in the New Testament as tribulation and/or suffering. It comes from a term used in referring to the pressing of grapes to produce wine. As the New Year dawns and the challenges that await in the coming months come into better focus, I’ve been thinking a lot about this “thlipsis” and how God is using it to shape me.
To clarify, I would not qualify my life as being one defined by suffering and tribulation. Those seem like monumental words in light of my often (by most standards) un-momentous life. I have experienced some levels of trials and tough circumstances, but nothing near what I would consider tribulation or suffering. I do think, however, that there is evidence of a more subtle, subversive “thlipsis” pressing taking place in my life, and in your life.
For me personally, God is using several factors in my life to “press in” and shape me. On one side, there are a few tough relational challenges that are definitely pressing in on me, as God teaches me to love even when it’s not comfortable. On another side, there are the challenges that go with finding my place as a leader and a pastor in my church, and understanding and more clearly articulating who He is calling me to be. This includes taking on some tasks that challenge me and leaving behind tasks that I may feel far more comfortable in. This is certainly pressing in on me.
With something as fragile as a grape, it isn’t long into the process of pressing that a breaking takes place. This is how wine has been produced for thousands of years. Grapes are certainly nice to eat, but the most lasting, enjoyable use of the grape is wine, which becomes more valuable and enjoyable with age. I believe this is why God chooses to press us the way He does, sometimes much more firmly than others. He is in the business of bringing out of us the absolute best. Remember though, this is not at all for our enjoyment. No grape has ever enjoyed a good glass of wine. The fruit of the vine is solely for the enjoyment of the Vinedresser. It’s not worth pretending that the pressing is easy. Sometimes it hurts like hell. But God, in His Soveriegnty, knows how to produce through us something beautiful. It is in our breaking that God brings us to our most pure and intended state.
But if a grape were to avoid this pressing at all costs, as many, including myself, have done, the result is simple. Raisins. Our lives shrivel up to become many times less what we were. Edible? Yes. Enjoyable? On rare occasions. Mostly mixed in, and covered up by, the foods we like. A mere shadow of what they could have been.
I pray that in the coming year that I more fully embrace God’s pressing, in all it’s painful beauty. I believe that it will produce in me (and through me) something far more than I could have asked for or imagined.
