During the week around the " Dust and Light ", evening of Lenten reflection I was re-reading Dan Kimball's, " The Emerging Church." Although almost 3 years since it was published, it's still a great read. There were a couple of word bites that caught my eye that I hadn't noticed the first time...maybe because of what was going on around D & L, my artistic neurons were a little more sensitized. Anyway Dan says this...
If you are part of a staff that evaluates worship services, what do you
base your evaluations on? Do you immediately discuss the music, the video, or
the length of the message? Or do you ask, "Did people encounter God here? What
Jesus lifted up in honor? What have we trained people to think when they leave?
Do they say 'I enjoyed that,' or 'That was a good message,' or are they
thinking, 'I encountered God today,' and, 'I became more of a disciple of Jesus
today'?" The emerging church must value worship over the quality of the
program or of the "good and service" delivered. – 115
God's prophets did outlandish things to communicate his truth with more
than words. Isaiah walked around town naked for three years; Ezekiel lay on his
side for weeks on end, building miniature villages out of mud. Jeremiah carried around rotten fruit. Even if people refused the prophets instructions, they certainly wouldn't forget what they had heard, seen, smelled. Teaching as well as worship can be multisensory, as God as clearly demonstrated. – 138
No matter where you gather, if you are creative and value beauty, you can
transform any meeting place into a sacred sanctuary or ancient faith. – 140
It got me thinking...how much do we as the " church " value the arts and creativity in worship? As wonderful as the "Dust and light" event was, if we have to do it on the fringe...has the church embraced it. But then again, maybe it doesn't matter an old Pastor friend once told me...real change always happens on the fringe and not the center.
The other thought is, how do we release the artists in our communities? How do we utilize there creative talents into our program oriented, and time constraints on Sunday mornings? I don't think I'm going out on a limb here when I say, the center or the bulk of time on Sunday morning is focused on teaching. Is teaching on Sunday morning important? Would a short reflection to engage conversation, to enage artists, to engage poets and prophets...to engage the whole community in multi-sensory worship...would that work? Would teaching be more effective in small groups/ cell groups/ home group conversation?
Lastly how much do we value worship, do we evaluate it, are we just trying to come up with a formula that works from Sunday to Sunday...what do we base our evaluations on? Anyway lets open this up, share your thoughts on worship and the arts, share what your doing or not doing...share your dreams and visions.
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