For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship StudiesSt. Stephens UniversityEssentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

So week 1 of the new course begins, and its all about ‘Worship in Time & Space’  – sounds like a line from a TV show!   When I first heard this, I have to admit I was kinda confused – I mean what does that mean?

Fortunately the course material is really really good and another great video from our esteemed host explained that its about ‘when we worship’ or what times of the day, week, month year do we worship, ie the Time or timing of our worship. And also where do we Worship? Does it make a difference in what physical space we use, and so on – this speaks to the space element.  The course will also look at these elements through the ages and see if there is anything we can learn about this subject of Worship form the thousands of years that have gone before, form where we are now and also looking to the future as to what we can and should be doing.

So, having been initially slightly confused – this actually looks really exciting and I am now definately looking forward to it.  I also have to say that I am starting to see the wisdom in how the courses build on each other and how they add in new dimesnions and take us further i to our thinking of God and our calling to be ’Worship Artisans’ [Dan Wilt, Essentials Red]

have a great week everyone, Im off to read some more….

For:The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship StudiesSt. Stephens UniversityEssentials Blue Online Worship Theology CoursewithDan Wilt 

 

Well, here is my project!  this I can honestly say has really really stretched me  way beyond my comfort zone, which I guess the course is partly about.  I make no claim to be a singer or a songwriter, I am only a simple guitarist, but I made a promise to myself to try to do this in song and words and not rely on what I know, so here it is ‘warts and all’ – it is obviously only the germ of an idea, but the Essentials course has moved my thinking and theology on so far, that how could I not try to push myself in uncomfortable and  new waters here to se if I can convey something of the wonderful and rich Christian Story.

 

The thinking behind this song is simple, as I believe songs should be –  We learnt from NT Wright in his book Simply Christian about a Creator God, and about a God who has made us  a partner in the whole story of His Creation – giving voice to what He has made and articulating this in Worship and yet also being in such relationship with Him, that he sent his own son to die for us as part of His rescue plan for Mankind.  This song tries to speak to His role as a Creator God, and about our Relationship with each other and  this God, by reflecting on the original Garden, where our Relationship with God was pure, whole and unfettered by Sin, and echoes to our need for spiritual reality by looking for a ‘Thin Place’ in the leafy shade of the Garden, where we can again enjoy this relationship talking and walking with Him in the heat of the day.

Note: I make no claim to be a singer or a songwriter – I have done this to push myself in an area of weakness! You have been warned!

Walk in the Garden – MP3

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship StudiesSt. Stephens UniversityEssentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

This week we had to distill all our learning so far into a ‘worldview’ !!  Much more of a challenge than it would appear. I am used to articulating myself via my guitar, and to be honest its not always that easy to express my thoughts, questions and concepts in word terms, despite being able to talk for hours on any given subject Lol!

I think for me, this weeks main point though, is that whilst I probably only got as far as condensing the course material into a synopsis, rather than taking this too the next level and producing a true worldview statement, and something I still need to really try to do – is that I have realised that it is really important and a really strong thing to do – to question, study and look at ‘how do I express my worship and faith’ in other ways other than just that which I normally fall back on.

Put it another way – If put in a different situation, or one where I am not particularly naturally eloquent, can I still articulate my faith and the ‘Christian Story’ in a meaningful way?

For this Christian – the answer is probably not very well yet, but this course has really helped me see the benefit in being able to do so, set me on the road, and given me a really fantastic starting point as to how to go about it – after all before I had a faith, but no real understanding and a worship, but really no true theology to back it up - now from studying this course I do!! 

How would you articulate your faith in a different circumstance? – its an interesting question eh! 

Have a great week and bless you…!    

Mark

 

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship StudiesSt. Stephens UniversityEssentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

Really simple Blog this week guys – below is an excerpt from Dan Wilts (Essentials Blue – The Nature of God)

I just think this is the single thing that has really spoken to me this week and such an important point that I just want to post it and invite you all to read it and think what this means for us :- 

Belonging, Behaving And Believing 

 

For the Celtic Christians, who held a very strong sense of the Trinitarian basis for human community, they modeled their pattern of welcoming people into the family of faith by first offering them 1) 

belonging, then welcoming them to 2) behave  as years of friendship with the community of saints and the presence of the Holy Spirit opened the way for real change, and then finally welcoming them to 3) believe – if they ever so chose!

Today’s churches often completely invert this Trinitarian model. We expect 1) 

belief in order for us to give someone our continued energy, then we subtly demand that they quickly begin to conform to our view of Christian values and mores by 2) behaving , and then, once they have assuredly jumped through these hoops, they may officially 3) belong to the community.

think about it – I think there is a real profound point about reaching out to others with God’s love in here, and have a great week!!

 

 

 

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship StudiesSt. Stephens UniversityEssentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

This week will be a pretty short post, and the reason for this is that I haven’t yet sorted out my thinking about what I have learnt.  Week  1 of the course well and truly opened my eyes to the need to think about my ‘Theology’, something that I’d avoided at all costs so far.  This week we began to look at the nature of God, and again the course material has been superb, with a fantastic article on the Nature of God by Dan Wilt , looking at various aspects of God’s nature, including the Trinity and really important to me - God as King.

 

We have also been reading the next section of the course text – Simply Christian, by N T Wright, and in this weeks reading we were introduced to some thoughts on the Heavenly realm, where it is, how it interacts with our world, and also several different views held by people on this, eg Deists, Pantheists, and so on.  Within this discussion,  I have been utterly entranced with the concept of God’s Heavenly realm and our own being like ‘interlocking or overlapping spheres’.

 

There is something deep about this and I sense the Holy Spirit is teaching me something fundamental about the nature of things through this.  I dont really fully ‘get it’ yet, but am thinking about what this means for me and for how I view the world – in fact I keep catching myself staring at things and trying to ‘see’ the other realm at the same time.  

 

As I ponder on this, it is raising real questions for me, like ;- does this teach us anything about when we pray for healing, when we talk with God and where we aim our Worship – exactly where am I directing these things?  I know they are requests to my Lord and Saviour, but if I havent got my thoughts clear on where he is and how his realm interacts with ours, then perhaps this is part of the reason that I dont always see the effects of  prayer and petition that I hope for.

 

Now, please go with me on this, as I said, my thoughts are not yet complete around this, but I do know I am being taught and am fundamentally growing thank to the Essentials Blue, course.  I promise I wont go off into heresy or some of the other ‘interesting’, but flawed views peole have held around this, but I learn best by thinking things over, asking lots of questions and by examining options. 

 

Im positive there is something very important God would have me learn through these studies, and I just dont want to rush it – it is more important that I get what Jesus would have me learn than simply complete an academic plan (but then I think Dan would be dissapointed if I treated this academically only too).

 

So, all in all, another very rich and ‘enlarging week’  – my head is kinda spinning trying to understand all this stuff, but my spirit loves it, and so far I am so glad I joined up.

 

 

See you soon

 

Mark J

 

 

 

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship StudiesSt. Stephens UniversityEssentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

Well everyone, this is my first ever attempt at a personal blog, so I thought I’d just dive right in and see what happens!

 

So, this has been a major week for me and my wife on several fronts.  But the thing I want to talk about here is that, along with some of the others in our church, I have joined the Vineyard 2009 International Worship Development year being run by Dan Wilt .  This comprises of three, 6 week courses, called ‘Essentials Blue, Red and Green’ and the first of these – Essentials Blue, which aims to equip us in a biblical theology and world view has started this week.

 

The course text is ‘Simply Christian (N T Wright, Simply Christian, Harper One), and this is being supported by a whole number of multimedia, Facebook and Itunes based resources.  This week I have read, listened to and watched material from all these resources relating to the 4 echoes of God in creation :- Creation’s beauty, Relationships, the Hunger for Spiritual Reality, and our inbuilt longing for Justice.

 

I have also read about about the call on the Worship Artisan (Dan Wilt , week 1: Essential Worship Theology – The rise of the the Worship Artisan, Essentials Blue), and what that means, and also why I need to study Theology and world view in the first place (Don Williams, Why Theology, Essentials Blue) - about needing to sing the truth about God and not distort that truth).

 

And finally I have also learn that “Theology and the way we think about God and church is shaped more by the songs we listen to, than the sermons we listen to, and that they will remember the songs that you write, long after they’ve forgotten the sermons thst you heard”. (Benton Brown, Theology and the Worship Leader, Essentials Blue).

 

All of this has been amazing, and a total revelation to me, and to be honest, before I have just never really given it any thought – I have just been happy singing to my Saviour whatever comes to mind or feels good.  But from this week one alone, now I see the need for a conscious Theology, now I understand the need to choose and write songs that reflect the whole Truth about God, and as if in answer to one of my worries about undertaking this course – I feel it is already making me want to worship Him even more and in a deeper way, rather than putting me off with academic argument or watering down of relationship, as I’d feared.

 

Another stated aim of the  2009 International Vineyard Worship Development Year, is that of building and growing an international community of those involved in Worship Leading.  Sitting in my room, on a cold winters evening on a little island in the UK, and yet at the same time being part of a conference call of many countries, using modern technologies like Facebook, online streaming, conference calling and surveys, and also listening to people like Dan Wiltand Benton Brown talking about all of this, has just blown my mind, and made me really think about what we could achieve together, and also how technology today can help us in so many creative ways to reach out and work together, worship together, talk and help each other and to reach out to others.

  

 

What an amazing week !!

 

See you soon

 

Mark J