The Magnificat: Praying from the Inside Out

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. – Luke 1:47

At some point during the seasons of Advent or Christmas you will hear these words of Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is the opening of one of the Bible’s most important prayers, a song called the Magnificat, which is Mary’s response to God’s promised gift of a son. She sang it in the presence of Elizabeth, who was at the time pregnant with a God-promised child of her own. This song, which makes up the verses of Luke 1:46-55, provides a model for each of us—it is an outline for prayer and praise that can be used by all people, at all times.

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior  (Luke 1:47). Mary’s prayer acknowledges an honest truth—we usually start praying because of a personal need. I’m not saying that Mary was self-centered, but her prayer starts in a way that most of ours do—with the most immediate, close-to-home concern that we face. Mary praised God for her gift, even if the result of this unexpected pregnancy would also bring a great deal of distress. When we pray, we also usually start with the anxiety and fear that hides just beneath the surface of our most immediate concerns.

He has shown strength with his arm  (Luke 1:51). Our prayers might begin with personal concerns, but if we follow Mary's example, we will add to our supplications some remembrances of God’s acts of salvation. Indeed, our prayers should agree with Mary's words: “God has done great things.” The scriptures were revealed and preserved so that we might not forget God’s work—from past to present to promised future. When we pray, we place ourselves within that history, declaring God’s long-term saving work.

He has filled the hungry with good things  (Luke 1:53). God is always on the look-out for those in need: “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Our prayers should not stop with our own needs, but they should extend outward to those who are hungry, sick, impoverished, unclothed, and imprisoned. We should also pray for those who are broken in spirit.

He has helped his servant Israel  (Luke 1:54). God cares for individuals, and God also cares for the nations of the world. The newsfeed on our TV makes a great prayer list. Every day the media provides us with an abundance of prayer requests: elections, famines, fires, warfare, storms, and earthquakes.

To Abraham and to his descendants forever  (verse 55). Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote this about the Messiah: “For a child has been born to us…authority rests upon his shoulders…and he is named…Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). When you pray, keep in mind God’s ultimate goal—that in Christ all things hold together, and he will reign over and restore everything that is broken (Colossians 1:15-20). Christ will reign over all of creation -- all things seen and unseen.

It may be that our own immediate concerns drive us to our knees, but it is God’s overall saving work—past, present, and future—that gives us the hope we need to keep on praying.

This post first appeared as a column in the December 16, 2017 edition of the Henderson Daily Dispatch. If you have a subscription to that site, please click through to read it online.

Why did it take so long for music notation to emerge?

The five-line staff that we use to write and read music is a relatively new invention in history. Human beings had been writing words for millennia before they began to systematically transcribe their musical sounds. Western music notation, as we know it today, started around 1000 AD was a way for church musicians in Europe to remember the tunes to their chants. If ancient civilizations knew how to write out words, why did it take so long to come up with a system for writing music?

Actually, written systems for remembering tunes and melodies did not just suddenly emerge in Europe during the Middle Ages, and the five-line staff was not the first system for writing music. Other cultures had been doing it for a long time, often with marks added to lyrics--called neumes--that gave some indication of melodic movements. But staff notation brought a level of precision that allowed musicians to record their melodies and rhythms in detail. Previous methods of transcription were not as specific about which exact pitches were sung, what keys were used, or how the rhythms sounded.

Christopher Page, in his book The Christian West and its Singers, says this level of care in remembering and transmiting songs came from the Roman Catholic pope. Starting in the 9th century, the bishop in Rome (that is, the pope), exerted control throughout the churches in all of Western Europe, especially those among the northern Germanic tribes. The musical staff, invented by Italian musician Guido of Arezzo, became a way to standardize worship music across many different language and culture groups, allowing Rome to control how chants and hymns were performed throughout the continent. The five-line staff became one of many attempts at cultural standardization, one of countless innovations that led to the creation of Europe as a united entity of Germanic and Roman cultures.

The UMC evaluates the CCLI Top 100

Do you worship in a congregation that includes a CCLI number in its bulletins or on the slides of its projected lyrics? Ever wonder what it means? CCLI stands for Christian Copyright Licensing International. It is an organization that licenses music to congregations so that they can legally sing and duplicate lyrics of popular contemporary worship songs. Back in the days when Christians only sang out of hymnals (or from memory), churches did not have to worry about copyright

infringement. If you bought enough hymnals for everyone to sing from, then you were covered by law. These days, when churches want to use new songs -- ones that are composed and distributed more quickly than they can be published in a book, the temptation is to simply copy the words in a bulletin or put them up on a projector screen. Unfortunately, doing so without the permission of the composer (or owner) is against the law. CCLI offers a service (for a fee, of course) that lets churches use the lyrics of many songs, published by many different companies, all through one single licensing agreement. This allows churches to live within the requirements of the law, and it provides compensation to the folks who compose and produce new worship music.

By keeping track of which songs all these congregations sing from week to week, CCLI provides valuable insight for those who study trends in church music. Each year they release the most popular songs that were reported to them, and this gets distributed as a "Top 100" list. Recently the United Methodist Church decided to assess all 100 songs on this list, thereby helping church leaders discern which songs might work best in their congregations by working through a consistent vetting tool. The committee of musicians and theologians evaluates each song according to three major categories:

• Wesleyan theology
• Terms used for God
• Singability of the tune

The results are published here, listed according to "green" and "yellow" categories, to match the "go" and "caution" signals of a traffic light. Here is an example of each kind: "Shout to the Lord" from the Green list, and "How Great is Our God" from the Yellow list.

Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech received a cumulative score of 3.37583 (out of 5). Its strong biblical connection to the Psalms is noted by the committee, especially in its descriptions of God's love. It lost some points when it comes to language for God, because there is no mention of God the Father or God the Spirit. In terms of musical qualities, the melodic range of this song is a bit broader than most amateur singers can handle. No song is perfect, but according to this committee, Shout to the Lord could probably be used most places with very few reservations.

How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin did not fare so well, with a score of 3.35. While this song actually mentions all three persons of the Trinity (a rare feat in contemporary worship music), it did not score as highly in theology because it never mentions God's love. The committee was also concerned that "darkness" might imply racism in some situations. In spite of these concerns, a "yellow" score means that committee would still use the song, with some caution.

I love that this committee has published its rankings and comments. Our local churches can learn a lot from these categories, even if they don't agree with these assessors' conclusions. This tool from the UMC's Discipleship Ministries provides a framework for how a worship team could work through some of the important issues concerning their own song choices. The process of discerning which songs to use in your worship service should involve more than deciding whether or not the musicians are able to perform them.

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost is the only Christian holiday mentioned in the Bible. That's because it had already been a Jewish festival before the time of Jesus. Unlike Christmas, Epiphany, or Easter -- holidays which were instituted years after the events they are based on -- Pentecost had already been going on for centuries.

The Feast of Pentecost by He Qi

Pente- is a prefix that means 50, and this Jewish festival occurred every year on the 50th day after the Passover Sabbath. It was originally a celebration of the spring harvest known as the Feast of Weeks, and it was also a time to remember the giving of the law to Moses. On this occasion many pilgrims -- some of whom had been dispersed to far-away countries -- returned to Jerusalem and worshiped at the temple. On the particular Pentecost day described in Acts 2 -- that is, the 50th day after Jesus's resurrection -- the disciples were gathered there according to the Lord's instructions. It was then that the Holy Spirit came in power, manifested by signs: the sound of wind, visions of flames, and the speaking of many various languages.

One of my favorite worship components from Pentecost is the use of the color red, which represents the images of flames (Acts 2) and fire (God's presence when Moses received the law on Mt Sinai). Church altars and pulpits are often decorated with colorful linens known as paraments, usually with two reversible sets that allow for four different colors throughout the year; purple (Advent and Lent) and green (times after Epiphany and Pentecost) come up a lot, but white (Christmas and Easter) is seen less often. Red is rarer still -- in some churches, Pentecost is the only day of the year that it is displayed.

The speaking of various languages is one of the most remembered events from that Pentecost in Jerusalem. Since the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, humanity had been dispersed and scattered across the world, unable to communicate because of their many different languages. On that day of Pentecost, everything was reversed. The people had come from around the world back to one city, and God's Spirit enabled them to hear and share with the same understanding. This is the work of the Spirit through Christ -- to break down cultural barriers and reconcile us together as one (Ephesians 2:13-18). Modern-day Pentecostals put a priority on reenacting the speaking and understanding of strange languages. But the unity that was on display through this hearing and understanding -- the bridging of barriers that separate us -- is the work of the Spirit that all Christians embrace. This unity has been a part of the church's make-up from the beginning -- beginning at Pentecost, which is sometimes called the "birthday" of the church.

Note: You may know Pentecost as Whitsunday, which is a variation of the English words "White Sunday." No one is quite sure why the English started using that name, but its history goes back about 1000 years. If it was up to me, it would be Red Sunday.

What is a Parachurch Organization?

"Parachurch" is a term that (as best as I can tell) emerged in the US in the 1960s. It is used almost exclusively in Protestant evangelical circles as a label for faith-based non-profit organizations. For purposes of registering with the government, these groups are included under the exempt section 501(c)(3) of the United States tax code. Parachurch ministries, as defined by Willmer and Schmidt in their book The Prospering Parachurch, are tax-exempt organizations that also meet three other criteria:

• they are independent of traditional congregational or denominational structures
• they are organized by a Christian mission statement
• their work is focused on a specific area of ministry

This name "parachurch" is formed from the Greek prefix "para-" which means "alongside" or "surrounding." In its best sense, a parachurch organization is meant to come beside and support local congregations, assisting them in their mission and ministry.

While the word "parachurch" has gained traction in America since the 1980s, the terms "nonprofit," "mission board," "voluntary organization," and "special purpose group" were used before that time, and these terms are still preferred in other countries. Indeed, there is nothing especially American about parachurch organizations; they existed a long time before the church was concerned about US tax laws. Timothy Tennett, among others, argues that Paul and Barnabas formed the first parachurch organization way back in the first century, moving out from the congregation at Antioch on what we call the "first missionary journey" (see Acts 13). Released from the ministry of looking out for one single congregation, Paul and his fellow missionaries were free to spread the gospel wherever they went. Accordingly, it is possible to claim that as long as the church has existed, a parachurch has supported it. Think of some of the most significant mission movements of the past three hundred years -- they were mostly groups that worked outside the confines of local congregations. Here are just a few historical examples:

• The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, formed in 1698 out of the Church of England to set up schools and publish books.
• The American Bible Society began in 1816 for the purpose of providing a copy of the printed scriptures for every household in the newly independent American colonies.
• China Inland Mission (1865), later renamed OMF, originally equipped and sent missionaries from Europe into the interior regions of China.

Some denominations today were initially parachurch movements. For example, the United Methodist Church grew out of the Wesleyan renewal movement, which was never intended to be its own separate organization. John Wesley was a priest in the Church of England, and his desire was for Anglicans (and members of other church groups) to have life-changing experiences with God, all while staying faithful members of their home parishes. As happens with movements, these Methodist groups soon became their own organization. Indeed, the methods for spreading the movement were so rigorous that they were easily transformed into denominational structures, especially in the American colonies during the time of the Revolution.

Today some of the more prominent US parachurch ministries, which meet all the four criteria listed above, include:

• Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
• Youth With a Mission
• Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ)

I spent more than 12 years working full-time for a parachurch organization. These groups can be wonderful blessings to the church, providing resources and energy to do things that solitary congregations are not equipped to handle. For example, most congregations have neither the resources nor the vision to launch an audacious task like translating the Bible for every language group that needs it. When they are at their best, parachurch groups like Wycliffe Bible Translators bring together many local churches to work in partnership, focusing on an aspect of mission or outreach that no single congregation can tackle alone.

However, the reality of parachurch-to-congregational relationships is trickier that than. Instead of working in partnership, many Christians find that these non-profit organizations provide an avenue to do mission work outside -- not with -- local congregations. In some cases the parachurch is more like extra-church. In fact, David Murrow wrote (quoting another author) about people who seek out parachurch groups because they do not like worshiping in local churches:

Many of society's most powerful Christian men don't go to church at all…Lindsay found these high-achieving men typically practiced their faith alone or in small groups, far from the public eye. He writes, "Executives and politicians are often distressed by the way churches are run…Others described local congregations as 'unproductive' and 'focused on the wrong things.'"

Again, this desire to go it alone is not a new problem -- it was with the church from the beginning. Paul and his main missionary partner, Barnabas, got in a dispute over ministerial authority. When they could not resolve their differences, they split up and went their separate ways, creating their own separate mission teams. Perhaps there was a time when the church could afford to be dispersed, when there was "enough work for everyone." Today, when the US church is losing power in the culture, hemorrhaging both people and money, I expect that sincere cooperation between church and parachurch will need to increase.

What Makes Worship Christian?

Worship begins and ends with God. When we worship we are participating in the activity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christian worship is a response to who God is and what God has done.

This means that the order of operations is a key aspect of what makes worship Christian. We worship because of what God has revealed in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our worship services are essentially gatherings of responsive participation, in which we acknowledge that our individual stories begin and end in God’s own story. This God-moves-first orientation is evident in the way Christians celebrate the sacraments. For instance, Holy Communion is also called "eucharist," which comes from the Greek for "thanksgiving." At its core, this reflects an attitude of grateful response. By coming to the Table after the Word is read and preached, Christians give thanks for what they received -- that is, heard -- from God. Baptism is also a response to what Jesus already did; it is an invitation to join in the Son’s Spirit-enabled relationship with the Father. All "practical" aspects of worship services -- which songs to sing, who leads the prayers, what time of day to gather -- are a part of our responsive participation in the life that God has invited us to join.

Christian worship not only follows God's initiative -- it is only possible because of God's power. We do not offer our worship from our own human capacity or willingness. The scriptures say that the ascended Christ actually intercedes for us like a priest, making our worship possible, allowing us to participate in the Father-Son relationship (Hebrews 4:14-16). Likewise, the Holy Spirit actually helps us to pray, giving us the very power to worship in the first place (Romans 8:26-27). This means that Christian worship builds on itself as it moves in more than one direction: God’s presence and love is showered on us, which we experience most keenly by hearing the Word and participating in the sacraments. These very experiences tune our hearts, helping us to see even more clearly the work of God in the world that is the very basis of our gratitude. As John Wesley put it, worship is a means of grace -- both a means and an end. By responding in faithful and meaningful ways, worshipers grow ever more aware of who God is and what God is doing in their midst. That makes the response even more powerful, which in turn helps us understand God's story even more. And on it goes, world without end.

Since the church has been worshipping for a very long time, with certain responses agreed upon through extensive collaboration (such as the Apostles Creed), the church's worship needs to be rooted in its own historical traditions. Yet even within that rootedness, the church is called to worship using forms that are meaningful and sensible to believers and non-believers (1 Corinthians 14:22-26). This requires Christian worship to balance constancy with diversity -- tradition must be enfleshed within various cultural expressions that make sense in a given place. With each church called to proclaim the Word, pray, and sing with understanding, this means that the church of every people, tribe, nation, and race must necessarily be diverse in its expressions. Christian worship, therefore, acknowledges that Christ is Lord of all nations and cultures, that the kingdom of God includes those from all earthly kingdoms (Col 1:17; Rev 7:9).