EPIC/Expereintial Worship

Today started so the wrong way...
I was supposed to go to the Kimball Art Mueseum in Ft. Worth with my good friend Evan Jones and check out the new exhibt of early Christian art. We were going to go, check it out, set-up some docent tours for our respective churches and brainstorm about how to incorporate the arts more in our churches. The exhibit is a landmark one and I was so pumped to go and then the text came. Evan could not make it, sickness was running rampant at his house. So, what to do? I could have gone myself but two brains are certainly better than one. Do I drive to Argyle and work up there, or do I work from home (thus somewhat reducing my ecological footprint today).
Hard to imagine, but I decided to work from home and I am so glad that I did! Not only did I get to get alot of administrative work done in the morning, I was able to spend the afternoon researching and thinking about worship in our context at Argyle, and the church in general.
My job description at the church where I am the minister of music, worship, and the arts, features Len Sweet's thoughts on the postmodern mindset as found in his acronymn: EPIC. It stands for Expereintial, Participatory, Image Rich, and Connected. In other words, the thought is that worship at Argyle needs to be moving towards a more EPIC way of being. I love it! It's a great idea...now...how does it happen, what does it look like...
I am struck that our worship is generally not expereintial, participatory, image rich, and it is only somewhat connective. On the whole, our people come to church, talk through a prelude, sing a hymn, greet one another, listen to a pastoral prayer, say the Lord's prayer, sing another hymn, listen to the children's sermon, listen to an anthem, give of their resources, listen to a thirty minute sermon, sing another hymn and go home.
Clearly, the majority of the service is spent sitting and listening. The participatory acts are in the singing, the greeting of one another, and giving back to God in the offertory....we've got a long way to go.
Worship, it seems to me is glorifying God and being connected to God and transformed. Bob Rognlien says, "worship is when God is glorified and we are changed. We give ourselves to God in such a way that God is glorified and we are changed." (Roughly, this quote is something of a paraphrase). He believes (as do I) that worship is bidirectional encounter where God comes to us and we respond.
In worship at Argyle, we are only using our limited senses in this respect. We are not using our full humanity in our ability to expereince and respond to God.
So this leads me to some questions...Rognlien states that the biblical directive of Jesus is worship is the Shema: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He associates the heart with volition, the soul with emotion, the mind with the intellect and strength with what we do physically. We are not doing this at the moment, though I believe it is unintentional. We tend to stick with the heart and the mind to the exclusion of the soul and the strength.
My quesitons are becoming these: How do we do this in our context? What does it look like, and sound like, and feel like, and smell like? How do we love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourself in corporate worship in Argyle? These questions are beginning to dominate my thinking in how we plan worship.
Unfortunatly, I'm running late for an evening appointment but, clearly, I've got some work to do! So, even as the day began in a way that I didn't plan on, it is ending wonderfully! God is so good! What a blessing it is to be able to begin to be asking the right questions! More to come later!

The Perils of Living with Your In-Laws

Let me begin by first saying one thing: I have AWESOME in-laws. I don't use the term in the slang sense of it but they really are amazing people. They have very graciously let us live with them while we wait for our house to sell in Converse (please, please, please sell!!!!). My father-in-law and I played golf this morning and ate Thai for lunch. Really, they are great folks!
But they have a dog, a Daschund, to be exact.
And Sarah and I have two dogs, Jack Russel Terriers, to be exact.
And the dogs don't always get along very well...
While the men-folk were out losing their minds over their inability to put a little ball in a hole several hundred yards away with an acceptable number of attempts, the ladies were at home and Sarah was hosting one of her wonderful open houses for Mary Kay. So, the dogs thought that this would be an opportune time to get into a really big figtht. So much so that the daschund is now in surgery to close up the bites he recieved, though he asked for them, I'm told, and one of ours will probably need the same course of action soon.
Did I mention my in-laws are really great people?
They really are amazing, but wow, it's going to be great when we have our own space again. There is nothing they could do that would make this scene better. One thing that might, however, is finding a better place for our dogs to be (and I don't mean heaven). So far this idea has not gained a lot of traction with Sarah but I shall soldier on. Our Jacks are great: they are filled with life and love and vigor. I just don't know that they are getting what they need to fulfill thir exsistence with us any more and the fact that one of them is going to cause the other two to go into surgery is just a big problem for me. I am the only hard-liner in the group, apparently.

Yeah, it's been a while...

Seriously, I might be the laziest blogger in the history of the blog...
I pretty much am a loser when it comes to frequently posting...
I have no excuses, o.k., I have a few, but they aren't any better than anyone elses...
Long story short: I struggle with discipline in my blog life.

Whew...Confession is good for the soul.

Sarah, Ellie, and I have started a new chapter in our lives. After a two-week hiatus we have moved to Dallas (temporarily, God-willing) and I have started a new job as the Associate Pastor/Minister of Music, Worship, and the Arts at Argyle UMC. I say we've moved to Dallas temporarily because our house in Converse, TX, has yet to sell and so Sarah's parents have graciously let us move the tribe to their place for a while. They have been very kind to us and the dogs but we'll all be ready for the Stobaugh clan to move to their own place. (Please, St. Joseph, if you are listening, aren't you tired of being upside down in my front yard?!?!? Do your thing, baby!!!!)

Here's a brief status report:
Family: Good. Sarah is doing well and Ellie is a riot!
Friends: Good (except for Ryan B., who's dad is recovering from having a golf ball-sized tumor removed from his brain. He is doing well except he has, temporarily, we hope, lost sight in his left eye.)
Church: Good! Lots of energy and excitment, which is very fun!
Gigs outside of the local church: Good! I am looking forward to serving as the 3-5 grade children's choir clinician at Lake Junaluska in 2008 and my work with the Fellowship is fun!

Things are going well! I was feeling extra blessed this morning. I was delighted to discover that the Starbucks Christmas Blend was on tap, so to speak at my local Starbucks this morning! Following my trip to "the third place" I was able to pick up my friend Ryan from the hosptial and take him to DFW so he could head home after being with his dad all week. On the way back I was able to listen to some of Brian McLaren's new book "Everything Must Change" in the car. Good coffee, beautiful weather, good friends and stimulating thought. What more could you ask for from a Saturday morning?

Big John Daly and a big sunburn

I got to give big props to my man Rob Jackson! Brother Rob got us tickets to the opening round of the Valero Texas Open today! We were able to get to the course early today, just in time to watch big John Daly tee-off at 8:33 this morning. In the heat of the day we were able to follow John's entire round and he shot a two over seventy-two for the day. I just heard from Rob that Daly is recovering from strep-throat and the flu. Not too bad, eh? I had a great time this morning but I forgot one very important thing: sunscreen. I now have a very nice purple burn on my face. I this I ended up scaring a bunch of folks at church, but dang it was fun!!!!

A night at The Landing

So last night I decided to finally make the pilgrimage to Jim Cullum's Landing. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band was laying down some great dixieland, though it was at times hard to concentrate on it because there was a group of six folks who were talking loudly about 80's music. It was more than a little distracting. At one point they were pointing at a picture on the wall (the wall that I was sitting next to) and remarking that they didn't know who the person in the picture was. As I was leaving the club I looked back on the wall and guess who was in the picture? Louis Armstrong! Seriously, it was Louis Armstrong! They had no idea who it was...that made Joe very, very sad..

Been a while...

Once again, I have managed to neglect the old blog. It's been one of those months. I am preparing to leave my current appointment, Travis Park UMC on October 14th and start a new appointment at Argyle UMC (in Argyle, Texas, and yes, I do know you have no idea where it is!). The decision to take the appointment was a tough choice for many reasons, which I'll go into another post. I am very excited about the new opportunities in Argyle and sad to leave Travis Park. Well, I just finished writing some devotionals for The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts and I've got to head to the Apple Store to get some things taken care of on the mac and to get a power adaptor so I better hit the road!
Later!

Liturgy for this past Sunday

Scripture Passage: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Sermon Title: "Rekindle the Gift"
Some original liturgy for ya from Joe...


Call to Worship
Leader: God, in the mists of life our fire for you can often be extingushed.
People: We have come together to worship you and to have the gift of living faith rekindled in our lives in in our community of faith.
Leader: We worship through words and song,
People: Though acts of love, reconciliation, and justice,
People: May our worship of you, O God, give you honor and glory and may the gift of living faith be re-kindled in our lives!

Opening Prayer:
Loving God, who works for good in all things, we give thanks for this day. Open our hearts, ears, and our minds this morning that we might recieve the gift of living faith in our souls and in our church so that we may re-present your Son, Jesus Christ, to the world in new and powerful ways. Amen.

Confession:
Gracious God, you know us and you know our hearts. Forgive us, when we've used our doubts as an excuse to keep from doing and saying what you ahve shown us to be true. Strengthen us when we lose the fire of living faith and continue to grant us opporutnities to demonstrate your lvoe to our neighbors as we grow in our connection with you. Amen.

The Joy's of Choir Retreat

Today I led our adult sanctuary choir in our annual fall retreat. We rehearsed for several hours, fellowshiped over good coffee, donuts and a wonderful lunch (created by the incredible Connie Marshall) and then ended the day with a dedication and commiunion service.
After the retreat I offciated at a wedding at Travis Park. The wedding went really well and the couple was blessed! All in all, a good day!

New and, so far, Good Music!

Yesterday I made a pilgrimage to the Christian music store, which is always hit or miss. O.K., it's usually a miss. Yesterday, however, was different! Israel and New Breed dropped a new album yesterday, Live from a Deeper Level, which I had to pick up! We do a ton of his stuff at Travis Park and so whenever he comes out with something new it's more a matter of responsibility for me to get it!!!
What makes his latest project so potentially impactful for me, however, is that it's a justice themed album! One of the biggest challenges I face at TPUMC is finding music that grooves, that's singable, and that matches up theologically with what our preachers (myself included) preach. The last point, of matching musical texts with the themes is pretty difficult. There's lots of social justice themed music out there but it's usually of the 60's folk genere (1960's, naturally) and our second service does primarily contemporary gospel. A fun challenge, but a challenge none-the-less.
All in all, I'm hopeful for this album to yeild useful fruit for TPUMC. I only had the chance to check out two cuts last night so we'll see what it has to offer soon!
I did experince a nice suprise at the Christian music store yesterday: a new Cademon's Call album that has Derek Webb reunited with his old bandmates! I've been out of that scene for a while but I really love Webb's current direction and focus so I'm looking forward to checking that out as well!
Love the first Tuesday of the month! Next Tuesday, kanye's new album comes out, so that will be interesting for sure (probably not as useful for church!).

New and Good books!

Thank goodness things have slowed down a bit! I love having lots of gigs and work but I'm finding I'm really good at overextending myself! Lately, though, I've had a chance to read a bit more, which has been refreshing for the mind and the soul!
I'm in process on Dick Staub's latest book (which has a really long title) about the Christians can influence pop culture in an age (and I love this) of "Christianity-lite." Some good stuff! Martin Marty suggests in his review that Staub has a "rather worked-out worldview" which is certainly true but at least it's interesting! More thoughts on that as I get through it.
I'm also in process on Leonard Sweet's "The Gospel According to Starbucks": the title is frigthenting to me even though I love St. Arbucks coffee. Much like Staub, Sweet has something to say and a compelling way to say it! Plus, he always documents things very well. The statistics of the worlds use of coffee from the introduction is great! Did you know the world consumes four hundred billion cups of coffee a year? FOUR HUNDRED BILLION CUPS!!!! Good stuff! (I'm on my third this morning, so I'm doing my part, are you?)
Finally, I just finished Tony Dungy's memoir "Quiet Strength." I loved it! Even though he and I are in different spots theologically, I have incredible respect for him, from what I've seen and heard of him and now read, and the way he leads, lives his life, and conducts himself. A classy, classy, guy who truly has his priorities right. I learned a lot from this book about how to prioritize in one's life (faith, family, and work), how to priortize for success and also picked up many good quotes. After I read the introduction (provided by Denzel Washington) I got my pencil out and began to underline quotes and I intend to go back tonight and type up the salient points. I haven't done that since seminary and I've read lots of good books in the past four years!
Once I get through Sweet's book I am looking forward to begin Anne Lamott's new book "Grace Eventually" and finishing "Golf in the Kingdom." I've also recently picked up a collection of Christian Mystic writings that I look forward to diving into! Sermons from mystics with coffee: no better way to start the morning!
After I get done with those I think I'll check out Clinton's new book.
Happy reading!!!

Been a while!

Wow! It's been over a month since I last posted! It's been a very crazy month, to say the least. What's new?!?!?! Since the post from Greensboro I've been to Fort Worth, St. Louis, Spokane, Dallas and finally, back in San Antonio. Not too bad for a month. Ellie and Sarah and I are glad to be back at home, at least for a little bit! This weekend I'm a clergy leader on a Walk to Emmaus, which will be interesting. In the mean time, I'm trying to prepare for the fall and all that will be coming! I'll post more soon, I hope!

Time to call it!

Well, it's 1:30 in the morning and the posts keep getting worse! I was taking a break from some work but now I think it's time to call it a night! May God grant you all a peaceful day tomorrow and deep rest tonight!

Golf at The Quarry

What a great day!

Wow, not the guy I thought I'd be in high school!

You know, ministry is a great privelage and a wonderful calling, but every now and then, certain moments are jarring. I expereinced this recently when I put on the collar for an "official clerical visit" and the sight of it was cause for much commentary.

Processing at a wedding!

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to co-officiate a wedding of a friend of mine. Here's a picture of the processional!

Greetings from the Road!

Grace and peace to you from St. Louis! I write to you today (early Thursday morning) from my hotel room at the Millinuem Hotel in St. Louis, on the Mississippi River just 3-wood away from the arch. I'm in St. Louis for this week's 2007 National Convocation of The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts (better known as FUMMWA). It's been a great convocation this year, we've had lots of wonderful worship opportunities from jazz in a cathedral to an outstanding organ recital in the St. Louis basillica with organist Felix Hell. (Yes, you read the name right. As it turns out, 'Hell' in German means "bright light" sort of like the sun, he says.) I even got to play in a worship service this time around! I played in a little soprano sax in a small combo. The prelude music was done by Mark Hayes. The preaching has been good and there's been some really great clinicians. This week has been a blessing so far!

A busy summer continues

Whoa, what a summer so far! July looks to finish with a full travel schedule for me! On Thursday, I leave to catch up with the Travis Park Youth at SPLAT 2007 in Greensboro, NC, where I will return late Sunday night in order for church. The following Monday I head out to St. Louis to attend/work/play the sax at the 207 FUMMWA convention which will be great! From there I will head to Dallas for a day and a half before heading out TCU to teach a class on youth choir for the 2007 ADM convention and then I will head to Norther Idaho for two and a half days off!
Sweet!

A sweet picture of Ellie

Sorry about not titling the last post, it's a beautiful picture of Ellie, my daughter! I think she's the coolest!

Vader

Here's one quick shot of one of my Jack Russell's, Vader!