The following video, which has been buzzing around facebook and the blogs for the last week or so, is fascinating to me on a number of levels…

1. It’s a satirical piece, but it doesn’t (and doesn’t need to) push far from reality to make its point.

2. Given that this is exactly what happens in “contemporary” churches all over the county on any given Sunday, including the church from which the video comes, what exactly is the point?

3. Most of the components of “contemporary” worship that are poked at in the video are not particularly problematic in and of themselves (with the exception, perhaps, of the suggestion that the worship leader is offering up new songs for worship with the ulterior motivation of producing sales for his CD, and the comment related to the offering). For instance, I’m not sure there is anything intrinsically wrong with doing a cool song that is on the radio, a new song your worship leader wrote, having a young, hip guy welcome the people, or the various technological trappings of worship in the digital age like lights and video, etc… So, I am struck that we see this video as a satirical, timely, and maybe even profound jab, not because of the individual components themselves, but rather the over-all attitude, package and focus. If “the medium is the message,” then what is the message of this form of worship taken in whole?

My great hope would be that this type of thing might be catalytic towards a deconstruction and (re)imagining of what theologically rich, formational, missional, historical, Christian worship could look like in the post-modern context.

For the record: I don’t think it looks like this.

I think I’ll have more to say about this, but for now, here is the video, just in case you haven’t seen it yet.

I would welcome thoughts and discussion.

Check out the video HERE

Jesus is standing in front of the temple in Jerusalem
the massive gleaming brick and stone and gold house of God
and he says destroy this temple
and I’ll rebuild it in three days

the people listening to him said how are you going to do that?
it took 46 years to build this temple!
but he wasn’t talking about that temple
he’s talking about himself
he essentially says, listen
I’m going to be killed
that’s where this is headed
because you don’t confront corrupt systems of power
without paying for it
sometimes with your own blood
and so he’s headed to his execution
if you had witnessed this divine life extinguished on a cross
how would you not be overwhelmed with despair?

is the world ultimately a cold, hard, dead place?

does death have the last word?
is it truly, honestly, actually dark
and so whatever light we do see
whatever good we do stumble upon
are those just blips on the radar?
momentary interruptions in an otherwise meaningless existence?
because if that’s the case then despair is the
only reasonable response

it’s easy to be cynical

but Jesus says destroy this temple and I’ll rebuild it
he insists that his execution would not be the end
he’s talking about something new and unexpected
happening after his death
he’s talking about resurrection

resurrection announces that God has not given up on the world
because this world matters
this world that we call home
dirt and blood and sweat and skin and light and water
this world that God is redeeming and restoring and renewing

greed and violence and abuse they are not right
and they cannot last
they belong to death and death does not belong

resurrection says that what we do with our lives matters
in this body
the one that we inhabit right now
every act of compassion matters
every work of art that celebrates the good and the true matters
every fair and honest act of business and trade
every kind word
they all belong and they will all go on in God’s good world
nothing will be forgotten
nothing will be wasted
it all has it’s place

everybody believes something
everybody believes somebody
Jesus invites us to trust resurrection
that every glimmer of good
every hint of hope
every impulse that elevates the soul
is a sign, a taste, a glimpse
of how things actually are
and how things will ultimately be
resurrection affirms this life and the next
as a seamless reality
embraced
graced
and saved by God

there is an unexpected mysterious presence
who meets each of us in our lowest moments
when we have no strength when we have nothing left
and we can’t go on we hear the voice that speaks those
words

destroy this temple and I’ll rebuild it

do you believe this?
that’s the question Jesus asked then
and that’s the question he asks now

Jesus’ friends arrive at his tomb and they’re told
he isn’t here
you didn’t see that coming, did you?
he’s isn’t here
there is nothing to fear
and nothing can ever be the same again
we are living in a world in the midst of rescue
with endless unexpected possibilities

they will take my life and I will die Jesus says
but that will not be the end
and when you find yourself assuming that it’s over
when it’s lost, gone, broken and it could never be
put back together again,
when it’s been destroyed and you swear that it could never
be rebuilt

hold on a minute
because in that moment
things will in fact have just begun

I am greatly encouraged and challenged by the emerging ‘both/and’ ethos involving a robust embrace and hunger for sincere, profound corporate worship/liturgy along with (inside of, underneath) worship as community action/social justice/active faith. These concepts of worship are simply not in opposition. Perhaps in tension, and sometimes in conflict, but of the best and vital sort. You can’t have one without the other.

If this is the question:
“Would you go wherever, whenever?”

And this is your answer:
“Here I am, Lord, send me!”

Then DESTINATION UNKNOWN is for you.

Seize the opportunity to take the risk of serving Christ through serving others all within  he borders of the Metroplex.

Now the adventure has begun as of yesterday…

12 people have answered the call of Destination Unknown saying “God I will go where ever and whenever to serve you by serving your people”.

It reminds me of the Twelve who dropped everything – work, family and friends – inconveniencing themselves, and breaking away from their daily  routine to follow Jesus.

The journey begins today after the 5:00 service when they will leave the church to go to their first destination.

I’m looking forward to reading some reports from this great journey these 12 folks are taking right now, presumably they are engaging with several of the local partners that IBC has in ministry around the Dallas area. I hadn’t heard anything about this until I saw the post on the IBC site yesterday, but I love the idea.

We just had a report yesterday at our church here in Westcliffe, CO by two of our college age kids who spent the last 6 months on mission with YWAM. They got back home a few days ago and had incredible stories to tell. But one of their biggest concerns in returning was the loss of the total immersion of missional thinking/living they have been experiencing. Most of us who have gone on some kind of mission excursion away from home have experienced this. We wonder why we don’t think, act, grow this way when we are at home.

I can imagine some folks at IBC sitting around one day and coming up with this crazy plan to create a ‘home mission’ experience that felt as much like going away on a ‘traditional’ mission trip as possible. And yet, when the ‘trip’ is over you realize that you have been working in a mission field that is in your very own backyard. I love it.

I’ve had Peter Rollin’s book, The Fidelity of Betrayal along with his first book, How (Not) to Speak of God on my shelf for some time. His latest offering, The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales is currently on its way from amazon. I’m not sure how I’ve managed to never get around to reading these books until now. Especially since so many of my friends of varying degrees of like-mindedness (probably an overrated trait) have read Rollins and highly recommended I partake. Nevertheless, there on my shelf they have sat, unopened, though actually that’s not entirely true. I just took a peek into my copy of How (Not) to Speak of God and alas, there is a dog-ear to be found on page 7 along with some underlinings and other scribblings that appear to me in my hand. I have no recollection of this, nor can I explain the false start. But there you have it.

Last week I finally picked The Fidelity of Betrayal off the shelf and began to read, as far as I know for the first time (no markings or dog-ear). This was prompted by a family member who was curious if I had a take on the book. And now that I’ve read it, I’m grateful for the prodding.

The books of this sort that I enjoy the most or the ones which regularly strike chords producing resonances with tunes I already know and appreciate. That is to say, I already agree with some of the ideas presented, though perhaps they are presented in a manner more stimulating and thoughtful than I am capable of formulating myself. I like to be challenged, and I want to be provoked to think differently by this type of book, but some resonance along the way is perhaps a bit of sugar to help the medicine go down. Rollins delivers with flying colors in this regard. In addition, he manages to upset and anger me at times. And there were a few passages where I found myself wondering how a guy who seems so sharp could suggest something so ill conceived.

Rollins delivers in waves.

A run of pages where I am being stimulated and even convicted by fresh thinking (and loving it) will be followed by a section presented with all the titillating flare of the former wave, but where upon reflection the things being suggested aren’t new at all, but rather quite established. Rollin’s context makes them seem novel at first blush. But many of the ‘radical’ ideas presented are no more revolutionary than they already were as found in the existing and continually unfolding narrative (revealed and experienced) of the Christian faith.

Rollins is enamored, even obsessed, with paradox. It’s not always easy to figure out exactly where he is or where he is headed, though that may not be the point and I’m OK with that. If your Christian faith isn’t chock-full of paradox then you’ve missed something somewhere. Something big. I expect Rollins would agree.

Rollins also speaks of parallax, and perhaps that is the best way to describe his book, for the book is at its best when it is being (or perhaps being understood as) truly parallax(ical).

Parallax is the effect of an object or reality being altered based on vantage point in relation to context (my own crack at a succinct definition that makes sense to me). The object or reality has not changed, but it may appear to be radically altered, even in direct contradiction to the previous viewpoint, when, in fact, the new observation is no more or less ‘true’ than the previous.

Rollins is at his best when he challenges us to see the ‘object’ (Christianity) in a new but equally true way. Again, quite often, the new perspective presented reveals an insight which initially seems novel, but the longer one looks, the more familiar the object becomes. We wonder why we hadn’t seen that all along, or we realize that we actually have seen it that way all along.

The problem comes when Rollins pushes from parallax to transmogrification (a fine word). In parallax the object doesn’t change. In transmogrification it does change, even grotesquely. Rollins mounts quite an apologetic for (de)objectifying God and what it means to be a Christian. I find much to be stimulated (and even inspired) by here, but at times he seems to take the project a bit too far.

In the end, Rollins is more philosopher than theologian, two disciplines that I will grant could benefit from some reunification. Nevertheless, the distinction is important to recognize. Rollins wishes to free Christian orthodoxy from the ivory towers of the learned theologian and give it to the people. But at times he seems to simply shift the power from that ivory tower to the equally inaccessible retreat of the heady philosopher.

In the end, I think Rollins is wrong about some things and I find some of his methodology problematic. But, I’m glad I read this book, and I fully intend to read his other two books as well. Problems aside, there is much good challenge and stimulation here.

I’d be open to further discussion of the book along with looking at some specific passages, but that would flow best in the context of dialogue, so if anyone wishes to comment to that effect, I’ll jump in.

Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service

This is the first book I read in my ongoing educational process as a worship leader in the Lutheran context.

Having come from the ‘anything goes’ context of contemporary Evangelicalism, through a significant exposure to the ‘everything matters’ context of Catholicism, I sought to discover where the Lutheran ‘Divine Service’ fit into that spectrum.

Just’s book proved to be invaluable in this regard, showing, much to my delight, the strong continuity between the Divine Service and the historic Mass of the Church. Inasmuch as Lutheranism might be better named ‘Evangelical Catholicism,’ the Divine Service might be well named the ‘Evangelical Mass.’

As a new Lutheran taking on the responsibilities of leading and even shaping the music and worship of a Lutheran congregation, I found this book to be immensely helpful. But I would recommend this book to anyone in the Protestant context seeking to understand the richness, beauty and meaning of historical Christian worship practice. Contemporary progressives seeking to bring more depth and historicity to their worship forms will find much challenge and help here, Lutheran or not.

From the description at amazon.com:

The liturgy is not a style of worship. The liturgy is the substance of justification as it is brought through means. This book is an introduction to the liturgy and its importance. It takes the liturgy and makes it easy for the layperson to understand that the New Testament church service brings God’s presence, in Jesus the Christ to the people of God who have been cleansed from their sins. This is a holy meeting made possible by the blood of Christ that cleanses the believer. This understanding of the church service helps one to understand that the church service is more than a meeting place; it is the manifestation of the New Testament church on earth as Christ calls His bride around Word and Sacraments. Heaven on Earth will deepen your understanding of the Divine Service and why it remains the Church’s chief worship service.

Wow.

See pictures here.

Building on an incredible turnout at their 6th Annual Back to School event, Wednesday, 8/19, Irving Bible church introduces 2435 Kinwest.

Last Wednesday almost 2000 people from the local community came to Irving Bible Church’s 6th annual Back to School Event. Over 500 children received back packs full of school supplies and $15 gift cards from Payless Shoes. Over 85 children got free haircuts. Over 80 kids received free dental checkups and over 90 kids got free medical screenings including vision, scoliosis and hearing checks.

The Car Care Clinic serviced 25+ cars. We served 2000 free meals that night and had to close the kitchen an hour early when we ran out of food. We started the night with 35 tables of clothes and only had a small box left over at the end of the night. Over 60 Moms got makeovers and there were 180 volunteers helping out including 27 from Kohl’s who have participated for the third year in a row.

In addition there were also booths from Irving ISD answering school related questions and from the Mustang Recreation center showcasing their programs. Mustang Recreation Center is located just across the street from our campus.

In the past we have scheduled this on a weekend but moved it to Wednesday this year. We weren’t sure how big the turn out would be for families that had to bring their children up on a night during the work week but we were thrilled to see so many folks, from so many backgrounds here on the campus.

Introducing 2435 Kinwest!!

Since the Back to School event happens only once a year, we wanted to find a way to serve our community on a regular basis. We are committed to reaching out and with valuable and relevant services that will make a difference in the lives of the families in our community.

2435 Kinwest begins this coming Wednesday 8/26 and will be offereing an entire spectrum of services to the community – here’s a sample.

Meal 5:00-6:20pm
A low-cost meal is offered each week and is available to everyone. A per-person price and a maximum family price apply..

Citizenship classes 6:30 8:30pm
This class will prepare qualified candidates to take the N-400 exam to become a naturalized citizen.

ESL 6:30-8:30pm
Beginner and intermediate classes available. Practice all four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Make friends with an English buddy!
Participants must take a placement test.

MyZone 6:30-8:30pm
MyZone is a safe environment for kids with team building activities involving things like slime, life-application conversations, and high impact fun!

Tutoring 4:00-6:00pm
Tutors will provide assistance in specific subjects, homework, and/or TAKS objectives. Any middle school or high school student striving for “school success” will benefit from teaming up with our tutors.
starts September 9

Caregiver Support Group 6:30-8:30pm 2nd Wednesday of the month
Family Caregiver Support offers information and support in helping care for a loved one.
starts September 9

Job Transition Workshop 6:30-8:30pm
Are you looking for a new job? Our Job Transition Workshops will guide you through the four essentials to getting hired: resume creation, cover letter writing, networking and interviewing skills. Bring your laptop or resume in digital format for the workshop portion.

Life Skills 6:30-8:30pm
Join us as experts teach on a variety of topics like finances, time management and other helpful issues

Parents of Special Needs Children 6:30-8:30pm 1st Wednesday of the month
This is a time just for families who have children with special needs to come together and share resources as they fellowship, grow and support each other.
starts September 2

Student Ministry 5:30-8:30pm
Student Ministry promotes community with one another by having an inexpensive meal together from 5:30-6:30. Then we do everything from big group activities and outdoor games to ping pong and hang time. Come hang out with friends and grow in your relationship with God.

Alpha 6:30-8:30pm
Alpha is for all kinds of people—the skeptics, the seekers, the spiritually curious—searching out the deeper spiritual questions of life, clear direction for their spiritual journey, an opportunity to explore the meaning of life and a safe haven for all honest questions.
September 9 to November 3

Clinic 6:00-9:00pm
We will be offering a variety of medical clinic services beginning in the spring of 2010. Check our website for more details

This is a great prayer and devotional book published by Concordia Publishing. This is a Lutheran prayer book, but any Christian interested in a resource for daily prayer and even divine hours prayer will appreciate this book.

This is simply a fabulous prayer book. The only critique I can offer is that, due to its comprehensive nature, it is a bit cumbersome. I like prayer books I can throw in my backpack or take on a trip without a second thought. This is not such a book. However, it is what it is.

Here’s the product description from amazon.com:

Cultivate an enriching devotional life with a book that nourishes your time with God. This comprehensive Lutheran resource brings together Scripture readings, prayers, psalms, hymns, and devotional readings from the church fathers to guide daily prayer and meditation on God’s Word. Organized around the Christian Church Year, Treasury of Daily Prayer is designed to be an all-in-one resource for daily devotions for individuals, families, and small groups.

A fine example of this is Irving Bible’s celebration of the upcoming season of Advent.

An article in IBC’s Chatter Magazine talks about the significance of this meaningful, traditional practice of the Church. Here is an excerpt:

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The season’s focus celebrates the birth of Jesus in his First Advent and anticipates his return as the King in his Second Advent. As Dennis Bratcher writes: “In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live ‘between the times’ and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people.”

You can read the full article here.

The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and Other Modern Maladies

I read this book several years ago and it still remains one of my favorites for providing thoughtful critique and practical direction to those hopeful for the correction of some of the less positive effects of modernity on the Western Church.

This book remains the primer of thought for much of my philosophy of worship and how it connects with catechesis and mission.

Particularly bold and insightful is Fitch’s chapter on preaching, subtitled ‘The Myth of Expository Preaching.’

Ouch.

It is a vital challenge for those with the fortitude to lay down defensiveness and consider the insightfulness of Fitch’s indictments.

From Publishers Weekly:

This is a searing but loving insider critique of the individualism that marks North American evangelicals. Fitch, senior pastor of the Life on the Vine Christian community in Arlington Heights, Ill., blames an embrace of modernism for attempts by evangelicals to “individualize, commodify, and package Christianity.” He criticizes mega-churches that end up functioning like capitalist businesses with CEO-style pastors judging success by the number of “decisions for Christ” produced. Each chapter outlines the various ways evangelicalism has “given away” its influence and then offers concrete practices designed to help the church reclaim its mission. Fitch’s most scathing criticism is saved for the evangelical willingness to embrace modern psychology, which he blasts as patient-centered rather than Christ-centered. He challenges evangelical churches to think smaller (in terms of congregation size), place less focus on coercive evangelism, return to communal catechesis, offer more liturgical worship and provide opportunities for small group intimacy where Christians can confess their sins, repent, read scripture and pray together regularly. Intellectually rigorous, this book’s critical tone will undoubtedly upset many conservative evangelicals, but will point the way for the more moderate ones for years to come. (Oct. 15)
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