Worship

The inward attitude certainly holds first place in prayer, but outward signs, kneeling, uncovering the head, lifting up the hands, have a twofold use. The first is that...  - John Calvin

You might think I'm crazy, but as a pastor there's no service I'd rather lead than a wedding. Even when things go wrong there's always lots to love. You may not know you should think I'm crazy for feeling this way.

Many pastors dread weddings. For starters, they're one of the higher-pressure services we lead. The pastor gets caught between the wedding coordinator, the bride, and the mother of the bride. And if that weren't enough, the bridal party underestimates the importance of the rehearsal, the ushers rarely buy into the importance of their job, and musicians often want to wing things, so the stress really amps up and it's square on your shoulders. So why are weddings my favorite?

Maybe it's that I've officiated at enough weddings by now that I'm more comfortable with them. Having spent a decade or so in college ministry in a college community, weddings are a constant for us. Maybe also because I've managed to miss the most difficult weddings. For one reason or another, they were passed on to other pastors in our church.

But this past weekend I was honored with the privilege of officiating the wedding ceremony of...

Last summer we asked you to help us with the My Soul Among Lions Psalms 1–10 Kickstarter. Many of you did so and God used your generosity to bring about the production and distribution of seventeen new versions of the first ten Psalms. God has blessed this work as these songs have become part of the household music of many individuals, families, and churches both near and far.

Now we’re ready to roll tape on the second volume, Psalms 11–20. Yup! We need your help this time, also.

Would you please watch and share this Psalm 11-20 Kickstarter video and do whatever you can to help us with this work? And if you can't help with the Kickstarter campaign, we ask you to pre-order the album because even that will be a help and encouragement to us. Thanks. To God be the glory!

We're also pleased and excited to announce that My Soul Among Lions will be on tour this week in South Carolina and Tennessee...

Glory, the Everlasting Word Band's Christmas album has been out a month. If you haven’t heard it yet, give it a listen. Cheryl and I can't get enough of it. We're listening to it over and over, kind of like we listened to Good Shepherd Band's Repeat the Sounding Joy several years ago, and some of the latter albums by the musicians of Mars Hill Church--Ghost Ship and Dustin Kensrue especially. Several years ago Cheryl and I drove through southern Europe for a month with our youngest son and daughter, listening to the Ghost Ship and Dustin Kensrue worship albums over and over and over on the rental car's stereo. This album is the Christmas equivalent. It's a fabulous piece of work.

Responding to the post titled, "Worship wars: Jeff Meyers and Peter Leithart have won...", one brother comments:

Surely the issue is not how often, but simply "how"? Weekly communion is Reformed (Calvin). Communion without a sermon, communion which is somehow emphasized at the expense of the sermon, communion in which there is any adoration of the elements, any concern that "Jesus is being spilled," etc., communion which is understood and presented as repetition of the sacrifice of Christ—or anything approaching that—is not.

I respond: Most of the things you highlight have been Reformed commitments from the beginning. The pairing of weekly communion and paedocommunion have not. Each without the other would have less of an implication for Reformed worship than both together. And make no mistake about it: both together are a confessional issue to the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision crowd. Yet there's no precedent for it in Reformed sacramentology or worship.

Everyone likes to say Calvin was for weekly worship, acting as if that supports what the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision men have done to Reformed sacramentology and worship, but they miss the larger picture. Calvin was for weekly communion, yes; but Geneva's observance of the Lord's Supper was quarterly and Calvin didn't leave Geneva over it. In other words, for Calvin and the Geneva reformers, frequency of communion was adiaphora.

You'll never get the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision crowd to agree with Calvin on this. For them, weekly communion is anything but adiaphora. To them, weekly communion is a confessional issue and you'll know it because you'll watch as they drive from Geneva to Strasbourg every single Lord's Day to get their family...

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  - 1Corinthians 1:14-18

Luther didn't bother writing a systematic theology because his dear friend Melanchthon had. Luther held Melanchthon's volume of systematics titled Loci Communes (Commonplaces in Theology) in such high esteem that he declared them worthy of inclusion in the canon: "Invictus libellus non solum immortalitate, sed quoque canone ecclesiastico dignus."

Considering the current fascination with all things sacramental among the Federal Vision crowd and Covenant Seminary alumni... 

A brother forwarded a link to an Atlantic Monthly piece titled "The Coddling of the American Mind" reporting on the prevalence of emotionally pampered college students who are using emotional blackmail to imprison their profs and fellow students. It's an excellent article...

What could be more important to the reform of our churches and homes than restoring God's Word to the center of worship? And, outside of preaching, what better way to go about this than reintroducing the forgotten practice of singing the Psalms?

We're embarking on an exciting adventure, and we're inviting all of you here at Baylyblog to share in it with us. Just this spring some of the musicians and songwriters here in Bloomington teamed up with a handful of worship leaders from Indianapolis and Toledo to begin work on producing a modern psalter for our churches and homes. In just a few short months, we finished multiple versions of the first ten psalms, and now we're looking to record them and produce charts and lead sheets, made available entirely for free.

We want to encourage a revival of Psalm singing in our churches, but we need your help. So we launched a Kickstarter project. Check out the video below, and then head over to Kickstarter to sample more of our work (see the videos at the bottom of the page), check out the rewards we're offering, and see how you can help. If nothing else, do us a favor and pre-order the digital album for only $10 or hardcopy for $25. And if you're a pastor, be sure you take notice of the sweet deal you can get your church on booking a concert...

Here is an audio page from Clearnote Fellowship's work called Clearnote Songbook. Start now with the hymns Lead On, O King Eternal, In the Fulness of Time and Rejoice the Lord Is King, then continue Ah, Holy Jesus, Wash Me in the Blood; Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, and Immortal, Invisible. Here are original settings of Psalm 1 and the Ten Commandments. (We regularly sing the Ten Commandments in corporate worship as Calvin did in Geneva.) Here are two Children's songs, I Am the Way and Little Lamb. Then a couple pieces from our choir, Star in the East and I Want Jesus To Walk with Me.

Finally, if you listen to nothing else, you must not miss His Final Word. My spirit is lifted to Heaven each time we sing this in worship.

The Songbook currently has over a hundred Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for use in worship—some for choir, some for children, but most for the congregation. There are a number of original contemporary hymns and Psalms, as well as traditional hymns with settings written for instruments in addition to piano and organ. The Songbook also contains other worship resources including prayers, confessions, Powerpoint aids, lead sheets, etc.

Use the Songbook. You'll find it a great help in the continuing work of church reformation. And if there are things that would be helpful that our worship leaders and musicians haven't thought of, please e-mail them.