Specifically, I haven't learned anything from Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) about leading congregational worship that I didn't learn first in Scripture.
Easter is coming. If you haven't started planning for it before now, it's time to get started. We asked a bunch of people about the coolest thing they've seen a church do at Easter and collected their ideas below.
A few months ago I became acquainted with the blog search engine technorati.com, and learned that it searched 14.2 million weblogs. I checked it yesterday and it was up to 20.7 million. That's a lot of blogs. Someone said there's a new blog every second. Personally, I think that's probably conservative. "Who has time to read all this stuff?" I ask myself after spending 30 minutes reading blogs.
Years ago, a friend of mine asked me what I thought about some big artistʼs new worship CD, and I remember taking the opportunity to (ever so subtly) slander the artist. I was able to word it in a way that it sounded impersonal, objective, and merely a matter of opinion, but deep down I was giving in to a nasty little sin.
My top recommended book on a biblical theology of worship is David Peterson's Engaging with God. If you're responsible for leading in your church, either as a pastor or a musician, I think you'll serve people more faithfully and biblically if you read it. I go through it every year with my interns and never fail to come away from our discussion times with fresh understanding and inspiration for leading corporate worship.
Paul Simon's latest album, So Beautiful or So What, made a bunch of Best Albums of 2011 lists, including CT's own. That Simon is acclaimed for his music is hardly news, but the fact that So Beautiful so deeply explores spiritual themes is fascinating.
