The great thing is that it did go well. It looks like we had around 198 people looking in on the internet and it would appear around 130 were using ipads or iphones. This evening the viewing number also increase to around 34 normally on a Sunday evening we don’t get many more than 18. This means that we more than doubled our physical congregation because of those who were looking in on the internet. I think we also owe a big thank you to tye BBC for taking up our story and publishing it o the web. Check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_east_and_fife/10302210.stm

At different times today we have received text messages and emails from those who were watching expressing their apprciation. One person even mentioned that they engaged with the act of communion this morning using a ‘Big Mac’ burger bun. I notice also that Iain down in Largs has left a message on my last post to say that he had engaged with the act of Communion over cyber-space.

I know we need to be careful that we don’t in any way trivialise the act of Communion. Yet there seems to me something very theologically interesting going on when people can feel caught up in an act of devotion using the intimacy of the internet. I believe there is so much for us to explore and develop in this whole area of technology. For me the problem is that people often see this kind of innovation as a bit off the wall or a little bit whacky. When in fact it has all the potential of allowing us to develop community.

However the truth is we have never seen our live streaming of worship as a gimmick it is a genuine attempt to connect with people who are disconnected from the normal church attendance. Its just as much for the honest seeker as for the believers who find they can’t attend church any longer for a variety of reasons. In the words of one couple “St Andrew’s Bo’ness has given us our Sunday back again,” they go on to explain, if you are housebound one day is as much the same as the next. However having a regular appointment to watch the Sunday services, gives them the structure for their week.

Anyway we think it is another groundbreaking move that will allow people to follow worship live in nursing homes, public transport and even on the golf course and why not? When streaming live onto the iPad everything is available at the click of a button the golf course might be a bit far fetched but the bus and the nursing home is a real possibility

Recently we’ve been developing within our services the opportunity for worshippers to contribute to worship using the text facility on their phones. Its actually a fantastic way to let people contribute to the prayers of intercession. It is also an interesting way to engage with the congregation interactively through preaching from the text. Only the text is the text message that has appeared on the screen in the sanctuary.

I believe there is an interesting opportunity for ministers to begin to explore how we can best utilise technology. Changing worshippers from consumers to producers is what worship is all about. Its about thinking about what I bring to church not what I get from church. I’m sure we will have an intetresting debate on the issue. Some will think what I’m talking about is a gimmick, but its not its a real opportunity to empower the worshippers. Its about engaging liturgy into everyday life. Its actually very Orthodox to talk of liturgy in this way.

Neil tried out the technology last weekend, and he was able to sit in his car on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and watch the morning service live. This also means that if he had wanted he could have sent his contribution for prayer via the iphone and it would have appeared on the screen at the front of the church. He tells me to make it clear he was not drivng at the time.

For those of the congregation and friends who don’t have iphones or ipads I believe Neil also plans to try streaming services live onto Blackberries, Google Androids and Nokia phones in the not too distant future so watch this space.

One other thing most of you guys know that I’m a bit of a U2 fan well I think its about time we had a U2charist here in Scotland. This is a Communion Service that uses U2 songs as part of the worship and praise. I believe these worship events have been taking place now for a few years all around the world but from what I can gather non in Scotland. So I thought we could develop a really cool service using U2 tunes using iphones and ipads then podcast it on itunes.

So what do you guys think. I’ve come across a web page worth looking at which gives all kinds of hints and ideas to help organise such an event. Have a look at U2charist resources I’d love to hear what some of you think. We could perhaps start our next Sanctuary First with a U2Charist or should we aim to put on a bigger event in one of the Cathedrals? I waiting on a text or an email but at least a comment

Written as a contribution to the Lausanne Conversation on Preaching Part 3

Does preaching still have a role to play in the emerging church? In fact does preaching still have a role to play in all of our churches.? While our communication revolution invites us to continue to reflect upon the way we participate and respond to God’s Word . I want to suggest that preaching has a unique place in the communication of the gospel . Words and the power of rhetoric still seem to be able to touch a post modern world. Many believe that Obama won the American Presidential Election because of his great skills as an orator. While preaching must not be seen as mere oratory, it demonstrates that people are still engaged by the power of the human voice to communicate an inspirational message. It could be further argued that Jesus instituted the idea of preaching in Matthew 28 when he commissioned the disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”.

Preaching undoubtedly, has a special role to play in the worshipping community and it involves much more than an individual performing from a script. It requires the interaction of congregation and preacher as they engage with the scripture. This interaction is only effective when the Holy Spirit constitutes the words of the preacher. Thus it can be said that Jesus the Son instituted the preacher, and it is the Holy Spirit who consitutes the preacher.

Let’s begin to analyse the role that each participant plays in the process of preaching, beginning with the preacher, then the congregation and ending with the scriptures. The order is not important because I believe the process of preaching is a circular one. Regardless where you start the Spirit will lead you to the other. In this post i’m going to concentrate on the role of the preacher.

It is always the role of the Holy Spirit to constitute that which has been instituted in Scripture. In the words of Jesus “The Spirit will take what is mine and make it known to you.” (John 16. 5-15) Christ institutes that which is truth and is non negotiable. It is the Spirit that constitutes and contextualises the truth thus bringing together that which has been instituted or given, in order that we might discover a process of revelation. This revelation points always to God’s redemptive acts in history enabling us to see that God is seeking to renew his world and he uses people like you and me to make it happen.

The preacher has to come to this process in complete humility, submitting to the Word. The interaction is not that of equals but that of pupil and teacher. The Word and words themselves shape everything around us even the visual revolution of technology. It is important that we do not deface or debase the Word in the light of the power of the visual language.

Listening To Self in the Spirit.

In the Reformed tradition the preacher, has to learn to listen in two distinct ways. Firstly to listen to self in order to understand the human condition and simultaneously to listen for the Word that comes from beyond yet is revealed to us in the words of scripture. It is the listening that is the gift of the Spirit .

Indeed this kind of listening is relevant to everyone of us. We need to recognise that the voice of self, is too often the voice of many. In Mark Chapter 5. 9 Jesus is confronted with the man who was ‘beside himself‘ Our Lord asks him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” Out of the demon possessed man came a profound truth about all of us. We are all people who have been influenced by many voices throughout history. It is almost as though there is ‘a legion ‘within all of us, reflecting the confusion sin has brought into all of our lives. We are constrained as preachers to listen for the one voice of Scripture above the noise of culture. Of course we also carry the voices of our own personal encounters in our heads from the past and even the present seeking to influence and confuse us.

It is as we listen to these voices we become more aware of our need, our longing to hear the one true voice that of the Good Shepherd so clearly explained in John 10. Such a voice comes to us often in the place of silence. It is the voice of God through scripture, that addresses our confusion and shame reducing the other voices to silence asking like it first did to Adam, “ Where are you?

Silence and the Self

Carlo Maria Martini writing about ‘ Communicating Christ to the World ‘ says,

‘Every authentic communication is born in silence… Every true communication requires silent recollected space. To communicate well does not require many words. A few sincere words born of contemplative detachment are worth more than many words heaped up without reflecting.’

It is essential for the preacher to be in touch with the inner self or else she/he will never truly be able to speak or hear the Word of God. Murray McCheyne, the famous Scottish divine, is accredited with the phrase “ What a man is on his knees that he is and no more.” Prayer brings us to the place where we begin to see ourselves as God sees us. Listening to the many voices contrains us to listen for the one true voice. The one we know, the one we have always known.

Our listening and our hearing is all part of our reformed spirituality. Summarising this section, what I am saying is listening is not just a discipline it is a gift of the Spirit. When we listen to the self we will be confronted with many voices that seek to rule our hearts. Deep within each of us there is the experience of the tower of Babel. We are all people locked within ourselves, people who are confused by the noise and anger of non-communication. Paul echoes this idea in Romans 8 when he talks of the Spirit interceding for us because we do not know how to express how we feel.

Martini is also right when he points the confused and silent individual to Jesus the one who opens the ears and the mouth of the deaf mute causing him to decode the confusion and silence of the soul. It seems to me that this type of listening to self is also the work of the Holy Spirit, allowing the preacher to discover his/her poverty, the poverty of a noisy bell and clanging cymbal inviting us to become personal benefactors of the grace of God in order that we might be like a watchman blowing a clear note on the trumpet.

Only When He Speaks your Name

The preacher has to be addressed by the Word of the gospel personally. This experience of the Word of God has been the distinguishing feature of biblical leadership. Throughout the New Testament there are references to Christians as the called ones, or those who are called. When the preacher has heard the gospel and realises that he /she has been addressed not by human words but by God himself, then there is an overwhelming conviction that turns oratory into revelation. It is because the preacher is first and foremost a benefactor that she/he can share the gospel with those who are needy.

It is this type of encounter that permits the preacher to also reveal part of his self and vulnerability before God as he shares his lack of confidence. It is also this encounter that establishes the authority of the preacher. She is no longer speaking of self but sharing an encounter with the living Word. It is this word that first transforms the person of the preacher.

For me the first wonderful example of this is Mary in the Resurrection Garden. She doesn’t recognise the risen Christ until he calls her by her name then everything is revealed. Mary becomes the first disciple to communicate the good news. All of this makes it imperative that the preacher recognises their role as the one who bears the message but cannot change or reinterpret the message to his or his hearers liking. This is the great danger that Paul warned Timothy about. It is the peer pressure that many in our church today find themselves seeking to work through.

As we talk of ‘Emerging Church’ we need to be careful that we do not begin to emerge the Gospel into the culture and political beliefs of our governments and opinion informers.

All of us are living through what can only be described as the greatest communication revolution in the history of the human race. Technology allows us to communicate in ways that were only before dreamt of or written about in science fiction novels. This revolution has changed the way we understand communication and has influenced the style and aspirations of information technology. In the light of this extra ordinary advance in communications there is an undoubted case to be made to re-evaluate the way preaching is carried out in our churches. Congregations in this brave new world may discover themselves sinking in the Tsunami of change or discover a new found confidence in being empowered to contribute to the over all worship experience including the sermon through the creative use of technology.

How Can We Engage Interactive Preaching

How can we engage with the idea of interactive preaching? Can we use technology to help that interaction take place? In my last article entitled, ‘Re-imagining Preaching as a Process’, I was seeking to find a way to express the function of preaching as more than just a performance by an individual but rather as a process of interaction by the Holy Spirit between preacher listener and scripture. In this article I’m going to try and attempt to understand each of these roles and perhaps reflect on how technology and the creative arts are being used and can be used to further enhance this interaction.

What I’m saying of course is not new. It was always part of the reformed tradition that preaching should not be separated from worship as a kind of ‘stand alone’ performance but rather seen as part of the whole contribution that makes worship itself a process rather than an event. There is no place in the reformed tradition for a Eucharist to take place without the Word first being preached.

Within the Scottish Presbyterian tradition the preacher also has the role of being the prophet. When you take time to think about the roles that the prophets in the Old Testament played, quite often they were willing to engage with the creative arts, not only speaking forth the Word but acting out the Word. Jesus of course is the fulfilment of all the prophets for that is exactly what he did. He was the Word made flesh. ‘Salvation lived out” He not only spoke forth the Word, he brought forth the Word in action.

Worship as Active Learning

Last Sunday morning on retuning from church my wife, who is an educationalist, said to me, “I see you used the ‘Active Learning Model’ in worship today, it worked well!” She was referring to the educationalist theory which suggests that people learn as they participate and understand more as they become involved.

This then must be the challenge for the preacher to engage the people of God with the great theological truths of the scripture in such a way that they learn from a kind of ‘incarnational Model ‘ in which we live out the encounter of the preaching and teaching through engaging with the message in the moment. In order to capture a glimpse of the eternal. This in my book is what theology is all about. All doctrine must have a practical application for the daily moments and be pointing us beyond ourselves to the eschaton.

All this sounds rather grand, and I know it is easier to say than do, but it is more possible than we sometimes think. This is what liturgy is all about., engaging theology. It must go beyond words and begin to engage all our senses indeed our lives and lifestyles, so that they themselves become part of the liturgy. John Zizioulas one of today’s leading Orthodox theologians, and at one time my Professor at University writes:

“Theology is the liturgy, and the Christian caught up in it. Through listening to the liturgy and the scripture, the Christian Community learns to see the whole world as this liturgy ,and watches God at work, creating, judging and providing for all creation.”

Learning to understand the process of revelation in all of our lives is a wonderful liberating experience. Understanding how this process flows out of our worship encounters, our scripture reading, and the role we and all of creation have to play in worship is indeed challenging but also affirming.

To realise that my presence in the world and at worship is enough in itself to bring blessing and encouragement to another is humbling but it is also to remind me that I am one and the many in Christ. In other words I am connecting with others because i am part of the Body of Christ.

Engaging with the idea of worship taking place beyond the walls of church has become one of the most pressing and important pursuits for the church today as we seek to create new emerging models for worshipping communities. How we go about teaching and preaching within these new models will be highly strategic to ensure the truth of the Gospel is passed on to the next generation of Christians.

What concerns me is that in an attempt to be relevant we speak of the gospel as emerging. This is to suggest that what has been delivered down to us by the saints is incomplete for a changing world. i want to suggest that we need to engage with what it means to receive that which as been instituted by Jesus and proclaim that which has been constituted by the Spirit.

In my next post I’ll address these two important road maps as we seek to understand the nature of preaching in a Changing World of communication and technological innovation.

Here in St Andrew’s Bo’ness we have been experimenting with technology and worship for many years. You may find it of interest to see how we are linking a daily worship website with a monthly interactive worship experience, which we are franchising out across Scotland and the world if people are interested. Check out Sanctuary First just click on the URl below this article.

If you are looking for worship that is creative and biblical, reflective and theological, participatory and challenging, then Sanctuary First may well be for you. During the month of May we are going to reflect upon the result of living in ‘ A Cross Shaped Space” each day. You’ll be able to down load all your daily Bible readings and prayers from the Sanctuary First site. We’d love to have you join with us and engage with this service. Here is a taste of some of the material you will encounter. Have a listen to this meditation A Cross Shaped Space

Now have a read at one of the reflections relating to the barriers we put up preventing us from moving through the cross. I wrote this with the story of the poor widow in mind who ended up giving her all at the temple treasury. it got me thinking about the times when we putup our weakness and poverty as barriers to trust and faith in God.

A POOR WOMAN AT THE CROSS SHAPED SPACE

It’s strange isn’t it?
We all do it.
We make excuses
I mean we use our
Perceived weakness
Like a barrier
to keep people out.
To hide from ourselves.
We use
the things
the feelings
the attitudes
we have inherited
to define us.
Then we say
Sorry I can’t
I’m hopeless
I’m different from you
I’m not educated
I’m poor
I ‘m schizophrenic
I’m homosexual
I’m single
I’m married
I’m just a partner
I’m working
I’m tired
I’m not in charge
I’d love to but ..
I can’t

Its strange isn’t it
Something
Clicks and you
Simply change
You do something
You go out on a limb
You make a promise
You give something away

That’s what I did
I literally gave my poverty away
I opened my purse
I gave all I possessed to God
I can still hear it clinking in the box
Two little pennies
I had no more excuses left
I gave my weakness away
I walked through
A cross spaced shape
Into freedom
I felt strong
For the first time
In my life.

I find it hard to understand.
Why would God
The Father
God the Son
And God the Spirit
Three all one,
Agree as one
Feel as one
Live as one
Allow as one
The Son
to be stripped
Laid bare
Before
Such
Hate

Then
I think again
He stands stripped
Always stripped
Nothing to hide
The naked Truth
Alone
Pure
Undisputed
Integrity
The same on the inside
The same on the outside
Stripped
He is transparent
His clothes hide no shame
No mark
No blemish
Adam stands again
Innocent
God the Son

It is we who hide
Behind clothes
Labels
Brands
Crouched
Behind
Closed door
Closed hearts
Closed minds
Living out our secret thoughts and sins
Covering up
Covering over
Pretending
Preserving
Our own
Kingdom

Yet
You
Became
Sin
For me
For us
Stripped again
Of righteousness
Wearing our shame
Wearing our guilt
Wearing our shabby sin

So why would
God
Endure
The shame
Be stripped and stripped again
The question
Is asked
In heaven’s name

And from the throne a voice replies
God loves sinners
God loves sinners
God Loves sinners

Here in my nakedness
Stripped of self
My righteous rags
Fall to the ground
Clothe me Lord
From head to foot
Let your grace flow over me
By Grace I have been clothed
By faith alone

She wasn’t going to make a scene
She detested violence
The voices were raised
The crowd was jostling
This was not about her.
She knew that.
This was always bigger than her.
Bigger than she could ever be
She smiles and cries and feels the pride well up
He looked dazed but not defeated
She thought
Tired but not exhausted
If only she could give him something to eat.

Her emotions were running riot
She wanted to take him home
Talk sense to him.
Everyone mother should have her son home for Passover.

She felt a tinge of anger well up.
He should have stayed a carpenter like his father.

Oh Joseph
I miss you Joseph,

Why was this happening to her son?
She blamed the crowd he had got mixed up with.
Prostitutes and publicans
Peter and James should have know better.
As for Judas she had never liked him
She had told Jesus on a number of occasions
She had warned him about the company he was keeping.
In fact his whole family had told him.
He was going too far
He had become too radical
She should have reigned him in.

Tears from no where streamed down her face
As she looked him over
He was his own man
God’s man
Son of Man
She smiled
She sighed
She knew
More than most
There was more to him than met the eye

She remembered the words of the old man Simeon
More than thirty years ago
The sword he spoke of was now “piercing her heart”

So many regrets
Memories flood back
In a flash
She remembered
Her fear
Her joy
Her shear naivety

When heaven entered her kitchen
She was just a girl
She had sang a song
And called Him her Saviour
What she knew
She always knew
He was never really her son
He was never really hers
He was always for everyone
The Light of the world
The Bread of Life
The way
The Truth
The Life
She knew it all to be true
She knew it
All from a mother’s glance

The Word was
ubiquitous.
Too powerful
to live
in time.
Too gracious
to refuse
to touch the ground.

Yet the Word was
eternal,
as the thought
as the breath,
that formed life
from the ground.

On the ground,
life
muffled,
misunderstood,
graffitied,
strangled,
the breath.
Deconstructed
The Word.

Flesh
crucified
flesh.

Wiped out
removed
crossed out
The Word.

But the Word
could never be
forgotten
reconfigured
re-thought
Because it is
Eternal
As God Himself

We all know that we are living in a fast moving world. If we knew just how fast perhaps it would scare us all to death. I guess the greatest impact of speed on all of our lives over the past twenty years has been the meteoric rise of the internet. . The truth is there is nothing much faster than a mouse. Click and your there. Its like a huge big brain that we can all access in order to communicate and with which to communicated. Who would have believed even ten years ago that over 70% of our homes in Britain would be connected to the internet?

The Click On Resource

We use it for shopping, for recreational purposes, for business, for education, for social networking. What has made the internet so successful is the ability for users to become producers as well as consumers. All this has come about because the internet has ceased to be simply a place where you go to find information. It is also a place where you can go to give information. In other words the internet has become more and more interactive. I wonder if we have something to learn from this model in the church. Too often our churches are all information based, not much action and no facility for interaction. Take it we feed you but no feedback please!

This shift in internet usage has been given the name Web 2.0. When the web first became popular it was the place where you downloaded what the producers wanted you to have. You visited a corporate website and it was full of information. There was no place to ask questions to engage with the idea. The idea or the information was given and that was what web pages were about. In today’s world-wide web the idea is more sophisticated. I not only want to read what you have to say – I also want you to know what I think of what you’re saying. I also might like you to see what I have produced or created.

Check me out !

In today’s web world it is not just businesses and organizations that have websites, anyone can have a website. This is the age when my view is as important as the feature writer of a major newspaper. The rise of personal blogs has been phenomenal over the past two years. The internet is the 20th century equivalent of the printing press. The world of ideas can never be the same again.

It is in this area that I think we in the church should be directing more of our thinking and creativity. Last year Sanctus Media a small media production company working out of St Andrew’s Bo’ness here n Scotland began to explore the possibility of creating a new kind of church on the net.

Sanctuary First ( www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk} is a creative web space that is being developed into a place where people can begin to engage with daily worship and connect with others who want to explore in an adventurous way alternative ways to be communities of worship. The site is not completely developed yet but it is up and running and already creating an interest on the world wide web. When completed it will be a users and producers space.

The dynamic that makes SF different is its ability to allow the local church to become the catalyst to create a touching place where users can meet face to face and engage with the material in a way that allows them to open themselves up to God. Stage two is to take the site to the place where the users not only engages with the material but become producers creating material for worship and reflection or comments on the existing material. Some of this is happening already but it is being developed to a greater extent.

All this is a far cry from church as some people know it. However when the idea that the user can become the producer catches on it will begin to revolutionise church as we know it. It’s a kind of biblical idea anyway. Jesus called his disciples not simply to be users of the but he called them to be producers of the fruit in John 15.

Imagine a church where worshippers are invited to write their own songs of praise, write their own prayers, make a film to illustrate a scriptural text, submit a picture that speaks of the God’s grace. Contribute to a sermon through a dance. Imagine a church that is focused on turning worshippers into producers in kind and in action. Now that’s a church more people in the next generation will want to join. That is a church where people are inter- connected. It is in these kind of churches that more and more of the internet generation will feel at home and make their contributions.