Here is my final creative project. I hope you are able to draw something from it.

Final Creative Project

God Bless.

Some people have been having problems with the font on the presentation. If so, you can view the individual slides below.

“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”[1]

Preparing my ‘Christian Worldview’ for this weeks assignment was a really useful exercise in looking at what I believe and why. It starts to focus me on what is part of my ‘embedded’ and what is part of my ‘deliberative’ theology[2].

One of these ideas that has changed from embedded to deliberative over the years for me and has been refreshed during the last couple of weeks, is the meaning of heaven. It is a word used in common language now and its meaning has become diluted:

1.        (often in plural) The sky.

2.       (theology) The paradise of the afterlife in certain religions, considered to be the home of the god or gods of those religions.

3.       (used without the article) A blissful place or experience. [3]

When I was young I believed that heaven was a place beyond the clouds where we would go after death. It had no connection to this earth and I suppose was essentialy an escape from this world – the paradise described above. Now I can’t be sure that I was ‘taught’ this growing up, but I certainly wasn’t really challenged to think any differently.

I have now come to understand heaven as a ‘new creation’ or ‘Kingdom of God’. Its is the coming of the New Jeruselem to earth. Rather that us going away, God will come to us, Jesus will sit on his throne and restore his creation to its intended design. Heaven is not ‘the end’, but is the fufilment of this life as “life after life after death”[4].

I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighbourhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.”[5]

This makes a big difference from the place in the sky idea. This means that the new-creation has already begun through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We get a glimpse of what it will be like when the world is ‘put to rights’; beauty is restored, relationships are mended, justice is done and our spiritual thirst is satisfied. It also means we are charged with being an ambassador for this new-creation on earth. After all there are some beautiful, if tainted, aspects in our current world; the beauty of our landscapes, the loving relationships in family and close friends. As humans we have chosen another path.

We are the image-bearers and have to be stewards to those who have yet to meet with God, to show that we are no put on earth to look after number one, but to love and to be loved by the creator of all. We are given a chance to participate in the new-creation now as a sort of practice for the main event, but also a great responsibility to ensure that others don’t miss out on their chance to witness the restoration of Gods Kingdom.

NT Wright sums it up beautifully:

“We are here because we are committed to the pilgrim way, the way that leads to God’s new Jerusalem, and because we know that on that road there is healing: then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”[6]

This week I was reading an article by Peter Fitch entitled: Inner Living, Outer Giving. I was immediately struck by his ideas on essential disciplines for worship leaders – “foot-washing, offering loaves and fishes, water walking, cross-carrying and, on occasion, dead raising“[1].

How do you do all that when you are playing the drums?

The offering of loaves and fishes speaks of the fact that ultimately when we bring our musical skills on a Sunday they are but offerings. We can’t reach the souls of people and release them fully, only Jesus can. As we have been discussing this week, we are all wired to be spiritual beings and this is expressed in through our worship and for me this is most powerful in worship music. It is humbling and also comforting to know that while we join God in his work in times of worship, we are only bringing our gifts so that God can use them. On its own its only music (insert your own drummer joke here!). There is plenty of good ‘music’ out there but only God can wield it into something far more powerful.

Water-walking ominously speaks of the “danger of this enterprise”[2]. It also links with the concept of the circular dance or Perichoresis discussed by Dan Wilt in last weeks post[3]. There is a fine line in holding on to the Holy Spirits ‘hand’ in the dance in a worship setting. In other words we need to be moved by the Spirit, but not try to hard to force something to happen or indeed to take over and miss the call entirely. As worship leaders/musicians it is so important that we be aware of what God wants to do with us in order for us to be effective. There is no point in sticking rigidly to what we practiced if God has other plans for the worship time. Otherwise “we get to experience the sound of one hand clapping”![4]

Ultimately if we do all these things, we get to play a role in “raising someone from the dead”. If we play our part we have the potential to be join God in saving the lost. So its vital we play our part right!

Lastly I just loved the last part of the article:

“Recommended reading on this topic:

• 1. The Bible.”[5]

Great!

[1] Peter Fitch, Inner Living, Outer Giving: Spiritual Disciplines For The Worshipping Heart – Inside Worship Master P141.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Dan Wilt, Essentials Blue: Online Studies in Worship Theology and Biblical Worldview P 15.

[4] Peter Fitch, Inner Living, Outer Giving: Spiritual Disciplines For The Worshipping Heart – Inside Worship Master P141.

[5] Ibid.

While thinking about this weeks questions, I was watching my rambunctious son, Isaac, who is 21 months. I was thinking how he copies me, the way I talk, the way I listen and just the way he tries to do things the way I do them (it’s funny how you don’t notice your own habits until you see your child copy them!). By doing this he is trying to be like me and joining me in the things I do, but at the same time retains his own personality.

I realise its not a new concept, but if we are the children of God then this is the same relationship we should have with the Father. To do this then, we need to know who God is in order to understand him. So who is he?

There is no easy answer to this and I’m not going to tackle such a question on my own! But the revelation of God through the Trinity (the God who relates)[1] is a fascinating aspect of God’s character, which I have been chewing over this week. This idea of the Perichorisis – each person “being in each other without coalescence” (John of Damascus ca. 650) is a real mystery and one that draws people in and invites us to investigate the character of God. “He is magnificently vast, eternal and mysterious. Yet He allures us in His love”[2]. I think this is an important role for worship in the coming years to begin to reveal this aspect of God so that others will hear and start to pursue.

What would this look like in the worship context for us? “[W]orship is always a corporate activity. True worship is never singular. We do not come to Jesus alone. We come to the Father who is in the Son and to the Son who is in the Father. The object of worship is a divine community.”[3]

I think the role of the community is key to our worship, after all God made us to be relational as he is in himself. It needs to engage and draw them in. For me worship speaks deep down and grabs a hold and I think that’s what people need – to feel a sense that we all belong and are made to worship together.

As to how that would form in emerging songs, I’m not sure (Trinity doesn’t rhyme with much for a start!). I’m still trying to grasp what my role would be in this community (as a drummer and not a worship leader) and how I can help reveal it in the worship context.

I was sitting with my new colleagues this week while we were all away down south for a meeting. The discussion randomly turned to The Chaos Theory and then String Theory, Parallel Universes and questioning whether you can prove anything.

It really emphasised two points, which I had just been reading about.

Firstly, as Dan outlined – everyone has a theology[1]. Everyone has an opinion and belief about God (or lack of) and there is a minefield of ideas and claims, which spark ideas and grab people. It is so in built in each one of us that it cannot be ignored. This also links with NT Wrights description of the ‘hidden spring’[2] of spirituality. I have experienced many people going to speak to ‘spiritualist’ to speak to loved ones who have passed away or to tell their future. There is such a hunger for it that they will take any scrap of truth to hold on to all that is said.

It really highlights to me that there is a real longing in people and so we should respond to that. For me music speaks deeply to my soul. We must use our skills as Worship ‘Artisans’ to speak in a way that is relevant to them and I think this is summed up well with Dan’s first development requirement to Artisans; “investment in theological and worldview study and reflection”[3].

Secondly it brought home the two types of Theory – deliberative and embedded[4]. I began to question why I believe what I do. Is it simply because I was taught it at Sunday school or have I taken time to consider it and understand it fully? It is so vital that I question these embedded ideas so that I can express them to others.

My hope is that this course begins to throw up these questions and that I can begin to examine them afresh and not rely on the beliefs of those who have gone before me.

Lastly I just wanted to share an encouraging word, which I have been struck by over the last few weeks. It comes from Chris Tomlin’s God of this City and I really believe the words give us hope:

There is no-one like our God

Greater things have yet to come

And greater things are yet to be done in this city.

I pray this is true for all of us as we try to make a meaningful impact in our communities.

I’m still trying to get the hand of this, so bear with me!

My name is Martin and I am a drummer in the Almond Vineyard in Edinburgh. I’m married to Sara and we have one beautiful boy called Isaac. I have now started a new job this week having recently been made redundant so am looking forward to getting back into the 9-5 routine (except its 8.30-5.30!).

I am looking forward to the course and hope it is a fruitful one for all.