Exchanged Living

Free and Cheap Music (and Other Thoughts)

There are some great deals on the internet these days...

Blitzen Trapper, a band I deeply love, did either their third or fourth session over at Daytrotter, which is a great site to try out some great and diverse indie music. You can get three of their tracks from the album "Furr" here for free. 

Explosions in the Sky's album "How Strange, Innocence" is on sale today only for $1.99 at Amazon MP3. It's a good intro into their music, which is long-form instrumental rock.

That's it on the free/cheap music tip. As for my other thoughts, I'm steady brewing on a lot of thoughts on the sacraments as I'm reading like a mad man for my sacraments class in August at Asbury.  It's strange and fascinating reading about the history of the practice and theology of sacraments in the church, especially coming from a tradition that has never been very sacramentally-driven in its practices (Michael Spencer, or the internet monk, has some recent posts on Baptists and his tensions with their practice of the Lord's Supper here).  However, I've got a lot more reading and a class to attend that will probably shift my views around a bit, so I'll leave that alone for now, other than saying that if I were to plant a church, I doubt very seriously I'd encourage the approach to the sacraments that the SBC advocates (by both practice and theological undergirdings, which always inform each other: practice embodies theology and theology shapes practice).

On a practice/theology note, JD's thoughts are always pushing me to rethink things about how I lead and design worship. On his twitter feed he wrote:

"Worship Leaders must realize how they speak about & to God publicly shapes how worshippers think about & relate to God personally."

Wow. There's a level of accountability for all those who participate in leading corporate worship. Geez, even rereading that makes me think...

Exchange in Worship

From Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace by James B. Torrance:

As the head of all things, by whom and for whom all things were created, (Jesus) makes us His body, and calls us to be a royal priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices.  He calls us that we might be identified with him by the Spirit, not only in his communion with the Father, but also in his great priestly work and ministry of intercession, that our prayers on earth might be the echo of his prayers in heaven.  Whatever else our worship is, it is our liturgical amen to the worship of Christ.

This is the "wonderful exchange" (mirifica commutatio - admirabile commercium) by which Christ take what is ours (our broken lives and unworthy prayers), sanctifies them, offers them without spot or wrinkle to the Father, and gives them back to us, that we might "feed" upon him in thanksgiving.  He takes out prayers and makes them his prayers, and he makes his prayers our prayers, and we know our prayers are heard "for Jesus' sake."  This is life in the Spirit, worship understood in the terms of sola gratia.  This is the trinitarian nature of all true worship and communion.

Christian worship is, therefore, our participation through the Spirit in the Son's communion with the Father, in his vicarious life of worship and intercession.  It is our response to our Father for all that he has done for us in Christ.  It is our self-offering in body, mind and spirit, in response to the one true offering made for us in Christ, our response of gratitude (eucharistia) to God's grace (charis), our sharing by grace in the heavenly intercession of Christ.  Therefore, anything we say about worship--the forms of worship, its practice and procedure--must be said in light of him to whom it is a response... (p. 14-15)

Up vs. Terminator Salvation: JD's argument about worship design (and my response)

In a recent post, JD asked a series of questions about the corporate worship experience through comparing two recent movie releases: UP and Terminator Salvation.  JD notes that these two movies display very different approaches to what is central to what one might call a good movie experience: the directors of UP seem to focus primarily on storytelling while the directors of TS seems to use special effects to "duct-tape" its story elements together (JD's take, not mine; I've not seen either movie at this point). This comparison is then applied to some of the approaches to designing corporate experiences of worship in the modern church:

"I find that to be the case with worship. We often rely more on special effects than on story      development. Think about it-- lights, cameras, fog, newest songs, fast moving imagery on 17 screens, 18 effects pedals at the lead guitar's toe tips, and did i mention lights?? In fact, today's worship leader increasingly describes his or her task as "leading people through a seamless experiential encounter with the presence of God." Hmmmm."

As a worship leader who was groomed within the "seamless" approach to worship design for a long time, I think JD makes a very keen observation here: the seamless experience idea can lead to a worship experience that is focused more on effect than affect. The effect-driven experience brings people effectively into the presence of God, and then is designed to send them out from His presence. While I agree wholeheartedly that one of the functions of the corporate worship experience (though not the primary one) is to connect people to the presence of God, and I believe this experience should send the people of God out into the world, the danger of this approach is that God becomes what (or who) is evoked and therefore, is as easily left behind when the worship experience concludes. Like any movie experience, one effect leads to the next, and when the effects end, the movie ends. If church is approached in this way, the worship of God is signaled to end when the experience concludes. I can't say this is the goal of biblical worship.

Storytelling in/as/within worship, then, argues for a very different approach to design: affect.  Storytelling has a number of functions as it is used in various contexts; in the church, one of the primary functions of storytelling is orientation. The story of God awakens us to the reality of the world: that Yhwh is a free God that is for His people, that He created us with communion in our design, that since the fall He has chosen to move in ways that offer man and all creation a way back to the life we were created for with Him, that through Christ all the nations are welcomed to know Him and to make Him known, that forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation to God and others are ours in Christ and will be fully ours when He returns, triumphing over sin and death to reign forever over and with His people. Worship calls us to situate ourselves within this reality; not only acknowledging it as the truth over all the other stories of the world, but to align our hearts and lives with His purposes and truth as revealed in Christ. This is the affect, brought about through the Holy Spirit in the people of God. True, affective worship yields transformed people.  And what is most crucial is that this storytelling re-contextualize our actions outside of the church walls; when we see ourselves within God's great story, all aspects of our lives fall within its narrative arch, extending worship into every aspect of our lives.

The big problem with seamless worship experiences is that the rest of life is full of seams. If the biblical story orients us to the reality of God, our experiences in church must be as real or even more "real" than the everyday reality of life. It must lead to our everyday experiences being swallowed by the grand story, moving away from the idea that worship is an escape from the world and towards the idea that worship is the clearest picture of our world we can gain, both of what is and what will be. We must highlight the seams of life, the places where the story of God and what we see and experience collide, allowing the story of the Kingdom to read our world, our actions, our hearts. Seamless worship experiences do not require me to be changed; they only require reaction. 

JD's argument, then, gains some solid ground in suggesting that it is effective (or maybe affective) storytelling that must be the primary aim of worship design if transformation is our goal. To be more like Christ will require the full gospel story and all of the bumps that come with bringing it in contact with fallen people and a fallen world.

Part of JD's argument seems to underline that effects cannot replace the story in our gatherings. I agree, though we will be hard-pressed to divorce the story from the telling. What we must safe-guard ourselves against is a focus on telling that neglects, dilutes or ignores the story of God, through which we know Him, His promises and His presence. JD's post ends with a series of questions all centered towards reframing the role of the worship leaders in the church (his definition would not simply include the lead singer, but the pastors, laypeople, etc... who give voice and direction to what happens when your church gathers).

"What if we started approaching the worship life of the church in this fashion? Story Development. What if the worship leader became a kind of chief story development officer? How might that work? What could it look like?"

I think it would look messier. Worship would look like a collision of sorts. The Kingdom of God colliding with people, with situations and attitudes. With headlines and family dynamics and world-views that distort or deny the reality of a reigning God and His actions towards creation.  It would spill out into the community because the worship that occurs in the church tells the story of the community in a lot of ways: of God's purposes in the neighborhood and its people. It would never tie a bow on the worship experience because to do so would evoke a stopping point, and it's not up to us to end the story--only to tell of the coming end (or rather the re-beginning) of it.

What do you think?

Before I get started...

...on this week's huge amount of stuff to get done, I figured I'd post, just to vent out some of the things that I've been thinking about, doing, etc...

First off, I just found out that Frank Warren is releasing a new PostSecret Book in the fall called Life, Death and God. Post Secret began as somewhat of a social art experiment when Frank sent out a number of postcards asking people to write down a secret that they've not told anyone and send it back to him anonymously. People began to create art in the telling of these secrets, and it's become a phenomenon. It's a strange setting of artistic expression and confessional openness-- they post secrets here every Sunday. It's sometimes very raw and even disturbing, but there's something liberating about a space where that kind of openness is welcomed.

I got to see the see the Tigers beat the Wildcats Saturday. Wow, what a game! I can't say the refs were great, but I'm glad more of the bad calls were in LSU's favor, especially towards the end. You take what you can get, eh?  I saw Slumdog Millionaire as well... there's a reason it won so many awards.

Today's Asbury Reader has some amazing thoughts on the connection between personal sin and the world's current state, as well as the place for lament for the world's condition (and not just personal refinement) in the disciplines of Lent. How's Lent going for you out there? Any fun insights? Let me know...

Our times of corporate worship at Hope lately have been very sweet. I teared up hearing Lynwood pray yesterday (btw--he heads to Texas Tuesday for more medical treatment- keep him and the family in your prayers). As we talked as a worship team this past Thursday, one of the things we talked about was the connection between worship and mission. We unpacked Isaiah 6 together, and in that process talked about the fact that once Isaiah had been cleansed, he was immediately invited into the mission of God (one could easily argue that Isaiah was cleansed so that he could be invited into the mission of God). In the midst of the worship happening in the presence of God, and the exposure of Isaiah's uncleanliness before God, the move of the Father was to cleanse Isaiah and send him out.

One thing I've begun praying for our church, and one thing I challenged our team with, is that the Lord would make His plans and purposes clear to us through the worship times we have, and that we would say "Here am I--send me" in response. I believe that an invitation to mission is part of encountering God, and as His grace draws us in and cleanses us, transforming us from glory to glory into His image, it is also empowering us to step into the bigger story of God's grace to the world. And I wonder sometimes if the difference between "worship in spirit and truth" and the hollow "you praise Me with your lips but you hearts are far from me", or what is true and what is lip service in worship, lies in what we do with the mission of God when we encounter Him.

So in a very practical way, I want to encourage you to continue seeking and encountering God's presence, but also to look to Him as to how you are to serve and go in response to the grace he lavishes on you in Christ. I pray, to paraphrase Charlie Hall, that what we do in our service will hit the streets in Lawrenceburg and Frankfort, and where ever the people of God are. I pray Hope's worship rings as true outside of our walls as it does inside them.

Are You Ready For Worship?

Please, oh please, may someone show up at Hope wearing this get-up:

Taken from The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus.

Link it Up

Lots of good links these days...

First, the absurd:

• Fan of Keanu Reeves? Check out this article that explores the full range of his facial expressions in a field guide format.
• Did the Magi have mullets? This article offers a convincing argument as to why the author believes they did...
• Free Decemberween Music Downloads from Homestar Runner!

Next, the provocative:

• My new friend Justin cites two great lyricist on the tension of believing.
• The people at The Rabbit Room have posted some amazing Advent thoughts on the shepherds of the Christmas story... sound familiar, Hope peoples?
• JD, as always, is churning out amazing thoughts on worship. This series is particularly centered on Worship and Mission. That link is to the first post--make sure to read them all... 
• Check out the Hubble Telescope Advent Calendar.

Then, the musical:

• NPR posted their reader's top 25 albums of the year. A great list, with Fleet Foxes at #1, and Bon Iver at #3... who I'm seeing Wednesday night, btw...
• Girl Talk's album Feed The Animals is available at name your price values. It's on that NPR list. I'm currently downloading it, though I can't vouch for it as of yet... (update: this is not "Christian Music" in any sense of the word...but it's fascinating. Over 300 samples going into the album--it's almost a challenge to see if you can name all the songs that go into it.)

And finally, the Rock, Flag and Eagle:

Reflections on an Exodus-Based Prayer Experience

Today at TFCA, Andrew and I led the Middle/High School students through a prayer experience we crafted around the Exodus, which we've studied for the past several week together. We based each of the stations on one of the events we discussed:

• We began with a "burning bush" experience, where we lit was was, in effect, a candle representing God's ever-presence and call to us to recognize Him in our midst. Students removed their shoes and prayed, echoing back to YHWH's conversation with Moses on holy ground.
• One station was a naming station. Moses' name means "to draw out", and the Exodus story shows us how Moses fulfilled the plan of God in obedience and drew the Israelites out of Egypt and into the land of promise. At this station, we asked students to write their names on large sheets of paper, where other students could then come and write attributes of those students they see as part of how God may use them in the future for his kingdom.
• We had two chain-metaphor stations: one for confession and one for deliverance. The confession chain was a long chain of paper strips (pictured above) where students could confess things that were keeping them in Egypt, so to speak, and out of the experience of God's promise. The deliverance chain was the inverse of that--it was a chain of praise for the ways God has delivered them out of bondage and into His full provision and victory.
• We has a psalm/song station based on Moses and Miriam's songs in Exodus 15. These songs boast in the Lord's might and power, His favor toward His people and His faithfulness to keep His word. We asked students to write their own poem/psalm/song/prayer about the things the Lord has done for them and their families/churches. They then kept their writings in their bible, marking this passage with their own echo of this chapter.
• We had a station of intercession, where we asked students to stand in for those who are suffering and need the Lord, asking for His mercy and deliverance for others. They wrote these names and situations on white boards and prayed for the requests of others as well as the situations they wrote down.
• And finally, we had a "manna station. The manna station consisted of note cards and empty bread loaf bags. Students wrote down verses on the cards that were nourishing to their own walk of faith. They then placed these cards in the bread bags. At the end of the prayer experience, the students drew "manna" out of the bread bags to take with them as encouragement and nourishment for their journey.

We've set up a number of prayer experiences like this before (with varying stations). Todays was shortened a bit, but ended up being a pretty amazing experience from what we saw and heard. At the end of the time, we brought the two chains of deliverance and confession and linked them together with a piece of paper bearing the name of Jesus. We talked about how, much like the Exodus story, our life of faith is the story of the tension between deliverance and the need for it. We live in the already/not yet experience of salvation, and Jesus is not only our Savior and our Hope, but also our process (or our Sanctification). He is the Victor where we've tasted victory, and the only chance of victory where we need it most.

In a lot of ways, this is very Advent-y; this season in which we celebrate that the Messiah has come and yet we grieve and long for the day when He returns and makes all things new. I think its crucial to tap into this kind of tension in our faith because it drives us to both the covenant we're in and the hope we have because of it. Jesus' arrival in the flesh was the culmination of a long history of God's faithfulness being shown in history as He related to Israel. It was the covenant of God that God acted out of towards the Israelites in the Exodus story, to the point where before the writer mentions that God was remembering His covenant with Abraham, Issac and Jacob, he had already set Moses apart to "draw out" the people for His purposes. By the time we reach the New Teatament, we see this pattern of God's faithfulness to His promises as well established in spite of the reckless and often shameless disobedience of His people. He is faithful, and those who stand on His promises have never seen anything but that.

The baby in the manger is the most tangible expression of God's faithfulness to His people in all of history. It's His committment to His word, as He once again steps into history to intervene for His people, and this time in a new way: as one of them. He becomes a frail, helpless child--picture the one who spoke the universe into existance now having to cry for food and drink, a mother and father cleaning up the messes of the one who would clean up theirs, and all the worlds who would believe. The Incarnation gives us our cornerstone to build our faith on. And yet, there is still an equal call for hope in what has not yet come: the promise demands it.

One of my favorite portions of the Exodus story is when the Israelites are next to the Red Sea, fearing their imminant death as the best soldiers of Pharoah charge towards them. Moses makes this awesome speech, one that belongs in an epic like Braveheart or Gladiator:

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."  (Exodus 14:13-14)

What confidence, eh? There's a part of me that wonders if the griping and complaining ones felt like  idiots after Moses rolled that little speech out. And yet, its not that part of the story that excites me the most; its the verse after it:

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on..." (v. 15)

The first time I read that passage, I didn't get it. "Hmmm...why cry out to God again...oh, yeah. They massive dudes with chariots coming to kill us. Lord, if you're going to deliver us, you better step in and do something---that's why I'm crying out to you."

But Moses didn't get it. God had already steped in: He gave his word.

When God called the children of Isreal out of Egypt, in the call, in the promise, everything they needed to move forward was provided. The motion of moving forward reflect what the writer of Hebrews marks as faith, or the assurance of things hoped for. God wasn't asking them to wait on Him, but rather to believe and hold to His promise and to move forward on it as their (only) hope. Maybe it was at the river side they first felt the tension of already having deliverance and not yet having it.

As we connected the two chains today, I began to think about how the incarnation and subsequent passion of Jesus is the only way this already/not yet tension becomes bearable. As Don Peters and David Clark pointed out in their intro to our (Hope's) Advent celebration, there are actually three comings we celebrate during Advent: the birth, the second coming, and Jesus' arrival in our own lives. Jesus arrived, but through the cross and resurrection, He still shows up. In the tension of already rescued and needed redenption, Jesus comes into our history, our circumstances and arrives, tying the faithfulness of God in our past to our moment, and linking our moment into the hope we have in Him now.

And it is through His arrival now, through the person of the Holy Spirit, that we are continually re-created and renewed. He enables holiness through giving us His very own, and through that we find and hold to the promise all the more; the promise ahead of us that is waiting to be unearthed and displayed.

So as we talk Advent, maybe we should talk more about this tension, and really start to embrace it. May it enable us to meet with Jesus now, as His life reaches back and forward in promise for us, establishing every step between Egypt and the promised land, the new Eden, forever.

Reflections on the week...

I doubt I'll be posting too much this week--I'm helping lead worship for a few groups at the Gideon's
International Convention in Louisville. It should be a pretty amazing time (not because of my leading, mind you--I just mean the conference should rock). I'm working with both the college-aged group and the middle schoolers each day, leading worship and just making connections. We hosted a few of the pastors and Gideon family last night at Hope, and just in the small amount of time we had together, I can tell this group of men and women love the Lord and love the people of the world. Pray for us all this week if you have time.

For everyone who was a part of x4:12 last week, again, you were amazing-- thanks so much for all the effort you put in, for going with the flow when you needed to, and for teaching me and showing me again and again how blessed I am to serve along side you all. I think I may try to talk Sheri into bringing the kids in for worship on Sundays more often...

On that note, let me encourage you, too. I think our church is growing more and more in our willingness to express our worship to God. With both our experiences at the Stewart Home and this week at x4:12, I'm proud of the parents and adults I'm starting to see "let their hair down", so to speak. I know that outward signs of expression in (singing) worship are not the end-all sign that worship is happening, but I do believe that as we connect with and live out of God, as we enjoy Him and love Him and offer ourselves to Him, the outward expressions overflow from our hearts. I think the more we truly commune with God, the more bowing and kneeling and dancing and hand-raising and clapping and what-ever-the-Lord's-presence-drives-me-to-respond-like-ing we'll see. I think it's a healthy thing. So you've encouraged me, and I want to encourage you--Go after Him in worship, and respond with Your whole life, even if that means you do something you've never done in worship before.

One thing I often challenge our worship team with: we cannot lead people to a place we are not. If intimacy with Christ is something we want to see our congregation enjoy, we must know how to get there ourselves. If joy is to overflow from our songs, it must overflow from our hearts. This applies to all of us though-- our church won't lead our community to know Christ until we first are committed to know Him, or to know His freedom if we are not living free lives. It makes sense to me. And honestly, if we want our world to worship, we must commit to being worshipers--and it's not just a song-singing thing (though worshiping hearts usually are singing hearts).

So what does it mean to commit to being a worshiper? and not just when we're at church, but everyday?
(seriously--post some of your thoughts...i'm interested...)

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Listening to: Hillsong United - Deeper 

Early Morning Link

I'm recouping from Sunday, surfing links as usual for this time on a Monday, and I found this funny article on the 10 styles of hand-raising in church.  Enjoy-

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Listening to: Ryan Adams - Two