Sanctifying Worship began life as an experiment. Founding contributor Brannon Hancock, a Nazarene pastor's kid (and district superintendent's grandkid) and then a doctoral student in theology at the University of Glasgow, set up sacramentalnazarenes.blogspot.com in the summer of 2006 as "an online conversation space for Christians, especially members of the Church of the Nazarene, who care deeply about the worship of our church, locally and globally." The blog's header read "Sanctifying Worship: Nazarenes for Liturgical Renewal" (because it's always better to state what one is "for" rather than what one is "against"). Soon other contributors got involved who were similarly "devoted to thinking about the past, present and future of our liturgical traditions and sacramental life, and to exploring together what it means to worship God in Spirit and in Truth."
In April of 2009, the Sacramental Nazarenes Facebook group was founded, and the conversation was expanded beyond the Church of the Nazarene. Realizing that the contemporary evangelical trend toward liturgical renewal and the rediscovery of ancient practices is by no means limited to the Nazarene family, the contributors to this blog welcome all comments and contributions to the discussion, regardless of theological tradition. It is the conviction of the community that has formed around this site that our spiritual lives and the Church's mission are intrinsically bound up with how we worship, and so we desire to discuss widely the ways in which our lives reflect and are formed by how we worship, and concurrently, how the ways in which we worship reflect and are formed by our lives.
As indicated by the intentional ambiguity of the name "Sanctifying Worship," we are interested both in the sanctification of worship - purifying our liturgical practices and re(dis)covering what has perhaps been neglected or lost along the way - and in the sanctifying power of worship, by which and through which, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God re-makes us into the image of Christ.
If you are interested in becoming a regular contributor to this blog, please contact Brannon Hancock stating who you are, any pertinent ministerial or academic affiliations, and why you'd like to write for Sanctifying Worship.
