INDIGENOUS WORSHIP

More ponderings about the new TFB Creative Arts Team. [last pondering was Feb 6]

indigenous

SYLLABICATION: in·dig·e·nous
PRONUNCIATION: n-dj-ns
ADJECTIVE: 1. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. See synonyms at native. 2. Intrinsic; innate.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin indigena, a native. See indigen.
OTHER FORMS: in·dige·nous·ly —ADVERB
in·dige·nous·ness —NOUN


I guess the first question that comes to mind is "What does Torrance culture look like?" important iimportant "What does TFB culture REALLY look like?"--not the safe Sunday morning culture, but the way we all really relate to our world--how we actually understand and make sense of life. What do we see as beautiful? What is confusing? What takes our breath away? What would we hang up on the frig at home? What artists--high brow or low brow--do we have in our congregation and in our community that could translate our understanding of God and the world into multisensory experiences? If we ask ourselve to describe how we feel about God, what language do we use? What words, images, aromas, flavors, textures, sounds, and actions come to mind?

This, I think, is the beginning of indigenous worship--a lifelong, day-in-day-out expression of our burning passion for the God who knows us most and loves us best. Worship that is indigenous is visceral. It breaks through the boundaries of the Sunday morning gathering and spills over into the way we treat the barista at Starbucks. It spills over into the choices we make when preparing our taxes. It spills over into how we treat the people who bug us. It spills over into how we act when we've had a really bad day.

When we do this--really do this--we will see and those of our community will see what God looks like when he is translated through Torrance First Baptist.