Welcome

Proskuneo: to kiss towards or to bow down in reverence. My name is Vic Hammond and I love to curate worship experiences. In this blog you will find my thoughts and reactions to the changes going on within the church and in wider culture. You will also find a variety of resources for use in your own worship gatherings. Each blog entry is tagged with a label/category (reflection, resource, station, liturgy, and news) to make your searching easier. I hope you enjoy your visit.

If you are looking for custom worship resources, music, or booking information please contact me at vic@vichammond.com.

Friday, April 26, 2013

It's OK to Have More Than One Ingredient on Your Pizza.


I had lunch a few weeks ago with a friend of mine, Ryan Ashley, who is the Worship Pastor at Life Church Reno. He was “fortunate” enough to have a 4-hour layover in Chicago. I ran up to the airport and took him to have his first Chicago-style pizza experience at Giordano’s. The look on his face after the first bite was worth the journey.

However, as we got to talking about worship, I realized that our conversation had drifted into equating music as worship. We are both musicians, so this is a natural tendency, but it made the conversation feel frustrating and incomplete. Worship has to be more than just singing a song? Right?

I freely admit that I hate to sing songs when I am not leading worship in a service. As I sit in the pew/chair/couch, singing along with the choir or band is the least worshipful activity I can think of…for me. I love the atmosphere/intent of the room as beautiful musical worship surrounds me, but I am a contemplative individual by temperament. For me, stillness, centering, and prayer are the ways I best move beyond my own petty ways and learn to give of myself to God in worship.

My friend, Steve Wallace, uses the term “trip points” to describe adding additional activities designed to expand the number of avenues available for worship beyond music. We are all unique creations of God, each with our own God-given gifts and talents. A trip point is simply an activity that God uses to catch your attention. It serves to draw you away from focusing upon yourself and into God’s presence and rhythm.

I am drawn to contemplative activities in order to fall deeply into a worshipful attitude. Others do so by creating poetry or journaling. Some use painting or other forms of art. Still others achieve deeper communion through guided prayer or other ancient practices.

The point is to realize that you have an incredibly diverse group of people in your community. Each has a special gift or ability that God can use to speak deeply into their lives. Yes, you CAN have multiple activities occurring at the same time in your church service. It does not cause unruliness or distraction. One person can draw in a corner, while someone else journals, and the majority of the body continues to sing. Sometimes it is good to add onions and mushrooms to your peperoni only pizza. It can make the experience even richer. 

This blog is full of ideas and ways to better include all of God’s children in worship. I promise you won’t regret it. 

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