Worship Theologian

Are we singing songs in the church that lead us to flourish or to flounder? Also, are the songs we sing in church aspirational or projections of piety?

danieljesse.substack.com/p/wanting-to...

Have you found it to be true that constantly celebrating God's redeeming acts can take away the hope of things to come? Do you feel like if every Sunday is Easter or time in heaven it takes away from the longing for Easter or heaven?

danieljesse.substack.com/p/celebratio...

Today we shift from talking about theologians to talking about two of the most important and influential people in Christian music, Becky and her son Todd. You all probably know them and probably have an opinion about them. Do you like them? Do you know them?
danieljesse.substack.com/p/lets-talk-...

We asked in church today through song where the Sting and victory of death was. That sting was in church today as we felt the loss of those who we love, who are members of our family, and who are no longer in our community.

Singing an over-realized eschatology is harmful to those who grieve.

Continuing to talk about the theologies that shape the way we think about emotions in worship. What would having an emotional encounter with God look like?
danieljesse.substack.com/p/worship-in...

Continuing to look at theologian's understanding of sadness and emotions to understand how we got to a place where we devalue emotions in worship. Today we look at John Calvin and how we get him wrong
danieljesse.substack.com/p/worship-in...

I'm continuing to look at why the church undervalues sadness in worship and today I discuss Martin Luther's view of sadness. Long story short, Christ was sadder than you could ever be or imagine!

Why do we, in the church, link sadness to sin and believe worship should only be joyful? I'm starting to answer that question by looking at St. Augustine's theology.
danieljesse.substack.com/p/worship-in...

Continuing to talk about J Michael Jordan's book Worship in the Age of Anxiety and how creating anxiety in worship manipulates emotions and leads to a false view of the Christian life.

danieljesse.substack.com/p/worship-in...

What do we do when worship becomes emotionally alienating and feels unsafe for people's mental health? In this first post of a series, I look at J. Michael Jordan's book Worship in a Time of Anxiety and translate it over to sadness.
danieljesse.substack.com/p/worship-in...

Just a reminder: I'm running a survey trying to understand how you think about emotions and Christian Worship! Please take my survey and I might pay you!

forms.office.com/r/GV8cnYShK4

That's silly! Probably can buy some books for the cost of doing that for a few weeks

We project the BCP and it baffles me every week but I also stopped bringing my book and reading the screen

danieljesse.substack.com/p/i-need-to-...

I'm excited that my paper is "Masking Worship: Concealing Pain with Praise," has been accepted for presentation at the Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives conference taking place at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford in August. It's based on my grant work, see my Substack.

Emotions are often derided in worship, unless they are rebranded as movements of the Holy Spirit. By rebranding them, we lose connection with ourselves and move the responsibility to God.

I mean, psychology starts with Evagrius and his understanding of the seven deadly sins, so it makes sense, unless it only stays with Dante (who's quite late to the party)

I agree, but think we can set up a better frame for it. What needs are or aren't being met? What's missing? What's good or great? But the frame is that we are the body of Christ not customers. It takes time to shift the mindset, but can make church better for all.

It's either quick positive or negative, but not very constructive or made to engage the congregation in shaping the service.

I'm finding through my research that worship leaders don't get a lot of feedback nor do they seek it out. What do you think about that?

What worship songs uplift your spirit? Are they happy, clappy, and a tiny bit sappy?

More than a Concert and a Speech Moving Worship outside of a Performance in both Song and Sermon

New Substack post is up! In it, I discuss what needs to change in worship services according to surveyed worship leaders. They have some great suggestions, but are not empowered by the church or congregant to do so.
danieljesse.substack.com/p/more-than-...

New sub stack post is up asking local worship leaders: What emotions are missing from their worship? danieljesse.substack.com/p/breaking-t...

Absolutely! It's why I am working on this project! I've been finding that there's often a false dichotomy between emotion and spirituality, where emotions are underemphasized in church.

There should be room for lament but there usually isn't. One of the issues I have found in my research is that any emotions expressed in church only revolve around sin and redemption, not allowing people to be sad about loss or happy about a beautiful day