Glenn Packiam - Worship and the World to Come: Exploring Christian Hope in Contemporary Worship

THIS BOOK IS THE CULMINATION of my doctoral research, reset and rewritten with church leaders in mind. But I would not have pursued a doctorate if it had not been for my wife, Holly. She encouraged me to reach beyond what I thought possible and to attempt something that had only been a dream. Not only was her prodding the inspiration, her support throughout the process and patience as I worked through late nights and early mornings made the journey possible. Our childrenSophia, Norah, Jonas, and Jane have also been tremendously long-suffering, particularly in the final months when I would spend many days on end writing. Only a few times in the final days did they ask when my dissertation would be complete. I owe a tremendous debt to my parents for their faithful and sacrificial love. Throughout this process, they were encouraging and always willing to help; my mother even offered to proofread early drafts.

As if the blessing of a loving and supportive family were not already enough, I somehow also had the good fortune of having two exceptional doctoral supervisors, the Reverend Professor David Wilkinson and Dr. Mathew Guest, who were encouraging and insightful at every point. Their enthusiasm from the start and their expert guidance along the way made the process both meaningful and enjoyable. I would also like to express my gratitude to the staff at Cranmer Hall and at the Department of Theology and Religion and to my research colleagues who made the process a joy and who offered their friendship and advice along the way.

Much of the empirical research would not have been possible without the partnership and investment from Integrity Music. My hope is that the connection between practitioners and theoreticiansworship leaders, songwriters, and theologiansis strengthened and that worship songs continue to carry hope to the church. I owe a debt of gratitude for the generosity and hospitality offered to me by the churches who agreed to participate in my fieldwork. They took a big step by agreeing to be part of my research, and have contributed in significant ways to the study of contemporary worship. Their kindness and openness made the time I spent in both churches special experiences.

My pastor, Brady Boyd, and my colleagues at New Life Church gave me the strength of their friendship and support along the way. I am grateful for the time to travel and to write. I experience daily the blessing of their sharing my burdens and multiplying my joys.

I hope this book honors my friends who lead worship and write songs by paying them the intolerable compliment of attention. I am grateful for their faithfulness to the Lord and their love for the church. They steward this sacred calling in an inspiring way. May their tribe increase.

Finally, I count it a privilege to have had David McNutt as my editor. His belief in this project and his insights and instincts for what to cut, what to compress, what to add, and how to arrange it all have made this a book better than I imagined. The team at IVP has been a joy to work with. I am grateful for their expertise.

THE HOUR WAS GETTING LATE, and the wounds on their backs were beginning to burn. The missionaries had ventured beyond their homeland to spread the good news, but maybe they had gone too far. Here on the outskirts of Europe, merchants were threatened by the call to exclusive allegiance to a new king named Jesus because converts had abandoned the worship of the old gods. To make things worse, a girl who could speak with supernatural insight had been loosed of a spirits control and was no longer of any economic use to her masters. The missionaries were to blame for this. They had been arrested, beaten, and thrown in a prison cell awaiting a verdict.

These men, the first generation of followers of Jesus the Messiah, were convinced that the wandering teacher from Nazareth had been the Son of God. Crucified by the Romans, he had been raised up by the Father and made to be the Lord of the whole world. Chains in a Roman prison in Philippi could not quell the surge of their hope.

And so they began to sing. Paul and Silas, at midnight when the hour was dark and the outlook was bleak, began to sing. Were they singing a psalm, now applied to Jesus? Were they writing a hymn that would be part of Christian worship practice, like the one Paul would quote in his letter to the Philippians a few decades later?

Singing became a signature of the early Christian communities. Several decades after Pauls death, a regional governor named Pliny wrote to the Emperor Trajan that Christians would gather on a particular day of the week and sing hymns to Christ as to a god.

Christians sing. In weekly worship and in dark prison cells, when hearts are buoyant and when hope seems lost, Christians sing. When Paul and Silas sang, the ground shook and the prison doors flung open. Christians awaken the dawn of the Age to Come with a song. Even when its midnight in the world.

Christians sing because we are people of hope. In the face of fear, in the shadow of death, in the midst of suffering and pain, the Christian stands tall. We are shaken but not moved, pressed but not crushed, down but never out. Christians are those who believe that because Jesus was raised from the dead, the worst day will not be the last day. Christian hope is resurrection and new creation, and it makes all the difference in the world.

The church, then, is a community formed in hope. The Lord whom we worship is Jesus Christ the crucified and risen. Christ the crucified is how we know that all is not as it should be. Christ came to bear our sin and the full weight of evil, to rescue us and defeat sin and death. Christ is God suffering with us and alongside us, so that even in suffering and death we are loved and we are not alone. Christ the risen is how we know that it will not always be this way. At the cross, the Fathers love is revealed; at the empty tomb, the Fathers faithfulness is on display. The Creator will not abandon his creation; the Redeemer will rescue and renew all things.