“The liturgy is a ‘hearts and minds’ strategy, a pedagogy that trains us as disciples precisely by putting our bodies through a regimen of repeated practices that get hold of our heart and ‘aim’ our love toward the kingdom of God.” I wish that I had written that. I am reading a fascinating book by […]
Some more thoughts on worship from Danny – a Restoration member involved in Pilgrim Songs conversations: Two weeks ago, I defined “worship” as properly responding to God. This is not a complete definition, but is a useful one. It reveals a lot about what worship is. There is a part of that which is worth […]
The West Virginia crew left Arlington around noon heading to Philippi to build relationships and mend homes. During the weeks leading up to the trip they had been studying the story in Mark 12 about the widow who gave out of her own poverty. A similar image came to me yesterday: There had been a […]
Some reflections on worship from Restoration member Daniel Murphy: Worship is one of those elusive terms which can be tricky in Christian doctrine. Most everyone has an intuitive idea about what it is but would be hard-pressed to fully define it. That is to say, people are quick to give examples of what is or […]
The stilling of “creaturely activity,” as the patriarchs of the inner life called it, is not something to be confined to formal worship services, but is a life-style. It is to permeate the daily fabric of our lives. We are to live in a perpetual, inward, listening silence so that God is the source of […]
Genuine worship has only one Leader, Jesus Christ. When I speak of Jesus as the Leader of worship, I mean, first of all, that he is alive and present among his people. His voice can be heard in their hearts and his presence known. We not only read about him in the Scripture, we can […]
This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost – one of the most poorly recognized exciting events of all human history! We celebrate the one Jesus said he would leave for us until his coming again – the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. We rejoice at the giving of the Spirit to a community of Jesus lovers. Foster: There […]
Richard Foster: Another vital feature of the early Christian community was their sense of being “gathered” together in worship. First, they were gathered in the sense that they actually met as a group, and second, as they met, they were gathered into a unity of spirit that transcended their individualism… Thomas Kelly writes: “A quickening […]
Restoration’ers! Two and half years ago, we, as a congregation, began supporting a group of teenage girls in the small Eastern European country of Moldova as they made the transition from orphanage-based care to young adulthood. We sent a team to visit the home in fall 2010. Our goals were straightforward—introduce the girls to the […]
We are taking some time every Thursday to glean wisdom from someone smarter and more experienced than me concerning the realm of worship. (There is quite a large pool to pull from 🙂 ) Richard Foster has written about the “Kohl Yahweh” (holy expectancy), and he gives practical example of a way to practice this […]
