"Worship & Sacraments: Q & A" with Brent Peterson

The last part of the previous video - this is where it gets fun!

Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Rev. Brent Peterson PhD on "Worship & The Sacraments"

Here's part one of the video I shot of Brent's M11 session (which actually picks up about half way through the formal part of his presentation - I was about 20 min. late due to a lunch meeting).

Any comments on this, other than unbridled support and agreement?!  Let's discuss.  There's already been some lively discussion over at NazNet.

As soon as it's finished uploading, I will post the Q & A, which is where he made some of his most provocative points (perhaps not too provocative to those who frequent this blog, but to some they would be).

Items of Interest

Just a few random updates I thought I'd share (since I've lapsed back into being a lousy blogger lately):

• If you're coming to the M11 Conference in Louisville, Kentucky next Monday-Wednesday, be sure to drop in to Brent Peterson's session on "Worship and the Sacraments" on Tuesday 2/22 at 2pm (session 2 in room 218). I'll be the guy (or one of the guys?) sporting a bowtie and will look forward to connecting with some liturgical/sacramental Nazarene friends after Brent's session.
• I'd also like to have some extended conversation over dinner Tuesday evening (venue TBC) - our own informal "learning conversation" as it were. One thing I would like to discuss with those present is trying to put some flesh to the idea of some kind of retreat/gathering/conference/symposium. If sufficient interest is there, we'll start planning for 2012.
• If you haven't checked out the Nazarene Liturgy Project yet, go get registered now. Once you've done so, vote on what domain we should register for the project in the poll on the right hand side of the page.  Some of you know that we had a go at this a couple of years ago using a wordpress blog, but it just didn't get much traction, so thanks to Michael Scarlett and others for resurrecting the effort.
• New to the "Honor Roll" - Catalyst: A Church of the Nazarene is a new start church pastored by Jonathan Sprang and Levi Lowry, both Trevecca pals of mine. Catalyst is a decidedly contemporary in how they worship and "do church," and yet they value the Christian calendar and follow the RCL from Advent to Pentecost.
• Check out Jonathan "CatchyLecty" blog, which I added to the blogroll and "resources" page, for lectionary based resources for contemporary worship.
• I've been collaborating with Heather Daugherty who directs Trevecca's Center for Worship Arts on a Trevecca Worship blog and their forthcoming certificate program in worship arts. You'll want to keep an eye on the Center as it develops, especially as they put on great events like this one.

Peace to you. ~b

Ready to Surrender

As a Christian and as a pastor, worship is important to me. How we worship, why we worship, when we worship, the ways we worship, and what/who we worship are all important to me. Yet, so often these things are not important to the others I am talking to. Often times when talking about worship with pastors and leaders the conversation is reduced to "How many were there?" and "How moved were they?"

When I talk about the need for a renewed worship, people respond with discussions of transitioning from "traditional music" (hymnal) to "contemporary music" (everything published after the hymnal). Or I hear statements like I did a couple of weeks ago with a group of pastors, when one pastor stated publicly, "I actually quit going to worship for a period of time before becoming a pastor. I mean, I understood why we worshiped but I just didn't have anything in common with the church people. But now that we have a "cowboy church" I just feel such a great sense of unity."

Being Anglican in the Evangelical Church

I was asked by my DS what it was like being an evangelical at an Anglican seminary. My response: "A lot easier than being an Anglican serving an Evangelical Church."
We both chuckled.

More seriously though. We talk about liturgy around here quite a lot. The love of liturgy and sacraments is what gives us unity. But we often talk (at least I do) in the realm of idealism. What about the world of reality? I have been working to introduce some liturgy to my congregation. We have moved to weekly Eucharist. I wear an alb and stole. We do corporate written prayers and read the Psalms responsively. But it is starting to feel like I bit off more than my people can chew.

So my question is this: what might liturgical / sacramental worship realistically look like is a small, evangelical, holiness church? My only stipulations are these:

1) Four-fold shape
2) The Eucharistic liturgy remain largely in tact
3) The liturgy ought to be the same each week

What would such a service need to look like to capture the essence of liturgy and to be accepted by a "typical" Nazarene congregation?

Hauerwas on Worship and Evangelism

I came across an excellent article by Stanley Hauerwas on the interesting position that has emerged within 'evangelical' churches that assumes there is a difference in worship and evangelism. Basing his assumption in the methods and practices currently used by a large portion of the Church, Hauerwas commented,

'Currently some Methodists are even suggesting, in the interest of church growth (which has become synonymous in some circles with evangelism), that worship must be made more "user-friendly". They thus assume a tension exists between worship and evangelism.'

Upon reflection, Hauerwas concluded that the 'tension' that seems to exist between worship and evangelism is actually a misrepresentation of true worship.