ast week, I attended the 2009 General Assembly of my denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. This year’s assembly was held in sunny Orlando, Florida at the Coronado Hotel and Convention Center at Walt Disney World. (It’s worth pointing out that the choice of Disney World was made several years ago, long before anyone thought that we might be in a recession. It’s unfortunate that during trying financial times for many churches the assembly was held at a resort but the choice of venues was coincidental.)

I’ll reflect more on individual worship services over the next few days but, for now, a few general comments:

• Joe Novenson of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian outside of Chattanooga did a wonderful job serving as our worship leader (note: in this context, worship leader is not the same as music leader). Every word that he said seemed to be drenched in pastoral love for all gathered.
• Despite one commissioner’s comments insulting Central Florida (in a misguided attempt to be funny), the Central Florida Presbytery did a wonderful job of hosting and of putting the worship services together. Central Florida is a model for the rest of the denomination of what a healthy, church-planting presbytery looks like. I don’t think there’s another presbytery with such a commitment to planting churches in every neighborhood and town of their region. (Would that every presbytery had that commitment!)
• The setup of the room was such that the pulpit was a lectern, flanked by tables with Roberts’ Rules of Order and timekeeper placards, etc. It was an unfortunate bit of symbolism that we were a court before we were a congregation.
• The testimonies were wonderful reminders of God’s faithfulness in lots of different situations.
• In such a large hall, we had phasing problems. Meaning, there was a delay between when the organ played and when the congregation sang. As such, hymns tended to drag (through no fault of the organist).
• Everyone gathered did a good job of singing.

Finally, a brief word concerning some of the criticism that I’ve read online. I will not link to the source(s) but I’ll address some of their concerns. There was a complaint that General Assembly corporate worship was “schizophrenic”; that it was a hodge-podge of lots of different currents within the denomination and was, therefore, poorly led. I could not disagree more. There was a tremendous breadth of music in the assembly, but that breadth was representative of the different congregations within the assembly and within the presbytery. I’ll remark on the individual worship services in a few days but, overall, I was thankful for the variety of expressions. If commissioners were uncomfortable with the mostly contemporary instrumentation, that’s more of a reflection on the age and tastes of the commissioners than a reflection of the denomination as a whole. We have a wide array of styles and expressions of worship and a wide array of musical genres and instruments utilized within the denomination. That’s a great thing. In fact, it’s one of the areas of diversity within our denomination that we can point to and say, “Yes! We do things in different ways but we worship the same Lord!” A General Assembly that reflects that is a good thing.

Tags: General Christian Worship // 5 Comments »

kye Jethani asks whether we are that different from the Crusaders in his new book, The Divine Commodity:

When Christians with a consumer consciousness try to wrap their imaginations around such a large undertaking [as the Great Commission], they will automatically think about products or corporations that have impacted the world and emulate the same methodologies. So we ask, how does Coca-Cola impact the world? How does Disney impact the world? How does Starbucks impact the world? And we forget to ask the only question that really matters: How does Jesus impact the world?

We have incorrectly made the scale of our methods conform to the scale of our mission. We have assumed that the magnitude of the ends should be proportional to the magnitude of the means. And in the process we’ve revealed how captivated our imaginations really are to consumerism. Gregory Boyd points out the error: “We are to transform the world. That’s the call. But the way you do it from a kingdom perspective is very different from the way you do it from the world’s perspective.”
…
We may not use the sword to advance the church’s mission anymore, but the sword is no longer the conventional instrument of power and influence. Today the church emulates the methods of corporations and business, and most of us never pause and ask whether such tactics are consistent with the ways of Christ. Like the Crusaders, we seem content to leave such judgments for future generations whose vision will be sharpened by history.

Skye Jethani, The Divine Commodity, page 169.

Tags: Contextualization, General Christian Worship, Hype // 1 Comment »

n page 151 of The Divine Commodity, Skye Jethani writes:

Hospitality was never about changing oneself to fit the desires and expectations of the guest, but rather about loving and honoring the guest by welcoming her into the reality of one’s life and community with open arms. But this view has been radically changed in our consumer culture. Today, the goal of hospitality has become making the best possible impression upon a guest even if that impression is a false one. We do not wish for guests to see us as we really are, but as we wish we were. The goal is to keep their attention fixed on the commodified goods and experiences that form he façades of our lives.

In my congregation, I have recently been put in charge of organizing and directing our community groups. Over the summer, one of my goals is to think through this idea of biblical hospitality in light of how we open our homes to one another, especially those whom we might not initially commune with, for whatever reason.

Chapter 8, “Around the Table” is a great primer on hospitality – one that I will be quoting from when I instruct our leaders in how to be hospitable. Hospitality is a welcome weapon against the consumer christianity of our time.

Tags: Contextualization, General Christian Worship, Hype // Add Comment »

n The Divine Commodity, Skye Jethani writes:

These pastors [who encourage church leaders to "embrace entertainment"], representative of so many contemporary Christians, believe that God changes lives through the commodification and consumption of experiences. If our worship gatherings are energetic, stimulating, and exciting enough then people will attend, receive what’s being communicated, and be spiritually transformed. The justification for this approach is simple – people won’t come to a church that’s boring. And what qualifies as boring is defined by our consumer/experience economy. But the moment we believe transformation occurs via external experiences, the emphasis of the ministry must adjust accordingly. Manufacturing experiences and meticulously controlling staged environments become the means for advancing Christ’s mission. And the role of the pastor, once imagined as a shepherd tending a flock, now conjures images of a circus ringmaster shouting, “Come one, come all, to the greatest show on earth!” In Consumer Christianity, the shepherd becomes a showman.

Skye Jethani, The Divine Commodity, page 75.

This is one of the dangers of the attractional church. Even if the attractional model is a legitimate one, we run the risk of simply providing worship experiences rather than worship services. We turn the preaching of the scriptures into a product that has to be packaged just the right way to make sure people come back. We are tempted to ask questions like, “do the sacraments scare people away?” It is a dangerous cycle.

Tags: Contextualization, General Christian Worship, Hype // 2 Comments »

kye Jethani’s recent book, The Divine Commodity, has been a welcome read concerning the stranglehold that consumer christianity has over most of us in the American church, even (and especially) those of us who disavow it.

Over the next week, I’ll be posting a few quotes from the book that helped me to think through the issue of consumer christianity and how to combat it.

Tags: Contextualization, General Christian Worship, Hype // Add Comment »

ere is a hymn of John of Damascus (circa 6th century) for Easter:

Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness.
‘Tis the spring of souls today:
Christ hath burst His prison
And from three days’ sleep in death
As a sun hath risen.

Now the queen of seasons, bright
with the day of splendor,
with the royal feast of feasts,
comes its joy to render;
comes to glad Jerusalem,
who with true affection
welcomes in unwearied strains
Jesus’ resurrection.

Neither might the gates of death,
nor the tomb’s dark portal,
nor the watchers, nor the seal
hold thee as a mortal:
but today amidst the twelve
thou didst stand, bestowing
that thy peace which evermore
passeth human knowing.

Alleluia now we cry
to our King Immortal,
who triumphant burst the bars
of the tomb’s dark portal;
alleluia, with the Son
God the Father praising;
alleluia yet again
to the Spirit raising.

Tags: Church Year, Hymns // Add Comment »