Check out this video.  A little truth brought to you by satire.

Found at Jesus Needs New PR.

Today I started a new project: find worship music that speaks to me.  When I entered seminary I fell out of love with worship.  The familiar tunes of “contemporary” worship started to nauseate me, and I struggled with the antiquated theology of traditional hymns.   Now as I leave seminary, four years later, my worship music repertoire is at a critical low.  So I just started listening to music I like and listened for the spirit in each song.  Today Kings of Leon got me worshiping.  Read the lyrics of their song below… [Read more →]

Lighting the Worship Candles

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to serve the children and youth of my congregation as they became acolytes. Acolytes are those kids in white robes who bring in the candles and light the ones on the altar just before worship begins. All of the children and youth I served already knew how to acolyte. They knew where the candle-lighter stick was. They knew when to walk forward during the service. This training, however, was an opportunity to figure out why we have acolytes. But before we could do that, we had to figure out why we need acolytes in worship… and indeed, what worship was to begin with.

What is worship? When I asked them, and even the adults in the room… we had a great discussion about what we do in worship. In worship, we sing. We speak. We listen. We pray. We stand. We sit. We offer. We pass peace…. And they were right. That is what we do in worship. But what is worship? Even with my seminary trained mind and worshipful heart, I had a hard time coming up with a definition that was simple enough for everyone to understand, inclusive enough to allow all different form of worship to count, and short enough to keep with us in our hearts… [Read more →]

Will your pageant be AWESOME or AWFUL?

Angels and Shepherds and Kings, Oh My! Ah yes, Pageant season is “all up ons”.

As I sit down to write the script for our church’s annual Christmas pageant, I am reminded that a lot of work goes into re-creating the Christmas story. Every year I wonder why the children, youth, parents and Christian Educator spend so much time on this one event, indeed the whole of Advent culminates with our Pageant. Why?

Sometimes I wonder if it is all worth it, but deep down I think the Christmas Pageant, in all its glory, is one of the best events, indeed ministries, of the Holiday season. The pageant tells the story of the birth of Christ, it allows the children to lead and to shine, and allows the congregation to connect in ways they don’t on a normal Sunday morning. The pageant is a great ministry, but it doesn’t always seem that way.

Should the Advent season be the “Pageant Season?”…….

[Read more →]