Wow - what a dream!

Wow what a dream and I'm glimpsing it in action at St John's - how blessed.

The writer of this article will inspire, be warned. You might find yourself seriously smiling as you read it and afterwards be perhaps tempted to sing a song or two, to the Almighty.

I really encourage you to read this article in full for its vision.
I've taken out the bits that really resonated with me, but essentially it all did. The other emphasis the article gave was to passionate and engaging exposition of the bible, something which I really hope I can learn about.

Read in full Christian Today

One of the purposes of sung worship is so that the word of Christ, the word of grace, the word of the gospel can dwell in us richly.

Christians now worship all over the world, of course, and in many languages, but this faith once entrusted to the saints is passed on in part by texts that were once for all entrusted to the saints: the Lord’s Prayer, the Grace, Songs in Revelation; and it goes back further, into the faith inherited by the apostles – the psalms, the Holy, Holy, Holy, the Aaronic blessing and so on.

My dream for evangelical worship is that our wonderfully gifted song writers will provide contemporary expressions and settings of these Spirit-given texts in charismatic voice.

My dream for evangelical worship is that our song writers will write more songs that can be used in the common shapes of worship, and that planners of worship will use songs of worship in the ebb and flow of a service rather than just as a block.

And my dream is for song writers to write songs that relate to the sacraments and can be used when they are celebrated.

Worship is to be responsive and open to the movement of the Spirit.

A positive approach to the use of liturgy does not mean being bound by the book, it does not mean being straitjacketed by liturgy. The deep evangelical instinct for room to manoeuvre in worship is a godly thing. Since C17 evangelicalism has brought varying degrees of pressure on the Church of England to loosen up its worship. In the latter part of C20 this joined forces with shifts in liturgical scholarship and major cultural changes. The result is an official approach to liturgy – embodied in Common Worship – that is a wonderful gift to evangelicals, especially to evangelical charismatics.

My dream for evangelical worship is that it will grasp this opportunity – that it will take hold of this freedom in the liturgical freedom or, better, that it will take hold of this liturgical tradition as a framework for freedom.