Sacred Space
We have long been advocates of a high model of participation in our worship gatherings. When we lived in Los Angeles (Spanish for "Lots of Ants"), my weekly visits to the Venice Beach Drum Circle only served to intensify my desire to see worship gatherings become more participatory and less spectator-oriented.
We have long used what we call "Worship Jams" as part of our ministry -- they're akin to the Worship Circle idea that people like Ben & Robin Pasley have pioneered (and I highly recommend their music as being ideal for creating "Jams"). Basically, a Worship Jam is where there are multiple worship leaders, as many instruments as people can bring (and hopefully play), lots of food (brought by the participants), space for art and dance, and the understanding that there is no set program once the Jam gets under way.
It's always been a challenging and exciting time of learning to listen to each other and the Holy Spirit, and to make space for different peoples' gifts to come to the fore. Because we had no set lists or "who's turn to lead next", it truly was a growing exercise of learning how to relax, back off, and let the Spirit lead -- although to be historically accurate, there are the occasional train wrecks along the way, but that's what "learning" usually includes! We found that if we were willing to make the kind of space where mistakes weren't seen as devastating, then risks could be taken more easily.
At times, we've had five or six guitars, six or more djembes, a keyboard, bass guitar, a mandolin, a saxophone, lots of singing voices, a digeridoo, some dancers, painters, and a six-foot-four, 240-pound Reader of Scripture (when he reads, people listen!).
The Reader of Scripture was named Logan; a Native American man who quickly became one of our closest friends in L.A., Logan came from a Church of Christ background, and had a profound love for reading the Bible. During our Jams, Logan would stand up during a song, and all the musicians would quiet down somewhat, and Logan would simply read a passage from the Bible that he felt God wanted him to read. It was great to see the diversity that the Spirit had gifted people with.
On the night which will forever be my favourite Jam when we were in L.A., Logan asked me beforehand if he could be in charge of the Jam (considering he doesn't sing or play an instrument, I wondered what he was up to), and I said, "Sure, I trust you." What Logan did was simple, yet extremely profound. As people arrived at our house, food and instruments in hand, Logan greeted each person at the door and informed them that our living room was "out of bounds" for anything but prayer, until the worship part of the Jam began. People were free to hang out and party in the kitchen and other areas, but the living room (a converted two-car garage) was "Sacred Space". Logan had worship CD's playing in there, and only prayer was allowed.
People at first had looks of "okay, dude, whatever..." on their faces, but then something very cool started happening. People began leaving the party, and actually entering the living room to pray. At one point, there were about a dozen people at a time in there, kneeling, sitting, squatting on the floor, praying quietly (the group's age demographic went from 14 to late-30's).
Once we finally "opened" the room for the Jam to begin, we were treated to one of the most dynamic and Spirit-led times of worship we had yet enjoyed as a group -- singing, playing, dancing, painting...
And Logan, standing up by the fireplace, reading from the Bible.
Sacred Space.
We have long used what we call "Worship Jams" as part of our ministry -- they're akin to the Worship Circle idea that people like Ben & Robin Pasley have pioneered (and I highly recommend their music as being ideal for creating "Jams"). Basically, a Worship Jam is where there are multiple worship leaders, as many instruments as people can bring (and hopefully play), lots of food (brought by the participants), space for art and dance, and the understanding that there is no set program once the Jam gets under way.
It's always been a challenging and exciting time of learning to listen to each other and the Holy Spirit, and to make space for different peoples' gifts to come to the fore. Because we had no set lists or "who's turn to lead next", it truly was a growing exercise of learning how to relax, back off, and let the Spirit lead -- although to be historically accurate, there are the occasional train wrecks along the way, but that's what "learning" usually includes! We found that if we were willing to make the kind of space where mistakes weren't seen as devastating, then risks could be taken more easily.
At times, we've had five or six guitars, six or more djembes, a keyboard, bass guitar, a mandolin, a saxophone, lots of singing voices, a digeridoo, some dancers, painters, and a six-foot-four, 240-pound Reader of Scripture (when he reads, people listen!).
The Reader of Scripture was named Logan; a Native American man who quickly became one of our closest friends in L.A., Logan came from a Church of Christ background, and had a profound love for reading the Bible. During our Jams, Logan would stand up during a song, and all the musicians would quiet down somewhat, and Logan would simply read a passage from the Bible that he felt God wanted him to read. It was great to see the diversity that the Spirit had gifted people with.
On the night which will forever be my favourite Jam when we were in L.A., Logan asked me beforehand if he could be in charge of the Jam (considering he doesn't sing or play an instrument, I wondered what he was up to), and I said, "Sure, I trust you." What Logan did was simple, yet extremely profound. As people arrived at our house, food and instruments in hand, Logan greeted each person at the door and informed them that our living room was "out of bounds" for anything but prayer, until the worship part of the Jam began. People were free to hang out and party in the kitchen and other areas, but the living room (a converted two-car garage) was "Sacred Space". Logan had worship CD's playing in there, and only prayer was allowed.
People at first had looks of "okay, dude, whatever..." on their faces, but then something very cool started happening. People began leaving the party, and actually entering the living room to pray. At one point, there were about a dozen people at a time in there, kneeling, sitting, squatting on the floor, praying quietly (the group's age demographic went from 14 to late-30's).
Once we finally "opened" the room for the Jam to begin, we were treated to one of the most dynamic and Spirit-led times of worship we had yet enjoyed as a group -- singing, playing, dancing, painting...
And Logan, standing up by the fireplace, reading from the Bible.
Sacred Space.
posted by Robbymac at
10:43 AM
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