e*r Week 1: Time and Space

For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials RedOnline Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

Essentials Red has officially begun and it promises to be ever bit as profound, thought-provoking, and life-changing as Essentials Blue has been.

I'm still processing much of what I read, what I learned, and I'm certain that much of what impacted me from e*b will bleed through to e*r as continues to do its work in me.

This first week in e*r, we are looking at the "worship languages" of time and space...how time and space have shaped who we are as worshippers today.

It is intriguing to me how much these 2 "languages" have been a part of my worship history without me ever giving much thought to them. And now that my heart has been awakened to their place within my history and therefore within my present, I am trying to put words to this "new" idea being presented to me.

Time: praying before meals, praying before bedtime, celebrated holidays like Christmas and Easter, a morning quiet time (or evening as the case may be)...events or rituals, if you will, done at a certain time each day, week, year.

Space: the place I go to do my quiet time, the building I attend on Sundays, the space I create during our Come to the Chamber gatherings (women's worship).

In talking about the aspect of time, James F. White in Introduction to Christian Worship says that "Christian worship is...a kind of worship that relies heavily on the structuring of time to help it fulfill its purposes (pg 23)." With regards to space, he says "Christians have always found it convenient to organize space to shelter and to enable their worship (pg 23)."

I'm looking forward to unpacking these ideas over the next few weeks as we delve into Christian worship history and begin to plumb the depths of how today has been shaped by yesterday.