The overarching theme of art is that it is the continuation of the human story.  Specific to Christianity, the liturgy is how our story continues from the past, to the Scriptures, to the present day.  Liturgy, as any well done Christian service should show, is the sharing of the Christian story over again: the water (Creation/Baptism), the communion elements (the Death of Christ), the presence of the Word (the Bible), and the celebration of new life (the Resurrection and Reign of Christ).  To this end, our faith should be realized in the continuing story of Christ and his Kingdom on earth (as it is in the heavenlies).

The point of the liturgical narrative is to draw individuals out of the personal, individualized religious framework of legalism and dogmatic fundamentals and into a communal story. Communities in and of themselves are detrimental to a proper understanding of the sociological aspects of faith, thus Grenz and Franke rightly define a new unit of sociological focus called the individual-in-community. The individual and community must be equally balanced in order to maintain a proper understanding of discipleship, worship, and justification (N.T. Wright’s commentary on justification of individuals within faith communities, particularly in What Saint Paul Really Said is helpful).

Often, the Christian story is divided between individuals and community in terms of obedience and sacrifice.  We are to be obedient Christians during the week and make our sacrifice on Sundays.  This dualism, the separation of obedience from sacrifice is symptomatic of an Enlightenment understanding of the separation of exegesis, theology, and orthodoxy (what you describe as fundamentals) from lectio divina, theo-praxis/spiritual theology, and ortho-praxis. It is not enough to live in obedience of faith, as James writes faith without works is dead. The point must be conceded that works without faith are dead as well. Therefore, the dualism of obedience (textualization of faith) and sacrifice (the liturgical and communal aspects of religious life) must be deconstructed as an Enlightenment determination of facts that undermines emotional, local knowledge, and mosaic of knowledge. ... more

Yesterday on Lifehacker there was a post on developing a life plan with a link to, low and behold!, the blog of Thomas Nelson's CEO, Michael Hyatt, on Creating A Life Plan. I am not much for self-help stuff, but this kind of steers clear of the "empowering" or "self-improvement" fluff and attempts to get you to live your life so that it will be remembered the way you want it to be, along with a place to write down where you are in life and plan how you will get to the other places. The focus of this has nothing to do with money, objects, or tools, but focuses around family, colleagues, and yourself.

My priorities were this:

What is most important to you?

1. Living a liturgical, practical life of simplicity.

2. Earning enough money to not be poor, and not enough to forget what it is like to want something and not be able to afford it.

3. To not spend time unwisely.

4. To be missional.

5. To stay healthy in a holistic way.

I have a long way to go with all these things. I have always looked up to Scot McKnight, both his book writing and blog writing, and what he wrote about Our Daily Rhythm was inspiring to me. Hopefully, when I am his age, I will be closer to meeting my priorities on a daily basis than I am now.

I work 9-5 in a cubicle and am surrounded by Dilbert cartoons, a Dodgers season schedule, a bobble head doll, computer monitors, and a vast quantity of confidential and legal documents I need to read each day to assist with my work.

The cubicle is void of anything religious, so I have been thinking about buying a small ikon to display on my cube so that I can remember I am working for something more than a paycheck.  I need to stake a flag for the kingdom in this place.

Problem is, I am clueless about ikons.  Let me know your advice, suggestions, guidance, or thoughts on the matter. ... more

Liturgy, in the everyday, broad sense, is the public work of the Christian and the Christian community.  It is the work we do inside the walls of our home or church, as well, and maybe even more importantly, the work we perform outside the walls of home and church.  Specifically, the sacramental attitude we have in corporate worship and in the home should be the same ethos we bring into public.

The Word, in becoming incarnate, became public in the rawest, most earthy sense.  Jesus became Man.  He was Creator now created in the womb (as David writes of God forming us in our mother's womb).  Like clay before the potter, God called to God, and the Christ-child became Word-in-flesh. Art, the product of our creative faculties, is at the center of the Christian liturgy, with its focus on incarnation at Christmas and resurrection at Easter (or Pascha).  

I am going to be taking some time to write shorter, more introspective posts on the subject of Art in the Liturgy, focusing on how aspects of the liturgy we keep inside the walls of the church can become our public work. In other words, how does our liturgy become incarnational or missional? ... more

This is like the Evangelical contemporary worship wars but on a far grander scale: The battle for liturgical propriety (HT: The Spectator via Crunchy Con) In brief:

"Many Mass-goers are unaware of the fact, but the Catholic Church in England and Wales is sliding towards civil war. A mixture of anticipation and panic is in the air. For worshippers used to the low-calorie ceremonial of Westminster Cathedral, the sight of a curial cardinal presiding over the cruelly complex rubrics of the old Missal must have been thrilling or distasteful, depending on their point of view." ... more

Some great articles related to everyday liturgy from around the web. 

This is my Low-Carb Body, Broken for You

From Out of Ur:

Skye Jethani does a great job pointing out the "individuality" evangelicals often seek in "communion."

Is Alternative Worship Becoming Prescriptive?

From Changing Worship:

One of the areas of liturgy I have been aware I need to become more aware of is alt.worship or Alternative Worship for those who aren't hip to random periods in words.  Basically, alt.worship::worship as indie rock::mainstream rock.  Many people in evangelicalism have become fed up with the cookie cutter songs all sung in the same key during worship services, so alt.worship is a concept or zietgeist that is trying to address this problem.  Alt.worship is still a vague term, and Robb brings up some good points about Alt.Worship.  Hopefully, in the coming months I will be able to research alt.worship some more and begin to write about how it fits in with an everyday liturgical lifestyle.

A Eucharistic Presence

From Christianity Today (Web Only):

Mark Galli writes a great dispatch from South Africa chronicling how churches are literally feeding the hungry.

The Belhar Confession

From: RCA website

Hat tip goes to Through a Glass Darkly for mentioning this awesome confession that "has its roots in the struggle against apartheid in Southern Africa."  I like confessions that not only affirm beliefs but also reject certain doctrines explicitly. ... more

People often write about worshiping in diversity when it comes to age, race, ethnicity, politics, etc. But what about diverse theology?

Most people assume that a church community has a unified theology, especially within denominational churches. In non-denominational churches the theology of the community is often set by leadership and tiers of theology are created, with the prescribed theology reigning and those who have theological differences are often separated or not allowed in higher leadership positions. You just don't really have an elder board of five-point Calvinists invite a person leading a small group on Arminianism to join the elder board. In most cases the person with the divergent theology is not belittled or scorned, they are just implicitly not allowed to be in a presiding role over the church.

Yet, the intended purpose of non-denominationalism is to have diversity and a loose hierarchical structure. Without specific doctrine statements on theological issues that go beyond a vague Evangelical Orthodoxy (which is usually a definition based on not being a church that is mainline, Catholic, or liberal) the non-denominational church should become more open to theological diversity within the community.

This train of thought came to me as I was reflecting on the liturgical service my non-denominational church had this past Sunday. Namely: what is happening during communion if half of the congregation is taking it as sacrament and the other half as ordinance? Is the Table divided or not ? (For my thoughts on this see my post The Table Surpasses Theology.)

So how do we worship in diverse theology? In four ways: ... more

Everyday Liturgy: When I started this blog a year and a half ago I did it in part to begin to explore ways to expand my relationship with God.  I had recently graduated from a Bible college and wanted to build on the foundation in Scriptures I had been given.  The evangelical answers, quiet time and prayer cards, no longer seemed capable of leading me further in my spiritual journey.  Bible-software, inductive study, and individual petitions no longer seemed adequate.  What role do you see "Ancient Practices" having in our technological, individualistic world?

Brian McLaren: Thom, I think you've really diagnosed a key dimension of the problem: individualism. I think our spiritual lives languish in a "Jesus and me" isolation chamber, but they become robust and deep when we realize that God calls me into an "us for all of us" way of life. To echo Paul's amazing words in Ephesians 3, I come to know the love of God "with all the saints." Knowledge in this sense is a knowing with - knowing God with people of different periods of history, different cultures, different denominations, and so on. So the ancient practices draw us into a wider, deeper way of knowing God that includes but also transcends my individual experience.

EL: One of the biggest challengers and provokers in my life has been an Eastern Orthodox friend.  Through his entrance into the Eastern Orthodox church a whole new world of spiritual practice has been opened up to him, and I have been able to see glimpses of how he is being shaped in community with God and others.  What role does community play in spiritual practice?

BM: Like your friend, I have been enriched by Eastern Orthodox practices and values. In the book I use an example - limited and flawed, admittedly - to schools of cooking. There are certain flavors that Italian cooking specializes in - and very different ones in Thai or Mexican or Indian cooking. So various spiritual traditions maintain various rich flavors of the spiritual life ... we might even say that different traditions nourish in different ways. When we enter a community, we can learn their way, discover the "ingredients" they specialize in, and be nourished by what they uniquely offer.  This becomes quite dynamic in our time, I think, because we're realizing that if you want to be nourished in evangelism, Evangelicals have a lot to offer, and if you want to be nourished in sacramentalism, you need to go to the Orthodox or Catholics or Anglicans. If you want to be nourished in peacemaking, the Mennonites carry on that tradition in a special way, and if you want to be nourished in deep Biblical study, the Presbyterians excel. I believe the time has come for us to share our treasures and specialties with one another and not try to keep our "flavor" as proprietary. We can have a big banquet and each bring our specialties to share.

More after the break...!

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The papal mass was on TV yesterday in the New York City area.  And by "on TV" I mean all of TV, as in channels 2,4,5,7,9, and 11---everything you can get with rabbit ears.  No sports, no political talk shows, not even infomercials.  Capitalism, entertainment, and politics all submitted, bowed down and gave way to the Pope and the Catholic mass at Yankee Stadium.  I thought this was simply extraordinary.  Not even the State of the Union address gets full six-channel, rabbit-ears coverage.  Time seemed to stop for the Pope, and all eyes were on Yankee Stadium not for baseball or a rock concert, but for a mass.

The mass itself was beautiful.  Before the Eucharist, prayers were offered in many languages, and the liturgy expressed the diversity found in New York City.  Every channel had an announcer and a color commentator, like they were covering the Rose Parade, yet I think that was actually a good thing.  Since the general public is naive about all things Christian, the commentators had to explain everything in great detail, including the doctrine of substantiation, why gifts are displayed before the pope, the significance of the bread and wine, the liturgical significance of prayer, the role of incense, etc.  All the Sunday afternoon TV viewers, so accustomed to old sci-fi flicks or Mets games, were funneled into the worship of thousands of people.

What a sight: thousands of people partaking in communion, and this receiving far more attention than baseball or the president for that matter. 

I was so encouraged by seeing the gospel displayed before all, not in fancy rhetoric or fiery preaching, but in the sacraments and song.  That is truly Christ proclaimed.  In the flesh, so to speak... ... more

The blog Between the Two Worlds has a post questioning whether we should really call it "quiet time" from guest blogger David Powlison, on how quiet times should really be full of noise: our relationship with God.

Pastor William Weedon shares on his blog about the relief that comes from returning to a consistent liturgy after all the services changes that comes with the Easter season.

Adrian Worsfold writes in the Episcopal Café in an essay Liturgy, Culture, and Transcendence about how liturgy is transcendent because it uses the images of the past in the foreign world we find in the present. ... more