Saturday, March 27, 2010

Worship: Week Four

Last week's discussion focused on worship in the hymns and songs we sing. An article in the Good News issue of worship, spoke directly to this with a discussion of Colossians 3:16.

"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another, in all wisdom, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

The Lutheran Study Bible has a great commentary on this verse:

"Songs conveyed some of the Bible's greatest teachings. Great expressions of joy and thankfulness naturally flow from the rich doctrine of Christ." The discussion continues with words from Martin Luther in his Large Catechism. "Certainly you will not release a stronger incense or other repellent against the devil than to be engaged by God's commandments and words, and speak, sing or think them."

In his book, The Fire and the Staff, Reverend Klemet Preus said that the confusion and conflict over hymns and songs can be quelled with the question, "What does the hymn teach?" Using this as a springboard for discussion we analyzed several songs through the lens of what they taught.


"Salvation unto Us Has Come"
Salvation unto us has come

By God’s free grace and favor;
Good works cannot avert our doom,
They help and save us never.
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,
Who did for all the world atone;
He is our one redeemer.

Since Christ has full atonement made
And brought to us salvation,
Each Christian there-fore may be glad
And build on this foundation.
Your grace alone, dear Lord, I plead,
Your death is now my life indeed,
For you have paid my ransom.
Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone
And rests in him unceasing;
And by its fruits true faith is known,
With love and hope increasing.
For faith alone can justify;
Works serve our neighbor and supply
The proof that faith is living.
Contrast what is taught in the previous hymn to the popular praise song, "I offer my Life" by Claire Cloniger

All that I am, all that I have
I lay them down before you, oh Lord
All my regrets, all my acclaims
The joy and the pain, I'm making them yours
(Chorus)
Lord, I offer my life to you
Everything I've been through
Use it for your glory
Lord I offer my days to you
Lifting my praise to you
As a pleasing sacrifice
Lord I offer you my life

The first hymn clearly teaches Christ crucified for us. The second clearly teaches what the Christian does.


Molly Hemingway, a regular contributor to the web page Brothers of John the Steadfast had this recent post. She writes...

"I came across this fantastic quote:

'We must take note also of a most deplorable tendency of our times, namely, that of preferring the shallow modern “Gospel anthem” to the classical hymns of our Church. The reference is both to the text and to the tunes in use in many churches. On all sides the criticism is heard that the old Lutheran hymns are “too heavy, too doctrinal; that our age does not understand them.” Strange that the Lutherans of four centuries and of countless languages could understand and appreciate them, even as late as a generation ago! Is the present generation less intelligent or merely more frivolous?'

"When was this written? Back in June 1929. (Source: Paul E. Kretzmann, Magazin für evang.-luth. Homiletik und Pastoraltheologie [June 1929], pp. 216-217)
"Perhaps it should make me sad that confessional Lutherans have been fighting these battles for so long but, for some reason, it makes me hopeful. I think sometimes we think things used to be great and now they’re awful. In fact, I think that we’ve always had people in our midst who didn’t appreciate our Lutheran identity. And sometimes I think things are actually better now than they have been in recent memory.
In any case, a blessed Holy Week to everyone."

Excellent point then and an excellent point for today.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Worship: Week Three


"With Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs...let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you." Colossians 3:16


During this week's discussion on Worship, based on issue 24 of Good News, we'll examine the "Word of Christ richly dwelling within us" in the hymns we sing. What applications does this have for praise songs and contemporary worship?


Here are some sources you can examine on your own discussing this topic.:


Emotions and Praise Worship: This is a post by Scott Diekmann from Puyallup, WA

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Worship: Week Two

March 14:
This week's focus on worship takes us to Matthew 17:5 and Psalm 27:4. Both passages show God's active work in worship and our passive role.

"The service and worship of the gospel is to receive good things from God, while the worship of the law is to offer and present goods to God. We cannot offer anything to God unless we have first been reconciled and reborn. the greatest possible comfort comes from this doctrine [that is, teaching] that the highest worship in the gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness...the Father says (Matthew 17:5) "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him"' (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV:310)

During Matthew's account of the Transfiguration of Christ we see Peter's desire to do contrasted with God's actions and desires for Peter:
Matthew 17: The Transfiguration
1After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
5While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"


Immediately, Peter wanted do something and immediately God spoke his desire for Peter, "This is my beloved Son...Listen to Him." There is no need to build three tabernacles. There is no need to sing louder. There is no need to do anything except "Listen".

"Through this listening, God's powerful and living Word does a great work in you
(I Thessalonians 2:13), producing good fruit such as singing, praying, giving an offering and serving your neighbor" (Good News. 14)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Welcome to the Other Room


Here are some interesting articles and podcasts that discuss the elements of worship. During our four weeks in March we will learn more about worship and what makes it God-pleasing.

Papers on Worship.

What's the Use of Praising God? by John W. Kleinig

Reverend Todd Wilken, host of Issues, Etc. wrote an essay entitled, "Playing the Pharisse Card".
Here's one excerpt that references part of his dicussion on worship:
Today, the label “Pharisee” is applied to many Christians just like me—perhaps you’re one of them. We are Christians who cherish God’s Word, the Church’s historic Creeds, confessions and practices. When we see the Church abandoning these things to follow the latest fads and entertainments, we lament. When we see the Gospel itself being left behind in the Church’s rush to mimic popular culture, we are grieved. And when we question the Church’s infatuation with the spirit of the age, we are labeled Pharisees.


Podcasts: Listen to these radio broadcasts from Issues, Etc.

Contemporary worship with Dr. Paul Grime. Wait until you hear Rick Warren's definition of worship. Reverend Todd Wilken uses a quote from Warren's The Purpose Driven Life to reveal what we don't offer to God in worship. Dr. Grime joined the Concordia Theological Seminary faculty in the fall of 2007. In 1996, Dr. Grime accepted a call to serve as Executive Director for the LCMS Commission on Worship in St. Louis. He serves as Dean of the Chapel and teaches in the Pastoral Ministry and Missions department. This discussion was a broadcast on Issues, Etc.

Listen to John W. Kleinig discuss his thoughts on the proper praise of God on a recent Issues Etc. broadcast.

The influence of church growth on worship: Issues, Etc.

Dr. Arthur Just of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana discusses worship and how Christ is present in the Means of Grace that we experience during worship.

No, Luther did not use bar music to create his hymns. Listen to this program on Media Player and hit the 19:00 mark to hear this discussion.

Excerpt from a daily devotion by Reverend Scott Murray:

The following excerpt is from a daily devotiona by Reverend Scott Murray of Memorial Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.
"God Doesn't Want Our Praise"
Confession of St. Peter18 January 2010

One of the most troubling confusions that has arisen in the life of the church is that her worship service is for God's benefit. The result of this confusion is that there has been a dumbing down in worship forms, so that congregations are now singing "praise" music, in which the worshipper tells God that "I (!) just lift Your name on high" just way too many times. Here I am not speaking especially of musical forms, but rather the reduction of meaning from liturgical and hymn texts. Such reductionism makes sense on the false presupposition that God is the one who benefits from our worship. If worship is our offering to God there is no need for a deeply or theologically complete expression of the faith for God's benefit. It would be telling God what He already knows far better than we do. Such expressions of faith would be akin to explaining in excruciating detail to a master chef a recipe that he himself has written. Instead, we would be inclined to express our admiration of the chef with prosaic praise, "you are a great chef!" So it is for worship generated to please God, "God, You are really great. No, really, really great!" Worship is not for God's benefit at all. What is it that we humans could possibly offer to the holy God that He could need or desire to receive from us sinners? He does not desire sacrifice from us. Then what is worship for? Worship is for the benefit of the worshipers. The Lutheran Confessions consistently say that worship is to teach the people what they need to know about Christ (AC 23, 9). The worship service is the delivery point at which God serves His people by offering Himself to them in the Word of God. He delivers Himself to them in the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, through which they are absolved and thus set free from sin and death. He desires not our worship, but He desires with a passionate intensity that we hear what He is doing for us in the service; which is His to us, not ours to Him. He offers the food of His Word that we might eat and live (Is 55), not that we might tell Him what a great cook He is. Since worship is for us its theological adequacy and completeness are central to its usefulness. We are to learn of God's compassion and in learning of it to be set in its midst. The service must ever be the justifying God's to us, never ours to Him. If worship is God's service to us, the impact on worship texts and hymns is immediately apparent. They must be adequate expressions of the faith. They must be confessions of Christian truth in its fullness sung by the church both for her edification and for the instruction of those who know not this God without this confession. "Praise" choruses will never do this. God desires our worship for our justification in His presence. Our sacrifice of praise must be theologically adequate to God's desire to give Himself to us. God doesn't want our praise. He wants us to be justified in His presence

Prayer
Lord Christ, You have told us that You desire not our sacrifices. Lead us to be emptied of ourselves in repentance and contrition that Your Word would dwell among us richly in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Continue to give us Yourself through the Word, that we being justified by Your speaking, might ever more adequately say back to You what You have already said to us. Amen. For Verena Stehling, that God the Lord would be with her in her suffering For Jackie Alexander, that the Lord Jesus would give her strength as she continues therapy for cancer For all the catechumens of Memorial Lutheran Church, that they would set their hearts at rest in the peace of Christ

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