Continuing Education

I finished up the Montreat Conference on Worship and Music on Friday last week. My CE allotment is a whole week, including a Sunday. This year I made a conscious decision early on to seek an unusual place to worship, to fill out my week. It's very often that a CE week is so full of worship experience that the notion of taking in a Sunday service in a local church is almost sickening (don't even ask what we do when we're on vacation)! I tried to keep a balance throughout the week, so I could be fresh for one more experience over the weekend. Some folks suggested that I visit any of the handful of churches in the area with really strong music programs, or which did formal worship really well. When I mentioned that I and we at BMPCNC do that sort of thing really well, they agreed with my interest in seeking out a place that does something unusual in worship and music. Hence, my decision to visit the Jubilee Community in Asheville. I had heard buzz about the place ever since our arrival in the area. We learned along the way that Libby's cousin Martha goes there. With the three brothers in tow, we needed "child-friendly; we figured it would fit the bill.

Note to self: as parents we were interested in such things as which entrance was nearest the child care area; would we be able (downtown) to park close to that entrance? What sort of provisions are there for children in worship and in nursery? Things like this need to be on the front page of the church's web site if we are interested in being family friendly and attuned to the concerns of visiting families. Signage throughout the re-habbed office/industrial building was scarce. We kind of followed the pack, but some signs would have been helpful.

Jubilee is a creation-theology community of faith, non-denominational (though the leader was of the Methodist tradition for some time). The theologian Matthew Fox drives a lot of who they are as do writers of many different faith traditions. There are also Quaker tendencies to their theology (the divine within each individual), along with a certain Native American pantheism. I love that aspect of Quaker theology, but I find it needs a pretty solid foundation, lacking here somewhat. Fine for some though not my cup of tea on a regular basis. They are non-denominational and almost inter-faith; I saw a couple of yarmulkes. (Does Asheville have a Messianic Jewish congregation?) I saw only one explicit reference to Jesus on the web site, as a teacher, not so much as Savior. And while a gospel reading was part of the liturgy, the meditation focused more on a passage from Ezekiel. Missing from the service was much of a sense of the fallen-ness of humanity and creation (confession and forgiveness) which I have come to appreciate in the liturgy of Reformed congregations, and a reliance on the historic creeds of the church. The church follows a cycle of the four seasons of creation, the four Vias, instead. Elements of creation, fire, wind, earth, water, were present on the table in the center of the assembly. I saw a wide variety of types of folk there, a decent age spread (though not many traditional families with young children); plenty of alternatively configured family units. There was a large majority of middle-aged yuppies who came of age in the 60's. The music, folky and rooted in rock with a strong global flavor, reflected that demographic. There was only (best I could tell) one person of color, not the ratio I was expecting. There were a couple of folks with physical and/or developmental impairments. We were at the 945 celebration; there is an earlier one and a later. Martha reports that the 945 is the most traditional of the three. We got to see some folks join the community in this service. Aside from announcements, there were not a lot of places where the gathered community said much together. I would have really liked to experience communion in this setting. Might be worth another visit at some point.

Howard Hanger is the driving force behind Jubilee, as pastor and as musician. He sang a goodly portion of his meditation; he led the congregational singing as much as the singers in the band, and was deeply in synch with the musicians in the World Beat Band for worship actions. There was some sort of glitch in the sound system last Sunday; I couldn't figure out what was causing the static either, but it eventually went away.

The band was very good. A piano player, a couple of guitars and bass, and percussionists accompanied two singers. They played Hebrew folk songs, South African music and 60's ballads with equal panache.

Worship began with a prayer toward the four ends of the earth: East, South, West and North. This was accompanied by drums. They also had burning sage going as a form of incense. There was lots of movement including swaying to the music and more enthusiastic shuffling (here at the beginning and really throughout the service). We sang a passover Seder song (Dayenu) at the beginning of worship. Interestingly I had encountered every one of these worship elements in isolation in various worship and music conferences along the way and over the years. What was unique and interesting here is that they are a defining part of the community and its worship and all present in one experience.

Hopefully you get the idea. There was a lot that was appealing. There was a lot of hand-holding which is also not my cup of tea, but the folks I joined hands with were nice enough (a stranger on my left, Libby on my right :). I caught Eli clapping to some of the songs, which I count as a pretty big coup for the Jubilee experience (kind of like that elusive smile on the teen-age girl in the Carnival Cruise commercial). I got some helpful ideas from the experience, for use in FirstLight worship, and plenty to ponder. Howard's focus this day was trust/distrust, and while it was a good topic, I think some of the connections between the message and the liturgy and music were a bit forced. Not much different than a standard Sunday in most churches, so in a sense that was reassuring. We all (worship planners) struggle to cobble together an experience that will speak to deep needs, that will hand together logically and theologically, and be captivating to the heart and mind of the worshiper.

I can't emphasize enough how important this sort of experience is for me as a part of my on-going education in worship and the arts. It's very easy to get tunnel vision in worship and music design and implementation. It would also be very easy to go somewhere comfortable and sit back and enjoy the pretty music. It's experiences like this however that push my envelop a wee bit and make me a better musician and worship leader. The Jubilee worship coupled with the really wonderful experience at the W&M conference made for a truly invigorating week of education and renewal for me.