Our worship gatherings are usually filled with a lot of words. How well do we choose them? Do we see the art of crafting our words, as part of our offering to God?

Yes, the raw honesty of just pouring out our thoughts is very important. So I’m not talking about getting hung up on ceremonial language, or becoming stilted when we talk to God. Just seeing the way we use words as a creative journey.

I love being around people who use words well. I end up ‘catching’ certain words from my friends and colleagues, when they use a particularly great one, and find myself using them all the time!

Check out the video embedded in this post. Harry is a spoken word poet. I love the piece that he performs here. He’s won poetry slams, and I can see why.

His words describe a person looking for confidence to be themself. When I hear his words, they move me. And they make me want to choose my words and my song lyrics, more carefully and more skillfully.

I’d love to see more ‘spoken word worship’ in our church gatherings. Music, dance, drama and painting seem to get room these days, but I rarely hear a piece like Harry’s used in a church setting.

Another friend of mine, who’s been spearheading ‘spoken worship’ for years is Gerard Kelly. Gerard and I both work with Spring Harvest. His poetry blows my mind. He tweets little snippets of poetry at the account @twitturgies.

Hope you enjoyed Harry’s words, and that you’ll check out Gerard’s too.

Any of your guys into spoken word poetry? Have you used original pieces, or ancient liturgies in any of your church gatherings? How well do we choose and craft the words and lyrics that we use in our meetings?

Vicky

I just finished a great weekend, as part of Youthwork Conference, the UK’s biggest youth leader’s gathering. It’s an event under the Spring Harvest umbrella, and it’s one I looks forward to every November! (more…)

My best friend Wendy has started a blog…yay!

I’m always telling her she needs to share more of the things she thinks and talks about, as they fascinate, inspire and challenge me… so I think more people should hear from her! :-)

Click on the image above to visit her blog and check it out…

Her latest post has really got me thinking. She asks “What does a healthy church look like?”.

Such a needed question, as if our churches are growing and cool and trendy but not HEALTHY, what are we doing??

Head over to her site by clicking here . Leave a comment about your thoughts on ‘Healthy Church’ and welcome her to the blogosphere!

P.s. here is a photo of her..and one of us both hanging out, just so you feel like you know her a bit already!

Love

Vicky