Convergence Worship

Worship Style – Convergence Worship

Our good friend, Jesus, is a mover and a shaker amongst those with the least: the least amount of money, food, good health, friends, knowledge of God, and good behavior. This is what I envision "the church" should look like today. Church is not a one-hour weekly service, but regular service. I like a phrase I heard recently: “Our witness is our service.” I envision “church” as not a place we go, but who we are. We take the historic belief into the real world where we live! I envision the church service as bringing together the historic beliefs into our daily walk-of-life – convergent!

 

What is convergence worship?

In simplest terms, Convergence Worship is “…the coming together of the historic and the contemporary in worship.” Convergence worship unabashedly seeks to reclaim the biblical focus and historical worship elements that have been so vital to authentic Christian worship throughout the ages:

·         The two-fold order of Word (revelation) and Response to the Word

·         The extensive interpretation of the Holy Scriptures

·         The use of multiple types of prayer

·         The functional congregational song

·         The participatory worship through gestures and enactment, creeds or affirmations of faith

·         The Christ-centeredness of worship

·         The sense of community

Convergence worship claims an understanding that worship ties together the past, the present, and the future.

 

Convergence worship also values the expressing of the historical substantive acts of worship in culturally meaningful ways so that contemporary worshipers can more truly encounter Christ.

·         An interest in the common corpus of song

·         An interest in the visual presentation of the Gospel (visual art, dance, drama, music, poetry, banners, sculpture, architecture, stained glass, etc.)

·         A hunger for silence and quiet reflection

·         A cherishing of the Word of God read with simplicity and clarity

·         The mystical

·         A connection between worship and mission

·         Full participation in the liturgy

 

I support convergence worship because I think it’s biblically faithful and highly practical. I believe convergence worship is very useful in our world which is becoming Postmodern (people are not linked to the historic tradition and attitudes). We are living in the transition time between the modern era and the postmodern era. More and more people are particularly interested in the relationship between the past and the future.

 

Does the contemporary worshiper have anything in common with the worshiping saints of the past twenty centuries?

I think we share many things:

·         The desire for the Word/Response to the Word

·         The desire for more frequent opportunities for celebrating the Table of the Lord and the sacrament of Baptism

·         The desire for the celebrative nature of worship

·         The common story—the “meta-narrative”

 

What is the goal of convergence worship?

The goal of Convergence worship is to celebrate the God of the Tradition in a manner reflective of local tradition and culture.  It is to believe God is a God in Culture.  God is present even when we do not see God present.  It is expressed in ways relevant to the contemporary worshiper. 

 

What does it mean to reclaim historic worship and melt it with new?

To affirm the historical in worship does not require a congregation to repeat a set of ancient practices verbatim, in their ancient form. To me, embracing historical worship means:

·         To demonstrate a willingness to share in that which the historic church has always found meaning (and expressing these things in currently meaningful ways); and,

·         To make our own contemporary contribution to the historical stream of worship.

It is then that our worship expressions converge!

 

Worship progresses best when each generation (or era) makes its own contribution to the larger tradition of worship and then proceeds to express all of it in time as the various Lord’s Days transpire. Then the question is no longer that of various people in a congregation compromising so that each one is allowed their chance to sing the music they like best (blended). Instead, worship planners seek to remember the whole church at worship and when they do, the variety of expressions is not only satisfying, but also endless (Convergence)!

Convergence is a gathering of liturgical repertoire. It is in expressing the ancient and the present and the future that the worshiping church converges.

 

What are the elements of convergence worship?

In convergence worship, Revelation is the Word of God proclaimed to the Christian community with an intentional presentation of the truth about God and God’s relationship with God’s people. Think of revelation as the basic content of worship.

·         It is the time when truth is delivered.

·         This can come in many forms – ancient and contemporary.

·         Primarily it comes through the reading of the scriptures and through preaching.

·         However, revelation—the outright presentation of truth—can be delivered in a variety of ways: through congregational singing, testimony, prayers, prepared music.

A worship element functions as a vehicle for revelation when it proclaims the truth about God, matters of faith, or the Christian experience.

 

Response is the reply of God’s people to the truth proclaimed through revelation. Think of response as the prepared or spontaneous opportunity given to the people through which they can answer, reply, or react. As is the case for revelation, responses can come in many ways—in fact through the same ways: through congregational singing, testimony, prayers, prepared music, etc. A worship element functions as a vehicle for response when it provides an avenue to express what the proclaimed truth means to the worshiping community.

 

So you see various worship components can function either for revelation or response. The words of most worship elements tend to be either a proclamation of a truth about God (revelation) or an honest expression of how the truth is received by the believer (response).

 

How does convergence worship progress?

Remember, music and other expressions of worship serve the revelation and also, as response.  Worship planning should consider how each part of the experience fits the whole.

Hymns: Many times traditional hymns proclaim truth. Often they are doctrinal and poetic presentations of truths about God and/or the Christian faith. Most hymns teach, explain, and exhort believers. Consider how these hymns be paired with choruses (i.e. “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name!” followed by “All Hail King Jesus”).

Confessions: A confession of sin/assurance of pardon (The assurance of pardon is nothing less than a proclamation of the truth about God’s grace) might be paired with such songs as

“Change My Heart, O God” or “Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God”. Possibilities for assurance of pardon following confession might include, “Grace Greater Than All Our Sin” or “Just As I Am”, stanza 4. 

A prayer for illumination might include: “Thy Word” or “Wonderful Words of Life”.

A call to prayer: “Be Still and Know That I am God” or “Be Still, My Soul”.

 

How can we make the best use of convergence worship?

1.      Be exposed to traditions of worship other than our own.

2.      Be open to the active presence of the Holy Spirit.

3.      Be focused upon the celebration of an event.

4.      Be sure to set aside time exclusively for worship.

5.      Be participatory in order to experience worship.

6.      Be aware that the rule of prayer is the rule of faith (faith comes by doing worship).

7.      Be careful to include the opportunity to experience divine action and human response.

8.      Be insistent to use the arts as a vehicle for worship.

9.      Be aware that space communicates.

10.  Be inclusive of many musical styles.

11.  Be aware of the power of drama.

12.  Be free enough to use the body in worship.

13.  Be committed to the evangelical possibilities that lie within the Christian Year.

14.  Be convinced of the power of sign and symbol.

15.  Be attentive to the symbolism of baptism.

16.  Be hungry to recover the presence and power of Christ through the symbols of bread and wine at the table.

17.  Be in a spirit of celebration and thanksgiving when worshipping (i.e. the Lord’s Supper).

18.  Be open to the recovery of the practice of laying on of hands for healing.

19.  Be sensitive to the way in which authentic worship relates to all areas of the church's ministry.

20.  Worship is itself a response to the Word of God made flesh.

21.  Worship is an action verb and should not be considered a noun.

22.  Like most verbs, worship has both a subject and an object: we are the subjects and God is the object.