This is a mural sent to me by Rebecca Wilcox. She's an artist and youth/family worker at Miramar Uniting Church in Wellington. You can see more of her art here. However this piece was not something Rebecca did alone, but more of a collaboration between her and some of the young people she works with. She drew the tree outline, and then gave her young people pictures of birds to be inspired by, or trace...
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For a while now, I've been working within a paradigm where worship is much more than the parts of the church service where we stand up and sing. That old word, 'liturgy' which we tend to think speaks of regimented, stuffy worship actually means, 'the work of the people.' It is something we do, make and offer together. If as the worship leader, I end up praying for people, rather than praying with them - then I have...
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Earlier this week I had a conversation with my five year old son, Sam about the significance of Holy Week. I have been fascinated by Jesus' statement, 'Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing' (Luke 23:34). If Jesus reveals to us who God is (Col 1:19, John 14:7) then this offer of grace to those who aren't even looking for it is mind boggling.I wanted to help this truth make its home in...
Read MoreRead MoreHere are the One Voice Project, we were excited to hear about this initiative happening down south. Here's Cheryl Harray to tell us about this collaborative project to visualise the praises of God's people, and their testaments to God's goodness. - MalcsThe 10,000 Reasons 'Post it note' Praise ProjectFlagstaff Community Church, Dunedin, NZ The song ‘10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord Oh My Soul) by Matt Redman has rapidly become a well known and loved congregational song...
Read MoreRead MoreSome of you really enjoyed the rhyming all-age prayer I shared a week or so back.I knew I'd written another sometime earlier this year, I just couldn't find the receipt, or the serviette that I wrote it on. Turns out it was on an envelope. This is more of a call to worship. Come sleepers, come dreamers! Hey rank unbelievers! Come into God's house, find a pew.Hey husbands, hey sisters! Hey neighbours, hey misters! Come in, find the place, just...
Read MoreRead MoreI led the worship service at St Peters on Sunday. It was a combined, all age service, meaning the whole church family was together for the whole service. That's my favourite kind of service. It's always a challenge, but I think its part of the challenge of being the church, living alongside one another, and learning to encounter God in the midst of unlikely fellow-pilgrims.I've been reading a lot of Hairy McLary to my two...
Read MoreRead MoreIf you're new to the idea of 'Embodied worship' - you can read some background on it here.This is the story of how I used it for the first time with a group of unsuspecting workshop participants at the South Island Ministry conference.So I began writing pieces of music that were sparse lyrically, but still rooted in the classical liturgy, which is itself, inspired by the big-story of God's salvation. First we are called by...
Read MoreRead MoreAnother day off and another new chapter in the Embodied Worship Project. You can read other posts about it here and here. It is my way of using music in worship to explore how we can enact the story of God in our world - rather than just talk about it, or even worse, just listen to someone else talk about it. In the posts linked about I have worked through the movements of 'Call...
Read MoreRead MoreSo I've been working on a new song - although its less a song and more a 'piece'. Its a totally different direction for me, so I confess I'm a little nervous sharing it...
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