More than words
"More than Words" is a song by an early-90s band called Extreme. It's one of the first songs I ever learned to play on guitar. It's not a great song, really. But it makes a great title for a post about worship, don't you think?
In the community we're in the process of building, we've been talking quite a bit about what it looks like to truly make worship a lifestyle. Doing some online research on something totally unrelated (well, not if I was doing all things to the glory of God, but anyway...), I stumbled onto the website of Island Family Christian Church, a church in Honolulu, HI (serving in Hawaii is a heavy cross for them to bear, I'm sure). It's a very cool, very multicultural church where they do hip-hop and hula dance on occasion during worship gatherings (I imagine that's not at the same time, but you never know). And I found this neat little page on their website with a list of ten ways to worship without music. Check it out!
Here are a few quotes to think about...
"You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it." (Duke Ellington)
"Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees." (also from Ellington, what a wealth of wisdom as well as music!)
"Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words." (St. Francis of Assisi)
One of our dreams for D'Vine is that people who connect with our community would not be locked into just one format for expressing worship. We pray that people would feel free to encounter God in a variety of ways, corporately as well as individually. There are so many ways we've been blessed, and so many ways to express thanks and worship. We got a taste of what's to come at our most recent gathering. Special thanks to Lori R., our creative team and a wonderful band for all the help with this gathering. Lori put together some great stations for experiential prayer and worship. Here are some "before" pics of the way the Riddle house was set up for the gathering...
Setting the mood (left) ... We removed our shoes as we entered the house as a reminder that we were entering into a place where God was present...
Worship with magazines and scissors... The collage space was probably my favorite non-musical space of the evening.
Worshiping corporately without music (left) ... I always love a wailing wall, a place to express heartfelt petitions and praise. Wailing walls are dangerous places.
And the band played on... Oh yeah, we did actually have about 20-25 minutes of worship through song. It was a pretty fun (and loud) set. :)
My personal experience has been that I experience God most deeply in a corporate, musical setting after times of deep connection with Him one-on-one, often not through music. Hopefully, experiences like this will fuel more worship, whether through singing, playing an instrument, creating a visual art, writing, working, serving, or doing dishes.
Let's do this again, shall we?
Peace and peaches,
Candyce
In the community we're in the process of building, we've been talking quite a bit about what it looks like to truly make worship a lifestyle. Doing some online research on something totally unrelated (well, not if I was doing all things to the glory of God, but anyway...), I stumbled onto the website of Island Family Christian Church, a church in Honolulu, HI (serving in Hawaii is a heavy cross for them to bear, I'm sure). It's a very cool, very multicultural church where they do hip-hop and hula dance on occasion during worship gatherings (I imagine that's not at the same time, but you never know). And I found this neat little page on their website with a list of ten ways to worship without music. Check it out!
Here are a few quotes to think about...
"You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it." (Duke Ellington)
"Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees." (also from Ellington, what a wealth of wisdom as well as music!)
"Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words." (St. Francis of Assisi)
One of our dreams for D'Vine is that people who connect with our community would not be locked into just one format for expressing worship. We pray that people would feel free to encounter God in a variety of ways, corporately as well as individually. There are so many ways we've been blessed, and so many ways to express thanks and worship. We got a taste of what's to come at our most recent gathering. Special thanks to Lori R., our creative team and a wonderful band for all the help with this gathering. Lori put together some great stations for experiential prayer and worship. Here are some "before" pics of the way the Riddle house was set up for the gathering...
Setting the mood (left) ... We removed our shoes as we entered the house as a reminder that we were entering into a place where God was present...
Worship with magazines and scissors... The collage space was probably my favorite non-musical space of the evening.
Worshiping corporately without music (left) ... I always love a wailing wall, a place to express heartfelt petitions and praise. Wailing walls are dangerous places.And the band played on... Oh yeah, we did actually have about 20-25 minutes of worship through song. It was a pretty fun (and loud) set. :)
My personal experience has been that I experience God most deeply in a corporate, musical setting after times of deep connection with Him one-on-one, often not through music. Hopefully, experiences like this will fuel more worship, whether through singing, playing an instrument, creating a visual art, writing, working, serving, or doing dishes.
Let's do this again, shall we?
Peace and peaches,
Candyce
posted by dvineworshipteam at 12:00 AM
1 Comments:
Anytime! We need to do it again, outside of the house....
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