Napier Baptist

The worship seminar went well on the weekend. As usual I totally overprepared. I'm haunted by the words of a trusted friend who suggested to me recently that I'm a perfectionist. He meant not in a good way but rather in a way that trusts in myself and my abilities rather than God and God's strength!

Anyway, enough self-flagellation! No blood was spilt on the carpet over the weekend. This is no mean feat when you have a room full of people who are very talented and passionate musicians and you are trying to ask questions about the content of some of their favourite songs! We all had a great time exploring what is worship and what are we trying to do on a Sunday morning? We had some very robust discussions at times where we let our differences grow us (I hope). I suggested that Sunday worship is less about creating a certain "experience" for people and more about spiritual formation of the people of God. Less about "getting something out of it" and more about growing a gospel people. Rather than making experience primary and trying to create some emotions we need to be faithful to the gospel (content) and allow that to produce it's own experiences. This will sometimes mean profound thankfulness and joy but other times lament or confession or wrestling with God. If we make experience (especially creating that warm fuzzy feeling) primary we run the risk of abusing the gospel for our own ends (i.e. creating an experience). We need to trust in the power of the gospel to grow a gospel people and allow this to create it's own experiences. My conclusion was that Sunday morning worship is about nurturing and growing a gospel people. Therefore, the content matters to make sure we are growing a gospel people and not just any sort of people.

A couple of fantastic and haunting quotes I really like in my research which both come from a journal article by Kevin Vanhoozer called "Worship at the Well" in the Trinity Journal 23 (2002):
"We worship what we know. If our knowledge is not deep, our worship won't be either."
"Our worship [and prayer] is the index to how well we have understood our faith."
And finally a quote from N.T. Wright (via Vanhoozer's article):
"If your idea of God...[and] salvation offered in Christ, is vague or remote, your idea of worship will be fuzzy and ill-informed."

"Let's face it. Christianity is a spectacular means to an end. We have a power structure that is open and accessible to people who have not earned or been granted much power from our culture. In local churches, there is money to be made, power to be had and opportunities to be seized. A man or woman who may not be successful in the business world can be chairman of the deacons, head of the parish committee or a member of the board of directors. For some, Christianity is only the means to an end, and whenever that happens, things turn ugly."

Real Live Preacher has written an outstanding article on an issues that every church faces and every Christian faces - the use and abuse of POWER! You can get to it via his website (which I'd recommend so that you can read the comments) or directly from this link.

At our church we have travelled through the gospel of Luke and are now looking at the book of Exodus. Prominent in both is the journey motif (Luke 9:52ff and the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land). I read this today that captures beautifully something of the significance of journeying.

Wow! I don't know who reads this blog (whether it's only 1 or 2 people or what). Today I had a comment left by Sean Dietrich who I've never heard of before. He's a Christian musician - songwriter who's been influenced by Keith Green and he seems like a really humble guy who loves Jesus. I'd encourage you to read his bio and listen to his music (free to download) - if his bio doesn't bring tears to your eyes then you've got a fridge for a heart!

I wouldn't use it to define who I am, but it could be worse! But wasn't Barth quoted as saying I'm not a Barthian?! You scored as Neo orthodox. You are neo-orthodox. You reject the human-centredness and scepticism of liberal theology, but neither do you go to the other extreme and make the Bible the central issue for faith. You believe that Christ is God's most important revelation to humanity, and the Trinity is hugely important in your theology. The Bible is also important because it points us to the revelation of Christ. You are influenced by Karl Barth and P T Forsyth. Neo orthodox 82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Emergent/Postmodern 57% Reformed Evangelical 57% Modern Liberal 32% Fundamentalist 29% Roman Catholic 25% Charismatic/Pentecostal 18% Classical Liberal 7% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Go have a crack and see what you come up with.

Hat tip to Alister