Month: November 2016

The word worship can...mislead us. The word can sound as if the praise we give to God is the heart of the matter, as if we call this event a service because we are giving service to God. The service, rather, is first of all a service God renders to any and all who come. Everything is… Continue reading Misleading Worship

Healthy Christian worship must always share [a passion for the gospel and for the "outsider"]. But communal actions are not just neutral, capable of bearing any idea. If a Christian worship is, say, much like television entertainment in its format and style, one must seriously question whether any idea of God's grace, which might indeed… Continue reading In Search of Healthy Christian Worship

[The] role of the Spirit may explain how diversity in expression is not only possible but essential. Through the power of the Spirit, the self-emptying of the Word is carried over into the words of sacrament, embodied in a diversity of cultures. Greater attention to the polyphony of embodiment and interpretation, within a diversity of… Continue reading Spirit Led Diversity

As the sacrament of Christ, the church is culturally diverse. It proclaims and celebrates the integration of the Gospel and of the memorial of Christ into the lives of peoples of diverse histories and different cultural heritages. The principle spelled out is that the Gospel takes root in cultures, and that, in transforming them from… Continue reading Incarnation of the Word in Living Cultures

...in liturgy, the Word of God is appropriated into the life of the community of the faithful within the horizon of worship, and that this is vital to the church's interpretation of the Scriptures. It is a faith nurtured through worship that guides interpretation. This is what makes the difference between treating the Scriptures as… Continue reading The Incarnation of the Gospel