main cow pic

03.28.10

continuing the conversation…

Filed under: music,worship — 5:10 pm

Two weeks ago, in the march 11 blog/comments, we started a conversation about the future of worship and creating a new hymnal.  I was really inspired by your ideas, passion, and perspective…you reminded me that I’m not alone in wanting something else!

Keith commented that “what is, is not enough or adequate for some any more (if it ever was)”…Stu imagined: “What if worship in our churches was more ‘from the ground up’ and less ‘from the top down’?”…Jordan raised the great question of “are there any current examples of the expression of darkness (lament)?”…John pleaded for “regular moments of intentional silence together”…Jeremy and Nate reminded us that “we need more They Will Know We are Christians by Our Love worship, and practice of ‘social holiness’”…Nate shared the haunting quote: “new songs will come as we’re not afraid to bring forth bad songs”…and other great insights.  Thanks!

As you have more ideas and crazy theories, please speak up!  But more than that, what if we started sharing examples of where we already see this new hymnal being born?  It’s tempting to simply deconstruct what isn’t working, and that can be helpful, but let’s not get stuck there.  What if we began compiling the new hymnal today?  So here’s the question:

Would you share one song, reading, liturgical prayer, video, or anything else that could be a part of a new hymnal AND why it moves you? It can be something you’ve found or written, something well-known or completely new.  What most embodies the kind of worship you need right now?  Please share it with us!  Here’s how we can do this…

STEP ONE:  Find a way to turn your song, reading, etc. into a link.  One of the easiest ways to do this is by uploading it to YouTube.  Huffduffer is another option to share a song.  Quality doesn’t matter at all – feel free to speak or sing right into your computer camera or whatever.  And if you can’t figure it out, please let me know…

STEP TWO:  Share the link as a comment to this post.  And please make sure you include the lyrics AND some thoughts about why it connects with you.

STEP THREE:  We’ll get the conversation rolling.  Feel free to comment about any/all comments (remember that we’re all in this together!), and then I’ll collect a few and share them.

This is a grand experiment.  I hope it leads to some great discussion and inspiration for us all.  Can’t wait!  Thanks…

03.25.10

health care debate and jerks like me

Filed under: books,God's movement,leadership — 12:58 pm

“The contemplative knows that truth held arrogantly will not bear the wonderful fruit of truth.  Moral outrage at the ideas of others hardly ever serves God’s purposes, only our own.”  (Rohr, The Naked Now)

When reading this, it’s easy to think about the nastiness of much of the health care debate…or the accusations of someone like Glenn Beck…but if I’m honest, I need to embrace this idea more than anyone.  How often do I let my arrogance (or ignorance) sabotage a potential gift that I could be/give to someone?  Ask my wife.  Ask the people I work with.  I’m embarrassed to admit how often I become hurtful in the name of “truth”.  Ronald Rolheiser explains…

“Many movements throughout history have been based in truth, but they failed because the energy powering them was ugly.”  (my paraphrase from The Holy Longing)

May God be merciful on us all.  And may us all share that mercy generously…

03.24.10

gratuitously creative

Filed under: creativity,music — 11:12 am

I can’t believe how constantly inventive and “laugh out loud” creative these guys are.  You’ve probably seen both of their ridiculously inspiring “This Too Shall Pass” videos (if not, please drop what you’re doing and watch them here and here!  Really!!!), but I just saw this one today.  This band makes me want to re-think my next creative idea…no, it makes me want to blow it up and start all over.  So, to whoever is the crazy dreamer(s) in Ok Go who keeps pushing the band into the unexpected, thank you!  And don’t give up!  Keep making quirky, ambitious, mind-stretching creations that remind us of the joy of exploring something new…

03.23.10

a real alternative to the existing arrangement

Filed under: God's movement — 9:03 pm

“The greatest need for our time is for the Church to become what it has seldom been:  the body of Christ with its face to the world, loving others regardless of religion or culture, pouring itself out in a life of service, offering hope to a frightened world, and presenting itself as a real alternative to the existing arrangement.
The Church that is worthy of the name is a band of people in which the love of God has broken the spell of demons and false gods and which is now making a dent in the world.”


Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus

03.20.10

A couple things to share…

Filed under: life,music,worship — 5:06 pm

I’ve been blown away and really inspired by your thoughts about the future of worship (read more here).  Thanks for speaking up.  Next week, I want to spend some time collecting all the great perspectives and continuing the conversation.  If there’s anything you want to add, feel free to still comment.  Next steps coming soon.

In the mean time, here is a worship leader from Australia who’s wrestling with many of the same things we are.  He is asking great questions and not afraid to risk (but obviously has terrible taste in music!  ha!)  You can read about him here.

Finally, this video made me cry with laughter.  What he lacks in vocal control, he makes up for in volume.

03.19.10

We’ve Got to Pray to Make it Today (according to Rev Hammer)

Filed under: God's movement,life — 2:53 pm

One of my favorite Richard Rohr quotes is “Without prayer, we become either depressed or inflated”. This might sound strange, but honestly, I’ve been both recently. (Which is probably as disorienting to my friends as it is to me!). Life and work have been nuts, and I’ve weathered it poorly.

And so yesterday, in the sanctuary of our living room, I spent a couple hours praying. Not my usual prayer of requests and apologies, but letting the depth of my actual self gush out to God…ugliness and all. And then it happened. Something profound began to shift inside, nudging me toward Reality and cracking open the door to Hope…

Why do I wait until things get bad to REALLY pray?

03.18.10

If Matt Redman joined Sigur Ros…

Filed under: music,willow,worship — 1:51 pm

A few of you were asking about this arrangement. . .our attempt to fuse the classic Matt Redman song with the grit and haunting beauty of “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” by Sigur Ros.  This mix is a little vocal heavy, but if you turn it up super loud, the bass begins to really rumble.  Personally, the bridge to the end is my favorite part.  Enjoy!

03.15.10

the old dualism

Filed under: creativity,God's movement — 2:26 pm

“If by liberal, someone means naturalistic, rejecting the possibility of the mystical or miraculous, denying the authority of the Scriptures, denying the resurrection, blah, blah, blah – I’m not a liberal. If by liberal, someone means free to think, free to ask questions, free to seek truth and God, then I would hope all of us could be liberals. If by conservative, someone means unwilling to think or ask questions because one already has the truth nailed down in a pristine form, then I’m not a conservative. But if a conservative is someone who wants to learn from the past, someone who loves the Scriptures and respects the creeds and most importantly loves Jesus, then I would hope everyone could be conservative. But this is where I think a new kind of Christianity comes into play, because a lot of us don’t want to have to stay in the old dualism.”  (Brian Mclaren)

03.13.10

Conan for president

Filed under: creativity,life — 8:32 pm

Tour poster

I used to watch Letterman, but now he seems old and grumpy.  Leno is about as funny as my 6th grade history teacher.  (not funny at all, ever.)  John Stewart keeps me laughing (and thinking), but a steady diet of Daily Show smugness is bad for my soul.  Conan O’Brian, however, is my hero.  A few reasons why…

1. Self-depreciating sense of humor. I love that most of Conan’s jokes are aimed at himself.  Many comics try to fake this, but Conan may actually believe he’s as lame as he says!  And it’s hilarious.

2. Always manages to stay on the fringes. Conan is not a company man, and even during his stint on the Tonight Show, he never truly became what NBC wanted.  This ultimately lead him off the show, but he never lost his quirky edge and has a bigger grass-roots following now than ever.

3. Takes care of his people. On his upcoming 30 city tour, Conan won’t make a cent because all the money will go to employing his entire ex-Tonight Show staff.  Read more here.  This is above and beyond, in my opinion, and shows his bent toward “everyone”.

4. Sarah Killen. Conan has over 650,000 followers on Twitter, but decided to only follow one person:  Sarah Killen.  He randomly chose this “normal person” and used his enormous popularity to change her life.  In one week, Sarah went from 3 followers to 27,000…has been on MTV…a morning show with Ludacris…and the Larry King show.  I love it!

5. This clip.

03.11.10

Welcome to my new blog (part three)

Filed under: God's movement,worship — 2:00 pm

THREE: The third theme I’d love to wrestle with on this blog is where theme ONE and TWO intersect…worship music. How do we capture the spirit of God’s Redemptive Movement in art?  What songs are fitting for a Revolution?  When we come together as brothers and sisters who love justice and mercy, what can we pray and sing?

Holler!

I believe we need a new hymnal.  We need new melodies and new language and new understandings of the Eternal God.  We don’t need to keep recycling the same ideas and phrases over and over;  we need the artists, dreamers, prophets, and poets to step up and lead us into unexplored places.  Might this be you?

To be clear, I don’t think our new hymnal should replace the old hymnals.  We need the language and history from every tradition flowing into our worship experiences.  “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”?  Yes!  “As the Deer”?  Sure!  “Mighty to Save”?  Great!  But let’s not stop here.  And let’s not just rewrite the old songs and call them new.  We need a new hymnal.

Ian, a friend of mine, recently mentioned, “Aaron, I’m looking for worship music that is more about furthering the purposes of Christ than trying to make out with him.”

Now obviously, it’s not a matter of either/or.  Action without love is just as hallow as love without action.  But maybe it’s time to re-think the trajectory we’re currently on.  What if the current worship tradition has taken us as far as it can, and we need to let it launch us into the next movement?  What would this look like?

A couple hunches….First, I wonder if singing will become less and less important while prayer, liturgical elements, story, service, and art becomes more central.  (I’m already deeply concerned with how interchangeable “worship” is with “singing”, and think we should work to un-fuse them.)  Second, we may need more “we” / “Kingdom of God” language in our worship, and way less “me and Jesus” language.  Third, I wonder if the songs of the future will either be born from our action or meant to propel us into action. . .making any worship experience not connected to actual life gloriously obsolete.  (read more at my 2/10 blog)

None of these are new ideas, of course, but I can’t stop thinking about them!  What do you think?  Do you connect with all this or would you push back?  What questions or ideas would you add?  Where is this already happening that we all can learn from?  What kind of music, prayers, and practices will be most helpful for you in the future?

Let’s write a new hymnal.

03.10.10

Welcome to my new blog (part two)

Filed under: God's movement — 7:47 am

First, thanks so much for all your email, facebook, and twitter messages yesterday.  It was super encouraging and meant a ton!

The second idea I’m hoping to tackle in this blog…

TWO: I believe to my toes that every one of us has been invited to join God in the serving, healing, and restoring of our world.  This is what we were created for, and when we lose our way, this is what we are invited back into.  Thank God for grace!  Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion, but a revolution that Dallas Willard calls a “divine conspiracy to subvert evil with Good.”  And every day we get to either join God in creating hope…or resist Him and add to the despair.

To be completely honest with you, I do this poorly.  I am incredibly selfish.  But in this next year, I want to spend more and more of each day joining God in big and small ways…speaking the truth even when it’s hard…fighting for the underdog…serving when I’d rather be the boss…working for peace in Palestine AND peace in my heart toward _________…learning how to live on less so I can give more…doing everything I can to offer my small life into the huge Movement of God’s Redemption of all things…I know I have such a long way to go.

So please join me in talking and dreaming about this.  What is it that most compels you?  What breaks your heart?  What part of “the divine conspiracy” do you feel most pulled toward?  Let’s dream about this together, and then very quickly, let’s move out of talking into DOING (See my jan 16 blog).  What could happen if ten of us–or a hundred or a thousand–decided every day to throw off all the silly things that consume us and join whatever good God happens to be doing right then?  It sounds naïve, but so what?  As for me, I have so far to go, but this is “the life that is truly life” and I don’t want to miss it any longer.

03.08.10

Welcome to my new blog (part one)

Filed under: creativity,music — 1:55 pm

Hey everyone! Welcome to my new blog and the new aaronniequist.com.  I’m humbled and thrilled that you’d stop by to check out my ramblings and share some of your own.  A conversation is much more interesting than a monologue…

For the next season, this blog will be mainly about three things:  ONE: music (and art creation in general), TWO: trying to join God in what He’s doing to heal our messed up world (His Revolution), and THREE: how art and God’s Movement intersect (often in a “worship” context, since that is my job, but hopefully in the widest possible sense).  It’s also safe to plan on an occasional Henry picture.  Yes, I am that dad.

Banksy - creating beauty out of ugliness.

ONE: Why music (and art creation in general)?  The simple answer is because I’m an artist.  I’m not always a good artist, but I fundamentally see the world as a melody to be sung, not a place to be figured out.  I would rather build a raft to float in the mystery than build a tank to conquer it.  Some days I wish I were a little more left-brained…a little less melancholy…a little better suited to reality…but, alas, I make stuff.

So let’s explore music and creativity – both on this blog and in our lives.  What are the best new bands out there?  Who have you found to be the most helpful voices about creativity?  What is the best way to spend half a day at the Chicago Art Institute?  How do you bring creativity into every part of your life – whether paying bills or cleaning or driving to work or sitting in the back row of a class you hate?  How can we help each other to be artists (no matter our profession) in the deepest possible sense?  I’m really excited…

Tomorrow, in part two, I’ll talk a bit more about “trying to join God in what He’s doing to heal our messed up world (His Revolution)”, and then Thursday will be part three.  Blessings!

03.01.10

Weekend Review: Regina Spektor, Sigur Ros, and Jesus

Filed under: God's movement,music,willow,worship — 9:14 am

This weekend at Willow, three horns and a string quartet joined our band of young punks to create something together.  Steve Myers wrote brilliant parts, the players were phenomenal, and although the Saturday afternoon rehearsals felt insane (trying to pull all the pieces together), the services opened up into something beautiful.

The pre-service song was “Eet” by Regina Spektor.  I love this song and almost everything about Regina’s music.  Hear more here.  Gina played the melody beautifully on violin and then handed it off to Grant on horn.  Stunning.

Sigur Ros

Second, we did a version of Matt Redman’s “Blessed Be Your Name” inspired by the Sigur Ros song “Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur”.  Setting these soulful lyrics in the grit and beauty of “Inni Mer…” ended up being a combustible combination.  (Personally, I got really swept up in the “you give and take away” part near the end…especially at 11:15.  It took me a while to recover.)  Sigur Ros has become one of our band’s favorite inspirations these days.  Their sonic landscapes are as worshipful as anything we’ve found…like entering a holy cathedral and letting God speak through the epic, mysterious beauty.  Any other Sigur Ros fans out there?  You can watch the video for “Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur” here.

Third, Becky sang the old hymn “Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me” (arrangement by Bifrost Arts, see my Feb 10 blog) standing in front of a huge screen of crashing waves.  As always, she killed the song and created quite a moment.  Halfway through, Shauna jumped in and read “Learning to Swim,” an excerpt from her upcoming book Bittersweet.  This was the highlight of the service (in my very biased opinion!).  You can watch this song and reading (from the 11:15am service) below…

I was thrilled to be a part of such a large undertaking with so many incredible, talented, passionate people.  From string players to the video team to lighting guys to the horn players to the sound guys and dozens of other men and women, this weekend was truly a team effort.  I’m excited to jump back in next weekend….