text:
MediaWiki talk:Sidebar
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
Search box
The most commonly used search text box is waaaaay down the sidebar and often requires user to scroll down to the search box. In the sidebar, for Navigation and Jump Pages, there is little need for another (2nd) indentation. Removing the 2nd indentation will compress the list in such a manner that the search bar will be visible. —Egberts, 05:32, January 23, 2008 (EST)
- Agreed; particularly for users whose display resolution is 800x600, or less. But, can anybody tell me how I can put the Searchbar higher? (I am still looking.) That way, I can add the jump pages back to the Sidebar, but lower down the pane. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 01:21, January 25, 2008 (EST)
Any other suggestions, requests, or comments for making the Sidebar better? —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 01:21, January 25, 2008 (EST)
Customized Sidebar (navigation pane on the left)
- Moved from Talk:Main Page...
EXCELLENT decision to put a direct link to the merit badges on the front page under Boy Scouts. Saves us time almost every time we use the site! EagleForumFan 18:42, December 16, 2007 (EST)
Where did it go? Can we please get the direct link back on the front page? Saves a lot of clicks. EagleForumFan 01:21, January 25, 2008 (EST)
- Well, somebody else asked that the Sidebar (added left pane links) be removed because it put the search box too far down the page. So, I did, even though I liked it. (The two screens I use when editing are on the high-end of resolution; so, I still saw the search box. Now, what I'm going to try to do is find a happy medium... i.e., set my res. down to 800x600 and work on it. Anybody who's interested, let's take this conversation over to MediaWiki talk:Sidebar. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 00:38, January 31, 2008 (EST)
Prune Me!
I think that the Sidebar is wasting valuable real estate. I think that we should remove:
- Community Portal - outdated? of what usefulness?
- Current events - also very old, plus the link is at the top of the main page
- Random page - fun, but does anyone need this?
- Donations - can be combined with about
I would really like to see some discussion on this weeks-old topic. Scouterdennis 14:39, November 29, 2008 (EST)
- Okay, okay! After much discussion, a good deal of thinking, and a lot more waiting... here's what I've come up with:
- Donations has been removed -- Why? Well, Mike is (still) paying for everything and nobody (still) has yet to come up with a foolproof way to make donations without having to go through incorporating, not to mention the never-ending cycle of gobs and gobs of paperwork, filings and mailings. If somebody knows how Mike can do this without incurring any PAIN, please speak up. Plus, we can promote (place links) supporting Mike's Merit Badge Phamplet collection in other, appropriate locations.
- Random page is about as useless as it is random -- I think everybody is in agreement on this one. Enough said.
- Current Events has also been deleted -- Actually, I wanted to keep this one. And, quite frankly, it didn't come to me 'til the last three or four seconds (No, really!) while I was editing Navi that this one could come out, too! For one thing, we can still promote it on the Main Page, in the usual upper-right header; and for another, we can (should) push it for what it's best made for... an RSS feed!
- Community Portal stays -- It should be wikied up to work much like Wikipedia's does, which, from what I can see, has already been done, quite nicely, too. I will say though, some of what's on our Main Page might (possibly?) be better over on the Community Portal. But, for sure, the CP is the Editor's Page. This is where we (Admins) entice, encourage, guide Users to become Editors and they to be good (consistent) at it. Even on their home page, the CP.
- Comments? Ideas?? —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 04:25, November 30, 2008 (EST)
- Now that MeritBadgeDotOrg:Current events is almost back up to date, I would like to add it to the sidebar but call it "What's New". What do you all think? — Milominderbinder2 (Sysop) 12:05, December 5, 2008 (EST)
- I don't think that we should add it back to the Sidebar, especially since it is already at the top of the Main Page and it is so easily placed on other pages (such as the Portal pages) by simply adding {{CE update}} to the top of the page. I don't understand why the big concern about stuff moving the search box down because of the translation tools, but at the same time adding stuff to the navigation box. BTW, there is an easily installed extension (<inputbox>) that allows you to place a search box anywhere you like in a page. Scouterdennis 08:44, December 17, 2008 (EST)
We can add a language translate feature to the sidebar!
Every page of MeritBadge.Org needs to be available in at least the top 12 languages in the US. Of course, Spanish heads the list. At the last census, 70 counties were already primarily Spanish speaking including Miami-Dade. New Mexico will be the first state to switch to Spanish as it's most common language followed by California, Texas, and Arizona.
To begin to meet this need, in 2002, the BSA set up a mirror site for www.scouting.org in Spanish: http://www.scoutingvalelapena.org/. Unfortunately as of 2008, this site has only 12 pages. In addition, 25 fliers and handbooks are now in Spanish. Few have been added since 2006.
Every page, every requirement, every resource, needs to be made available in Spanish, not just a few. The Hispanic culture is all about God and family just as the BSA is. What a great fit if only our materials could be in Spanish.
MeritBadge.Org can fix much of this problem Right Now!
For about 30 second earlier today, I add translations features to the sidebar. Just long enough to test it and take the screen-shots. With a mouse click, all of the pages at MeritBadge.Org could be instantly translated into Spanish! Suddenly the "sidebar" page is "la barra lateral."
Right Now MeritBadge.Org could go from offering 600 great pages in English to offering 600 great pages in the 12 most common second languages in the US!
A den leader could print the requirements for the Citizenship belt loop for Vietnamese parents. A Scoutmaster could print the Camping Checklist in Tagalog for the Filipino parents.
This is just using the Google Language Tools to translate our pages. It took a couple of tricks to get it to work but there is no cost.
One possible downside is that no software is as yet foolproof in translating idioms like "Left Off" or "Right ON!". The Chevy "Nova" did not sell well in South America as a "Nova" because it means "No Go." So there will be errors that may even be funny but at least the meanings should be understandable. Also, this does extend the length of the sidebar but in checking, almost all of our pages that are not stubs are already longer than this. Finally, when you click a language, it will stay in that language. We need to find a way to easily get the user back to English.
So can we try adding sidebar links to the top 12 languages?
MeritBadge.Org will be the only Scouting website fully open to Hispanic, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and so many other Scouts!
For about 30 seconds today, MeritBadge.Org opened it's doors to thousands more Scouts, their leaders and families. To flip it back on, just undo my last change on the MediaWiki:Sidebar.— Milominderbinder2 (Sysop) 14:26, December 16, 2008 (EST)
- Let's do it! (This is an AWESOME idea, by the way! -- Thanks, Craig.) I'm going to go ahead and turn it on. Craig, if you could make this subject an article, and feature it on the Main Page, or the Community Portal, I'd appreciate it. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 16:15, December 16, 2008 (EST)
- Well, with the preview, the Search box was above the Translations, but now that it's been implemented, the Search box is now below them... If this can be fixed, (anybody), please go ahead. And, oh, we also need to look into Betawiki. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 16:40, December 16, 2008 (EST)
- Since the translation stay turned on, as you go to different pages, this is truely 'language' features not page 'translate'. So I will change the heading to 'language' to match wikipedia. I do not know how to get the translate (soon to be 'language') box under under the Search box. The code looks like it should do it per the MediaWiki:Sidebar page. Maybe a feature is not turned on? Also, we need an easy way for someone to turn the translator back off. They may not know to just edit the address bar to remove the Google part of to press the back button.— Milominderbinder2 (Sysop) 17:01, December 16, 2008 (EST)
Search bar localisation (MediaWiki Bug #7493)
All, I just found a patch for the Syntax to customise location of search box within navigation bar. For the moment, let's go back to the previous Sidebar 'til we can safely implement the patch. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 22:19, December 16, 2008 (EST)
- Can you install the patch? If not, I guess it goes on the list with the other patches we need, Hide/Show, string extensions for the new templates and to be able to upload doc files. Can we keep the language links in the sidebar for now even though we would prefer a better location? There are people who I have been working with who need those language links tonight. Please let us light a candle, even if it is not in the perfect place. — Milominderbinder2 (Sysop) 22:43, December 16, 2008 (EST)
- I'll try my best. I know that you and Dennis and Missylou2who have been awesome—more than awesome; but Craig, I must say, this language idea of yours is –far and away– the single most important thing we could ever hope to accomplish with this website. (We need to bring the MediaWiki software up to a minimum of v1.13 to resolve this issue; the latest version is 1.13.3. I'm really tied up for the next couple of days; but, if I decide v1.13 is stable, then I'll do my best to get it worked out. Say a prayer.) —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 01:43, December 17, 2008 (EST)
- I say that we implement this now and worry about moving the search box later. Version 1.13 has a lot of cool features we could use! Scouterdennis 08:32, December 17, 2008 (EST)
- Someday we may get all of the patches and updates we need. For now, we can only do the best we can with what we have. After discussion with RW, we added Spanish and a link for More languages that goes to the new Languages page.— Milominderbinder2 (Sysop) 17:17, December 17, 2008 (EST)
Sidebar location in Firefox
I have noticed that when using the site in Firefox the left menu is forced down. This has never been an issue before and I know way beyond my permissions. Who would I contact about it? Jzweiac 21:27, January 23, 2012 (EST)
- First, did you recently update Firefox? If so (and you probably did), from what version to what version? (Considering all the awesomeness Firefox offers, I've tried to convert to many times; but, I've just never been able to make the switch stick.)
- Chrome is my default browser; but, I also keep IE 9 up-to-date because I have to have it under certain circumstances. But, whenever Mozilla comes out with a major update (or, about once or twice a year), I download the latest version just to test it out across the wiki. Anyhow, let me know what version you're currently running. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 11:29, January 24, 2012 (EST)
- I should of been one step down, and am currently running 9.0.1 Jzweiac 19:39, January 24, 2012 (EST)
- If you have any screen shots, send me a couple. Meanwhile, I check it out on my end. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 10:41, January 25, 2012 (EST)
- It seems fixed this evening. Awesome job!! Jzweiac 00:15, February 4, 2012 (EST)
- Well, I wish I could definitively say that I did it; but, I can't. I mean, it's possible that I somehow flushed the server's cache; but, it does that own it's own. So, I'm guessing you probably cleared your browser's cache.
- BTW, this has happened before... but, it was at least a year ago.
- Please let me know any details you feel may be of importance if you have any further issues with the sidebar. Thanks, —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 15:23, February 4, 2012 (EST)
See www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Thread:Project:Support desk/Issue with new Firefox 9.0.1 / Left Navigation box display UNDER content (This also happens in Chrome.) I'm working on a solution. —RWSmith (Bureaucrat), 13:43, June 25, 2012 (EDT)


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Wally Hall is the managing sports editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force, he is a member and past president of the Football Writers Association of America, member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, past president and current executive committee and board member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and voter for the Heisman Trophy. He has been awarded Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year 10 times and has been inducted into the Arkansas Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.
LIKE IT IS: Tigers can't overcome Miles of mistakes
Lost in the chaos of Saturday's game in Oxford, Miss., was the fact that Ole Miss played well enough to win.-
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Say Hello to my newest book – Pretty Things: 'The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens'.
This is a beautiful (and massive) book, packed with vintage pictures and costume drawings, and the most fascinating tales of Burlesque dancers and their art. I can't wait to read it all! Here's a little peek at the prettyness inside!


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Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin! [K-Dot Addresses The Issue]
King K-Dot Talks About The Light Skin VS Dark Skin Topic! Hit Up His Myspace At www.myspace.com/thetybmovement &IP=220.127.116.11
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[Samui hotels]
中 文
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Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort
63/182 Moo 5, Tumbon Bophut
Koh Samui, Suratthani, 84320
Choeng Mon Beach
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Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort is located in the north-east of the island in the Hanuman Bay. The resort offers a choice of elegant suites and pool villas with private pool. All suites and villas are luxuriously furnished and include all the amenities expected of a resort in this class. The large communal pool on the beach is ideal to make new friends and to enjoy tropical cocktails at the poolside bar. Experience the culinary delights in the 3 restaurants and get your body and mind pampered at the spa to recharge your batteries. Other facilities include a sauna and steam room, library, boutique, children's pool and the services include Yoga classes, car rental, tour desk and free Wi-Fi Internet. Even weddings and other celebrations can be arranged from the resort. All in all it is a paradise away from the crowds where you will spend an unforgettable holiday.
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Intuitive Luxury...
Sometimes you just know you've found the right place. Warm and welcoming, like sunrays bursting through clouds after the rain, bathing everything in a gentle glow, worries washed away.
It feels good. It feels . . . you.
Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort
, we know that feeling. We call it intuitive luxury. It means we know what you want, almost before you do. It means the freedom to indulge indulgence, restore wellness, explore romance and embrace nature. It means service that need not shout its name, and 'wow factor' in lower case. We also know that place: introducing Hanuman Bay, the best beach on the most beguiling island in Thailand and a new way to experience Koh Samui.
Hanuman Bay stretches for almost half a kilometer, its dazzling white sand softened by a shadow play of palms, bounded by spectacular granite headlands. Its seclusion offers moments of rare privacy and contemplation. Greet the sunrise, coffee in hand. Farewell the day, fizz in hand. Find the perfect spot for a refreshing dip. Or set off in search of Hanuman, the monkey god and legendary guardian of the bay. An intimate, warm and thoughtful reimagining of the beachfront boutique resort awaits. Our stand-alone suites and villas offer a radiant take on tropical modern; full of light and space, graced with private pools and mature gardens, pointed towards the turquoise arc of the bay. Immerse yourself in its liquid crystal, embark upon a sensory adventure, or simply laze in dappled shade on your daybed.
You want it. We get it.
Catch the scent of exotic flowers on the warm sea breeze. Float in space and time to murmur of gentle waves. Intelligent design and a fresh approach to the serious business of relaxation are what set us apart. We understand that divinity resides in the details.
:: Plunge Pool Suite - 27 Units ::
Size 80 sq.m. | Internal size 44 sq.m. | Pool size 2.5 x 3.5 sq.m. | Max no. of pax / unit 3 | Extra bed 1.
Imagine an expansive 80 sq.m. stand - alone suite that allows the landscape to be as close as you want it. Flowing open - plan design and generously high ceilings foster a sense of freedom. AKARYN's signature long - stem 430 - count Egyptian cotton bedding offers the sweetest dreams. The daybeds on your terrace are the perfect place to contemplate a plunge into your private 3.5 m pool. All around are the thoughtful touches and signature flourishes that define luxury not for its own sake, but for your comfort and ease. And for those who prefer front row seats, five of our 27 pool suites are graced with an absolute beachfront aspect.
:: Ocean View Plunge Pool Suite - 4 Units ::
Size 80 sq.m. | Internal size 44 sq.m. | Pool size 2.5 x 3.5 sq.m. | Max no. of pax / unit 3 | Extra bed 1
The chic, stand - alone sea view suites, boasting 80 sqm of indoor and outdoor space, exude first - class elegance and offer a private haven, tastefully designed with luxury and comfort in mind, resulting in the ultimate resort experience. Open plan to create a true sense of spaciousness, each offers a king - size bed and luxuriant furnishings - complete with long - stem 430 - count Egyptian cotton bedding, exclusive to AKARYN - while the large terraces are replete with comfortable daybed.
:: One Bedroom Pool villa - 18 Units ::
Size 100 sq.m. | Internal size 50 sq.m. | Pool size 4 x 8 sq.m. | Max no. of pax / unit 4 | Extra bed 2
Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort's 100 sq.m. pool villas are tailor - made for those who require an extra measure of space. Stretch out, spread your wings and let your escape begin. Strike a pose by the edge of your 8 sq.m. pool, work up an appetite with some splashy laps, or simply repose in real privacy. These villas are all about restoring a sense of balance in an atmosphere of elegance, while spoiling you with the occasional extravagance. Soft natural light anoints contemporary Asian décor and genuine antiques. Sublime amenities enhance intimate moments. We don't promise gold taps and marble, but this much we know: once you have experienced the AKARYN touch, the meaning of intuitive luxury will become as clear as the waters at your doorstep.
:: Beachfront Suite with Plunge Pool ::
Size 80 sq.m.
Enjoy an enviable location a few steps from the beach. Lounge on the warm sun deck or dip in your private plunge pool amid lush garden surroundings.
Room Facilities
Peerless outdoor and indoor living
LCD large screen TV with cable channels
iPod and iDock with large music library
Individually adjusted air - conditioning
Complimentary Wi-Fi connectivity through the resort
Tea - and coffee - making facilities
Fully - stocked mini - bar
In - room safe
Large soft luxury towels
430 thread - count Egyptian cotton sheets
Natural cotton bathrobes and slippers
Naturally sourced toiletries using essential oil extracts, exclusively designed for Spa IV
At Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort, our intuitive approach extends to all things culinary. Award - winning chefs who aren't afraid to innovate go perfectly with our experience of what works best in paradise. This is dining for the discerning, served in an astoundingly beautiful setting. We understand your tastes, but take pleasure in introducing new flavours. We know the effect fresh ocean air has upon the appetite, and prepare each meal accordingly. And we celebrate the world's great cuisines and dishes, often adding our own uniquely Thai interpretation.
:: The Edge ::
Chic international all day dining on the waterfront
:: Beach Counter ::
Spend the afternoons relaxing with a cool cocktail.
:: Library ::
Enjoy hand-picked teas, a selection of coffees, and scones and cakes prepared by our resort bakery.
:: The Wet Bar ::
In the pool and in the mix. This is chilling
:: Blue Fire Grill ::
The heat is on at Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort's amazing Blue Fire Grill.
:: Your Room / Private dining ::
For private all - day dining
Welcoming wellness, wisely
Get real and get blissed at Spa IV, where a thoughtful approach blends the best of contemporary thinking with ageless wisdom to create treatments and therapies as effective as they are enjoyable. Our experienced therapists don't subscribe to hollow mantras, impossible promises or well - worn clichés about minds, bodies and spirits. Our focus is simply to make you feel good and welcome you to wellness. We have a commitment to use organic products wherever possible. We tap into Thailand's vast store of herbal knowledge whenever we can. But neither do we discount new age ideas: our signature crystal rooms are where we check your chakra, align your aura and have you humming with good vibes.
Call it intelligent indulgence. Call us a smarter kind of spa. You'll most likely call us for more.
Connect deeply, bond eternally, celebrate joyfully
Just a perfect day. A balmy breeze whispers about your veil. Cerulean sky and turquoise sea allow your dress to dazzle. At Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort, everything you dreamed of awaits. Where will you choose to take your vows? On the water's edge at secluded Hanuman Bay? Beneath the boughs of our ancient sea almond tree? In our elegant Wedding Sala on the lawn? Hanuman Bay's spectacular granite rock formations offer a unique backdrop for dramatic photographs. Relax and unwind as your reception unfolds. Chilled grooves elevate moods. An al fresco banquet beneath the stars beckons. Perhaps later, your own private full moon party.
Outrigger 's style advisors are always at your side, to make your big day unique, surprising and unforgettable. It's just what we do. It's the heartfelt pleasure of our entire team to bring a touch of intuitive luxury to any event that you choose to celebrate with us, be it a birthday, anniversary, honeymoon or simply a romp to revel in being alive.
:: Resort Facilities ::
Outdoor dining options
Indoor dining options
24 hours room service
Beach bar
Free - form swimming pool and pool bar
Kids pool
Complimentary Wi-Fi connectivity through the resort
Knowledgeable concierge service
Yoga classes
My space, a dedicated book and music library
Galleria, a stylish boutique
Our signature Spa IV
Tea salon
Sauna and steam rooms
Car rentals
Indoor - outdoor wedding and event space
Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort
is located on Hanuman Bay. Hanuman Bay is one of Samui's best - kept secrets, a serene and serendipitous sheltered cove on the north - eastern tip of the island, yet just 7 minutes from Samui International Airport. We provide a luxury hotel transfer service from Samui International Airport. Transfers from all ferry terminals on the island can also be arranged. We provide our transfer by luxury 4 x 4 Fortuner Vehicles or by Luxury Van.
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Verbum et Ecclesia
versión On-line ISSN 2074-7705
versión impresa ISSN 1609-9982
Verbum Eccles. (Online) vol.34 no.1 Pretoria ene. 2013
Invited by God onto the worship stage: Developing missional communities through participation in Theo-drama
Ian A. NellI; Neil MeyerII
IDepartment of Practical Theology and Missiology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
IIUniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa, South Africa
When the front of the church begins to resemble a stage and the preacher, musicians and other leaders act like performers whilst the congregation takes on the role of an audience, then something is wrong with worship. But not only with worship: something is wrong with the church. A church longing to be missional - that is, a church in which all Christians are participants in the mission of God - needs to express that participation in its worship. Theological dramatic theory shows us how the Trinity acts out a grand narrative in creation, redemption and glorification, and invites us to participate in the Story being performed. This same narrative can be present in worship and can invite our immediate participation. But this cannot happen if either God or the congregation is relegated to the role of mere audience. However, when the Story is told and performed in worship and when the worshipping community is able to participate alongside the Trinity in the Theo-drama of worship, then worship takes on the ability to form that community missionally. Worship is a habit repeated week after week; therefore, its power to transform a community into a missonal congregation is immense.
At the recent General Assembly (2012) of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (UPCSA) the assembly adopted a set of mission priorities which includes 'supporting the development of missional congregations' (UPCSA 2012:376-398). In the UPCSA's wrestling with the question of how to make the Missio Dei1 a reality in being church, it is interesting how easily participants forget that we have within the Reformed tradition a classical order of service which, if harnessed, has the potential to build within worshippers the habits that could form precisely such missional congregations. Yet ministers are unfortunately woefully ill-prepared due to their unfamiliarity with the shape of the liturgy itself and their ignorance of its power to form character within communities.
Militating against a rediscovery of the beauty and formational potential of the liturgy is the belief, popular amongst many in the UPCSA, that liturgy is old-fashioned and that the future of worship lies in making it more entertaining, especially for those of the younger generation whom the denomination would like to evangelise. Many congregations look admiringly (perhaps even enviously) at the highly-polished musical performances of a church like Hillsong and similar churches that excel in stage-show worship, and assume that by emulating their ability to entertain the crowds their worship would be better. But entertainment and character formation are not the same things.
Problem statement
In many churches and denominations worship is increasingly seen as a form of religious entertainment. Churches aim to be 'seeker-sensitive' (Hybels & Hybels 1995:41) to attract the un-churched and try to offer worship styles that compare favourably with the type of musical entertainment current in the secular marketplace. Many churchgoers for their part tend to judge churches on their ability to entertain. The problem is that the analogy of church and theatre or church and entertainment dissolves, so that church is theatre and worship is entertainment. When this happens, members are encouraged to treat the church as consumers treat other forms of entertainment. They sit on the outside looking in and judging the worship, whilst implicitly or explicitly also judging the mission of the church and everything else that the church does. 'A ritual place that sustains passivity during worship mirrors a church community where the congregants are spectators in all other affairs' (Vosko 2009:6). This is the opposite of being a missional community, where church members and communities are engaged in the mission of the church themselves.
Research question
In this article, the plan is to investigate the question: Will worship experiences that engage the participation of the worshippers be able to transform them missionally, as individuals and communities find their stories reflected and challenged in the light of the overarching Theo-drama of God's creation, redemption and glorification of the world? This question can further be broken into three sections:
• Is Theo-drama2 a valid metaphor for describing the interaction between the Trinity and the people of God in worship3?
• How important is the congregation's participation4 in worship and how are the role divisions in worship to be understood according to the analogy of the theatre? Who are the actors and who is the audience?
• How can missional formation be achieved or promoted by the participation of the congregation in the Theodrama of worship?
The overall purpose of this article is therefore to investigate a practical way to utilise and interpret the shape of the liturgy, so that its power to form and transform communities to become missional can be realised. In so doing the authors hope to open the way for others to make the same discovery.
Research methodology
This article is carried out within the framework of practical theology and therefore makes use of the four tasks of practical theological interpretation, namely the empirical, the interpretive, the normative and the pragmatic.5 The biggest emphasis however will be on the third task, applying concepts such as Theo-drama, missio Dei and participation, to the question of how communities ought to be formed missionally through worship. This will involve a literature study of some of the issues related to worship, mission and experiential learning.
Behind the stage
In an insightful talk entitled Free Market Jesus, Donald Miller (2009), author of Blue Like Jazz, traces the way in which the church has historically modelled herself and her buildings on the dominant powers of the day. In the Middle Ages the architecture of the grand cathedrals mimicked to some extent the splendour of castles, so that the house of God resembled the homes of the powerful princes and kings. During the Enlightenment as universities became the seats of power in a world awakening to learning and empirical truth, churches began to take on the shape of lecture-halls with central pulpits and pews arranged in rows as in a classroom. Then as the Industrial Revolution gained ground and the 'Corporation' became all powerful, the church began to model herself on 'big business', with church leaders dressing like CEO's and marketing replacing evangelism.
Unfortunately, further consideration of Miller's analogies goes beyond the scope of this article, but it is important to note that his historical survey stops short of being able to reflect critically on the very 'stage' on which the speaker himself is standing when delivering the talk. The DVD clearly shows Miller standing on a stage in an auditorium-style worship space so typical of the shape of many churches built in the last 40 years.6 The analogy with the theatre is unmistakable. In a world where entertainment is king, the church has once more modelled itself on the power of the day. Could this theatrical model of worship lie at the root of the church's inability to turn her adherents into missional agents?
The idea of a theatrical or dramatological analogy for the work of God in the world is not a new one. In the early 1980s, Hans Urs von Balthasar already introduced his theory of TheoDrama in a series of books on Theological Dramatic Theory. This line of theology has recently been taken up fruitfully by other authors including Rick Osmer (2005) and Kevin Vanhoozer (2005). These authors point to the transformative potential of this approach, especially as congregations find their own stories within the Theo-Drama of God's story (Osmer 2005:203). Yet, it is one thing to recognise the drama involved in God's Story, but quite another to see the Church's worship as analogous with a theatrical performance. As to the latter, Jeanne Kilde (2002:22) traces the shift in American evangelical worship towards a staged event to the revivalist meetings of the early 1800s.
In the case of the development of the auditorium church, this process began with a series of radical revisions in ritual practices made by evangelical preachers during the height of the revivals known as the Second Great Awakening, which swept the northern and central United States during the 1820s and 1830s. To engage ever-larger audiences in the spiritual message of salvation and to encourage their participation in revival meetings, revivalists like Charles Finney initially adopted spellbinding oratory and dramatic delivery techniques. A similar experimentation with ritual space - that is, with the Protestant church building itself -was the natural outgrowth of the desire to increase audience participation and to extend the revival as widely as possible; yet it led to consequences that the revivalists could not have anticipated.
In the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa we find the trend, especially in predominantly White and Western congregations, that churches built in the past 40 years have had the almost unvarying design of a raised platform at one end of a rectangular building, often referred to as the 'stage', on which are placed pulpit, table, font and choir (or music group). They all face the congregation whose members are seated in neat rows facing forward as in a theatre. But is the theatre a valid metaphor for worship?7 We begin by considering whether Theo-Drama can serve as a valid model for doing theology.
Theo-Drama as a model for doing theology
Drama as a category for understanding theology (theological dramatic theory) was first developed fully by Hans Urs von Balthasar in a series of books on the subject published in the early 1980s. Since then there have been several authors who have used this dramatological approach in a variety of ways to deal with the 'story' of God as it relates to, for example, doctrine (Vanhoozer 2005), Scripture (Bartholomew & Goheen 2004), ethics (Wells 2004) and catechism (Osmer 2005).
It is not the purpose of this article to deal fully with the subject of Theo-Drama, nor to tease out and compare all the different forms it has taken. We simply wish to point out the broad aim of this approach to theology and then to look more closely at one example of how it can be applied to an area of ministry before considering its specific application to the topic of liturgy and worship.
To begin with, the broad aim of a dramatological approach to doing theology is to take seriously the narrative or dramatic way in which God reveals Godself and thereby to invite the readers to find their own stories within the larger story of God. In the words of Von Balthasar (1994):
... we discern the unity of 'glory' and the 'dramatic'. God's glory, as it appears in the world - supremely in Christ - is not something static that could be observed by a neutral investigator. It manifests itself only through the personal involvement whereby God himself comes forth to do battle and is both victor and vanquished. If this glory is to come within our range at all, an analogous initiative is called for on our part. (p. 12)
N.T. Wright (1991:18) offers a helpful insight into how exactly this 'finding our own story in God's Story' might work by considering the ways in which a story might be said to possess authority. One option is that we could observe the actions of the characters and then be encouraged to follow their example. Another option would be to see the story as setting up a generalised ethos for us to follow. Wright (1991) rejects both these options as being too vague. Instead he proposes a third model:
Suppose there exists a Shakespeare play whose fifth act had been lost. The first four acts provide, let us suppose, such a wealth of characterization, such a crescendo of excitement within the plot, that it is generally agreed that the play ought to be staged. Nevertheless, it is felt inappropriate actually to write a fifth act once and for all: it would freeze the play into one form, and commit Shakespeare as it were to being prospectively responsible for work not in fact his own. Better, it might be felt, to give the key parts to highly trained, sensitive and experienced Shakespearian actors, who would immerse themselves in the first four acts, and in the language and culture of Shakespeare and his time, and who would then be told to work out a fifth act for themselves. (p. 18)
Wright then applies this model to the Theo-drama revealed in Scripture. He identifies the five acts of the play as follows: (1) Creation, (2) Fall, (3) Israel, (4) Jesus and (5) the Final act in which the Church currently finds herself, with the New Testament being the first scene of this final act. He sees our interaction with the entire drama as analogous with the actors he imagines in the Shakespearian production. The extant story acts as our authority insofar as it sets the tone, characterisation and direction of the plot, and we are called to 'offer something between improvisation and an actual performance' as we work out our part in the final act (Wright 1991:19).
Osmer's dramatological model
In his book The Teaching Ministry of Congregations, Osmer (2005) chooses a dramatological approach when developing the normative framework according to which he plans to develop a model for the teaching ministry. He begins by laying out some of the principles developed by Von Balthasar for understanding how 'serious theatre' works.
Firstly, there is the reason why people go to serious theatre. They do so, according to Von Balthasar, for two reasons: (1) because they hope that the dramatic tensions of their own lives will be reflected in the drama; in other words, that the patterns of their own lives will be mirrored in such a way that they will be able to interpret them more clearly and (2) they hope that the drama will offer them a solution for or an insight into the tensions they face.
Secondly, there is the fact that in the case of the Theo-Drama, those involved in the Christian life are not merely spectators or audience, but are in fact actors in the drama with particular roles to play.
In addition, there is the idea that the roles given to these 'actors' (i.e. those engaged in the Christian life) are analogous to the 'active receiving' of actors in a play. The actors receive their roles from the author, yet the success of their performance depends on their action - their ability and skill to bring their particular role to life. In other words, instead of the roles being part of a deterministic script, they are part of the creative unfolding of the story (Osmer 2005:200-201).
When he then turns to the story of the Theo-Drama itself, Osmer leans heavily on the Trinitarian theology of Jürgen Moltmann. He seems particularly attracted by the way in which Moltmann pictures God as an open system8 - open to the suffering of Creation and open to the possibilities of the future - and the potential this openness creates for interaction between God as author and chief actor in the Theo-Drama and human beings as co-actors. The drama thus depicted falls into four Trinitarian acts:
• Act 1: Before the curtain rises.
• Act 2: Creation by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
• Act 3: Redemption by the Son in the Spirit to the Father.
• Act 4: Glorification by the Spirit through the Son to the Father.
These are Trinitarian acts because it is quite clear that at each stage Osmer emphasises the primary role played by God, or rather the interactive roles played by the three Divine Persons of the Trinity. This then is Theo-Drama, not simply in the sense that it has been authored by God, but in the sense that it is the Drama of God, the Drama that takes place first and foremost within the inner life of the Trinity. This is an important factor to bear in mind when considering our role in the Theo-Drama (Osmer 2005:204-206).
So, in Act 1 we see the pure inner life of the Trinity, described as a perichoretic dance that takes place between the three persons of the Trinity, or perhaps we do not see this dance, for it takes place 'behind the curtain' as it were. The emphasis here falls on the distinct personhood of each member of the Trinity, following Moltmann's social doctrine of the Trinity in which the 'three Divine persons are bound together in a community of mutual love' (Osmer 2005:205). We see this dance of love continued in the three remaining acts as a different member of the Trinity takes the lead in each act: in Creation the Father leads, in Redemption the Son does, and in Glorification the Spirit comes to the fore. Yet each act is firstly a dance between these Divine actors and only secondly a dance in which we are invited to join.
When Osmer (2005) comes to applying the 'story' of this Theo-Drama to a dramatological model for catechesis, he does so on the basis of five principles summed up in the following definition of catechesis:
Catechesis is an interpretive activity undertaken by congregations and their individual members who see themselves as participants in the Theo-drama of the triune God and are seeking to better understand their roles in this drama by deepening their understanding of Scripture and Christian tradition. (p. 237)
Interpretive activity: Catechesis helps us find new meaning and understanding in the Scriptures and traditions as we allow them to address our lives and our world. Through the application of practical reasoning we interpret both the texts (of Scripture and tradition) and the contexts (of our lives). The point here seems to be that the application is not necessarily linear or literal, but demands careful, rational interpretation on the part of the catechist (Osmer 2005:238).
Undertaken by congregations and their individual members: Catechesis helps individuals find meaning in their own lives in close relation to God and God's Story. But it is taught within the context of a faith community, which is being built together into a congregation that also has a communal life and purpose to embody its calling as God's people. In other words, there is more at stake than just teaching a hundred individuals how to live in relation to God. There is a simultaneous goal of establishing a congregation which, in the words of Leslie Newbigin (1989:227), as 'the only hermeneutic of the gospel' is a group of people who believe the gospel and live by it. Such a community, and not merely a group of transformed individuals, is the real goal of catechesis (Osmer 2005:238).
Who see themselves as participants in the Theo-drama of the triune God: The purpose of catechesis is to lead congregations and their members beyond text and tradition towards finding their own identity, mission and vocation as God's people in the world. It does so by challenging them to see how the Theo-drama expressed in Scripture and tradition extends beyond these texts to God's involvement in our world today (Osmer 2005:238).
Seeking to better understand their roles in this drama: Having discovered their roles, catechesis helps congregations and their members to 'play out' those roles with integrity. Here Osmer returns to Von Balthasar's analogy of actors 'actively receiving' their roles. The Theo-drama of Creation, Redemption and Glorification is a story of which we gain an understanding through catechesis and we then enter the stage to play our parts in it. Yet if we take seriously God's openness to others and to the future, then the roles we play cannot be understood as set parts in a mechanical system of providence; our own creativity, freedom and choices determine in part how our roles will be played out (Osmer 2005:238).
By deepening their understanding of Scripture and Christian tradition: The sources of Christian faith (Scripture and tradition) are engaged with 'in ways that are analogous to the "mirror function" of serious drama'. Just as members of an audience go to the theatre in the hope that the tensions in their own lives will be reflected and that they will find some insights or solutions, so catechists approach their studies in the hope that Scripture and tradition will mirror their lives in the world (Osmer 2005:239).
Towards a dramatological model for worship
We come now to a consideration of how a dramatological model can be developed for worship. Before we do so we need to note a number of important differences between worship and catechism, doctrine, ethics, or any of the other areas in which Theo-drama has found fruitful application.
Firstly, it should be made clear that unlike catechism, worship is not primarily didactic. The purpose of worship is not to teach us anything or to grow us in any way. Worship is an end in itself (Dawn 1995:80). Its purpose is to worship God. The fact that it has the power to form us spiritually is secondary to this main task. Everything that follows with regard to the formative power of worship is therefore said with this fact at the back of our minds. Nevertheless, because it is a repeated habit that brings us into the actual experience of a relationship with God, worship does offer an immense opportunity for formation and transformation. As Marva Dawn (1995) expresses so eloquently:
My major concern for the Church has to do with worship, because its character-forming potential is so subtle and barely noticed, and yet worship creates a great impact on the hearts and minds and lives of a congregation's members. Indeed, how we worship both reveals and forms our identity as persons and communities. (p. 4)
Secondly, and closely linked to the first point, is the fact that unlike with catechism, doctrine or ethics, the way in which Theo-drama interacts with worship is much more immediate. In ethics, for example, we may hear the story of the Theodrama and then be left to apply it (according to the authority described by Wright above) to ethical decisions we have to make. In worship, however, although what we experience is applicable to the rest of our lives, at least part of the application is immediate - we do not only imagine how we might participate in the Theo-drama, in worship we actually participate in the Theo-drama then and there. Moreover it is not only our participation that is immediate, but God's too. In worship God acts. In worship we do not merely hear about God's role in the Theo-drama, we experience it.
The third qualification that must be made is that the shape of the story told through the liturgy of worship is not necessarily the same as the four-act shape described in Osmer's Theodrama. That is not to say that worship tells a different story, or that the characters are different, but merely to point out that the same story can be retold in a variety of ways. Indeed, we have already seen how the dramas described by N.T. Wright (five acts following the biblical-historical story of God) and Osmer (four acts following Moltmann's Trinitarian history of salvation) provide us with two differing ways of telling the same story of the Divine-human Theo-drama.
Finally, there is the problem that arises out of the fact that, unlike the other applications of Theo-drama listed above, in the case of worship we are dealing with an activity that actually looks like a dramatic performance. There are characters (worship leader, choir, preacher, etc.) who have particular lines to speak and actions to perform. Moreover these actions take place in front of a congregation, which can be likened to the 'audience' in a theatre performance. As we will see, whilst these similarities with theatrical performances are to some extent helpful in understanding the dynamics of Theo-drama, they also bear certain inherent dangers for misunderstanding the respective roles of the participants.
Osmer's five dramatological principles applied to worship
Worship as an interpretive activity
Where the primary texts of catechism are the Scriptures and tradition, in worship they are the ritual, the liturgy, the hymns and the Scriptures. Each of these 'texts' is open to interpretation by the worshipper and each has the potential for shaping the way the worshipper in turn interprets his or her own life. Of course, whether or not the worshippers actually do engage in such interpretation depends on such factors as:
• the skill of the worship leader to invite interpretation (i.e. not merely following the liturgy by rote)
• whether the congregation is taught the skills of interpretation (appropriation, integration, praxis learning and informed judgement)
• the space given in worship for thoughtful reflection and whether or not the worship is relevant (i.e. hymns that are not prohibitively archaic, sermons that help to link the Scriptures to life, and so on).
Worship as a task for individuals and community
Whereas private individual worship is also a valid form of devotion, in the present discussion we are focussing only on the type of corporate public worship found in church gatherings. Here, as in the case of catechism, there is of course a sense in which individuals participate in public worship and gain certain individual benefits as a result. There is a serious danger, though, when the congregation is regarded and approached as no more than an audience of gathered individuals.
Corporate worship is just that: corporate. It is not an activity for individuals but for a community and there are serious deficiencies in worship if a community is not formed in the process. To explain this in more detail let us consider just one element of worship, namely the sacrament of Holy Communion. Whilst it is true that the sacrament has many benefits for individual believers, such as spiritual consolation, commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ, and assurance of the individual's communion in Christ with God the Father, this is in fact only half of the story. For the sacrament is also a celebration of our incorporation into and reconciliation with the community gathered around and in Christ, and as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 12, such a celebration without actual reconciliation and participation in the community so gathered is deficient.
Worship as participation in the Theo-drama of God
As in catechesis worship invites us not only to hear the story of the Divine-human Theo-drama, but also to consider how that Theo-drama goes beyond the texts to God's ongoing involvement in the world, the Missio Dei. As mentioned above, worship does even more than this by bringing us into immediate contact with the Theo-drama itself as God acts in worship. In fact, worship can be our most conscious participation in the Theo-drama, since in worship we are not merely asked to consider how Theo-drama might apply to our lives but we are actually told 'Here is God speaking' (in the reading of Scripture) and 'Here is God acting' (in the sacraments).
The goal of worship is to help us better understand our role in the drama
We saw that the primary goal of worship is the worship of God. Therefore, any other goal, such as helping worshippers to find their role in the Divine-human Theo-drama, must be secondary. Of course, at one level these two goals do amount to the same thing, since our primary role in the Theo-drama is to worship God, at least if one takes seriously the teaching of the Westminster Shorter Catechism that the chief end of man (sic) is 'to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever!'
On a much more specific level, though, Von Balthasar's analogy of roles being actively received by actors in a play can be applied to worship. Through Word and Sacrament, hymns and ritual, worship retells the Story of the gospel and invites us to play our roles as individuals and community. Within the liturgy itself our roles may be fairly formal and 'scripted' if you like, but at least in the commission at the end of the service the indication is clear that how we respond and 'play out' our received roles in the way we carry our experience of worship into the world with us (living as missional communities) is open to the possibilities of our own freedom, choices, creativity and, of course, obedience.
Worship deepens our experience of the drama
Osmer's definition of catechism (2005:237) concludes by stating that catechism deepens our 'understanding of Scripture and Christian tradition'. As already mentioned, the primary 'texts' of worship include such elements as ritual, liturgy and hymns along with Scripture. But, more importantly, worship, unlike catechism, is not so much aimed at deepening our understanding as deepening our experience of God and God's Story. Having said this, we do believe that the analogy with the 'mirror function' of serious drama can also be applied to worship. It is possible that people go to church, as they go to the theatre, in the hope of seeing the tensions of their own lives reflected and in the hope of gaining insights or solutions to those tensions. It is possible, but not inevitable. Before coming to the conclusion we do have to answer the following question.
Is worship experienced as 'serious drama' or as escapist entertainment?
The analogy taken from Von Balthasar and used by Osmer in the discussion above of the 'mirror function' of serious drama is a compelling one; however, it hinges on the assumption that worship may be compared to 'serious drama'. We therefore work with the argument that whilst the intention of most liturgies (certainly the more classical forms of the liturgy) is to offer a serious engagement with the drama of the gospel and whilst many believers do attend worship with the hopes described in Von Balthasar's analogy, there is also another, perhaps more powerful analogy at play when many think of the 'theatre' of worship today. We are referring here to theatre or drama as escapist entertainment:
When the congregation becomes an audience and its worship a vaudeville act, then the Church finds itself at risk: the death of faith and Christian character is a clear possibility. (Dawn 1995:13)
The danger here lies in two directions, the one sociological, the other liturgical and evangelistic. On the one hand there is the problem that art, drama and music play a very different role in society today from the role that the arts had in former years. The sheer volume of art (be it visual, verbal, musical or drama), information and other distractions we have access to is overwhelming and has turned most of us into consumers, making it almost impossible for us to do any more with what we see of the art than to just be distracted by it and then move on to the next stimulus.
Not only the volume, but the media through which we receive our art and information have become much faster, catchier, and 'bittier'. We catch snippets of news on the web, hear sound-bites on the radio news and watch TV shows that seldom have segments longer than 10 minutes interspersed with ad-breaks featuring a series of 30 second 'spots'. Today information and art entertain us. This is very different to the sacred role that art, drama and music played in ancient societies, or the 'mirror function' that theatre has in Von Balthasar's analogy of 'serious drama'.
The point is that worship has certain external similarities with a theatrical performance. When people today observe or experience a service of worship, what metaphor do they bring with them to 'read' that experience? If they have been brought up to 'consume' art as entertainment, they will approach even a worship service with its artistic flourishes of ritual, music and oratory with an eye to being entertained, rather than with the hopes of having the personal tensions of their lives reflected or 'solved'.
The second danger lies in how the church responds to this change in society. In an effort to remain relevant, the church is often tempted to give people what they want and if entertainment is what they're after, then that is what we will give them. Returning to the metaphors of power suggested by Donald Miller, if the Medieval church said, 'We have a better King than the king' and the Enlightenment church said, 'We have a better classroom than the University', then maybe the 21st-century church is saying, 'We have better entertainment than MTV.'
We started by asking how the congregation participates in the Theo-drama of worship. From what has been discussed we would venture the following conclusions: Firstly, it seems to us that the metaphor of drama or theatre must be used very carefully in relation to worship. Because of the increasing physical similarities between worship spaces and concert halls, there exists a real danger that theatre may become more than a metaphor for what goes on in worship. In the end, worship is not theatre. In addition, when the place of worship takes the form of an auditorium with a stage and seating for an audience, how can we avoid assuming that those on stage are the actors and those in the plush seats are the audience?
Secondly, the foregoing discussion has made it clear that if we do continue to use the metaphor of drama, we need to take a more nuanced look at such matters as the theory of theatre, the role of God in worship and the work of the people in worship. A simple labelling exercise (listeners are actors, God is audience) does not take into account all the complexities of the interactions that take place during worship.
We want to conclude by linking worship as 'serious drama' with the challenge of missional formation,9 and therefore to its power to transform a community into a missonal congregation. For this process the following needs to be present in worship:
• Missional formation takes place through regularly repeatable practices (such as weekly worship) and not through the cerebral transfer of knowledge.
• Missional formation involves bringing our own stories into close connection or alignment with God's Story.
• Missional formation demands discernment to be able to hear in God's Story how our own stories are either disrupted or affirmed, and to become aware of the new reality to which God calls us as a result.
• Missional formation calls us to participation in the larger Theo-drama of God's Story.
There are several factors that could inhibit the ability of the practice of corporate worship to be missionally formative, and the same is probably true of any exercises or discipline designed to promote missional formation. In the case of worship, then, we want to link it to three forms of grounding.10
Intentional grounding:
• If worship is not a regularly repeated practice (i.e. if the worshipper does not become familiar with the rhythms of worship), then it is doubtful that the experience will be transformative (the entire weight of missional formation is too much for a single worship service to bear).
• If the classical order of service11 is not followed, then it is unlikely that the experience will be transformative. This is not to say that another well-designed order would not work in similar fashion, but rather that one would have to ensure that the basic movements of praxis learning are all in place.
• If the order is followed without continuity and coherence, then missional formation is unlikely to occur. Missional formation is a deeply intentional process. The mere progression through the steps of the classical liturgy (or any other liturgy or missional discipline) will not necessarily result in transformation.
Relational grounding:
• It is unlikely that true missional formation will take place if worshippers engage with the liturgy without the formation of a worshipping community. This is not to deny that private worship has any value, but rather to affirm that missional formation is by definition community-forming. Recall that the mission of God is fundamentally about the sending of love to others -God's mission is the establishment of loving community.
Authentic grounding:
• If the worshippers are not authentically engaged as participants in the process of the liturgy, it is unlikely that they will be missionally formed. The critical issue here is the connection between our stories and God's Story.
• If worshippers do not take concrete opportunities to develop their worship beyond the liturgy (i.e. to expand the prototypes of transformation experienced in worship to their daily lives), then missional formation halts at the Church door and never truly engages with the missio Dei in the world beyond.
Theo-drama is therefore a valid metaphor for describing not only the interaction between the Trinity and the creation but also more specifically the interaction between the Trinity and the people of God in worship. The transformative power of worship as Theo-drama rests heavily on both the participation of the congregation and the understanding that God is active in worship. It is therefore necessary to rethink the roles of God, preachers and worship leaders, and congregation in the drama of worship. To relegate either the congregation or God to the position of mere audience is to reject the missional principle according to which God is the primary Actor in the missio Dei and we, the Church, are invited to participate alongside God.
When the church participates alongside God in the Theodrama of worship, then the classical shape of the liturgy assists in missional formation by providing a 'script' or 'plot' according to which our stories can be brought into contact with God's Story. In this way our stories are taken up into God's Story, we find our own stories mirrored there and we are able to be transformed through a process of experiential or praxis learning. Moreover, the fact that this liturgical experience is repeated as a weekly habit means that it is a powerful transformational discipline.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
Authors' contributions
I.A.N. (Stellenbosch University) was the study leader in the project and made conceptual and structural contributions. N.M. (Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa) did the literature study and wrote the article.
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Ian Nell
171 Dorp Street
Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University
Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Received: 22 Apr. 2013
Accepted: 01 Aug. 2013
Published: 01 Oct. 2013
1.Missio Dei literally means the 'mission of God'. In missiological discussions since the 1952 Willingen conference of the International Missionary Council, the term has come to refer to the idea that mission is not first a function or activity of the Church, but an attribute of God (Bosch 1991:389-390). 'Missional' is the related adjective used to describe the approach to mission that takes seriously the idea that mission begins with God's activity in the world - activity into which the Church is invited to join. It further implies the idea that every Christian and every Christian community is sent by Jesus with the Gospel to those in their surrounding culture. This means that mission is not limited to those few 'professional' missionaries sent on overseas mission nor is it limited to the formal activities of the church, but also takes place in the ordinary secular business of the world (Newbigin 1989:230).
2.Theo-Drama is a term that was developed by Hans Urs von Balthasar in a series of books published in the early 1980s. Theological dramatic theory takes seriously the narrative or dramatic way that God reveals Godself. God is seen as acting first within the inner relationships of love inside the Trinity, but, secondarily, also in relation to the world through acts of creation, redemption and glorification. Theo-drama also implies that we, God's creatures, are invited to find our own stories taken up into the larger Story of the Trinity.
3.In its broadest sense worship refers to a sense of awe in the presence of the magnificent, the frightening or the miraculous. In many church settings today the term is given an extremely narrow meaning, relating only to the music played and sung in church services, as in the terms 'praise and worship' or 'worship band'. In this article we use the term to describe the corporate acts of worship which take place (mostly) in churches and (mostly) on Sundays. However, we use the term to refer to the whole act, including prayers, proclamation, hymns, sacraments, lessons, silence and so on, and not only to the musical portion.
4.Participation (koinonia) is used in two senses in this article. At a basic level, it means simply the act of taking part in an activity, such as a worshipper taking an active part in the performance of the liturgy. We also expand this meaning to include the Greek concept of sharing-in-being or koinonia, which is then applied as a theological category to describe the way that believers are able to share in the inner life of the Trinity through their inclusion or adoption in Christ.
5.Dingemans (1996), Heitink (2003) and Osmer (2008) all refer to these different tasks, albeit with different terminology.
6.Both authors have witnessed this trend in their respective denominations (Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa [DRC] and Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa [UPCSA]). Examples of churches that have been built with stages rather than chancels or that have had their pulpits removed and replaced with stages within the DRC include the 'KruisKerk' student community in Stellenbosch, Vredenlust in Bellville and Parow-Welgelegen. Within the UPCSA the unvarying design of churches built since the 1970s (and even 1960s) has been of a wide elevated stage incorporating the pulpit set to one side, the Table central and the choir or music group set to the other side, facing the congregation. Examples of this design include St Giles Presbyterian Church in Orchards, St Mungo's United Church in Bryanston, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Edenvale and Somerset West United Church where even the Table has been moved to the side to incorporate the worship band at centre-stage. Moreover, it has been the authors' experience of or with more charismatic, Pentecostal and independent churches that these have been designed even more explicitly on the model of an auditorium with a stage. Examples of these would include Rhema Church in Johannesburg, His People in Cape Town, St James in Kenilworth, the AFM in Bellville, The Bay Christian Family Church in Somerset West and many others. These churches include not only an elevated stage and musicians facing the congregation in the style of performers, but also stage lighting and darkened seating areas with plush cinema-style chairs.
7.When we speak of a valid metaphor we have in mind a fresh and creative way of speaking about worship in line with Paul Ricoeur's definition of a metaphor. 'In The Rule of Metaphor, Ricoeur argues that is because there is a linguistic productive imagination that generates and regenerates meaning through the power of metaphoricity to state things in new ways. For him, fresh metaphors, metaphors that have not been reduced to the commonplace, reveal a new way of seeing their referents. They creatively transform language. Thus they are not merely rhetorical ornaments. They have genuine cognitive import in their own right and are untranslatable without remainder into literal language' (see Dauenhauer & Pellauer 2012).
8.We accept that Moltmann's view of the world as a system open to God and God as a Being open to the world is not universally accepted; however, we would argue that the value of this view in the present context is its ability to illuminate one possibility for how God is able to invite human participation in the unfolding of the future.
9.With respect to missional formation a lot could be learned from theories on experiential learning. Practical theologian, Thomas Groome, wrote extensively on the topic; see Groome (1999).
10.Another theory on experiential learning is the so-called U-theory of Otto Scharmer (2009). Scharmer (2009:436-442) adds three 'root principles' of grounding of Theory U learning that must be in place in order to connect us to the 'deepest source' as we go through the process and so allow the process to truly transform us. He names the three root principles: intentional grounding, relational grounding, and authentic grounding.
11.By the 'classical shape' of the liturgy we are not referring to any particular book of order or common prayer, but rather to the basic outline or shape that worship follows, which is: Gathering worship (including Call to Worship, Prayers of Approach and Adoration, Confession and Declaration of Grace), The Word (including Scripture and Sermon), Response (including Creed and Offertory), Communion (including Sacraments and Intercessions), Commission.


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Qualifying ended Friday afternoon and the local races are shaping up for the May 20 elections.
For the school board, six candidates have qualified, incumbent Gregory "Ryan" Edge for District 1, Allen David Edwards II for District 2, incumbent Fred Blackmon and challenger Edd Sanders for District 6 and Charles Robert Gerard and Robert E. Adams Jr. for the special election for District 4.
Three candidates have qualified for commission District 1, including Roosevelt Willis, Mark Lennon and Timothy Daniel. For commission District 2, Russell Hayward "Peter" Potter and Tim Guy have qualified.
Election season is coming early this year due to scheduling changes approved by the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate in House Bill 310. Several local seats are up for election, including two commissioner seats, four board of education positions and city council seats for Concord and Molena.
Qualify ends, candidates named
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Windjammer Barefoot Cruises The End of an Empireby Paul Motter, CruiseMates Editor
Part 2 of a 4-Part Series
Note: as more information seems to be coming in daily I am publishing all of these articles now. Some areas of parts one and two have been updated. If you would like to comment, please go to our message boards here: Windjammer Message Boards
The Beginning of the Storm At the peak in 1998, the line's flagship was the Fantome, a beautiful 282-foot tall schooner. Windjammer acquired the ship at a bargain price and it soon became their biggest earner. She was beautiful inside and out and extremely popular, but "floated like a pig," according Captain Guyan March, the Fantome commodore whom had spent most of his entire career working for Windjammer.
In their daredevil pirate way, they took the unusual step of choosing not to insure the ship. Once again, it appears the Burkes simply hated to part with money. The ships were risky insurance investments, (as are all cruise vessels, typically only Lloyd's of London will take them on) thus the premiums would be extremely high to say the least, but in retrospect, it sure would have been worth it, as the Burkes soon found out.
Fantome was cruising in the Western Caribbean when tropical depression system #46 appeared in the southern Atlantic. All ships use avoidance tactics for hurricanes. Even though hurricane winds can reach 150 mph., the storms themselves actually progress forward very slowly, typically at 10 mph, less than half the average speed of cruise ships. Storms almost always move northwest from near the coast of Africa to the Northern Atlantic or towards the Gulf of Mexico following a northwesterly arc, which aids the National Hurricane Center in predicting their course.
Windjammer was understandably not yet concerned since Mitch was at least two days away and Fantome could sail nearly twice as fast as the storm was progressing forward.
But, as told in stark detail in the book "The Ship and the Storm," Hurricane Mitch presented a surprisingly quick escalation from tropical depression to hurricane. Then Mitch made another unexpected move, changing from the usual northwesterly arc straight west towards Cuba and the Cayman Islands.
In port in Omoa, Honduras, locals urged the captain to drop anchor and ride the storm out there, but the captain consulting with the Windjammer head office in Miami was instructed to take the passengers to a port with transfer facilities, Belize City, to let off the passengers. In Belize, some non-essential crewmembers left with the passengers. The number of staff and crew who remained aboard is undetermined, but estimated to be 31.
The storm was still two days away, but the question of where to go was now critical, and they only had one chance to get it right. Predicting a hurricane's projected path is an inexact science. Mitch had already deviated once, and Windjammer was running out of time to find a safe haven. One sure alternative for the sake of saving lives would be to get everyone off the ship while in Belize and anchor it in port, hoping it would not be pounded to pieces, though it likely would be very badly damaged and was not insured.
The other alternative was to keep a small crew on board and sail it to a safe haven, but deciding where to take Fantome was an educated guess at best. They consulted the National Hurricane Service predictions and discussed options.
Hurricane Mitch was heading toward Swan Island as the National Hurricane Centers computer models again predicted that the storm would turn to the northwest. The safest refuge was up and around the tip of Yucatan, but that would have involved stopping in Mexico for fuel. Unfortunately, (according to my source who worked in the office at the time) the company owed the national Mexican Oil Company an outstanding unpaid bill for fuel from the previous year. That route was not an option.
Expecting Mitch to pass to the north, Fantome headed southeast from Belize and hoped to take refuge in a small channel on the leeward side of the Bay Islands north of Honduras. Had the storm continued as expected there would have been a relatively safe distance between the ship and the storm, though high seas and heavy winds were likely, at least there was a reasonable chance of full survival.
But Mitch, now hovering between a category 4 or 5 storm, again defied convention and turned directly toward the Bay Islands, destroying everything in its path, as if it had a vendetta against the Fantome. Winds and waves extended out some 200 miles from the center of the storm. Caught in a narrow channel with no place to run, trying to stay within the lee area but facing waves that wanted to push him out of the safe zone, Captain Guyan March had no choice but to try to weather the storm aboard the Fantome - heading into the waves to avoid broadsides. An email report I received from a lone eyewitness in the room with Captain Burke during these last hours of the Fantome says Burke asked Guyan to keep the satellite phone open, even though Guyan could not do a lot of talking. The conversation was on speakerphone.
The book, the Ship and the Strorm*, says that March reported waves of 30 to 35 feet and indicated conditions were getting worse. Burke said he fully realized where the ship was heading for the next few hours, out of the lee and into very confused seas. Visibility was almost zero as the sea and spray combined with the wind and rain to make it a veritable soup. Every time the ship got battered, which was by now every few seconds, March had to try to re-orient himself. Knowing the ship would be facing the worst, Burke told March not to worry about the ship, losing a mast or the lifeboats didn't matter. Just save himself. Burke kept asking if the decks were clearing water, and March replied that they were, so the ship was not filling with water, but wind and waves had it limited to moving at just 7 knots.
Some of the Fantome captain's last words were, "confused," along with audible groans and sounds of exertion. Burke was mostly concerned about the seaworthiness of the ship, as long as it wasn't filling with water and the decks cleared everytime the ship righted itself they had a chance. "That was a big one," March said into the satelite phone, refering to a roll the ship just took. "Is it falling off, is it shedding?" Burke asked March. "Yes, that's not a prob..." and the line went dead.
According to my source, he and Burke were the only ones in the room at that time, and both of them heard March say "that was a big one." By the next day, the fate of the Fantome was apparent, once again alone with Captain Burke, the Captain said to him, "I'm going to prison for this." Obviously, that did not happen, and I am not sure it would have, but it was a rare moment when Burke showed he knew his life of living fast & loose with the rules could catch up with him someday.
By Thursday morning there were extensive reports of damages in Honduras, but Windjammer had still made no official announcement about the missing ship.
Another source for this article was married to an officer who was on the Fantome at this time. She had been working in the Windjammer Miami office daily up until the previous Friday. Naturally, one would assume the Windjammer office staff knew one of their regular workers had a husband on their flagship, the Fantome.
However, she says that during that entire week the Fantome was missing the Burke family did not contact her to notify her that the ship was even in trouble, let alone missing. Sometime Thursday morning she heard news reports that the Fantome had disappeared. Frantically calling the head office she reached Susan Burke and asked, "why didn't you call me to tell me my husband is missing?" Susan replied that since he usually used a nickname she "didn't recognize his name on the manifest."
The Fantome, Captain Guyan March and the other 31 (probable) crewmembers onboard were never seen again. The loss of Fantome plagued Captain Burke for years. He had nightmares and often said he wished he had gone down with the vessel. There were lawsuits from crewmember's families, and the loss of the uninsured flagship put a serious dent in the company's bottom line. But as devastating as the loss of the Fantome was, Hurricane Mitch killed over 9000 people in Central America.
Windjammer Cruises -- the Family In the late 90s, just as lawsuits for the Fantome started pouring in, the IRS cracked down on Captain Burke, saying he owed an extraordinary $30,000,000 to the U.S. treasury. Although he thought all of his tangible assets were safely hidden in foreign corporations, the IRS was able to trace at least partial ownership of each ship to the Captain himself. Eventually, he was forced to make a settlement with the IRS.
These brushes with reality caused the family to raise the drawbridge and close in the castle walls. Here the story gets more mysterious as the company became more guarded. The popular message board, Coconut Telegraph, was closed, presumably because the topic of Fantome lawsuits became overwhelming.
Steps were now taken to change the company's liability exposure. It appears that a convoluted plan was made where each child became responsible for different aspects of the family business. As a cruise line, Windjammer needed sales, marketing, provisioning of the ships, interfacing with outside travel agents, onboard ship operations and regular maintenance. As far as we can tell, it appears most of these duties were contracted out to newly formed foreign companies with various Burke children at the helm of each.
One company already registered in the U.S. remained as Windjammer Barefoot Cruise Limited, presided over by daughter Susan Burke. This company does not owns the ships, it is merely a sales and marketing company to sell cruises called on certain ships owned by other companies. Its address is 1759 Bay Rd in Miami, for which a public record search just a few days ago (November 5, 2007) showed an overdue property tax bill over $100,000.
The company that was actually responsible for managing the ships was International Maritime Resources in Miami. Though a different company owned each ship, IMR apparently managed operations for all ships (hiring crew, receiving passengers, etc). After the Fantome lawsuits and IRS debacle, this company was shut down and a newly formed company registered in Trinidad, "Maritime Preservation" was created. This company also ran a shipyard in Trinidad (a small island close to South America). Son Michael D Burke (MDB) headed up this company.
Son Danny was already working as a deck hand by the age of 13 and by 18 he had circumnavigated the world aboard the Yankee Trader. Eventually, he worked coordinating provisions for the Windjammer ships; sending food and other goods from the mainland USA to the fleet in the islands.
Son Joey was previously an outside sales manager coordinating with travel agents and other sales channels, until Windjammer dropped that sales channel. He then started a company that also provisions islands and ships in the Caribbean with goods from America - the Antilles Wholesale Company Ltd. It owns a cargo vessel called the "June B" (his mother's namesake). Though he lives in North Carolina, the company was registered in the Grenadines.
Daughter Polly ran the Seachest, also a U.S. company which sells Windjammer memorabilia such as the "This ain't no foo-foo cruise ship" T-shirts. Only one daughter, Janeen, chose a different career when she developed a ceramics company.
As for the ships, each was registered to different companies with varying boards of directors and flagged in different nations providing flags of convenience including Panama, Honduras and Equatorial Guinea. In a sense, they all operated as separate businesses with the common elements being that Marine Preservation managed them and WBCL was their primary customer. It is said the registered "owners" of each ship were Caribbean locals with no real personal assets.
This arrangement safely secularized each Windjammer-related business and gave autonomy and a mission to each child. The original idea was to make it extremely difficult to trace the company, but as time went on it only added to the family confusion about who was entitled to what.
End of One Era -- Start of a New One Although the line continued to operate its other vessels in the accustomed manner, the IRS and loss of Fantome put Windjammer into a cash crunch. So, continuing with the pattern of offshore and separate financial entities, the Captain decided to establish a trust in the Isle of Man (U.K.) where corporate tax is 0% and trust law will overcome any forced heir provisions from outside civil law jurisdictions. There are no restrictions on the accumulation of income during the perpetuity period, nor are there any statutory accounting or auditing requirements or a need to file tax returns.
By Y2K, the cruise industry was already consolidating. Inexpensive cruises from Carnival, NCL and Royal Caribbean had run marginal players out of business. But Windjammer had built up a small but incredibly loyal following, despite the Fantome and travel concerns immediately after the 9/11 disaster that put at least two other cruise lines out of business, (American Classic Cruise Lines and Renaissance).
In early 2003 competition in the cruise industry was fierce. Fares for Windjammer's Bahamas cruises were bargains in comparison to other mainstream lines, and they came with onboard accommodations, all meals, entertainment, and select drinks including early-morning Bloody Marys, rum swizzles at cocktail hour, and cheap wine, coffee or tea with dinner.
Windjammer gave away a lot of booze and had little else for onboard revenue. Other cruise lines used alcohol, shore excursions, photography and casinos to make up for the cheap cruise fares. Windjammer offered a few shore excursions in each port, and passengers were able to buy drinks during non-cocktail hours by purchasing "dubloons" onboard, which were used as the official ship currency. But since most of the booze consumed was supplied for free, obviously, T-shirt sales and crab races are not big money makers.
At one point in this time, it is rumored that Jimmy Buffett came close to buying into the company but the transaction was never completed. The thorn in the deal was who would get the controlling interest in a 49/51% share allocation. As badly as the company needed money, this theme of the family not being able to agree to do anything of benefit to the company is a recurring one.
Nevertheless, an idea was born at this time that would have worked beautifully but for one problem, it depended on the fleet growing over the years, which meant reinvesting the company revenue back into Windjammer instead of taking it out for personal use.
The LaMer: Cruise Timeshares In August of 2003, Windjammer announced they were buying a beautiful research vessel, the MV Discoverer, with plans to convert it into a time-share cruise ship to be named the S.V. LaMer. Sales of the timeshares plans were started immediately, although the ship was not scheduled to be refit as a Windjammer cruise ship for at least a year.
The Windjammer timeshares were sold exclusively by a company called Cruiseshares300 Inc. The company was based in Texas, presumably because the state has no laws governing the sale of timeshares. According to sources, Michael D. Burke Jr. was at the helm with an associate named Barry Jones who is a Texas resident. Jones was a friend/admirer of the Captain who described him to me as "a trustworthy, well-intended man who was a business genius." Barry went on to say, however, that the problem was the kids who simply did not know how to restrain themselves.
Since the ship was not yet converted to a cruise ship when the timeshare sales started, the LaMer program of prepaid cruises for timeshare buyers was extended to all of the Windjammer ships until the ship could be refitted. Customers who bought a timeshare bought specific weeks and cabins on the LaMer, but until LaMer was built they could use their time on any Windjammer ship. The finished conversion was supposed to include their name on a brass plaque affiliated with their cabin. The sales presentation implied partial ownership in the new ship, which is common for legal timeshare contracts.
Although the LaMer plan was just on paper, it made an impressive presentation and many Windjammer faithful bought into it. In some cases Jammers put money down for several future cruises. The Flotilla web site is full of people who claim figures of $15,000 to $18,000 invested in LaMer. There was also a yearly maintenance fee originally set at $330 to $450 per couple, but scheduled to increase annually.
No one will disclose the actual number of timeshares sold, but estimates start at 600 investors, at a total investment of six to twelve million dollars, though none of this will be verified by the principle players.
As of now, the actual ship LaMer is still the Discoverer (a ship apparently built as a marine research vessel for the 1976 bicentennial) and is in the Trinidad shipyard with none of the transition work completed. With Michael D. Burke near the top of Cruiseshares300, Barry Jones told me that much of the money generated from sales was advanced to the Windjammer Company against the better judgement of Barry. At the time, the money was considered to be a temporary reallocation of funds to Windjammer for operating expenses. Not technically a loan, (no papers signed) it was always meant to be returned to Cruiseshares300 -- someday.
I have received emails that say the LeMer timeshare sales were extremely hard sell. Once on the list you would be contacted repeatedly, even after asking to be removed. One person reported they talked him into a meeting with a dozen other potential buyers with the promise a cruise would be raffled off at the end of the meeting. Later, it was announced that was a mistake, the raffle would include all potential buyers. Another potential said he was asked out to dinner, after already saying no previously, and he was dined and heavily wined, all at their expense, and he subsequently signed up for a contract, spending over $10,000.
Interestingly enough, while no one commented on this for years, just last Tuesday Joey Burke "dropped" some information on the Flotilla message board that the ship Discoverer might be sold in order to settle an outstanding lawsuit and raise some operating money to rescue the other ships. What the note didn't say, but Jammer's filled in the blanks, was that the lawsuit being settled was actually between the Burke trust and Michael D. Burke who is the one who most likely benefitted from the original sales of the leMar timeshares. More on this later.
Sail 5, Sail 10 Windjammer headquarters also had another idea to pre-sell cruises at a discount. The Sail 5 and Sail 10 programs were simple in concept. Pre-pay for five cruises over five years and get them at a significant discount. For an even better deal you could pre-pay for 10 cruises in 10 years. The only problem, according to Jones, is that the concept has questionable legality. A ship is not tangible real estate property, especially when registered in a foreign country. A cruise line cannot guarantee the ship will exist in 10 years, and in fact, it appears the LaMer does not actually exist to this day, and neither are any of the original Windjammer ships sailing.
In 2003 when these plans were announced the line was operating six vessels, but in 2005 Amazing Grace and Flying Cloud were sidelined. The 72-passenger Mandalay, the 64-passenger Yankee Clipper, the 126-passenger Polynesia and the 122-passenger Legacy were left to handle all the existing pre-paid cruises and future cruise sales. Three of those ships, all but Legacy, were eventually "arrested" or otherwise taken out of service.
As of today (November 18, 2007), Windjammer has no ships in service. The Legacy is said to be seaworthy but financially entangled. Five sailings (Nov 3 through Dec. 1st) were scheduled and cruises were sold, only to be subsequently canceled. The frustrated passengers on the Nov 3 aand 10 cruises were asked to rebook their cruises on November 17th or later. Windjammer said they would be responsible for airfare changes.
A person booked on the November 10 cruise informed me that as of November 9 he still had not received notification that the November 10 cruise had been cancelled. If not for the Flotilla message board, he would have known nothing.
Once the Nov. 17, 24 and December 3 cruises on Legacy were cancelled, Windjammer had an even bigger backlog of cruises they they could not provide. They say the Legacy will sail on December 8th, but they have said much the same before and canceled repeatedly. Promises of future cruises have become virtually meaningless.
Most credit card companies put a 60 day limit on your right to request a refund. Credit card chargebacks are now coming in to Windjammer at such a rate that the Miami Herald reports at least one credit card company has filed suit with the cruise line. Unfortunately, those who paid for cruises with PayPal or cash face a much rougher time getting reimbursed. Those who prepaid with LaMer, Cruise 5 or Cruise 10 several years ago have other issues.
If you have paid for a Windjammer cruise recently and want a refund, be sure to check to chargeback policy of the method you used to make the payment. In its latest cancellation notice Windjammer referred to processing refunds, but if you ask them first and they delay too long, it may then be too late to go to the company you paid through.
* The Ship and the Storm - author Jim Carrier, pub: Harcourt ©2001 Jim Carrier
Link to: Windjammer Barefoot Cruises - Part 1 Link to: Windjammer Barefoot Cruises - Part 3 Link to: Windjammer Barefoot Cruises - Part 4