United Adoration Blog
Art, encouragement and stories from Creative Communites around the world
Humility that Harms
I wonder how many of us will go about our lives being artists unknown by the world. What glory is yet to be yielded to the Lord? What song, painting, or poem has yet to be revealed to a world desperate for beauty? What I had to realize about my inner struggle between humility and transparency was that I would never fulfill my calling if I waited on my flesh to catch up with my desire to serve.
Sketching our Prayers: Practicing Lament
We are all carrying burdens we can bring to God in lament. Some burdens are personal; we carry guilt from broken relationships, shame from past abuse, or grief for loved ones who died too soon. Some burdens are corporate; we may join with others in deep sadness, empathy, or compassion for a particular group of people. And now we are all carrying this universal burden of the coronavirus.
Corporate Lament
We allow our emotions to be formed by Jesus in corporate worship by singing the Psalms and praying intercessions as a corporate body. Lament softens our hearts towards the objects of our prayers and teaches us to grieve with the community. For as Michael Card says, “Until we learn to lament, we have nothing to say to most of the world” (A Sacred Sorrow).
Why Lament in Worship
Lament is expressing sorrow to God and asking hard questions in the face of trial. It is all over the Bible but is missing from the modern worship service.
Ash Wednesday Hymn
Derek Boemler is an Online Team Leader with United Adoration. He worked on this song, “Ash Wednesday Hymn,” at an online creative session.
Fostering Collaboration
This is the third installment in a series of interviews with Homero Garcia, pastor of La Iglesia in Mundelein, Illinois, and Matthew Pelletier, one of the worship leaders there.
You Made Us in Your Image
“You Made Us in Your Image” is a hymn based on a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer 2019. The prayer inspired an artist to make an image in their local church, which was shared in the UA Slack group, which inspired a poet to craft a song in a UA Creative Session, and after collaboration was completed and returned to the local church and shared at a Sunday morning service.
Cultivating the Arts in the Church
This is the second article in a series of interviews with Pastor Homero Garcia from La Iglesia in Mundelein, Illinois, and Matthew Pelletier, one of the worship leaders there. Our first conversation centered around the power of pastoral encouragement for artists in the church. In this installment, we’re discussing how to cultivate worship arts in the church.
The Power of a Pastor’s Encouragement
An interview with Pastor Homero Garcia and Matthew Pelletier about what it looks like at their church, La Iglesia in Mundelein, Illinois, to encourage artistic expressions of worship. Part 1 of 3.
