Filed under: ICEWS eb 2008
For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt
Recognizing that heaven and earth have intersected inside of me has been an enormous discovery. The kingdom of God takes on new meaning, new reality. The King of heaven has come to earth; He has redeemed those who have chosen to follow HIm; and by His Spirit now reigns on the earth through the lives of His children. This discovery, coupled with a desire to write a song that would give people “ground for praise rather than just an injunction to praise,” (1) was the foundation for “King of Heaven, King of Earth.” The verses communicate the redemptive narrative while the chorus concludes with the simplicity of ”king of heaven, king of earth.”
N.T. Wright states, “When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship Him.” (2)Worship is birthed as we respond to the God who is not far away, but the God who is so close, that the spheres of heaven and earth collide in our hearts. This allows us to see the great acts of God as having more than historical significance, but rather as life-changing events of a Big Story with Big God, who has rescued us and given to us an eternal destiny.
1. Dudley Hall, comment on Ranchgirl’s Blog (In the Middle of the Intersection)
2. N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, p. 143
Filed under: 1
For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt
In reflecting upon the last several weeks, of one thing I am sure: in our present culture and even in our church community, there exist many misconceptions concerning the term “worship.” Some say they go to worship indicating that it is a place or a destination. Some say they enjoy the worship time indicating it is a segment of a church service, (or they didn’t enjoy the worship,) indicating some sort of music entertainment evaluation. Others describe their hour on Sunday morning as a “worship service,” indicating that the entire time is spent engaging in this act! Perhaps the scariest misuse of the term is one that I have actually used myself (ouch!) referring to our band’s rehearsal time each week as “worship practice!” Sadly, in our church community, we have somehow cheapened this term of worship.
N.T. Wright in Simply Christian has said, “When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him.” So we begin to grasp worship as an act, a response, to knowing God as the Great Creator, the Sovereign King, the Redeeming Savior, and the Triune God. It (worship) comes when we are face to face with the God who has loved us; the God who has made Himself known to us; the God who has pursued us; and the God who has done for us what we could not do for ourselves: restored us to our Creator after sin had entered the world and separated us from Him.
As we respond to the God who has chosen to reveal HImself to us, we bow down, we fall down; we humble ourselves, we submit, we repent, we surrender. In so doing, we give our allegiance and loyalty to the King of heaven and earth. We begin to see the Big Story with Big God and how He sacrificed His only Son, so that we might join him in this great story of love and redemption. When we see this, we see Him, and we worship. We worship Him for who He is and His great attributes; we worship Him for the great deeds He has done; we worship Him for allowing us to participate in the story.
This worship brings about the greatest sacrifice; a living sacrifice of our whole lives. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Rom.12:1, ESV) This “living worship” is the way we respond to the person who has just offended us; it is the way we conduct our business affairs, it is the way we work, it is the way we give, it is the way we invest our lives in other people; it is the way we care for the earth; it is the way we relate to the poor; and it is the way we live when no one else is looking. Worship is not a destination; it is not music, it is not a time slot, and it is certainly not a rehearsal. It is in fact a lifestyle.
Filed under: 1
For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt
Before anything, there was GREAT GOD, Triune God setting the stage for the GREAT STORY. The story is one of love, justice, redemption, faithfulness, and mercy from a God who creates, reigns, relates, and acts. The stage He built for His story was unique; two-dimensional; heaven and earth, where in a sense these two stages could overlap or intersect with each other. The stage was grand, seemingly perfect and complete, and yet something was missing; for always in the heart of God was this desire for someone who would join Him in the story. So God took dust from the earth stage and breath from the “God” stage and formed those who would participate in the story. It would be man’s vocation to express God throughout the earth as the “Imago Dei,” the image bearers of God.
This newly created man greatly resembled his Creator until one day when man became dissatisfied with the vocation that God had given him. He wanted to be God. Strangely, he no longer resembled his Creator. LIfe drastically changed for man as He found himself alone on the stage; now a single stage; a stage not connected to the heaven stage.
The story continued: going away, coming back home again; slavery and exodus, exile, and restoration. God longed for the likeness to return, for man to join Him again in the story, so He sent His Son to reconnect the stages of heaven and earth.
The Son, Jesus, Servant King, lived, died and was resurrected, and in so doing, rescued, freed, saved, and gave life to the lost man. Through Jesus, man could rediscover some of the greatest acts on the stage: justice, spirituality, relationship, and beauty. The spiritual stages of heaven and earth were rejoined through Jesus’ establishment of His kingdom on the earth. Through the Holy Spirit, this kingdom resided in the hearts of those who chose to follow Jesus.
As the guild of actors who have taken the stage with Creator God return to God’s original purpose, the scene is set for expressing the heart of God on the earth. Contrary to popular belief, God will not take us away from the grand stage that He created; instead the stage will be remade along with the people. Physical heaven and earth will be reunited; the great sphere will be unseparable. This curtain call will be an exciting one; names will be read outloud. There will be applause. There will be bowing. And never again will we be onstage alone.
For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephens University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt
Myopia is a troublesome thing to deal with. I can see perfectly upclose, but the world is a complete blurr a few feet away! Myopia effects other areas as well, like LIFE!!! For example, I can get so involved and focussed on “me” that sometimes I can scarcely see the needs of those around me; or sometimes I get entangled in present circumstances and neglect seeing the big picture! There is a tendency when you live in a small community to be “myopic” and only be concerned with local events, failing to recognize that there is a really big world out there!
Sometimes even in the realm of worship, we can become myopic. The last thing a worship leader needs is to lose his glasses, or contacts! If I have a contact fall out on Sunday morning when I am leading worship at the keyboard, the outcome is probably not going to be good, because I don’t have all the chords in my head, and I am going to make mistakes……if fact, it might be disastrous! The greatest failure, though, comes when I am so “nearsighted” that I only see the music and not the people.
Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons said, “The glory of God is a human being truly alive.” I want to SEE people the way God sees them whether I am on a platform on Sunday morning, or standing in line at the grocery store. Excuse me, have you seen my glasses?
Filed under: 1
“For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephens University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt:
I have survived the technical challenge that was set before me. I am converted; a new creation. I am a Facebooker; I am a Blogger; I am an ITunesU’er; I am a Talkshoer; I am WOMAN! (Helen Reddy would be so proud!- Ok, I just realized that 90% of this class will have no idea who I am talking about!)
As I look back at Week 2 of this Worship Theology class, I am overwhelmed; not in a negative way, just overwhelmed. In just a few weeks, I will be starting my 8th year as worship leader of New Song Christian Fellowship. Oh, if I had only had Essentials Blue back in 2001!
As I reflect on all of the materials from this week, I keep going back to the moment when it really hit me, I mean really hit me. It was early one morning and I was sitting on our front porch reading section two of N.T. Wright’s book. Three cows had decided they were off for greener pastures (into my front yard), and I sent our trusty dog, Casey, ”head of ranch security,” to go secure the area! After this brief, but exciting interruption, I dove into the chapter on Israel. The Jewish people believed that heaven and earth came together in one holy place, the Temple, the place where the god of the universe resided. This is why it was so important for the Temple to be built and rebuilt through the ages.
God’s ultimate plan of restoration for His people came in the form of His Son, Jesus. No longer would God’s sphere of heaven and earth intersect in a building, but rather in a servant King. And here comes the front porch cosmic revelation: through the mercy of God, this King lives in me. In fact, He said in His Word that my body is the “temple” of the Holy Spirit. I am now the intersection, the meeting point, if you will, of heaven and earth. In the U.S. we have just celebrated July 4th, Independence Day, which traditionally boasts of magnificent firework displays. None could have compared with the “stars” which were shooting off in my heart! I stood up and worshipped the God who loved me, the God who created me, the God who gave me life, the God who chose me for His kingdom!
Now that I have had a couple of days to think about all of this, I must go back to all those kings who tried to rebuild and restore the Temple throughout ancient history. I couldn’t help but think about those today, even Christians, who after 2,000 years, are longing to rebuild the physical temple in Israel. God sacrificed His Son so that heaven and earth could come together as the kingdom of God in us. Why then would anyone want to go back to a finite earthly temple (the shadow) when He has given us the infinite Presence (the reality) in His Son?
Intersections are usually dangerous places to be…………..but this one is worth it!
Filed under: ICEWS eb 2008
For: The Institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephens University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt
In reflecting upon the last week of study, I must say that this week has been quite a journey. Since I have not been in a “formal classroom” in 30 years, I have had several challenges before me, not the least of which was navigating through Facebook, ITunesU, and blogging! It is a positive thing to be forced to THINK, examine, and to evaluate, but it has not been easy. One thing I do know is that God has put me here and I am up for the challenge.
I have struggled with the thought of songwriting for many years, believing that it resided somewhere deep within me. On several occasions I have had prophetic words confirming that belief, but nothing would ever surface, which has left me frustrated.
One of the most exciting and liberating writings for me this week has been Dan’s article, “Living Creatively In The Image of God.” Since we are created in His image, or “tselem,” we are actually more than a likeness or resemblance, but more accurately his “progeny,” which denotes that “a child’s physical, social and psychological image genetically reflects the image of its parent.” Because I am His progeny, his DNA of creativity lives in me. The article states, “When Jesus indwells us, He revives our deadened souls, stirs the water of our creativity and becomes the pneumatological impetus and eternally ordained focus of our expression. This is true whether we are storytelling, feeding the poor, caring for a neighbor or leading people in worship.”
Dan challenges the creative to not remain “self-indulgent, but to breathe life into the community.” I’ve always believed that our gifts should go beyond the church building. How are we salt and light if only in the confines of the church?
Dan concludes with this: “Live creatively, directing your life and others’ lives toward God. Worship with your creativity, serve others with the language of the soul God has given you, and allow Jesus to “draw all men” to Himself through the sacred ingenuity He has placed inside of you.” That’s what I want! AMEN, and AMEN! (Truly, truly, let this be manifest among us!)
