Paradoxology: The Image of Protestant Evangelical Worship, pt 4

Blog-within-a-Blog

The Anglican-Episcopal Divide Widens Further
NT Wright offers a honest and somewhat heavy-hearted perspective regarding The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the U.S., and their decision to further formalize their decision to appoint to all orders of ministry, persons in active same-sex relationships. This marks a clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion.
"I Am Second"- Incredible Personal Stories
Personal testimony stories are a dime-a-dozen on the internet. YouTube and a plethora of other sites offer them. But you will NEVER find striking personal stories about life and loss and struggle and victory and faith like you will encounter at www.iamsecond.com. This is a resource site you MUST visit for yourself and then bookmark.
Charles Wesley's secret code diary cracked by priest
An Anglican priest has unlocked the 270-year-old secrets of Charles Wesley's coded diary, throwing light on the turbulent relationship that he had with his brother John in the early years of the Methodist movement they founded... The “hidden” material offers an insight into Wesley's fierce determination to prevent the Methodist societies from breaking away from the Church of England, and disagreements with his more influential older brother.
Alban Institute Releases Special Report on Transition into Ministry
Washington, D.C. (August 28, 2008)-For years religious leaders have debated the strategies for effectively preparing seminary students for ministry...A new report from the Alban Institute in Washington, D.C. calls attention to a promising set of recent experiments conducted by the Fund for Theological Education's Transition into Ministry Program (TiM)...Based on the assumption that pastors will be better prepared to lead congregations when they have had the opportunity to become reflective participants in a local community of practice, the TiM studies seek to counter a two-centuries-long trend of viewing pastoral preparation as something that is largely completed upon graduating from seminary.
Mark Galli Releases New Book: "Beyond Smells and Bells"
Are you attracted to liturgy but don’t know why? Are you considering changing to liturgical tradition? Are you already immersed in liturgical worship but want to grasp its deeper significance? "Beyond Smells and Bells" addresses the lure and relevance of liturgy for your life today.

Photo Albums

May 21, 2005

The Image of Protestant Evangelical Worship, pt 4

Worship_9

For those who like their worship experiences LARGE...

May 21, 2005 at 04:06 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c3d8353ef00d8347b612569e2

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Image of Protestant Evangelical Worship, pt 4:

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

What inspired this series and where are you getting these pictures?

Posted by: Benjy | May 21, 2005 at 10:37 PM

By the way, you have a nicely designed blog.

But, really, I don't quite understand what you’re trying to get at with these picture.

How posting a picture of what you think “the image of protestant evangelical worship” should look like? Or perhaps such a picture is impossible to elucubrate—after all, how does one depict the worship that occurs in Heaven?

Posted by: Oengus Moonbones | May 22, 2005 at 11:39 AM

Okay, here's the deal:

We live a visually oriented society.
It was for this very reason, I thought it would be interesting to post a series of images -- rather than articles -- that attempted to convey various nuances of Protestant Evangelical worship. As a veteran Protestant Evangelical worship leader myself, I felt I have enough of a grasp on the topic to give it a go.

If you've hung around Paradoxology for any amount of time, you've come to recognize my appreciation for the both/and realities surrounding the church as well as our faith and practice. I deeply appreciate the tensions of our holy and ancient faith, and enjoy bringing some sense of balance to the criticisms taking place within both the 'institutional' as well as the 'emerging' church.

In posting these images, I do not seek to take an immediate "position," but rather desire to stimulate some conversation (even if I'm not a part of it). I suppose there are things I like AND dislike about each of these images (as well as the ones yet to be posted), and will try to comment a little more in that regard within their respective discussion threads.

If you think my selection of representative images is off-base, I'd suggest two things:
1) post here concerning 'why', and enter the conversation.
2) post a set of alternate images on your own blog and pass along a link to them.

Alright. Enough said! Let's get back to your impressions and responses to the stadium worship pictured above (FYI -- an Easter service, held at the Staples Center in Anaheim, CA).

Posted by: Chris | May 22, 2005 at 03:49 PM

quote: “If you've hung around Paradoxology for any amount of time, you've come to recognize my appreciation for the both/and realities surrounding the church as well as our faith and practice.”

Actually no disapproval or criticism was intended, but, without context, images are just images, and it was hard for me to understand what the point was. But thank you for the clarification.

While I haven’t hung around Paradoxology for any amount of time—other than long enough to see it is rather well designed—I have been attended a variety of churches for nearly 50 years, and so I’ve managed to see a pretty sizable chunk of the “realities surrounding the church as well as our faith and practice”. And indeed it is pretty wide, and I could bore you with a zillion stories—going all the way back to when the pastor rebuked me, a young child then, from the pew for being too noisy in church. But I will refrain from boring you with all that. But at the moment, I can’t think of anything particularly profound to say other than this: churches need to have more cemetaries located on their property, right next to the parking lot. Later, on my own blog Lunar Skeletons, I plan to explain why.

Posted by: Oengus Moonbones | May 22, 2005 at 06:13 PM

Erratum: “I have been attended…” should read as “I have attended”

I usually don’t like to write lengthy responses in comment boxes mainly because my crazy flipper fingers always manage to sneak in a mistake that my eye misses.

Posted by: Oengus Moonbones | May 22, 2005 at 06:18 PM

I for one enjoyed this "game" but this later picture just made me say OUCH!
All that glitz...for an event...

Posted by: Maryellen | May 23, 2005 at 03:12 PM

Maryellen: “I for one enjoyed this game…”

By itself, the picture could just as easily have been a big Mormon get together in Salt Lake City, Utah, celebrating the lives of prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and the glories of the Temple Sealings and “Celestial Marriages”, and what not. Or it could have been a Grand Extravaganza staged by the new Messiah Rev. Sun Yung Moon.

Yeah, I agree, it's kind of a fun game imagining all the possiblities.

Posted by: Oengus Moonbones | May 23, 2005 at 06:16 PM

…Or it could be a balcony shot of a Sandi Patti concert from back in the early 90s.

Posted by: Oengus Moonbones | May 24, 2005 at 06:07 AM

"how does one depict the worship that occurs in Heaven?"

Step into an Orthodox Church during the Divine Liturgy and you'll get a foretaste! :)

Posted by: Karl Thienes | May 27, 2005 at 11:17 AM

Is that a church service or a Prince concert? He had a similar looking "stage" on his last tour.

Posted by: Patmos | May 31, 2005 at 08:48 AM

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:

Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.