We have just finished an amazing 4 day “Worship Artisan” course with 12 worship leaders in Huddersfield, UK, and today will be leading a What Is Worship? conference in Bury St. Edmunds near Cambridge. Pictures will follow over on our www.TheWorshipArtisan.com site.

There are a number of churches gathering, and it would be a great gift to have you praying that our time would be unveiling, renewing, empowering and transforming for the various denominations coming. We dive deep into biblical, theological, cultural and creative views of worship, and our times are always a rich time of teaching, dialogue, ministry and musical worship.

Again, thanks friends.

Today, our FY100 students engaged with Kathryn Scott via video chat (iChat), as she and her 6 interns met with us and our 15 students. We shared in small group sessions, and as usual, Kathryn led us in a rich time of soul searching as lead worshipers.

Her topic was The Motivation Of The Worship Leader, and we opened up our souls to examining the motives the lead us as we care, lead, create, serve and challenge others. It was a wonderful session, and Kathryn’s humility and wisdom shines through into the hearts of students on both sides of the Atlantic.

As well, we looked into the basic foundations of Christian worship, tapping into the creative impulse of God in Genesis 1, resulting not only in the created order, but also in the flower of creation - humankind.

This week our students respond in 250 words or so, how they interacted with the ideas presented today, and the experience of shared learning with our Northern Irish friends.

If you’re not in the class, feel free to interact with our students.

Does it need to be lined up? What if we made one side one way, and the other side another - congruous and connected, yet unique from two different vantage points.

Asymmetry is apparently very useful in the biological world - a fiddler crab has one big claw, and one small claw, for unique tasks. The human face is different on every human being on the left and right side, a human lung is bigger on the left side than the right to make room for the asymmetrical heart, and so on.

The following car design premiered in Frankfurt (I’m no big car fan, I add) is one of the first asymmetrical vehicle designs I’ve seen (though it’s simply cosmetic in the front), and it feels as though it provides a simple metaphor for the Church.

We don’t need to all line up like a fine row of chess pawns. It is more than okay, even preferred, that we look different from different angles, that we are actually different from different angles, and yet are clearly a part of the same whole.

Asymmetrical Car Design.

The new book I’ve written for has just come out on Amazon for pre-sale. Views on liturgical, traditional evangelical, blended worship, contemporary worship and emerging worship are expressed by each of us, and then we respond to one another’s chapters.

It’s been a great process of heart-searching and soul-bending.

Amazon.com: Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views: Books: J. Matthew Pinson

I greatly appreciate Prof. John Stackhouse’s blog. He put a post up that I just had to challenge. Enjoy the fray. Thanks to Heidi Turner for the heads up.

Jesus, I Am NOT In Love With You

Good friends Brian Doerksen and Phil Janz recently recreated a worship favorite of Brian’s, Light The Fire Again, in a fresh arrangement.

For the Arrangement and Musicality class we run here at the Institute, this is a good entry point to some of the thinking that goes into refreshing an approach to a song. It’s also good to see the boys just loving what they do.

I also see this song as having ongoing longevity in the emerging Church world, given it’s biblical strength and expressed passion.

Here’s a little piece from Paul McCartney that illustrates the breakdown of band arranging. He puts a track together in front of an audience; a helpful arranging illustration.

Sent in by good friend from Scotland and guitarist Graeme Campbell.

We’ve just begun a new section of our Institute website that features Emerging Worship Songs.

Today, we’ve posted a hymn I’ve written, entitled Love Of God Revealed. I began writing this piece some years ago, but have now finished.

The demos are simple and very rough, but enough to give a good feel for the song. Feel free to use it in your context if it feels like a fit and will serve the worship life of your community.

Here’s our blurb from the site on what we’re doing:

Beginning, October 1, 2008, here you will begin to find emerging worship songs, born out of the Institute’s vision to embed rich theology in the context of contemporary worship music. Newly written hymns, and fresh renderings of ancient prayers and perspectives will meet with the energies of the modern worship expression in simple, acoustic demos.

Songs for Church Seasons and Events, such as:
Advent
Christmas
Epiphany
Lent And The Passion
Easter (6 weeks)
Ordinary Time (Gospels and wider biblical stories and themes)
Eucharist
Baptism
Marriage

Songs On Emerging Church Themes, such as:
Creational Theology
Ancient Wisdom
Missional Church
Cosmic Redemption
Personal And Corporate Salvation

Check in October 1 for fresh creations-with-a-mission flowing from our community.

We’re hosting another FreeFall night of worship for the churches (and others) in our area, tomorrow night. We try to embrace all the goodness found in the contemporary worship dynamic, and join it with tastes of liturgy, including invocation, eucharist and more.

We also have art tables for adults and kids, beautiful lighting, and more.

Then, we end with a 1 hour StompFest. It gets a little crazy - but we sleep well.

Here’s the event on Facebook:

Facebook | Freefall

For my guitar playing friends…

I usually don’t care about these tools, but on occasion I need to know a chord shape quickly, and this little free, online tool can help you grab a chord - or mess with new voicings.

Chordbook.Com - Guitar Chords

I’d like to introduce you to our fantastic Institute One Year Diploma students. They’ll be answering the question below:

Why are you here at St. Stephen’s University and the Institute? What is motivating you to pursue this study in Worship and Spiritual Formation?

The Pyromaniacs are at it again.

A bit of a “stark” bunch of guys, questioning everything and possibly spinning their faith wheels and providing mud for others to spin in, but their graphics and scathing wit must be complimented.

They play mockery with the Emergent movement, even more missional Church ideas, but in a way that is graphically playful and at moments, “punch you in the gut” accurate.

In the spirit of “we learn as much from what we disagree with as from what we agree with,” visit these verbal/graphic pummeljacks.

It’s not a site for the faint of mind, but if you’re thinking about the state of the Church in a postmodern world, you may appreciate their provocative little world.

Pyromaniacs

One of my favorite authors and literary mentors, Madeleine L’Engle, has died.

Author of my favorite children’s books series (with A Wrinkle In Time, A Wind In The Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, etc.), she has touched the minds and hearts of both myself and my children through the years.

Her reflections on faith and creativity, Walking On Water, may be the book that single-handedly moved me toward what I do today as an artist and creative leader. We use this book in our Institute Masters program.

Here is her official site, MadeleineL’Engel.com

Here is the news item:

News On Madeleine

We will miss you, Madeleine. May the doors of heaven open to you more gloriously than any of the pictures you painted with words.

You’ve been an artful Healer and Tender Of Souls, a Raiser Of Imaginations and Blender Of Worlds. Thank you for giving us your very best.

I close this post with a quote of Madeleine’s that I have shared around with the world. It continues to express many of my own ideas on human origins, the dance of worship, and the journey of the human soul through time.

“I can’t wait until I remember how to walk on water.”
Madeleine L’Engle

I’m very interested in the work that this site, Y-Origins.com, is doing. Is anyone familiar with their work in intelligent design, or their magazine?

Y-Origins Connection :: Intelligent Design For Everyone

Here is another site I found; a bit clumsy (well, deadly) graphically, but seems to have some useful information and thinking churning around.

Origins

SSU is in full swing, and our One Year Program is off to a great start. I’ll do introductions in a blog post soon.

You can almost see the fire in these young, passionate lead worshipers - it’s a gift to work with them for a year.

More later.