Reflection Series on the New Testament in Worship

Westmont students regularly describe a disconnect between the Bible in their academic studies here and the Bible in their worship and devotion. The two are distinguishable, but shouldn't be separable. Furthermore, the Bible is the Bible of the Church.

The goal of this assignment is to help you draw connections between the disciplines of biblical studies and other, specifically churchly Christian practices — between the Bible we have been learning in class and the Bible as it lives in the worshiping Church.

Before you begin, review my workbook tips. Create the file in which all of your work will go, which you will upload when the time comes. Make sure it's regularly and automatically backed up, and easily available. (I use Simplenote, which is a light alternative to Evernote, so I can access the same synced entries from my computer and my phone.) Also review my article "Evangelicals in the Factory of Scripture" for suggestions on various metaphors that describe the roles the Bible plays in different Christian and evangelical traditions.

Then begin a log in which each entry describes and evaluates one or more ways you saw the New Testament being used in a worship context (a church service, chapel service, group devotional, etc.).

Be mindful of:

• Physical as well as verbal roles for Scripture (is the Bible on display? is it brought in the course of a procession? are Bible verses displayed?).
• Biblical reading, quotation, citation, and allusion in prayers, hymns, and the like.
• Choice of text(s) in a message, hymn, or prayer.
• Their place in a sermon's or song's argument.
• The relationship between multiple passages used together.
• Other less obvious allusions: movement, dress, decorations, and themes that draw substantially on New Testament language, teaching, or patterns.

Uh-oh! What if you suspect the Bible was being used poorly?

• First, don't condemn it too quickly. Look again with a spirit of charity. Be responsive to the fact that the church or the preacher may simply be doing things in an unfamiliar way, so that you have to "translate."
• If the Bible's usage simply needs improvement, then tell me how you would improve it. Again, here I would be most impressed with suggestions that tie the New Testament in with real Christian worship practice in a compelling and natural way.

Strive to complete eight or so entries over the course of the semester. These are not meant just to record your reactions to events! They are for training you to put the course material to its intended work of helping you read the New Testament better in its home environment.

Near the due date, conclude your log with the following assessment, and submit it:

How has your appreciation of the New Testament and its domain (range of relevance) changed over the course of this exercise and this semester?

Please keep your responses 1-2 paragraphs each. I always like to see proper style, clear writing, a thorough answer to the question, and explicit citations of course materials.

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