The church musician has been given a number of titles: Music Director, Music Minister, Worship Leader, Chief Musician, Pastor of Worship, etc. Diva could be added to the list, but let’s assume no one wants that title. Which title is best? In reality there is probably a lot of crossover. Greg, Henry, and I (authors …
One temptation for the church musician is to become overly focused on crafting an experience for worshippers. We can easily spend a lot of time developing a certain feel to a liturgy or a certain genre of music. This is a distraction at best and leads us away from the Word at worst. Though worship …
Throughout the history of the church it has traditionally celebrated certain feasts in order to commemorate and remember portions of the biblical narrative. Through the years the number of feasts grew to burdensome levels. At the time of the Reformation there were close to fifteen major feast days, plus nearly every day marked a “saint’s …
Short pieces of service music such as the Doxology are a gift to the church. They are wonderful additions to both the liturgy of life and corporate worship. While it is more intricate than the Doxology, I was immediately impressed with Greg Wilbur’s “Franklin Sanctus,” which, in my opinion, should become a standard. In any …
At certain times of the year Christ Covenant Church focuses its attention on taking the good news to the nations. This is both healthy and fitting as the practice of worship should build in us a concern, love, and urgency for the world. At the same time biblical worship should cause a humility to grow …
The name, Practicing Worship, conveys at least two ideas: repeating and improving. Repeating A common command in the Scriptures is to ‘remember,’ implying, of course, that we forget. I have joked that a perk of being a naturally forgetful person is that old jokes are always new. However, it’s not a trait that the Lord …