Introduction to Christian Worship by James F. White

Well, I don't have a clue how to do a review, and while I might say something about what I learned and what I think about the book at the end I'm mostly going to summarize it for my own benefit. I read this book originally for Seminary, though I think I skimmed most of it and I don't remember much, so I thought this would be a way that I can read it more indepth, interact with it and what I have read elsewhere, and hopefully remember what it says better. This'll be in several parts so that no one post is super long, and I will probably be quoting a lot because I don't feel like being in school again and having to try to figure out how to say the same thing in different words when I think how he puts it is pretty clear already.

Chapter 1: What Do We Mean By "Christian Worship"?

Dr. White chooses to mainly approach defining Christian Worship by describing what Christians do when they come together for worship, and he will be describing "the devlopment, theology, and use of actual structures or services." (pg. 22) Secondly he will also explore definitions of greater abstraction, and thirdly he will "examine some of the key words Christians choose most often to express what they experience as worship." These things are consistent aspects of Christian worship throughout the history of the Church, despite many changes in world culture and how the Christian Church functions in it.

When describing what happens in Christian Worship, it is helpful to look at structures and services to describe the forms in which Christians operate. Structures are things like the calendar which organizes a year's worship, which begins in the New Testament with a sense of having a weekly structure of time, and then annual calendars commemorating events that are important to the Christian community (Christmas, Easter, etc.), and there have also been daily schedules of public and private prayer developed in some communities. Dr. White will be looking at these more closely in Chapter 2, and in Chapter 3 he will be looking at the structures which shelter and enable Christian worship (things such as buildings, furnishings, etc.).

Services, then, are the actual gatherings of believers, and these take place daily (chap. 4) and weekly "service of the word" (chap. 5). Then there are other occasional services - baptism (and confirmation) to mark the "initiation" of outsiders becoming a believer (chap. 7), the Eucharist or Lord's Supper (chap. 8), and then a variety of pastoral rites which mark life's journey, such as services for healing and weddings, (chap. 9).

Rich Mullins - In Memory

I wrote this Monday, and saved it as a draft so that on Wednesday (the anniversary of Rich's passing away) I could simply tell it to post. Well, Wednesday came and went and I completely forgot. So, here it is, two days late. On another note, I'm saddened by the guilty verdict that came out yesterday against Floyd Landis, because I believe that he won the 2006 Tour de France cleanly and fairly. They just didn't want to have another American win, and they allowed a clearly incompetent lab bungle the testing without having them properly back up their test results. If you are interested and want to read up on it, go to either Floyd's website or to the Trust But Verify blog.




Well, it's been 10 years since the passing of an amazing poet, songwriter, and lover of Jesus, Rich Mullins. His influence on the Christian music world is still felt - more than a typical ripple of a rock being thrown in a pond. More like a tsunami, but not in a destructive way, but an amazingly long-lasting way for better honesty and craft in songwriting.


Just a couple of weeks ago I had the most amazing image in my mind of Rich jammin' up in heaven with the likes of J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, John Newton, Felix Mendelssohn, Asaph, and King David. Just imagine what they talked about, how they fellowshipped with one another, and then Jesus is right there being so wonderfully glorified! I hope I get to hang out with them someday, and actually when I read the Psalms and these others' hymn lyrics and play their music I think in some ways I am able to know them a little even this side of heaven. Much of a person's soul comes out in the music and words that they write.


God, I know you wanted Rich up there to be with you, but we sure do miss him down here.

Okay, okay, I finally got around to fixing the blog...

Way back I switched to the new template on Blogger, and said that I would put back on the banner and fix my blogroll and all... Here it has been 5 months and I've finally gotten around to doin' it. Story of my life.

Anyhoo, now I got some linky love goin' on, with a blogroll that is not comprehensive (I use Bloglines) but at least representative. Same goes for the music selections. I might figure out how to do the whole "ipod shuffled" playlist thing sometime.

Doing this was mostly because I wanted to figure out how to put my LibraryThing catalog on here, now that I've gotten almost all of my books in there. There are a few missing, but I'm quite sure that you are going to think that I'm really bizarre in my tastes of reading material. Remember a few things: some stuff was required reading in Seminary and College, and some is just because I need to be able to let my mind escape the real world for awhile. I'll get the ratings hooked up as I have time to recollect what I thought when I read the book the first time, and/or to actually read the book! :-)

Oh, yeah! I forgot that I gotta stick on here my Facebook page link. Hmmm...that'll have to do for now until I figure out how to add it in the sidebar. If anyone out there that might actually take a gander at this, I'm really just a pathetic amateur that only knows enough HTML to be dangerous, but not to make it look really good and behave properly. If you'd like to help me out, I'd much appreciate it!

God speaking directly to my heart

I just started last night Ruth Myers' 31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew for my nightly devotional time. What was really weird is that I just did lesson one of the homework in Beth Moore's Believing God online bible study and it had questions about what I challenges I have and how does God speak to them. Wow, did God answer on the first day of praise! She takes the Scripture noted at the end of each paragraph, and combines similar messages and ideas and personalizes the pronouns so that it is directly reading what God is saying to me (as the reader/listener). She encourages readers to look up the actual Scriptures and write in the margins any additional things that spoke to them, and to underline in the prayer whatever stood out. I practically underlined the whole thing! I thought someone might really be encouraged by it too, so here it is:

My heart rejoices in You, Lord, for You are my strong shelter in times of trouble and danger and stress, my hiding place to whom I may continually resort...my Father who lovingly provides for me...my Shepherd who guides and protects me...my Champion who upholds my cause as His child and defends my interests...my Bridegroom who delights in me...my God who is mighty to save, who rests in His love for me and rejoices over me with singing, with shouts of joy. You are my inheritance, my share in life, the One who satisfies my longing soul and fills my hungry soul with goodness. (Ps. 27:5, 71:3, 91:1-2; Matt. 6:25-26; Ps. 23:1-3; Is. 62:5b; Zeph. 3:17-18; Ps. 16:5-6, 107:9)

I praise You for Your love and Your wisdom. You are too wise to ever make a mistake, too loving to ever do anything unkind. You act on my behalf, accomplishing what concerns me and fulfilling Your purpose for me as I call on You. Thank You that You love me deeply and tenderly. You are compassionate and gracious, full of lovingkindness, ready to forgive, patiently considerate, and generous beyond imagining. You desire my love and rejoice to do good things for me. You delight to give me the desires of my heart as I delight myself in You. How precious is Your love to me, O God! I sing for joy as I take refuge in the shadow of Your wings! (Ps. 57:2, 138:8, 86:5, 103:8; Matt. 22:37; Jer. 32:41; Ps. 37:4, 36:7, 63:7)

Chrysalis

What an amazing weekend, with 50 beautiful women!