Step 1: Identify what is the primary problem? (by answering these questions)
Who is doing
what that presents a problem,
to whom, and
how is this behaviour a problem?
-This tells you precisely what you are trying to change, not some nebulous "he has a bad temper" and it's hopeless situation.
Step 2: Answering the question: What have you been doing about your problem so far? (what specific solution you keep repeating that has become your part in the dance (the more you..., the more they do the same annoying things). Identify it (your ineffective solution) and what to do instead.
-try the opposite of what you've been doing
Ineffective solutions:
1) repeatedly urging them to change
a. tell someone not to change; b. create consequences or let the natural consequences occur; c. urge someone to do the annoying actions even more p.104
2) trying to talk them into liking your request
3) demanding acknowledgement that you're right
4) using the indirect approach: the more we tell ourselves to 'just ignore it', the stronger our resentment grows. And bc our resentment keeps growing, we're likely to poke and prod in indirect ways: we hint about what they should change, we make a general comment to everyone instead of speaking directly to the offending individual, we speak in generalities about the problem or we avoid the person entirely.
5)trying to conquer your fear with endless preparation
Step 3: Solutions
pp. 146-163
28-30 Dec 2016
New York: Fireside, 1999.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Monday, December 12, 2016
4. The Emerging Christian Way: Thoughts, Stories, & Wisdom for a Faith of Transformation-Michael Schwartzentruber (ed.)
I. "An Emerging Way"-Marcus Borg, pp. 9-32
-The deep division: "Followers of the earlier vision (fundamentalists, many conservative-evangelicals, and some mainline Christians) see the new way of being Christian as a watering down or even abandonment of Christianity. From their point of view, it makes too many concessions to modern thought, producing an anemic, politically correct, and vaguely theistic humanism. On the other side of the divide, emerging Christians often see the more rigid forms of the earlier vision as anti-intellectual, literalistic, judgmental, self-righteous, and uncritically committed to right-wing politics." (p. 10)
-a paradigm conflict: paradigm defined as "a way of seeing a whole; a comprehensive way of seeing; a large framework that affects the way particulars are seen"
II. "Experience: The Heart of Transformation"-Tim Scorer, pp. 33-
-"Experience has a significant connection to our innate tendency to be reflective." (p.33) Experience in your life of faith.
-"to move from an identified dilemma to resolution, from a human predicament to a solution.... transformative..."
-"when our hearts are open, we are alive to wonder; we live with a spirit of gratitude and we are compassionate as God is compassionate. The open heart is the one that is turned toward God, living with grace and spontaneous appreciation of the miracles of creation." (p.41p)
-in community and in tradition (p.46)
III. New Creeds-Tom Harpur, pp.51-
-"it's a fitting, biblical time...to reflect on and examine any 'jewels' found on life's path thus far." (p.52)
-"To be made in the Imago Dei is to share now, in some way in this world, in the nature and essence of God. It is not just a capacity or a remote potentiality, but an inner reality." (p.54) Ps 82:6
-...Jesus' chief teaching was not about sin...was about the kingdom of God. God's active presence everywhere....God in our midst; God within." (p. 57) Omission from the Creeds e.g." teaching of Jesus about the kingdom of God, which includes the entire ethic of social justice, - the theme both of Old Testament prophets and of Jesus. " (p. 62)
IV. "The Great Work"-Thomas Berry, pp.65-76
-conservationists
-'The Great Work before us, the task of moving modern industrial civilization from its present devastating influence on the Earth to a more benign mode of presence, is not a role that we have chosen. It is a role given to us, beyond any consultation with ourselves." (p.71)
V. "Consider the Lilies of the Field: How Should Christians Love Nature?" -Sallie McFague, pp. 77---The sacramental tradition (Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen, Gerard Manley Hopkins: "the world is charged with the grandeur of God.") assumes that God is present with us not only in the hearing of the Word an in the Eucharist but also in each and every being in creation. (p.78)
-to love the natural world for its intrinsic worth-incarnationalism. An incarnational theoloy, an earthly, bodily theology
-pay attention to difference
-"Art frames fragments of our world; paintings, poetry, novels, sculpture, dance, music help us to look at colors, sounds, bodies, events, characters--whatever--with full attention." (p.80)
-Murdoch: engagement with the "unutterable particularity" of the natural world.
R: I'm getting more and more uncomfortable with the grand talks about breaking all the boundaries (since that is so "modern" and now we are in a postmodern age), the radical reaction against "earlier", text-based, belief-based Christianity in favour of action and experience-fulfilling (& experience as starting points for belief) type of Christianity. Their assertions seem to be based on poorly defined concept of Jesus' teaching of "kingdom of God"; can you really say that repentance from sin is not part of Jesus' main teaching? The eagerness to accept other religions as ways for spirituality, and the eagerness to be close to EVERYONE without regards for/having a foundational belief seems dangerous. All these coming from North American writers who (from my perspective as a Southeast Asian Christian who had also been educated in the West) reacted strongly because of their experiences and visits to other poor parts of the world and they were so disoriented with the suffering that they couldn't understand, so they just throw out the belief systems, criticise how earlier Christians did church all wrong in order to deal with their sense of disjunction. So many of them do not really elaborate the biblical meaning of Jesus' "kingdom of God" but uses this point to champion their ideas that living with pluralism, embracing this newer paradigm is THE answer to Christianity today. They too eagerly attribute wars, hate, etc to "earlier" Christians to make their point and do not reflect upon what they might have sacrificed with their new way of doing Christianity.
I do wonder though, how can we do ecumenism well, not the truth compromising type...
Ok, I finally found a REALLY good chapter in this book:
X. "Worship: Pilgrims in the Faith"-Mark MacLean, pp. 171-187
-blended, ancient-future, seeker, tribalism emerging, emergent styles etc do not really work (misguided language)
It's not the question of whether the "liturgical renewal movement" or the "contemporary/evangelical" worship style is right, but reflecting on themes in corporate worship that "point to deep forms of the Spirit and its artistic interpretation" (p.183)/themes as guideposts on our shared pilgrimage in faith/tools for evaluating worship, or simply as a means to reflect upon the task of creating worship:
1. Revelation: "what does the gospel have to say to us. ...takes seriously the incarnation of Jesus Christ as prophetic, pastoral, and priestly voice in dialogue with human experience. This worship honors sacrament as a mystery and moment of unity, among people of the Spirit created in God's image. Revelatory worship accepts human frailty and diversity as an essential witness to God's image amogn us. In this radical inclusion, we can experience the incarnation reflected, named, and realised in the community of Christ."
2. A new emphasis on the Bible: "new"=a radical retelling of the faith history and teaching of the story of salvation. ... This new emphasis takes the radical challenge of the sacred texts as presented in their context, and drops it directly into our context as raw and real, as if it were written for us today. 'hermeneutic of relevance'"
3. Historical consciousness:
Topics: The historical consciousness of the evangelical & mainline denominations Chinese Christians about worship in the historical church till today. "We cannot go forward with innovation without knowing where we have come from. ... This requires the worship designer to explore the deep richness of the local community and of the historical church, in order to inspire and bear witness to the faith with a new and fresh voice." (p.184)
4. Influence of the Reformation: "we must all acknowledge the deep influence of the reformed movement on our worship and theology. ... This reformed spirit is where we can begin to break down the false boundaries of denominationalism and theological division to claim shared history and to vision and reunite the faithful."
5. Ecumenical character: "This reference is not to the movement of 'ecumenism' that grew out of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Here is where we name in worship the unique identity of Jesus Christ, held up as giver of the Spirit and incarnation of God among us, Emmanuel. We claim ourselves in worship as Christians and share this identity with our brothers and sisters in the Christian faith beyond all boundaries, as imposed by human experience. In doing so, we acknowledge our unique Christian identity openly and honestly with our brothers and sisters of every faith, and in so doing honour their distinct revelation of the creator God." (p. 184-5)
- "We have now moved beyond the limited language of style and function, to form and substance. We return to the open and fluid language of the community at worship--the ekklesia (faith community/church) and liturgia (liturgy/worship)." "As those who accept the intimate challenge of creating and forming worship in community, we must accept that, like all art, the form and substance of our creation is not always of our choosing. ...The community at worship is a vast and diverse canvas and we cannot be about limiting its authentic presentation." (p.185) authentic, innovation worship
-A very beautiful analogy of pilgrims: "Pilgrims know well that they are not the first to walk a road and they know well that they will not be the last. Pilgrims have a clear destination in mind but are always open to Spirit-filled, mysterious, and unexpected experiences along the journey. More importantly, true pilgrims revel in the rich stories of the other pilgrims around them, who are moving on their own distinct paths toward the same destination." (p.185)
-"Worship that stands against the imperialistic nature of our history welcomes and stands with the oppressed and the excluded. Worship that challenges the individualistic materialism of the 'pop-culture' creates authentic communities that are relevant and innovative for a new generation of faith. With worship that takes seriously the experience of revelation, the radical nature of biblical faith, and that claims our shared historic path, we can look to the future with hope. Authentic worship names our unique heritage amidst our diverse reality, and openly shares the richness of the full human condition as spiritual gift." (p.186)
-"We must breathe God's breath Ruah in our liturgia so we might truly be the ekklesia for the world." (p.186)
9-13 Dec 2016
Kelowna: CopperHouse, 2006.
Topics: The historical consciousness of the evangelical & mainline denominations Chinese Christians about worship in the historical church till today.
R: but how might this task of creating and forming an authentic and innovative worship look like in the Chinese church here? Some have limited resources and some have gotten used to directly inheriting/choosing to imitate the worship liturgy and songs from the Western church either for being safe or for lack of thoughts, while others do not see the importance of creating their own worship presentations suitable to their own context and fail to incorporate the richness of their own cultural heritage (or there is also the fear of using things that are unsuitable for the holy, as there are lots of cultural traditions that are connected with superstitions).
R: The celebration of 500 years of Reformation in 2017. What can the Asian church say about the worship (including the tradition of Word, song, and prayer) so far, and how the future looks for the Asian church in this central corporate activity of the church--worship? As worship is the gifted response of God to His people, and it tells us about our relationship with God.
"For a new generation of faith, our worship must capture this breath of God as the church moves forward and as Christianity is born anew. ...This is a hungry, thirsty, spiritually sensitive and yet deeply critical collection of people who cross all boundaries of age, race, and gender. They are no longer bound by convention in lifestyle, or tradition in their daily existence, and yet they remember these things. Theirs might not be a conscious longing, or clearly defined memory, but certainly the church today represents something, both for those within it and for those at its edges. ...How our worship represents this faithful convention and living tradition is the core challenge to the church in its mainline incarnation in our age. ... It is essential that each worshipping community find a way to lifts its faithful membership into that Spirit of God which binds our hearts. Our worship needs to flow in and through our communities, for God's Breath --Ruah--is central to our being and vocation." (p.173)
-The deep division: "Followers of the earlier vision (fundamentalists, many conservative-evangelicals, and some mainline Christians) see the new way of being Christian as a watering down or even abandonment of Christianity. From their point of view, it makes too many concessions to modern thought, producing an anemic, politically correct, and vaguely theistic humanism. On the other side of the divide, emerging Christians often see the more rigid forms of the earlier vision as anti-intellectual, literalistic, judgmental, self-righteous, and uncritically committed to right-wing politics." (p. 10)
-a paradigm conflict: paradigm defined as "a way of seeing a whole; a comprehensive way of seeing; a large framework that affects the way particulars are seen"
II. "Experience: The Heart of Transformation"-Tim Scorer, pp. 33-
-"Experience has a significant connection to our innate tendency to be reflective." (p.33) Experience in your life of faith.
-"to move from an identified dilemma to resolution, from a human predicament to a solution.... transformative..."
-"when our hearts are open, we are alive to wonder; we live with a spirit of gratitude and we are compassionate as God is compassionate. The open heart is the one that is turned toward God, living with grace and spontaneous appreciation of the miracles of creation." (p.41p)
-in community and in tradition (p.46)
III. New Creeds-Tom Harpur, pp.51-
-"it's a fitting, biblical time...to reflect on and examine any 'jewels' found on life's path thus far." (p.52)
-"To be made in the Imago Dei is to share now, in some way in this world, in the nature and essence of God. It is not just a capacity or a remote potentiality, but an inner reality." (p.54) Ps 82:6
-...Jesus' chief teaching was not about sin...was about the kingdom of God. God's active presence everywhere....God in our midst; God within." (p. 57) Omission from the Creeds e.g." teaching of Jesus about the kingdom of God, which includes the entire ethic of social justice, - the theme both of Old Testament prophets and of Jesus. " (p. 62)
IV. "The Great Work"-Thomas Berry, pp.65-76
-conservationists
-'The Great Work before us, the task of moving modern industrial civilization from its present devastating influence on the Earth to a more benign mode of presence, is not a role that we have chosen. It is a role given to us, beyond any consultation with ourselves." (p.71)
V. "Consider the Lilies of the Field: How Should Christians Love Nature?" -Sallie McFague, pp. 77---The sacramental tradition (Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen, Gerard Manley Hopkins: "the world is charged with the grandeur of God.") assumes that God is present with us not only in the hearing of the Word an in the Eucharist but also in each and every being in creation. (p.78)
-to love the natural world for its intrinsic worth-incarnationalism. An incarnational theoloy, an earthly, bodily theology
-pay attention to difference
-"Art frames fragments of our world; paintings, poetry, novels, sculpture, dance, music help us to look at colors, sounds, bodies, events, characters--whatever--with full attention." (p.80)
-Murdoch: engagement with the "unutterable particularity" of the natural world.
R: I'm getting more and more uncomfortable with the grand talks about breaking all the boundaries (since that is so "modern" and now we are in a postmodern age), the radical reaction against "earlier", text-based, belief-based Christianity in favour of action and experience-fulfilling (& experience as starting points for belief) type of Christianity. Their assertions seem to be based on poorly defined concept of Jesus' teaching of "kingdom of God"; can you really say that repentance from sin is not part of Jesus' main teaching? The eagerness to accept other religions as ways for spirituality, and the eagerness to be close to EVERYONE without regards for/having a foundational belief seems dangerous. All these coming from North American writers who (from my perspective as a Southeast Asian Christian who had also been educated in the West) reacted strongly because of their experiences and visits to other poor parts of the world and they were so disoriented with the suffering that they couldn't understand, so they just throw out the belief systems, criticise how earlier Christians did church all wrong in order to deal with their sense of disjunction. So many of them do not really elaborate the biblical meaning of Jesus' "kingdom of God" but uses this point to champion their ideas that living with pluralism, embracing this newer paradigm is THE answer to Christianity today. They too eagerly attribute wars, hate, etc to "earlier" Christians to make their point and do not reflect upon what they might have sacrificed with their new way of doing Christianity.
I do wonder though, how can we do ecumenism well, not the truth compromising type...
Ok, I finally found a REALLY good chapter in this book:
X. "Worship: Pilgrims in the Faith"-Mark MacLean, pp. 171-187
-blended, ancient-future, seeker, tribalism emerging, emergent styles etc do not really work (misguided language)
It's not the question of whether the "liturgical renewal movement" or the "contemporary/evangelical" worship style is right, but reflecting on themes in corporate worship that "point to deep forms of the Spirit and its artistic interpretation" (p.183)/themes as guideposts on our shared pilgrimage in faith/tools for evaluating worship, or simply as a means to reflect upon the task of creating worship:
1. Revelation: "what does the gospel have to say to us. ...takes seriously the incarnation of Jesus Christ as prophetic, pastoral, and priestly voice in dialogue with human experience. This worship honors sacrament as a mystery and moment of unity, among people of the Spirit created in God's image. Revelatory worship accepts human frailty and diversity as an essential witness to God's image amogn us. In this radical inclusion, we can experience the incarnation reflected, named, and realised in the community of Christ."
2. A new emphasis on the Bible: "new"=a radical retelling of the faith history and teaching of the story of salvation. ... This new emphasis takes the radical challenge of the sacred texts as presented in their context, and drops it directly into our context as raw and real, as if it were written for us today. 'hermeneutic of relevance'"
3. Historical consciousness:
Topics: The historical consciousness of the evangelical & mainline denominations Chinese Christians about worship in the historical church till today. "We cannot go forward with innovation without knowing where we have come from. ... This requires the worship designer to explore the deep richness of the local community and of the historical church, in order to inspire and bear witness to the faith with a new and fresh voice." (p.184)
4. Influence of the Reformation: "we must all acknowledge the deep influence of the reformed movement on our worship and theology. ... This reformed spirit is where we can begin to break down the false boundaries of denominationalism and theological division to claim shared history and to vision and reunite the faithful."
5. Ecumenical character: "This reference is not to the movement of 'ecumenism' that grew out of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Here is where we name in worship the unique identity of Jesus Christ, held up as giver of the Spirit and incarnation of God among us, Emmanuel. We claim ourselves in worship as Christians and share this identity with our brothers and sisters in the Christian faith beyond all boundaries, as imposed by human experience. In doing so, we acknowledge our unique Christian identity openly and honestly with our brothers and sisters of every faith, and in so doing honour their distinct revelation of the creator God." (p. 184-5)
- "We have now moved beyond the limited language of style and function, to form and substance. We return to the open and fluid language of the community at worship--the ekklesia (faith community/church) and liturgia (liturgy/worship)." "As those who accept the intimate challenge of creating and forming worship in community, we must accept that, like all art, the form and substance of our creation is not always of our choosing. ...The community at worship is a vast and diverse canvas and we cannot be about limiting its authentic presentation." (p.185) authentic, innovation worship
-A very beautiful analogy of pilgrims: "Pilgrims know well that they are not the first to walk a road and they know well that they will not be the last. Pilgrims have a clear destination in mind but are always open to Spirit-filled, mysterious, and unexpected experiences along the journey. More importantly, true pilgrims revel in the rich stories of the other pilgrims around them, who are moving on their own distinct paths toward the same destination." (p.185)
-"Worship that stands against the imperialistic nature of our history welcomes and stands with the oppressed and the excluded. Worship that challenges the individualistic materialism of the 'pop-culture' creates authentic communities that are relevant and innovative for a new generation of faith. With worship that takes seriously the experience of revelation, the radical nature of biblical faith, and that claims our shared historic path, we can look to the future with hope. Authentic worship names our unique heritage amidst our diverse reality, and openly shares the richness of the full human condition as spiritual gift." (p.186)
-"We must breathe God's breath Ruah in our liturgia so we might truly be the ekklesia for the world." (p.186)
9-13 Dec 2016
Kelowna: CopperHouse, 2006.
Topics: The historical consciousness of the evangelical & mainline denominations Chinese Christians about worship in the historical church till today.
R: but how might this task of creating and forming an authentic and innovative worship look like in the Chinese church here? Some have limited resources and some have gotten used to directly inheriting/choosing to imitate the worship liturgy and songs from the Western church either for being safe or for lack of thoughts, while others do not see the importance of creating their own worship presentations suitable to their own context and fail to incorporate the richness of their own cultural heritage (or there is also the fear of using things that are unsuitable for the holy, as there are lots of cultural traditions that are connected with superstitions).
R: The celebration of 500 years of Reformation in 2017. What can the Asian church say about the worship (including the tradition of Word, song, and prayer) so far, and how the future looks for the Asian church in this central corporate activity of the church--worship? As worship is the gifted response of God to His people, and it tells us about our relationship with God.
"For a new generation of faith, our worship must capture this breath of God as the church moves forward and as Christianity is born anew. ...This is a hungry, thirsty, spiritually sensitive and yet deeply critical collection of people who cross all boundaries of age, race, and gender. They are no longer bound by convention in lifestyle, or tradition in their daily existence, and yet they remember these things. Theirs might not be a conscious longing, or clearly defined memory, but certainly the church today represents something, both for those within it and for those at its edges. ...How our worship represents this faithful convention and living tradition is the core challenge to the church in its mainline incarnation in our age. ... It is essential that each worshipping community find a way to lifts its faithful membership into that Spirit of God which binds our hearts. Our worship needs to flow in and through our communities, for God's Breath --Ruah--is central to our being and vocation." (p.173)
Sunday, December 11, 2016
3. Proclamation and Theology - William H. Willimon
Acts 8:4 "Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word." (the church, after Stephen's martyr)
-"Preaching is a theological act, our attempt to do business with a God who speaks... At the heart of preaching is... a God who speaks, and who speaks now" (p.2)
-"The gap that is the main concern of the evangelical preacher, ... is the theological space between us and the Trinity.... not style, rhetoric, or method when Theos ought to be our concern." "...biblical stories render a God true but strange." (p.4)
-God initiated the divine-human dialogue: the Incarnation, Word Made Flesh (p. 15)
-Preaching must be God's Word. Kant: preacher as the person standing at the street corner pointing to the sky and everyone looking there.
"Our faith in preaching is not based upon preaching's effectiveness but rather upon its truth, a truth that graciously reaches out to us and gives us what we need to hear as the way, the truth, and the life." (p.21) Eph 4:15-16 truth-telling->maturity
The Biblical Word
-"The word is read and interpreted in worship; the people weep and then celebrate and align their lives accordingly." Ezra 8:8-12 (p.35)
-"Most of Israel's Scripture was written by a community either in exile or coming out of exile, Scripture like that found in Nehemiah. Only exilic literature could adequately express the pain and the loss felt by disestablished, relinquished Israel in the catastrophe of exile. Yet some of Israel's most assertive, visionary, hopeful, pushy poetry and prose was also written in exile, testimony to Israel's great faith in the reign of a resourceful God who is determined to have a people. ...a God who tends toward the oppressed." (p.37-8)
-"biblical preaching is part of the church's tough theological task of taking the Bible as God's word more seriously and ourselves a little less so." (p.49)
The Incarnate Word
"The proclaimed word is the incarnate Christ himself..." (p.54)
-"The Word is meant to be heard, embodied, performed, and enfleshed. ...so that our congregations might embody the Word and the Word might dwell in them richly. That means that every sermon is meant to be a summons, a call, a vocation toward Incarnation." "We preachers seek to perform the Word in our sermons so that the congregation might perform the Word in the world." (p.60-61)
Cross and Resurrection in Preaching
-Cross: the foolish to shame the wise 1 Cor 2:1-5
-Resurrection: content of gospel preaching and its miraculous means; hope; "Resurrection carries with it a claim, a demand that we live in the light of this stunning new reality...Now we must acknowledge who sits upon the throne, who is in charge, how the story ends. Now we must either change, join in God's revolution, or else remain unchanged, in the grip of the old world and its rulers, sin and death." (p.86)
Dec 10-12, 2016
2005, Nashville: Abingdon Press
To read: Justin Martyr's Apology (c. 150)-one of the earliest detailed account of a Sunday service
-"Preaching is a theological act, our attempt to do business with a God who speaks... At the heart of preaching is... a God who speaks, and who speaks now" (p.2)
-"The gap that is the main concern of the evangelical preacher, ... is the theological space between us and the Trinity.... not style, rhetoric, or method when Theos ought to be our concern." "...biblical stories render a God true but strange." (p.4)
-God initiated the divine-human dialogue: the Incarnation, Word Made Flesh (p. 15)
-Preaching must be God's Word. Kant: preacher as the person standing at the street corner pointing to the sky and everyone looking there.
"Our faith in preaching is not based upon preaching's effectiveness but rather upon its truth, a truth that graciously reaches out to us and gives us what we need to hear as the way, the truth, and the life." (p.21) Eph 4:15-16 truth-telling->maturity
The Biblical Word
-"The word is read and interpreted in worship; the people weep and then celebrate and align their lives accordingly." Ezra 8:8-12 (p.35)
-"Most of Israel's Scripture was written by a community either in exile or coming out of exile, Scripture like that found in Nehemiah. Only exilic literature could adequately express the pain and the loss felt by disestablished, relinquished Israel in the catastrophe of exile. Yet some of Israel's most assertive, visionary, hopeful, pushy poetry and prose was also written in exile, testimony to Israel's great faith in the reign of a resourceful God who is determined to have a people. ...a God who tends toward the oppressed." (p.37-8)
-"biblical preaching is part of the church's tough theological task of taking the Bible as God's word more seriously and ourselves a little less so." (p.49)
The Incarnate Word
"The proclaimed word is the incarnate Christ himself..." (p.54)
-"The Word is meant to be heard, embodied, performed, and enfleshed. ...so that our congregations might embody the Word and the Word might dwell in them richly. That means that every sermon is meant to be a summons, a call, a vocation toward Incarnation." "We preachers seek to perform the Word in our sermons so that the congregation might perform the Word in the world." (p.60-61)
Cross and Resurrection in Preaching
-Cross: the foolish to shame the wise 1 Cor 2:1-5
-Resurrection: content of gospel preaching and its miraculous means; hope; "Resurrection carries with it a claim, a demand that we live in the light of this stunning new reality...Now we must acknowledge who sits upon the throne, who is in charge, how the story ends. Now we must either change, join in God's revolution, or else remain unchanged, in the grip of the old world and its rulers, sin and death." (p.86)
Dec 10-12, 2016
2005, Nashville: Abingdon Press
To read: Justin Martyr's Apology (c. 150)-one of the earliest detailed account of a Sunday service
Thursday, December 8, 2016
2. Gifted Response: The Triune God as the Causative Agency of our Responsive Worship-Dennis Ngien
-"how worship is our participation in God's causative agency... how the creature redeemed by grace is a passive recipient of God's grace that enables our response in worship."
-"It is not incidental that a Greek Father, two Latin doctors, and two Reformers all identify trinitarian agency as central to Christian worship."--foreword by Ralph Del Colle
Introduction:
"Much of the contemporary Church's emphasis on worship has been concerned primarily with what we do in the act of worshipping God. The focus has been on the 'how-to' aspect of worship and the discussion has been largely devoid of theological underpinning." (p. xv)
-Analysis of the theo-logic of worship in the major thinkers of each period.
-The unifying theme: "worship is God's gift, in which we participate. It is primarily God's causative action in us, and secondarily our corresponding response to him, the former being logically prior to the latter." (p. xv)
I. Basil of Caesarea's De Spiritu Sancto: not only is the Spirit the legitimate object of worship, the one who receives our praise, but also the perfector [of our worship], the one through whom worship offered in the Son joins with the heavenly choir of angels." (p. xvi)
II. Anselm's Proslogion: God is "that than which nothing greater can be thought" (the divine superlative) and must be worshipped as such. "The moment of understanding is precisely the moment of doxology."
-rational reflection and meditative prayer-Prayers and Meditations: "to stir up the mind of the reader to the love or fear of God or to self-examination." "Anselm habitually places more emphasis on I-thou encounter with God, without undermining the I-it aspect of knowing God...His intent is to issue a transposition from faith seeking understanding to understanding seeking worship, the latter being his chief end." (pp. 43-44) "the unsurpassable perfection...-demands a fiduciary response that is necessary, natural and proper to a being like God." (p. 44)
-a relationship of wonder, not a friend because of the hidenness of God. Anselm: "The truth is, I am darkened by myself and also dazzled by you. I am clouded by my own smallness and overwhelemed by your immensity; I am restricted by my own narrowness and mastered by your wideness."(p. 46)
-"Just as our knowledge of God is hindered by sin, so it is with our worship. The worshipping experience as ascent to God is rendered ineffectual, unless by the intervening grace of God the 'Re-creator'." (p.46)
-God as the object of faith->object of adoration/delight. John 16:24 not the joy that the Lord has but "a subjective one: the joy that the Lord is." (p.60) "joyous entrance into the superlative fullness" "to know God is to love him; to love him is to enjoy him. The more he knows God the more he loves him; the more he loves him the more he rejoices in him" --enabled through the counsel of the Holy Spirit (p.61).
III. Bernard of Clairvaux's sermons on the Song of Songs: "worship is comprehended in the groom's kiss, which is shared with the bride in the efficacy of the Spirit, the unitive kiss between the Father and Son." [thinking about God in these pictures is quite foreign to me and so I find it difficult to comprehend-unfamiliar concepts...]
-3 kiss: 1. feet (repentance of sin and forgiveness) 2. the hands: liberality bc it gives generously & fortitude imparts the power to persevere and adorn with virtues (contrition, thanksgiving and pious deeds are the 3 ointments of worship by which the bride is anointed, which please the groom." (p. 71) growth in His grace, intimacy
3. mouth-"The kiss that the Bridegroom offers is the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which the bride is drawn into the infinite sweetness or embrace between the Father and the Son." "The Holy Spirit as the Bond of Love" (Augustine in De Trinitate); "the kiss of the kiss (the Spirit)"-for the bride, participated kiss instead of the constitutive kiss, which belongs to God's divine life (intra-Trinity) p.80
-"We learn to accustom ourselves with the gift of redemption and praise God through the merit of the cross, for making possible all intimacy with him." (p. 93)
-meditating on the groom's wound "while the kenotic movement (kissing humanity) of the Son sent by the Father to die constitutes the motive of worship, the ascending movement of Christ's resurrection and ascension is the completion of worship, as the bride reaches 'that holy hiding place, that hidden sanctuary, to look upon the Son in th eFather and the Father in the Son.'" (p.100)
IV. "the theme of worship is ontologically constitutive of Luther's theologia crucis... The creatures, of their own reason and strength, cannot ascend to heaven, obligating God and causing him to be gracoius. Thus..god alone must begin and lay the first stone (grace, we are passive recipients; God is the causative agency of our responsive worship of him)". "our worship reaches the heavenly sanctuary not by means of our response but by Christ's efficacious response (imputed to us through the Holy Spirit.) Worship then is a performative action in which God is both subject and object." (p. xvii)
-the 'performative authority' of the Word of God being preached (p.119) "For Luther, 'to hear God's Word and believe it,' Hughes Oliphant Old writes, 'is the essence of worship.'" (p.121)
-"Because hearing and believing God's Word is worship at its highest, ... God reveals himself in a hidden manner, under the visible, earthly means of creation in order to effect his presence for us." [Lord's Supper] (p.122)
-"True worship is communion with God, which therein includes a humble, reverent, thankful appropriation of his sacramental provision for our need of him." (p.125)
-Christ the Mediator, priestly role, the representative (p.133)
V. Calvin's theology of worship in his Institutes (1559): "Christ's mediation is the theological basis of the believer's active response to God: in his person, in his Name, our worship has access to God." As Basil, the double-movement in worship: "the God-humanwardness, in which God first descends to us in his Son, reveals himself by the Holy Spirit as the object of our worship; and the human-Godwardness, in which the Spirit elevates us to Christ's Ascension, to participate in the incarnate Son's communion with the Father" (p. xvii)
-God is the Giver of all" (p.139)
-"The true knowledge of God is always accompanied by reverential acknowledgement of him in that there is no speech about God without worship." (p.143) to know God and yet not worship him is idolatry, or using our own efforts to worship him is wrong too.
-"Christ's mediation does not derogate human agency, but inspires it." (p.156)
-"A proper theology of worship takes into consideration the two divine movements in Trinity: the God-humanward movement-God from the Father through the Son by the Spirit to us, and conversely, the human-Godward movement - we by the Spirit through the Son to the Father. This is not an ordo essendi, of essence, but an ordo cognoscendi, of experience." (p.162)
7-8 Dec, 2016
Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008.
-Q: What is 16th century Protestant magisterial theology?
-Meditate on what Lex orandi, lex credendi (prayer and doctrine) means.
-"It is not incidental that a Greek Father, two Latin doctors, and two Reformers all identify trinitarian agency as central to Christian worship."--foreword by Ralph Del Colle
Introduction:
"Much of the contemporary Church's emphasis on worship has been concerned primarily with what we do in the act of worshipping God. The focus has been on the 'how-to' aspect of worship and the discussion has been largely devoid of theological underpinning." (p. xv)
-Analysis of the theo-logic of worship in the major thinkers of each period.
-The unifying theme: "worship is God's gift, in which we participate. It is primarily God's causative action in us, and secondarily our corresponding response to him, the former being logically prior to the latter." (p. xv)
I. Basil of Caesarea's De Spiritu Sancto: not only is the Spirit the legitimate object of worship, the one who receives our praise, but also the perfector [of our worship], the one through whom worship offered in the Son joins with the heavenly choir of angels." (p. xvi)
II. Anselm's Proslogion: God is "that than which nothing greater can be thought" (the divine superlative) and must be worshipped as such. "The moment of understanding is precisely the moment of doxology."
-rational reflection and meditative prayer-Prayers and Meditations: "to stir up the mind of the reader to the love or fear of God or to self-examination." "Anselm habitually places more emphasis on I-thou encounter with God, without undermining the I-it aspect of knowing God...His intent is to issue a transposition from faith seeking understanding to understanding seeking worship, the latter being his chief end." (pp. 43-44) "the unsurpassable perfection...-demands a fiduciary response that is necessary, natural and proper to a being like God." (p. 44)
-a relationship of wonder, not a friend because of the hidenness of God. Anselm: "The truth is, I am darkened by myself and also dazzled by you. I am clouded by my own smallness and overwhelemed by your immensity; I am restricted by my own narrowness and mastered by your wideness."(p. 46)
-"Just as our knowledge of God is hindered by sin, so it is with our worship. The worshipping experience as ascent to God is rendered ineffectual, unless by the intervening grace of God the 'Re-creator'." (p.46)
-God as the object of faith->object of adoration/delight. John 16:24 not the joy that the Lord has but "a subjective one: the joy that the Lord is." (p.60) "joyous entrance into the superlative fullness" "to know God is to love him; to love him is to enjoy him. The more he knows God the more he loves him; the more he loves him the more he rejoices in him" --enabled through the counsel of the Holy Spirit (p.61).
III. Bernard of Clairvaux's sermons on the Song of Songs: "worship is comprehended in the groom's kiss, which is shared with the bride in the efficacy of the Spirit, the unitive kiss between the Father and Son." [thinking about God in these pictures is quite foreign to me and so I find it difficult to comprehend-unfamiliar concepts...]
-3 kiss: 1. feet (repentance of sin and forgiveness) 2. the hands: liberality bc it gives generously & fortitude imparts the power to persevere and adorn with virtues (contrition, thanksgiving and pious deeds are the 3 ointments of worship by which the bride is anointed, which please the groom." (p. 71) growth in His grace, intimacy
3. mouth-"The kiss that the Bridegroom offers is the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which the bride is drawn into the infinite sweetness or embrace between the Father and the Son." "The Holy Spirit as the Bond of Love" (Augustine in De Trinitate); "the kiss of the kiss (the Spirit)"-for the bride, participated kiss instead of the constitutive kiss, which belongs to God's divine life (intra-Trinity) p.80
-"We learn to accustom ourselves with the gift of redemption and praise God through the merit of the cross, for making possible all intimacy with him." (p. 93)
-meditating on the groom's wound "while the kenotic movement (kissing humanity) of the Son sent by the Father to die constitutes the motive of worship, the ascending movement of Christ's resurrection and ascension is the completion of worship, as the bride reaches 'that holy hiding place, that hidden sanctuary, to look upon the Son in th eFather and the Father in the Son.'" (p.100)
IV. "the theme of worship is ontologically constitutive of Luther's theologia crucis... The creatures, of their own reason and strength, cannot ascend to heaven, obligating God and causing him to be gracoius. Thus..god alone must begin and lay the first stone (grace, we are passive recipients; God is the causative agency of our responsive worship of him)". "our worship reaches the heavenly sanctuary not by means of our response but by Christ's efficacious response (imputed to us through the Holy Spirit.) Worship then is a performative action in which God is both subject and object." (p. xvii)
-the 'performative authority' of the Word of God being preached (p.119) "For Luther, 'to hear God's Word and believe it,' Hughes Oliphant Old writes, 'is the essence of worship.'" (p.121)
-"Because hearing and believing God's Word is worship at its highest, ... God reveals himself in a hidden manner, under the visible, earthly means of creation in order to effect his presence for us." [Lord's Supper] (p.122)
-"True worship is communion with God, which therein includes a humble, reverent, thankful appropriation of his sacramental provision for our need of him." (p.125)
-Christ the Mediator, priestly role, the representative (p.133)
V. Calvin's theology of worship in his Institutes (1559): "Christ's mediation is the theological basis of the believer's active response to God: in his person, in his Name, our worship has access to God." As Basil, the double-movement in worship: "the God-humanwardness, in which God first descends to us in his Son, reveals himself by the Holy Spirit as the object of our worship; and the human-Godwardness, in which the Spirit elevates us to Christ's Ascension, to participate in the incarnate Son's communion with the Father" (p. xvii)
-God is the Giver of all" (p.139)
-"The true knowledge of God is always accompanied by reverential acknowledgement of him in that there is no speech about God without worship." (p.143) to know God and yet not worship him is idolatry, or using our own efforts to worship him is wrong too.
-"Christ's mediation does not derogate human agency, but inspires it." (p.156)
-"A proper theology of worship takes into consideration the two divine movements in Trinity: the God-humanward movement-God from the Father through the Son by the Spirit to us, and conversely, the human-Godward movement - we by the Spirit through the Son to the Father. This is not an ordo essendi, of essence, but an ordo cognoscendi, of experience." (p.162)
7-8 Dec, 2016
Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008.
-Q: What is 16th century Protestant magisterial theology?
-Meditate on what Lex orandi, lex credendi (prayer and doctrine) means.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
A moving prayer-Anselm
"O God, I pray, let me know and love You, so that I may rejoice in You. And if I cannot in this life [know, love, and rejoice in You] fully, let me advance day by day until the point of fullness comes. Let knowledge of You progress in me here and be made full [in me] there. Let love for You grow in me here and be made full [in me] there, so that my joy may be great with expectancy while there being full in realization. O Lord, through Your Son You command--or rather, You counsel--us to ask; and through Him You promise that we shall receive, so that our joy may be made full. O Lord, I ask for what You counsel through our marvelous Counselor; may I receive what You promise through your Truth, so that my joy may be full. Until then, let my mind meditate upon [what you promised], let my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it; let my mouth proclaim it. Let my soul hunger for it; let my flesh thirst for it; let my whole being desire it until such time as I enter into the joy of my Lord, the triune God, blessed forever. Amen."
(quoted via Gifted Response pp. 61-62)
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
1. How Societies Remember-Paul Connerton
-to study the social formation of memory is to study those acts of transfer that make remembering in common possible" (p.39)
-commemorative ceremonies; ritual as coded representation (Richard Wollheim's psychoanlaytic explanation); the performativeness of ritual (p.58), the formalism of ritual language (p.59)
-non-textual and non-cognitive: incorporating practices-habits/"habitual memory sedimented in the body" (p.102), bodily, less paid attention to in interpreting social history etc but should be more looked at to understand cultural histories.
-inscribing practices-text, language etc-lots of attention to scrutinise its meanings etc
Habits-interested to read: D. Sudnow, Ways of the Hand: the Organization of Improvised Conduct (London, 1978) -jazz piano playing, how the body learns over time how to play piano more smoothly
5-6 Dec, 2016; re-read: June-3 July, 2017
Cambridge University Press, 1989
Cambridge University Press, 1989
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