From evolution to a rant on worship: round-up
Having been away, I find there are too many blogs to catch up with. These are some of the things I would have interacted with more if I had been around.
There’s always a constant low background buzz about creation and evolution. It’s been bursting out all over lately. I was particularly struck by Chris Tilling’s conversion story, and its follow-up. The story about the film “Expelled” seems to me to be (currently) mainly of local interest to Americans, but Chris Heard has a really interesting post on it here. I think these neatly illustrate and criticize the bizarre logic (CT), and the deceitful propaganda (CH) of the creationist movement. I remain truly baffled that it not only persists, but seems to be gaining ground. I am uncertain where to apportion blame for this. Competing (and probably complementary) explanations include biblical illiteracy and bad theology, scientific ignorance, or a bizarre mix of individualism and egalitarianism that says my ignorance is as valid as the next person’s expert knowledge. When this latter component is combined with an increasing distrust of “them”, it is particularly corrosive. (As far as I can see “them” is variously the Marxist bogeyman of the military-industrial complex, and a conservative bogeyman of liberal elitist scientists acting as the new reds under the bed.) There is an irony in this drivel originating in the most scientifically advanced country on earth.
Tim really seems to dislike PowerPoint, and he’s found an ally. I both sympathise and completely disagree. First the sympathy. The other day I was sitting through a presentation given by some local government officers. I gave up trying to read one slide because the words were so small. Instead I started to count them. I’d got past 200 when the slide changed! The problem is not with PowerPoint, but with its users. (Though I wish it were as easy to implement a taste, style and accessibility checker as to implement a spell-checker). In fact, good and appropriate visuals only enhance communication, and thinking through the demands of a visual presentation can work to clarify the presenter’s mind, and clear a lot of unnecessary verbiage out of a talk. It seems to me that those are desirable goals.
Right, rant mode on now. This is provoked by Dave Walker, Lingamish and Peter Kirk. <RANT>The word “worship” does not mean “singing a particular sort of often repetitive modern song in a long series accompanied by modern instruments”. A “worship leader” is not someone who directs music. A “worship group” is not a group of musicians. In each case the first term may include the latter as part of what it is. This is a sloppy way of speaking that ought to be banished. FORTHWITH. AND IMMEDIATELY. Worship is far more inclusive than that, and the only “worship group” the New Testament and historic Christianity know is called a congregation, or church.
Peter actually wrote:
three quarters of an hour of worship sounds like heaven to me if it’s done well (e.g. by Matt Redman)
NO. Worship is only done well if it’s done by you. A skilled presider, minister, musician or other can facilitate it being done well by you and the congregation, but worship is not a spectator sport. </RANT> Now I know (I hope) that the aforementioned three would all agree with that. But please, guys, make your language about worship reflect that rather important point.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
In this context I’m a reporter, not a theologian. I used the terms the people I’m writing about were use. I put the word ‘worship’ in inverted commas to communicate this very thing.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
[...] Quote of the Day I don’t have the energy to compose original thoughts, so I leave you with this fantastic sentence from Doug Chaplain: [...]
April 10th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
OK - I read in a catch-up hurry and missed your inverted commas. Sorry. Consider yourself “de-ranted”. (PS you didn’t use quotes the second time!)
April 10th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Doug, I should have copied Dave’s inverted commas, sorry. But I hear this use of the word “worship” (inverted commas here for another reason) so much that it is difficult to remember that it is not really appropriate.
And I should certainly have said that the “worship” must be “led well”, or in the kind of jargon that was probably on that PowerPoint you couldn’t read, “facilitated well”. I am certainly not thinking in terms of Matt Redman “doing worship” and the rest of us being spectators, in fact quite the opposite. That sounds to me more what Anglo-Catholics do, anthems etc sung by choirs with congregational participation limited to a couple of hymns.
But you shouldn’t take my banter on the Lingamish blog too seriously, even when I do quote it on my own blog. You did see the “Humour” tag on my post, didn’t you?
April 10th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Thanks for the clarification, Peter. I just knew you knew better.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
[...] we all remember to live in this kind of love, including Doug who this evening rants at me (with good cause), and above all [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 1:08 am
I’ve tried to offer a round-up of the treatment of the recent Expelled plagiarism subject in the blogosphere on my blog at http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2008/04/plagiarize-youll-get-expelled.html
April 11th, 2008 at 6:02 am
Doug, I join you in your resistance to this narrow usage of the word. However within the church it has assumed just this narrow meaning. In any case, it is a fun thing to rant about that never ceases to elicit comment.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Slides with too many words are the worst, particular when you’ve got professors running through them at a slide a minute. You’re correct, of course, the problem isn’t the tool itself but the user. However, in this case, it is unfortunately a tool that’s become ubiquitous for presentations. My only problem with Powerpoint itself (the program) would be its non-intuitiveness. I shouldn’t have to mess around with 10 different settings if I want a slide to be a picture, no background, no words, just a picture.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
[...] to Mac From evolution to a rant on worship: round-up Apr [...]
April 12th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
[...] an affair with the music director (I nearly said “worship director”, but I know what Doug would say to that!) at his church. Indeed he has admitted adultery, without specifying more [...]