Digital Worship: Blessing or Curse

This week's class uses Len Wilson and Jason Moore's book, Digital Storytellers, to consider the opportunities and limitations of including digital media in worship. Based on the postings from class members websites (see class members postings using links on the right), there will be a lively conversation when we gather face-to-face.

The range of responses can be examined in light of individual and communal assumptions about worship and liturgy. Consider your own assumptions along with what can be extrapolated as those of Wilson and Moore.

How would these assumptions change depending on denomination or faith expression? For example,the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) conducted a Worship Video Project in which Bowld Music Library digitized five Baptist churches in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Check out some of the recordings. In particular, listen to Dr. Brett Younger's response to the qustion: what would you say is the philosophy or worship at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth Texas? What are the purposes and goals? How does that compare with Next Level Church's video showing What to Expect in worship?

Mary suggested an article from Alban to continue the conversation:
Well-Tempered Worship by Robert Glick. It suggests that "some of the major elements of a well-tempered worship service
* honors Word and Sacrament equally,
* values symbolism,
* values the spoken word,
* welcomes and nurtures the arts,
* honors diversity,
* encourages various forms of prayer,
* remembers the children."
How does this resonate with your beliefs? Are they appropriate criteria for evaluating the use of digital media in worship and liturgy?
What would you add or subtract?

Extreme Example of How Envirnments Form Us

One of my assumptions undergirding Fashioning-a-People that our contexts act as containers that provide both opportunity and limitation for our formation. These pictures provide an extreme example of what can happen to watermelons when they move from an open-air environment into a contained space. If this is what happens to watermelons, what do you think happens to people in similar boxes?

Running Conversation about Education and the Digital Age on YouTube

As I have explored various YouTube videos and the "related videos" that are listed beside them, I have been amazed by the running conversation that is occurring both through the text-based comments offered under the videos and through video responses and remakes.

I am particularly interested in the conversation the Kansas State Digital Ethnography project and its advisor, Michael Welch, Assistant Professor, have begun. It seems to have started about a year ago (1/23/07)with "web 2.0" (shown in class on 2/11)and has continued through "The Machine is Us/ing Us," "A Vision of Students Today" (shown in class on 2/25), and "The Information Re/volution" (shown in class on 2/11). There is a documentary style video about Kansas State that frames the conversation within the realm of Academia ("Academia 2.0)".

From these you can follow diverse tracks. Today, I was particularly touched by "A Vision of K-12 Students" created by B. Nesbitt.

These videos mark the changing dynamics of teaching and learning. Gregg Whitney sees it as changing the DNA of Education when he presents "21st Century Pedagogy." (Daniella Note: He's the Exec Director of Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta). "Three Steps for 21st Century Learning" highlights not only one possible set of steps to transform education, but also implies the g/local impact.

These videos reflect my pedagogical philosophy and show how education, at least in some arenas, is changing. This brings both excitement and trepidation to faculty, students of every age, parents and others. The question is not whether or not we should consider incorporating technology as much as acknowledging it is here to stay and developing methods to appropriately incorporate its potential benefits while limiting its potential detriments.

Upcoming Class Presentations

VIRTUAL WORSHIP March 3
- Mary and Richard
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION March 17
- Visitors from BC C21 Online: Barbara Radke and Melinda Donovan
RELIGION ONLINE March 31
- Daniella and Elizabeth
ONLINE RELIGION April 7
- Wai Moo and Sam
PARISH REL EDUC april 14
- Pedro and Lisa

Virtual Church??

Sunday nights tend to be my night for surfing. In addition to going through my emails since Friday, I follow links that lead to links that lead to links. I sometimes wonder how I got from "A" to "M." Tonight I know. It's Liz' fault! She sent me a spam mail asking if I knew anything about a newsletter by "Dr. Thomas Hohstadt." This is the email she forwarded to me:

From: "FutureChurch"
Date: February 24, 2008 5:24:31 PM EST
Reply-To: newsrecipient@futurechurch.net

Dear friends,
The refusal of an empowered laity has proven the greatest failure of today’s church. The co-dependency of skeptical pastors—protecting their own financial interests—and lazy laity—protecting their own membership privileges—has become an insidious addiction. Because of this cozy collusion, the more fervent and faith-filled entrepreneurs are finding their way outside the church. Turn this problem into new hope for the church by clicking: http://www.futurechurch.net/

Blessings,
FutureChurch

P.S. Please share this link with those who care about the future of the church.
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Well, I'm not sure if there is much more than self-promotion at the FutureChurch site, however, I did find an interesting link off it to "Virtual Church." There is going to be an event on Tuesday evening. I'm going to try to check it out. Will I see you there?

Apparently its a SecondLife location. See this article for more info.

What motivates people to Second Life?

As I was exploring "Religion and Meditation" on YouTube to find the links for class tomorrow night I found "Seek Ye First" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9erBT2yXj4&NR=1). It uses images from Second Life in a Christian music video. I watched, curious about how denominations are being represented ... (Can you tell which is presented by the images offered?) Initially, I was impressed by the Cathedral's re-creation, then I reacted to what seemed like a marketplace for religious articifacts embedded at the end.... Wondering what significance those images held, I followed the link at the end http://www.peacebella.com/.

I was struck by Peacebell'as description of her Second Life experience and her husband's activity online... there is an obvious tension in her writing about her husband's and society's emphasis on money... one of her sites is titled "money sick".... and the constrast she presents through her faith and beliefs throughout her sites, videos and writings... check the list of tags that make the words used most often the biggest.... as well as her site see http://www.peaceinspiration.com/faith/jesus-wisdomchristianity/

"Peacebella" is a pseudonym so we don't know who she is... http://www.peaceinspiration.com/about-me/

I keep wondering about the elements of her ecology that formed and fashioned her...

Fashioning-A-People Endebted to Media Ecology

Building on the work of Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman's first published definition was in his essay "What is Media Ecology," excerpted from “The Reformed English Curriculum,” High School 1980, ed. A. C. Eurich (NY: Pitman, 1970):

"Media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, feeling, understanding, and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival. The word ecology implies the study of environments: their structure, content, and impact on people. An environment is, after all, a complex message system which imposes on human beings certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It structures what we can see and say and, therefore, do. It assigns roles to us and insists on our playing them. It specifies what we are permitted to do and what we are not. Media ecology tries to make these specifications explicit. It tries to find out what roles media force us to play, how media structure what we are seeing, why media make us feel and act as we do. Media ecology is the study of media as environments."

As Camille Paglia states in this clip from YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KIRjvvAegw), Media Ecology is an analysis of the entire environment within which we operate... that change us, that become us! I believe this type of analysis is essential for those responsible for making Christians!

While reflecting on the environments that shaped me as a youth and young adult, I am mindful of the myriad of complementary messages that were a part of my life. Repeating themes of God's unconditional love and a call to respond in love to build God's reign consistently came from my parents and extended family, my parochial school and high school communities, the communal worship experiences within which I was fed and sent. Stories of our ancestors in faith caring for the least of these were reinforced by Lassie saving the day, Laura Ingalls overcoming obstacles with grace and charity, and calls for social jusice in the folks songs we sang around the campfire. I recognize that the world that I thought I was in was not always the same as the world I was in. Critical thinking helped me recognize the levels of reality that can exist simultaneously. Still, there was a security in hearing similar themes from every aspect of my world and trusting that God is present.

Today, the world feels more fragmented. As John Westerhoff suggests, there is a "broken ecology." Messages compete with rather than complement the Christian Message. It is harder to discern what is "true." The focus is on me, not we.

Hopefully, by using an ecological lens we can make that which is implicit, explicit. By doing so, I believe that we can reclaim some control over the environment within which we operate and claim our role as God's stewards of all creation. Only then can we infuse it with values that encourage the common good.

Time Warp

We'll, I've created my first blog and spent way too much time trying to get a banner image for "Fashioning-A-People" in my header. It's amazing how much time can simply disappear when working online.