For the Beauty of the Earth: Essentials Blue, Final Project

For The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

“For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies…”[1]

I have been thinking about this hymn since reading the identically titled chapter in N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian. I most associate the song with the scene when it is sung in Little Women (a favorite childhood book and movie of mine), and I’ve had the song stuck in my head for the past few weeks.

One of our readings talked about singing a new song to the Lord, and how this could mean writing something original or re-envisioning an old  hymn in a new way. I find the lyrics to this hymn still beautiful and powerful after nearly 150 years. Despite its brokenness, our world is full of beauty and wonderment. As despair looms large over our society, I want to recall the blessings, to remember just some of the reasons why God is, in fact, worthy of “our hymn of grateful praise.”

Below is a (very) rough live recording of Folliott S. Pierpoint’s classic hymn reinvigorated with my own new melody. A chord sheet with lyrics is included as well.

For the Beauty of the Earth

Gifts from Scattered Tributaries: Essentials Blue, Week Four

For The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

One of the images N. T. Wright uses to describe the church is “the single great river formed from tens of thousands of scattered tributaries.” [1] As I read this, I thought of the gifts of worship I have received through some of these “scattered tributaries” I’ve had the privilege of experiencing.

I grew up with a worship style that would be challenging for many in the Vineyard movement of which I am now a part: that is, a cappella or non-instrumental worship. While I am thankful for the opportunity to use my musicianship and lead worship from my guitar, I am also exceedingly grateful for the gift of growing up with a cappella worship.

Worshiping with voices as the only instruments has provided me with some practical and spiritual understanding that I’m not sure I would otherwise have.

One benefit of a cappella worship was the ear for tune I developed from an early age. As a result, I can easily find harmonies and love blending my voice with others. Singing together in different harmonies and registers, with different parts and timbres is incredibly unifying. The human voice is the only instrument that is unique to each of us, and I have learned to celebrate the beauty of joining these myriad instruments together in song.

Because of my upbringing in non-instrumental worship, I can also confidently worship anywhere, with or without a guitar or a piano. I have fond memories of being at camp, walking arm in arm with my friends and just singing to the Lord. We were free to lift up the song in our hearts, and we were not dependent on a band to set the key or timing. One of us could start any song of praise, and the rest of us could freely and easily join together in spontaneous worship.

I do believe instruments are important add another layer to worship, and I know that instrumental worship is accessible in our culture. I also know that having a guitar or piano allows many voices to sing with strength and confidence.

As far as my personal preference goes, I cannot say at this point that I prefer one of these worship styles over the other. I think both are valid, and I see unique strengths in each. I would love to incorporate more a cappella worship into my present tradition, especially for the spontaneity it affords. I miss the freedom of being able to begin a song at the Spirit’s leading in a situation where a guitar might not be available (in a prayer meeting, for example). I do hope I can bring some of my foundation into my current community—gifts from “scattered tributary” to another.

1. N.T. Wright, “Simply Christian” (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), p. 201.

A Christian Worldview: Essentials Blue, Week Four

For The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.

As part of my reflection on theology, I have composed a brief summary of a foundational Christian worldview. Based on my study, faith, and understanding, here is an attempt to answer some of the questions of theology (Who is God? Who are we and why are we here? What happened to the world, and what is God going to do about it?) in simple terms:

God is love and love expressed. He is eternal, unchanging, active, living, near and yet mysterious.

He is Creator: he loves to create and continues to do so. He is King: he reigns in just, responsible, protective sovereignty. He is Trinity, a communal being in and of himself, engaged in and desiring relationship. He is Saviour, capable of and desiring to restore, reclaim, and redeem all that is broken and lost. [1]

We are his creation, his image-bearers, sub-creators, and storytellers [2] who long for justice, who admire beauty, who thrive in relationship and whither in isolation, spiritual beings who search for meaning and purpose. [3] We think and feel and remember and dream as we experience the world that is, the world that was, and the world that will be.

Out of love, God gave us the gift of choice and free will, and we chose not to trust. We bought the lie that he did not have our best interest in mind, and we missed the opportunity for perfect communion with him. We settled for less than his perfect plan, and in doing so we invited separation, pain, death and brokenness into the world.

In his grace, God our Saviour immediately began staging a rescue operation. Through the sacrifice of resurrected Jesus, we have access to salvation, not only for eternity, but for us to connect with God and experience his kingdom here and now.

We can now respond to his pursuit of us and experience his kingdom, which is not just a future event but a current reality in the “overlapping, interlocking” spheres of heaven and earth. The arrival of God’s kingdom was ushered in by Jesus’ action “to bring heaven to earth and join them together forever, to bring God’s future into the present and make it stick there.” [4]

We now have the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, and we now (in our bodies and as the body of the church) have become the Temple, an intersection of heaven and earth. [5]

God calls us to be part of his new creation and agents of his new creation [6], and he gives us aid to accomplish this, beginning with his living Spirit. His saving plan also includes his word, the Bible, a gift to “sustain and direct” us [7], and the Body of Christ as made manifest through the church, “the means of his action in and for the world.” [8]

We are living as people of light in a darkened, sleeping world.

We will experience death, but we will also have the assurance of “life after death” (to be with Christ) and ultimately “life after ‘life after death,’ ” bodily resurrection in God’s new heaven and new earth. [9] All that is broken and cut off and separated will be restored, renewed, reunited and recreated. We will once again live with God as he desired and intended.

In the meantime, we respond in worship. We are “penciling the sketches for the masterpiece that God will one day call us to help him paint” [10], and we are “practicing, in the present, the tunes we shall sing in God’s new world.” [11]

1. Dan Wilt, “The Nature of God” (Essentials Blue Online Course video).

2. Dan Wilt, “Essentials in Worship Theology: The Nature of the Human Being” (Essentials Blue Online Course e-book).

3. N.T. Wright, “Simply Christian” (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), p. 51.

4. Wright, p. 102.

5. Wright, p. 132.

6. Wright, p. 236.

7. Wright, p. 190

8. Wright, p. 201

9. Wright, p. 222.

10. Wright, p. 218.

11. Wright, p. 206.