For The institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

This week’s emphasis was all about art and music as languages of worship.  This is an area I feel much more comfortable in, but it is still fascinating to think of the wide range of “worship art” that people have made as believers:

• choir music parading around the walls
• playing the harp by yourself with the sheep
• giant cathedrals with impossibly tall ceilings taking hundreds of years to build
• songs sung in the underground city sewer/crypts: catacombs
• dancing and drumming in Africa
• boys choir
• dueling electric guitar solo melodies on top of rock drums and pounding bass
• hours of silent prayer
• golden icons
• paintings like on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel
• stained glass masterpieces
• calligraphy Bibles
• short cinema clip asking questions about “what is worship?”
• cutlery and tapestries for the temple, robes for the priests
• shofars and cymbal and ten stringed lyre band
• so. cal. ska worship

And on and on and on the list goes.  Talk about diverse!

May the diversity spur us onward toward innovation and passion and creativity for the Glory of God!

Amen!