For all you Psalms Aficionados out there...
Isaac Everett just launched the Emergent Psalter podcast. Listen to the first episode here. There is a book coming out later this year and I am excited to see where this all goes.
Bruce Benedict is working on a Psalms-of-Ascents project with some help from the Calvin Institute of Worship. Stay tuned at www.cardiphonia.com. He is doing some writing with Brian T. Murphy. Good stuff is bound to happen.
Last week I had the privilege of leading worship for the CIVA Bienniel Conference at Bethel University in Minneapolis. The theme of the conference was the question of culture and speakers included Miroslav Volf, Mako Fujimura & Cam Anderson. This was my first time to a CIVA conference and I was blessed to meet so many gifted artists. This was a diverse bunch of believers so I drew from many different Christian traditions in order to plan worship.
Thursday Night
As so many had traveled from so far to be at the conference I decided to read the Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot. As artists we often deal with the in-between-places of the faith so I sang Here In Between, a hymn I wrote for Holy Saturday, as an introduction to our time together.
Friday Morning
Call to Worship - Psalm 126.
Jesus Calls Us Here To Meet Him (first 3 verses by John L. Bell)
Leader: We bow before You and pray to You, O good and loving God.
ALL: Hear our supplication: cleanse our souls and bodies from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and grant that we may stand before Your holy altar without blame or condemnation.
Leader: Grant also, O God, progress in life, faith, and spiritual discernment to the faithful who pray with us, so that they may always worship You with reverence and love, partake of Your Holy Mysteries without blame or condemnation, and become worthy of Your heavenly kingdom.
ALL: And grant that always guarded by Your power we may give glory to You, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen. - from the Divine Liturgy Wait For The Lord (Taize)
Reading – Genesis 11:1-9
Silent Prayer & Reflection (The Very Top by Jeremy Mangan)
This Is Our God (Tomlin)
In Christ Alone (Getty/Townend)
The Death of Death (Athanasius as translated by Scott Cairns)
Friday Night
I led a Compline service with Bobby Gross from the Book of Common Prayer with the music:
Irish Alleluia (Proulx)
Bless the Lord (Taize)
Gloria Patri (Eck)
Saturday Morning
Call to Worship – Colossians 1:15-20
In The Morning from Psalm 5 (Moss)
Come, Holy Spirit (Bell)
Reading – Exodus 14:21-31
Silent Prayer & Reflection(Light by Sandra Bowden)
Poor Wayfaring Stranger (Spiritual)
Exodus 15 (Moss)
A Prayer (Basil as translated by Scott Cairns)
Sunday Morning (Commissioning Service based on Psalm 145)
WORSHIP: Acknowledging God’s Greatness
Invitation to enter the Lord’s presence
Silent Confession
8The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9The LORD is good to all, and his
compassion is over all that he has made.
1I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2Every day I will bless you,
and praise your name forever and ever.
3Great is the LORD, and greatly to be
praised; his greatness is unsearchable.
In The Lord (Taize)
TESTIMONY: Speaking of God’s Goodness
4One generation shall laud your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, we will meditate.
6The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
and we will declare your greatness.
7We shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Brief words: How have you encountered God at this conference
OFFERING: Giving Ourselves for God’s Glory
10All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
and all your faithful shall bless you.
11They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
and tell of your power,
12to make known to all people your* mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your* kingdom.
13Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
Personal Reflection: How will you respond to God as you leave this conference?
Collect: Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory
and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the
earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service
of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in
truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of
him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Be Thou My Vision (Byrne/Hull)
BENEDICTION: Departing in God’s Grace
21Our mouths will speak the praise of the LORD,
and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
My journey at Regent College is officially underway. For two weeks I studied the New Testament's use of the Old Testament with Rikk Watts. This past week I studied T.S. Eliot with Maxine Hancock. I also began my work as the Worship and Music Director at Regent College. I have had the privilege of leading in worship with Marva Dawn, Jim Houston, Tim Botts and many other incredible speakers. With so much new information being fed into my brain it would be easy for me to try and regurgitate for you all of my new found "wisdom". However, I will spare you from what would surely be a painful summary.
I will say that these first two classes have only confirmed for me why I believe I'm supposed to be at Regent. To go from studying the Bible intensively for two weeks and then switch gears to studying T.S. Eliot was not the seismic shift I thought it would be. Of course, I should not have been surprised by this; so much of Scripture is poetry. Conversely, T.S. Eliot drew on many sources for his work including the Bible. So far I have begun research for two papers. First, the Psalms in the New Testament (particularly the lament psalms in the passion narratives). Second, T.S. Eliot's use of the Old Testament (particularly his use of Ezekiel 36-37). I am excited about working on both of these papers at the same time. While T.S. Eliot is not the inspired word of God he was certainly inspired by the word of God. Both require proper exegesis.
From Eliot's own notes we know that the following lines in The Waste Land were drawn from Ezekiel 2:7:
What are the roots that clutch, what branches
grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you
know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives
no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water.
Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red
rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning
striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you
fear in a handful of dust.
...the loss of Christian devotion?
Dr. Jim Houston asked this question last night during an Evening Public Lecture at Regent College. Houston spoke primarily on three points. 1) We recover the Psalms when we recover the Scriptures for, and within, our own lives. 2) Jesus and the apostles used the Psalms "prophetically" to give us a Christian Psalter. 3) Without the communion of the saints, we remain shallow in our appreciation of the Psalms.
In an effort to expand our appreciation of the effect the communion of saints has had on our understanding of the Psalms, Dr. Houston surveyed the work of Athanasius, Bede, and Calvin (yes, conveniently A, B & C). In Athanasius' letter to Marcellinus (I recently blogged about this letter here) we see the Psalms as a sort of micro-bible. In Bede we see a monk who lived a liturgical life and found great comfort in the "hedgehog spirituality" of Psalm 104:18. (If you are praying the psalms then you are protected.) In John Calvin we were presented with the greatest commentator on the Psalms. (Although I think Augustine may have the edge here...and Augustine didn't even know Hebrew!)
Where the lecture got really interesting was when Dr. Houston boldly suggested that Isaac Watts was a major player in the downfall of the use of the Psalter in our time. For this, Houston was leaning on the work of William Romaine:
"I have no quarrel with Dr. Watts, or any living or dead versifier. I would not wish all their poems burnt. My concern is to see Christian congregations shut out divinely inspired psalms, and take in Dr. Watts' flights of fancy; as if the words of a poet were better than the words of a prophet or as if the wit of a man was to be preferred to the wisdom of God. When the church is met together in one place, the Lord God has made a provision for their songs of praise - a large collection, and great variety - and why should not these be used in the church according to God's express appointment? I speak not of private people, or of private singing; but of the church in its public service. Why should the provision which God has made be so far despised, as to become quite out of use? Why should Dr. Watts, or any hymnmaker not only take the precedence of the Holy Ghost, but also thrust him entirely out of the church? Insomuch that the rhymes of a man are now magnified above the word of God, even to the annihilating of it in many congregations. If this be right, men and brethren, judge ye. Examine with candor the evidence, which has determined my judgment, so far as it is conclusive may it determine yours."
- from An essay on psalmody by Wlliam Romaine. (p. 112-113)
As one who has spent some time versifying the psalter I most definitely took note! It is important here to remember the context of the work of Dr. Watts. He was working at a time when exclusive psalmody was the norm and he was introducing a new form into worship. While Watts' work certainly helped lead the movement away from exclusive psalmody I would not say that he, or his "flights of fancy", led to the downfall of the psalter...
...for that we must point the finger at ourselves.
If we are to reclaim the psalter in Christian worship then we must be committed to doing so. Scriptural songs should never direct us away from Scripture but back to it. They are not a replacement. But that should not stop us from examining "with candor the evidence". For those of us who plan worship we need to be regularly asking ourselves how we incorporate the psalter in our worship.
Dr Houston closed his lecture with the following five points:
1) Embrace the Psalms in your own personal prayer life. (But know that you are never alone when doing so.)
2) Be inspired by the energies of worship within the Psalms.
3) Be aware that the Psalms are replete with the presence of God.
4) The Psalms show us that our conversion as the children of God, is not a once-for-all experience, as we might think, but a daily process.
5) Whatever inner tranquility the psalms give us, they introduce us to hell as well as heaven. (We are troubled by the imprecatory psalms because we don't understand evil.)
A very good lecture. Stayed tuned to Regent Audio for the mp3 version.
This past Sunday evening I had the privilege of playing music at a benefit dinner for our friends, Dano and Jennifer Jukanovich. This summer, Dano and Jennifer will be leaving Seattle for Rwanda to begin an adventure called Karisimbi Partners with their friends, Carter and Kerry Crockett. They will be working with the government of Rwanda to help create/equip/encourage mid-size businesses. They hope to see their work stimulate the economy of the country as it continues to rebuild after the genocide of the previous decade.
Is this not incredible? They are leaving as families, in community, to be business people doing God's kingdom work in Africa. This is a different kind of mission movement! (Read Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Poisonwood Bible, for the antithesis.) They are committed to be there for at least 3-5 years and need your support.
Accompanying them on this journey is Caroline Joan Peixoto, founder of Ballet Rwanda. She is building a ballet school from the ground up. Also incredible. She too could use your support.
At the heart of the program on Sunday night was Enric Sifa. He is a singer-songwriter from Rwanda currently living in Portland, OR. Enric lost both his parents as a result of the genocide. Since being orphaned as a six year old his life has seen both tragic darkness and resurrection goodness. It was a thrill to put together a band to work with him. I encourage you to check out his music. He has a brilliant future ahead of him.
(from L to R) AnnaMaria Pasley Horn, Jeff Brumley, Enric Sifa, Jayme Koerselman, Brian Moss and Jeffrey McCormack
I'll be leading in worship at the biennial CIVA conference in Minneapolis from June 18th-21st. From the website:
While Christians have long-long debated the nature of their relationship to “culture,” they have made relatively little progress in actually defining what this “culture” is. The word “culture” is often joined to other terms to generate curious conjunctions such as “High Culture,” “pop-culture,” “visual culture,” “the culture wars,” and “cultural production.” To state the obvious, our engagement with contemporary culture is complex and the nature of this complexity is the central theme of the 2009 CIVA Biennial Conference.
With Miroslav Volf as the main speaker this is sure to be an amazing weekend. If you're in the area, or if you can find a way to get to MSP, I very much encourage to take part in this event. To register go here.
Bryan Burton is blogging! Bryan was the senior pastor (and my boss/mentor/friend) at John Knox Presbyterian Church for 11 years and is in the middle of transitioning to what is next. Dave Roberts and I set up a blog for him and included some of his older writings. Today, for the first time, he has included a new post and I strongly encourage you to go check out his blog and leave a comment so he'll be encouraged to keep writing.
Throughout the month of May Storyville Coffee Company is giving every dollar of profit to International Justice Mission. I bought a pound and brewed up some "prologue" for the first time this morning. I don't want to go too hyperbolic on you, but WOW this bean is transcendent. (OK, that's probably a wee bit hyperbolic. But really, this is good bean.) And with all of the profit going to IJM how can you go wrong? So break out your burr grinder and your french press and your billfold (it's not cheap, but worth it) and order up.
from the website...
Our approach is simple: the best beans, artfully roasted, and rushed to your door while they are still fresh. We roast in Seattle and ship the same day to anywhere in the U.S.
All orders are roasted to order each week and beans are on your doorstep days later. Becoming a Private Reserve Member means always drinking the absolute freshest coffee possible.
Passion for the art of the brew is rare. For many, brewing has become automatic or drive-thru. Here at Storyville, we want to help you discover a coffee ritual that creates space and invites you to think, to create, to dream.
I am home from a great week at Laity Lodge in TX. I led worship for two retreats; the first with Bryan Burton, and the second with David Taylor and Mako Fujimura. Steven Purcell served as a a great host all week long. It is difficult, near impossible, to try and sum up all the wonderfulness that was this past week. (In fact, I encourage you to contact the office and order the CDs of the talks.)
While I was there I had an opportunity to speak for five minutes on artists in the church and I decided to say the following. (Part of this you may recognize from a talk I gave to the CIVA leadership a year ago.) After having done this kind of thing for almost 9 years here's where I landed...
_____________________________________________________
Golden Summer by Makoto Fujimura
Mostly, this is hard work. You know this because you have been doing this hard work. But we cannot and must not lose sight of the fact that this is our moment. We are standing on the shoulders of Rookmaaker and Balthasaar, Seerveld and Sayers, Schaeffer and Tolkien, Lewis and L’engle. We are blessed to do our work on this side of their efforts. You are all here because you have been called, in some way, to this art/church thing. The Church needs you. Artists need you. The poor need you. Artists need you.
Art is about knowing in a new way. It is always going to be adventurous. We need to be ready for the tough questions. As we read in 1st Peter, “in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.” As artists, and those who support you, we must also always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who, in response to the new art exhibit at church, asks, “Do my kids really need to know that Jesus had pubic hair?”
In this age of zeroes and ones it is imperative that we speak out, live out, act out an incarnational theology that allows for the true humanity of the Church. This is a time that requires serious bending. To both the Church and the artist I ask…what gives? what will you give? Here’s some incarnational theology: “Jesus Christ, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
Let us serve one another in love as Christ has served us. As the Church, we need to be, start or keep hosting artist residencies, artists-in-residence, etc., and not just for the sake of doing something cool or for being over-busy-fied. There are more artists willing to make this move than we can realize. Yes, it is risky, but let’s open up the doors. This can only happen through prayer and humility. This can only happen through whole-hearted vocational pursuit. To borrow from Scott Carins:
May we encourage this kind of whole-hearted pursuit to both the novice and the expert. This is a pursuit worthy of the calling placed on our lives.
I am currently living in the in-between land of no longer working at John Knox Presbyterian Church and not yet working at Regent College. (Weird days.) Holy Week here at JKPC was beautiful and my final days working for the church could not have gone better. For our four holy week services I commissioned four different artists to create four different and new works of art for each service. Matthew Whitney painted four new paintings. Hannah Notess wrote four new poems. Stephanie Moss choreographed four new dances. And I wrote four new songs inspired by the psalms. (I realize that it is ridiculous to say that I commissioned myself to do this. Because how would that work? However, these four new songs are going to be a part of Prayerbook, no. 2 and I'm extremely excited to see some momentum building for that!)
Below you'll find the four paintings that Matt made for all of the services. I'm also including his descriptions of each piece. At the end of this post you'll find an artist statement he wrote that ties everything together. Matt had four different members of the congregation serve as models for the paintings. Thank you Matt for your amazing work!
__________________________________________________
Palm Sunday
Triumphant Entrance, 24” x 30”, oil on canvas, 2009
Palm Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, as people laid palm fronds before his path; a custom during Biblical Times that was of the highest honor. On the left, one has received the Gospel of Christ for the first time. In that moment when we first recognize ourselves as remade by Christ, it is one of jubilation. But it is just the beginning of one’s walk with God.
Maundy Thursday
Feast/Flood, 24” x 30”, oil on canvas, 2009
Continuing on our walk in faith, we become strengthened by the food of the Word and the fruit of the Spirit. We learn the new commandment, to simply “Love one another” (the Latin word for commandment is Maundy). Yet this is juxtaposed with the events of the Last Supper, which is ominous and portends something to come. Something is not quite right. The figure on the left continues to feast, but she sits in a flooded room – as Jesus washed his disciples feet, and they did not know why he did this.
Good Friday
Trial, 24” x 30”, oil on canvas, 2009
It has been my experience that doubt is the great indicator of discernment in one’s faith. At some point, I think we all experience moments in which we don’t know what to believe. Seventeenth century preacher and poet John Donne states “To come to a doubt…is the voice of God in our conscience.” On the right, the figure hides in bed; coming to terms with her doubt. On the left, figures hold in trial the Living Word versus the Written Word, as the Sanhedrin and Roman Courts held Jesus on trial.
Easter Sunday
Journey, 24” x 30”, oil on canvas, 2009
Easter is a great celebration for all of Christendom. The events of Easter, when taken at face value, represent a “happy ending” to the story. My belief is that the resurrection is reenacted every moment of every day, amidst the sins and transgressions we all commit. The Living Resurrection covers it all, though it does not make simple explanations for us or give us naive grins when we are confronted with the evil and corruption of the world. For this final painting, witnesses experience Christ’s ascending into the clouds, their journey as Christians only just beginning. The backpacker on the right watches on, for a moment experiencing his faith in joy, but in knowledge that the path before him is long and winding, with hills and valleys.
Artist Statement
These four paintings, created for Holy Week 2009 at John
Knox Presbyterian Church, tell two stories. They intermingle the
traditional
events behind Holy Week with a present-day story of faith, as acted out
by four
different individuals. In my work, I strive to reconcile these
historical
events that occurred over 2000 years ago and to make them a relevant
and whole
part of the journey I walk today. Each painting represents one of the
four days
in which we come to worship during Holy Week – Palm Sunday, Maundy
Thursday,
Good Friday, and Easter. In each painting, I have combined imaginative
elements
to recollect the Biblical story with a naturalistic interpretation of
an
individual at various points of a lifelong walk in Faith. To depict
these
individuals, four volunteers from John Knox modeled for photographs,
which I
then referenced as I painted their likenesses into the work. In this
way, my
hope is to bring people into a space where they can really see the Holy
Spirit’s work in their faith journey, as I sense Christ's work in my
life, just as real today as
it was 2000 years ago.
- Matthew Whitney
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