Check out the Ecclesia Collective site (just redesigned!) for a new article Jason Evans and I wrote together, What Would Ian Do? In it, we discuss how the punk/DIY movement of the 80s and 90s (which was so formative for both of us) has much to say to those of us longing for a more authentic, grassroots expression of our faith.
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After rewriting much of the worship vocabulary and reshaping the modern musical landscape of the Church over the past ten+ years and 14 albums, Delirious? has decided to call it quits at the end of 2009.
For all the complaining I might do about Jesus is my boyfriend-type praise songs, I have always appreciated the lyrical depth and musical integrity of the Delirious? crew. Though we might be inoculated to their power from overfamiliarity, there is something so deeply true about the following lyrics, taken from the chorus of Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?
Open up the doors and let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring Your hope, songs that bring Your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice
In our quest (pipe dream?) to build a community that actively engages God’s purposes in the world, we want to see worship and justice wed together in powerful ways. Our desire to become the change we hope to see in the world is fueled by the love who first came down to us.
We’d love to see more joy and authentic expressions of freedom in our gatherings (maybe any expression!), but it would be tragic for it to stop there. A true worship encounter with God does something to us — healing, restoration, joy and hope fill us and then flow out from us, both on a personal level and in the bigger picture of redemption.
Thanks, Martin and company, for the music.
At the gracious invitation of Jim Hancock and Marko, this week I was able to sit in on (and, hopefully, contribute something meaningful to) a small gathering to put some framework to the Big Room gatherings at DCLA 09.
It was a joy and privilege to sit with such a talented, experienced group of youth ministry veterans, thinkers and leaders. Being able to dive into, as Marko put it, the stories of God and the story of God for two days together was life-giving and life-stirring.
While I’m still wrapping my head around terms like liminality and perichoresis, it was a pleasure to sweep through the broad narrative of Scripture and imagine ourselves and thousands of students, somehow, in the midst of God’s story, along for the ride and, mysteriously, called to participate in the mission of God in the world. For a nice summary of this gathering, you can check out Marko’s post dcla big room.
On a side note, Marko accused me of blogging too infrequently (although I suspect many readers have just cried out, No! Please!). Perhaps these couple of intensive days will kickstart my thinking (or, if I’m lucky, my heart).
So said one of our elementary students after the senior pastor’s wife spoke to him about his aggressive behavior here at church.
Now, I’m not one of those law & order, Footloose types who believes that rule-keeping is the way to inherit eternal life. I’m wondering, though, about how this student came to this conclusion. Did his parents sit him down and say to him, “Son, you must do well in school and you must obey the rules there. Don’t even think about crossing the line at home. Same goes for when we’re out in public. But, happy day when Sunday arrives, because you can totally lose it when you get to church. Seriously, go nuts when you get to the church building.”
I wish that statement were uttered in a positive way. I can do whatever I want here — I can exercise passion, creativity and joy when I’m here! I can worship God with gladness and sincerity, I can dream of ways to partner with friends here in participating in God’s work in the world, I can have fun with others in ways that are not aggressive, mean and/or inappropriate.
One day…
Director Jamie Moffett is making a film called The Ordinary Radicals which documents the Jesus for President tour, featuring authors Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw [h/t: Dan Ra]. Here is a brief description from their site:
headsparks* 