Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Well, it's definitely the Christmas season. You can hear the hum of the engine of busy-ness cranking into full roar. And...ironically, we're in a series at Otter Creek about time and how our time belongs to God. It's hard not to feel the irony.

The series is called "12 Million Minutes". We have a creative planning team for worship now--approximately 15 people serve on it. The team is made up of artists, music people, children's ministers, those with a contemplative bent, some drama folks, videographers, writers, idea people, etc. It's such a blessing!

As we've been putting creative elements together for this series on "Time" it's been fun to have a balanced group who surfaces incredible ideas. This Sunday we will have a special dramatic reading of Eccl 3 put together by one of our members. Last week, Scott Owings and my mom wrote a contemplative prayer exercise and led the congregation through it on Sunday.

When I heard the title, "12 Million Minutes", and the description of measuring our time by God's design and purpose, my mind immediately went to the lyrics from "Seasons of Love" (the hit song from the Broadway musical RENT). It goes like this...

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes -
how do you measure a year in the life?
How about love? How about love? How about love?
Measure in love. Seasons of love.

525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or man?
In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.
It’s time now to sing out, tho the story never ends
let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love! Remember the love! Remember the love!
Measure in love. Seasons of love!
Seasons of love.


So, this Sunday we're doing something I never dreamed of doing on a Sunday morning...a song from RENT. It will be presentational and will set up the sermon. We rehearsed last Sunday and got the arrangement down. It should be fun...and I figure if the apostle Paul can quote the poets of his day...so can we! All to God's glory.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that song! I love that movie! I think its totally sick that you are doing that in your worship! Its such a great message and just an all around great sounding song. Wish I could be there to hear it.

John Owens said...

Wow, that's great. I love RENT. I believe that musical/movie has so much to say about community and the church can learn much from it. I've always wanted to see a church do an adaptation of it with a more redemptive feel to it. I'm excited to see you use this song. This is so OT. Of all the musical instruments in Hebrew worship, none were created for that purpose. They were borrowed and sanctified from pagan worship for the glory of God. You're doing the same thing with this. Cool stuff.

Jenni said...

that is so cool!

Elizabeth S said...

That is fantastic! Oh, how I miss worshipping with you!

Kyler Erwin said...

Have a fun time with that. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes. That sounds like an awesome series Tim's doing.

Anonymous said...

How fantastic! Beside the message of the song for those who haven't heard it (are there those people?), what an incredible way to connect with another segment of the community. I love getting outside the box.

Stephen Bailey said...

"I figure if the apostle Paul can quote the poets of his day...so can we! All to God's glory."

YES! YES! YES! And again I cry YES! So many times a poet or song writer (especially in musical theater) says what I feel! I love the Bible and it's beautiful and poetic language. But, God speaks loudly to me thru Shakespeare and Sondheim, Lovett and Taylor and so many more. What a cool use of that great song!

Dwiggy444 said...

I agree 100% with the idea that we can use/redeem elements from our culture to help us communicate about our faith. But I always struggle with the "baggage" that is attached to worldly art. For some people, it's just too difficult to seperate the song, picture, movie, etc, from the source material. And as a result, while we play or sing the song, people are thinking about the Bohemian Life instead of the Christian Life (for example). And sometimes there are connections that we don't know about - when we tried to incorporate The Who's "Who Are You?" for a series on the I AM statements of Jesus, I was surprised to hear one of our Elders explain what that song REALLY meant to his generation.

In the end, I usually err on ths side of the dangerous choice (I'd rather try something and fail than not try at all), but it's definitely a fine line to walk. I'm glad that God has blessed us with such a large palette of artists to draw from, and I'm sure some of the artists that we're incorporating would be shocked to know that they're involved in Christian Worship.

May God bless your choice this weekend, and all of your efforts to create and innovate! And may He give us the wisdom to know where the line is, when to cross it and when to back away slowly. :-)

Brandon Scott Thomas said...

thanks Dwig!

I have no doubt I'll be getting some comments about "Season of Love". But, I think the lyrics are powerful and redeeming. I'll let you know whether I will be stoned or hanged.

SG said...

My money is on a hanging since you have so openly broadcast your fear of heights :)
No, it will be a great day and God will be glorified at OT. Thanks for not being afraid to go outside the box to bring glory to the creator of all, even the guy who wrote RENT.

Jeff said...

That's awesome Brandon. I actually thought of that song when we started the series. I'm glad you went out there to do it. I wish we could have been there.

I'm glad you didn't pick Viva La Vie Boheme!