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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow....., October 23, 2009
This review is from: Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice (Hardcover)
I can't believe I am the first to review this book. Perhaps the rest who have read it are still sitting with their mouth open in praise or mental gears grinding or bent knees in repentance or contiuing to experience some Aha moment.
Usually I will express my gratitude to Dr. Chapell privately. As his former student, and one who has read just about everything he has written, sometimes multiple times (Christ Centered Preaching), Christ Centered Worship did not just inch up my favorites list, it pole vaulted to first place.
Being a young pastor, I have learned so much about worship and its importance from many other of my heroes. I have not had the benefit of working as associate pastor and learning that way. It has been most trial and error, with lots of error and confusion (Thank God our church is so gracious), lots of podcasts by Tim Keller, DA Carson, John Piper, and others (thank God for the internet and these pastors who continue to teach me about the Gospel and Worship), and through lots of reading (thank God for kindle though I crashed it three times this morning trying to highlight and make too many notes in this book). I almost copies the whole thing!
One of the things that has been so hard for me as a pastor is to see the historical flow of worship liturgy and its relationship to the gospel and why we do the things we do. Many of these things I learned at Covenant. But after preaching for 8 years, and having them "represented" so clearly pushes understanding and appreciate and freedom deeper and broader.
In so many ways this was very practical. Let me give you three, in my words (not Dr. Chapell's), that will give you some "lived body detail" of the effect this book has had just in its first reading (definitely a re-read).
I was telling our associate pastor who leads worship about this boosk and the movement in the LORD's Supper from Luther to Calvin to Knox. We were talking about the fellowship aspects (In Scotland they sat around tables to share the meal), and greeting one another. In many churches, we often wonder what to do with greeting at the beginning of a worship service before a call to worship. It never occurred to me that a welcome and greeting could take place in worship. We also have a time of testimony in our church. As I was reading about the historical unfolding of these liturgies, I had my own convergence of thoughts applying what I was learning. Would it be possible, after the LORD's prayer, and before the LORD's Supper, to have a time of greeting and welcoming one another in love to a shared meal (the reconciliation that takes place at the cross)? Could this also be a family way of fencing the table? "As you greet one another, if you've got something against a brother or sister, make sure you go to them before coming to the eat from this table of grace."
Another running thought as I read came with Luther's emphasis on celebration, in contrast to Rome, and the reality that Jesus is not recrucified every week, and we do not re-propitiate God in worship or the LORD's Supper. Rather, worship is a gift from God to us, the Sabbath is for us. We don't have to repropitiate God by coming to him in worship assuming he is angry with us for messing up this week. Rather, God has been propitiated in Christ once for all, and invites us to come not to Sinai but to Mount Zion.
Thirdly, just a reorientation to the idea of the "priesthood of all believers." I have mostly thought about that in terms of all vocations being valuable, but mostly my thinking about this has been outside worship. I don't know why. Perhaps it is all the reformed emphasis on worldview. It was very helpful just to consider the participatory implications of the priesthood of all believers on the worship event itself.
These are not all things Dr. Chapell explicitly said in his book. This is just sort of "lived body detail" of the cascading refreshment of this waterfall of worship running through my own heart that this initial reading has had on me. I'm not an academic, just a pastoral practioner wanting to learn how to lead God's people in worship. We will probably not we make quick changes. My current response to the book is to order three additional copies for our worship leaders. We are going to read it together and see what happens. Buy the book! Hope this review is helpful!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Here's the historical/philosophical/theological backbone for Christian worship!!!, January 5, 2010
This review is from: Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice (Hardcover)
People in my generation and down are prone to exaggeration. It's part of our cultural ethos. "That was the awesomest thing I've ever seen." "That was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted." "That was like a million times worse than anything I've experienced before." So in light of my generation's over-indulgence in superlatives, I preface what I am about to say by pointing out that this is one of those times when my superlatives actually should be taken at face value.
Bryan Chapell's Christ-Centered Worship is one of the best books on worship I have ever read. It now rests firmly in my top three (not sure what the other two are, but I'm giving myself some wiggle room). Some may not want to read the lengthy review which follows, so I'll start with overall bullet points that I hope will be helpful to people.
* Pastors, worship leaders, and worshipers who cherish a robust understanding and experience of the gospel should read this book.
* Evangelical worshipers interested in incorporating "liturgy" into their worship should start with this book.
* Evangelical worshipers not interested at all in liturgy should still read this book because it will wake them up to something profound about their worship practice.
* Liturgical worshipers interested in understanding the basis for their liturgy should start with this book.
* Liturgical worshipers who think they know all the what's and why's of their liturgy should still read this book, because I bet you'll be hit with at least one profound "aha" moment.
* The book is split into two parts, and the first part (pages 1-155) is the book's meat and potatoes.
* If you didn't get much out of Chapell's Christ-Centered Preaching (I'm one of those), don't count this book out. This book's "Christ-centeredness" has a whole new approach.
* The book is not angry and critical, but embracing and critical.
* The book's subtitle "Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice" is actually an excellent summary of the entire book.
* Though Chapell is the President of a major Reformed seminary, the book does not express worship from a necessarily Reformed angle. It is a book about and for Christian worship at large.
Overall Comments
Christ-Centered Worship is unifying, ecumenical, and irenic in spirit as it straddles various worship traditions. But the remarkable thing is that it does so without going down the road of theological liberalism. Its ecumenism arrives not by compromising theological distinctives but by observing the core of every truly Christian worship expression--the gospel. Since the dawn of Tim Keller and like-minded gospel preachers, I have longed to see how such radical and biblical views of the gospel as the good news of God for everyone (non-Christians and Christians) informs Christian worship and practice. I have found it in this book. If you're familiar with Keller's teaching on the gospel, you will then know what I'm implying when I say that this book could easily be titled "Gospel-Centered Worship."
Now, I am no Bryan Chapell crony. In fact, I was hoping that his previous book, Christ-Centered Preaching would be along those same Keller-lines (i.e. preaching the gospel in every sermon). Some believe Chapell succeeded in that former work in doing so, but I found myself disappointed. If you're in that same boat about Christ-Centered Preaching, trust me, don't count out Christ-Centered Worship.
My final overall observation is a word of appreciation for how obviously hard Chapell was trying to be peaceable. I scoured footnotes, just waiting for him to take a jab at a tradition with which I knew he would not fully agree. I could not find a single place. Even in his penetrating remarks about contemporary worship, the usual traditionalist vitriol is utterly absent. In this sense Chapell walks the talk of the gospel. Peacableness, in general, is not all that refreshing in modern writing, as I think the "PC-ness" of modern culture has made our writing and argumentation too limp-wristed. But from a Reformed writer like Chapell, and writing on a topic such as worship, a peaceable spirit is extremely refreshing. Coming just off the heels of reading a 1997 article on worship by one Presbyterian ripping into another, dripping with arrogance and condescension, Chapell was a shocking contrast. Hey, Reformed folk can be nice! :)
Walk-Through and Comments
The book is split into two parts. Part 1, "Gospel Worship," is Chapell's building of his case. Part 2, "Gospel Worship Resources" is Chapell's helpful application of his case. It's easy to see that the 150 pages of Part 1 should be where one spends the bulk of their time, while viewing Part 2 as a resource to turn to at various later points. Because Part 1 comprises the main material, that's where I'll spend my time...
The rest of this review can be found at:
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical, Pastoral, Theological, Christological...must read for pastors, February 18, 2011
This review is from: Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice (Hardcover)
Why do we do what we do in our collective church services? Why do we sing x amount of songs, pray at this time, or preach at this time? Where does it come from? Who decides? And, what are their decisions based on?
These are good questions that thinking Christians ask themselves and others. It is important to know the `why' as well as the `what' when we are thinking about worship.
As 21st Century `navely' orientated folks, often times we look to ourselves and our lives for answers. The traditions we know. The experiences we've had.
When we do this we truncate our Christian history. And, we have a rich Christian history.
Enter Bryan Chapell. Chapell is pastoral, theological, and historical. He has the credentials to help people think through these things. He has the ability to write clearly and get our focus off of our collective evangelical navels and to look up, beyond the horizon, at the rich Christian history of worship.
In his book Christ-Centered Worship Chapell starts with the centerpiece of Christianity, the gospel. He shows how the gospel shapes everything. He labors to show that it must shape everything. He shows us that the gospel is to structure the corporate gathering of believers.
Then he walks us through a rich history lesson. He takes us through the years of the Roman Catholic Church and then on to the Reformation. It is fascinating reading as he contrasts Luther and Calvin's respective convictions and practices with their liturgy (order of service). Both had the same overt goals but went after them slightly different. He then moves on to the time of the Westminster Divines and how things changed but yet stayed the same. Finally, Chapell intersects a bit with what has happened in the last couple of hundred years regarding the corporate gatherings of Christians. It is just fascinating stuff.
Pivoting out of history, Chapell shows the importantance of "representing" Christ's story (the gospel) in our worship. He does his best to gather together the necessary wood to kindle and sustain Christ-Centered worship.
Pastors, in particular, with find the second half of the book very helpful. In it Chapell gives many examples of various elements of the worship gathering. He gives Scriptural and historical helps for the Call to Worship, Affirmation of Faith, Confession of Sin, etc. From a resource standpoint this is outstanding.
I have always enjoyed Chapell's writing because he is so Christo-centric. This earns trust from me. I want to read and hear more because we are shooting at the same target. Even though Chapell is Presbyterian and I am more Baptistic he is a very helpful guide. I am always challenged and encouraged by his books. This is no different.
If you combine Christ-Centered Worship with his other book Christ-Centered Preaching you will be greatly aided in ministry. I still say that his preaching book is a top-5 in terms of everyday ministerial impact. His book on worship continues to help as well.
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