Do the Psalms say ‘make a joyful poise’ or is it ‘make a joyful noise’??? Nice one Jon – that’s me – second from left I assume! dave PS what about a music group glamour (clamour?) contest for an ASBO Jesus?
yup dave… that’s a photo of you. had to touch it up in photoshop as i didn’t want to scare people away! btw you’ve given me a cartoon idea… expect it in the next week.
Finally a worship crowd that reflects the flawed body of Christ. And if you think EC is goofy, come to this side of the pond. At least y’all have some amazing worship resources courtesy of Proost UK whereas here in the states, except for a few places (e.g., COTA, Seattle), the gatherings tend to remind me of overgrown youth groups replete with cheesy arts and crafts and bad Christian music.
Interesting phenomena this whole emergent thing ain’t it? I’ve been to a couple of services where they tried to do something fresh but unfortunately ended up being quite formulaic – bean-bags, big cross, UV-lights, gregorian plainsong on loop on a CD player and little bits of paper to write on, and somewhere to put them. I think that’s what happens when people try to do something differently purely to be different. However, I’ve also attended some pretty powerful alternative expressions of worship that have been really thought through. The kind of place where the starting point is:
1) Who is Jesus?
2) Who am I?
3) Where am I in relation to Jesus?
4) Where do I go from here?
That can be really powerful. It get’s even more profound when you replace the ‘I’s with ‘we’s.
Cool cartoon – really funny. There was some great stuff over Easter too!
looks like..
my wife on the left, and your wife on the right
stuck in the worship with you..
and we don’t know what it is we should do..
it’s so hard to get a smile on my face with fresh expressions all over the place..
hymns to the left of me hip hop to the right..
stuck in the worship with you.
etc..
At the ripe old age of 15,looking out at the congregation (mid reading) and seeing a pew full of friends all sitting there pulling faces Just Like These.
How to carry on?
How nicely you captured our family devotion time!
Comment by Longing for Holiday — March 31, 2008 @ 12:56 am
[...] Jon Birch for a somewhat less serious look at a topic that I often ponder here on this [...]
Pingback by Fresh expressions of worship « Ranges Community Church — March 31, 2008 @ 4:28 am
Looks familiar… The thing that blows my mind is that Jesus finds us all beautiful…
Comment by Andy in Germany — March 31, 2008 @ 6:57 am
Hahahahahahaha
Ax
Comment by AnneDroid — March 31, 2008 @ 7:07 am
Do the Psalms say ‘make a joyful poise’ or is it ‘make a joyful noise’??? Nice one Jon – that’s me – second from left I assume! dave
PS what about a music group glamour (clamour?) contest for an ASBO Jesus?
Comment by Dave Wiles — March 31, 2008 @ 7:16 am
At last! I’ve found my spiritual home!
Comment by Carole — March 31, 2008 @ 7:55 am
lfh… what a handsome family you have.
andy… yep.
good morning annedroid.
yup dave… that’s a photo of you. had to touch it up in photoshop as i didn’t want to scare people away!
btw you’ve given me a cartoon idea… expect it in the next week.
carole… me too.
Comment by jonbirch — March 31, 2008 @ 8:33 am
This rocks, as ever!
Comment by Sarah B — March 31, 2008 @ 9:39 am
A palatable and nicely methlican varsion of emerging church
Comment by Robb — March 31, 2008 @ 10:54 am
Finally a worship crowd that reflects the flawed body of Christ. And if you think EC is goofy, come to this side of the pond. At least y’all have some amazing worship resources courtesy of Proost UK whereas here in the states, except for a few places (e.g., COTA, Seattle), the gatherings tend to remind me of overgrown youth groups replete with cheesy arts and crafts and bad Christian music.
Comment by becky — March 31, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
We do that on a Sunday morning
Comment by Robb — March 31, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
‘Fresh expressions of worship’ was always a caption in search of a good cartoon, so thanks for providing the cartoon! Very funny.
Comment by David Keen — March 31, 2008 @ 2:34 pm
Hello everyone! Hope you all had a good easter.
Interesting phenomena this whole emergent thing ain’t it? I’ve been to a couple of services where they tried to do something fresh but unfortunately ended up being quite formulaic – bean-bags, big cross, UV-lights, gregorian plainsong on loop on a CD player and little bits of paper to write on, and somewhere to put them. I think that’s what happens when people try to do something differently purely to be different. However, I’ve also attended some pretty powerful alternative expressions of worship that have been really thought through. The kind of place where the starting point is:
1) Who is Jesus?
2) Who am I?
3) Where am I in relation to Jesus?
4) Where do I go from here?
That can be really powerful. It get’s even more profound when you replace the ‘I’s with ‘we’s.
Cool cartoon – really funny. There was some great stuff over Easter too!
Comment by Richard M. — March 31, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
this is a pic of my high school youth group teaching the younger kids a sunday school lesson!
Lord help us!
Love the pic!
Comment by krislinatin — March 31, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
I love the word FRESH in Christian language. ?
Comment by dennis coburn — March 31, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
cheers all!
great to have you back richard m. hope the break was good!
dennis… ‘fresh frozen’ is one of may favourite oxymorons… narowly beaten by ‘friendly fire’ and ‘military intelligence’.
Comment by jonbirch — March 31, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
Near miss.
would that be a hit ?
looks like..
my wife on the left, and your wife on the right
stuck in the worship with you..
and we don’t know what it is we should do..
it’s so hard to get a smile on my face with fresh expressions all over the place..
hymns to the left of me hip hop to the right..
stuck in the worship with you.
etc..
;]
Comment by k-h-s — March 31, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
At the ripe old age of 15,looking out at the congregation (mid reading) and seeing a pew full of friends all sitting there pulling faces Just Like These.
How to carry on?
Comment by gilly — March 31, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
aah mate… nice poetry.
Comment by jonbirch — March 31, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
gilly… hahaha, brilliant! carry on regardless i guess.
Comment by jonbirch — March 31, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
hybrid embryos find God during a lively worship session, ‘the Rap Star really spoke our language, we now know God give’s a X*$%’
Comment by su — April 2, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
brilliant as ever
Comment by jody — April 3, 2008 @ 11:40 am
Looks like a pretty normal representation on my congregation.
But then i have a motto ’round here for any of the crazy stuff that happens
“welcome to youth ministry”
Comment by Tom C — April 4, 2008 @ 7:19 pm