worship

I'm guest-posting today at Everyday Liturgy about worship and creativity.

A sneak peek:

When Chris and I joined our church, we attended a smaller service (at our larger church) with simple, acoustic music in tune with our everyday lives and with opportunities to use our creativity in the service—readings, films, and music.

A couple of years later, our church canceled that service. Now we attend a larger service at the same church. The music (think The New Main Street Singers from Mighty Wind) makes me want to put my eardrums through a shredder, and I no longer have the chance to offer my writing and music in the Sunday morning service.

When Thomas posed the question “how do you use creativity in worship?”, I jumped at the chance to blog about it. I’d been struggling with this very thing for over a year.

You can read the rest here.

A little boy in the pew in front of me on Sunday studied something behind me. Then he knelt at the pew and drew a couple of seconds. He stood again--he was no higher than the back of the pew--and studied. He studied more than he drew. I couldn't see his work, but I knew.

This was an artist.

Soon, his mother, probably afraid he was distracting other worshipers, told him to sit down.

"But I need to see that," he whispered. He didn't whine. This was a matter of fact.

(November's Artuality is still open. To participate, click here.)

The other day, I read Exodus 35-40. I wondered, "What does it look like to invite people to create something beautiful in the worship of God?" Here's what I noticed:

Here we are, approaching the beginning of a new month.

(Some of us are still in mourning from the end of the Olympics.)

But we all know what the beginning of a new month means.

Glimpses!

This month, I have an interview with, story of, and art by Makoto Fujimura. I also have a blurb on worshipping creatively in your Church. You can sign up on the sidebar.

Also, ready for the big announcement?

(No, Mom, I'm not pregnant.)

What the opening ceremony to the Olympics reminded me of:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-2).