Interface Worship

Interface Worship is the entity through which Jim Robertson facilitates various forms of spiritual events. Jim is a self-educated worship curator and liturgist who crafts ecumenical worship services, liturgies, devotional exercises, formational exercises, liturgical art installations and rituals drawing from the Christian tradition.

Jim’s first foray into worship curation was the installation of his devotional exercise Altarwalk at the Christian Dance Fellowship of Canada’s National Conference in 2004. Since then he has been involved in near constant development and staging of alternative worship events, workshops, installations and exercises. The majority of these occur at St. Paul’s Anglican in Edmonton, were he has been a member since 1990.

Major events are lavish celebrations that often involve 'deconstruction' of the sanctuary and altar area; a 'reconstruction' of the church for a Saturday night service that includes poets, painters, and dancers; hundreds of feet of fabric, hundreds of pounds of rocks, ritual stations, devotional prayer stations and congregational offerings of insight and wisdom; and then a late night restoring of the sanctuary unto righteousness for Sunday morning.

The motto for Interface Worship is ‘Ancient Essence and Innovative Expression in Worship’. Interface Worship events are framed by liturgical principles, centered on profound themes, and encourage the active use of time-proven, Spirit-inspired liturgical elements and spiritual formation processes; and yet use contextual, ‘small-i-indigenous’ artistic variations and expressions of worship and spirituality. Ancient prayer and discernment practices are often re-cast in contemporary modes or as corporate exercises. Original rituals, including Eucharistic rituals are an integral part of Interface events; some Eucharistic rituals are incorporated into installation art pieces. Local artists’ original works are routinely utilised as the primary communication medium for major service elements.

Spiritual Theology:
Central to Interface process and concepts is the deliberate application of spiritual theology to whole person worship. Jim describes spiritual theology as ‘. . . an engaging in a dynamic congruence between spirituality (how we live with God), and theology (how we think about God)’. Jim encourages seeks to develop this engaging through experiential worship as a counterbalance to cognitive processes, and perhaps for some who attend, a completely new way of encountering God.

Pursuit of the Theopoetic: Interface is constantly in pursuit of the theopoetic process. Theopoetics is a deliberate approach to creating deeper understanding and meaning through long-term exposure and consideration of spiritually focused artistic stimulus.

Interface Worship is the entity through which Jim Robertson facilitates various forms of spiritual events. Jim is a self-educated worship curator and liturgist who crafts ecumenical worship services, liturgies, devotional exercises, formational exercises, liturgical art installations and rituals drawing from the Christian tradition.

Jim’s first foray into worship curation was the installation of his devotional exercise Altarwalk at the Christian Dance Fellowship of Canada’s National Conference in 2004. Since then he has been involved in near constant development and staging of alternative worship events, workshops, installations and exercises. The majority of these occur at St. Paul’s Anglican in Edmonton, were he has been a member since 1990.

Major events are lavish celebrations that often involve 'deconstruction' of the sanctuary and altar area; a 'reconstruction' of the church for a Saturday night service that includes poets, painters, and dancers; hundreds of feet of fabric, hundreds of pounds of rocks, ritual stations, devotional prayer stations and congregational offerings of insight and wisdom; and then a late night restoring of the sanctuary unto righteousness for Sunday morning.

The motto for Interface Worship is ‘Ancient Essence and Innovative Expression in Worship’. Interface Worship events are framed by liturgical principles, centered on profound themes, and encourage the active use of time-proven, Spirit-inspired liturgical elements and spiritual formation processes; and yet use contextual, ‘small-i-indigenous’ artistic variations and expressions of worship and spirituality. Ancient prayer and discernment practices are often re-cast in contemporary modes or as corporate exercises. Original rituals, including Eucharistic rituals are an integral part of Interface events; some Eucharistic rituals are incorporated into installation art pieces. Local artists’ original works are routinely utilised as the primary communication medium for major service elements.

Spiritual Theology:
Central to Interface process and concepts is the deliberate application of spiritual theology to whole person worship. Jim describes spiritual theology as ‘. . . an engaging in a dynamic congruence between spirituality (how we live with God), and theology (how we think about God)’. Jim encourages seeks to develop this engaging through experiential worship as a counterbalance to cognitive processes, and perhaps for some who attend, a completely new way of encountering God.

Pursuit of the Theopoetic: Interface is constantly in pursuit of the theopoetic process. Theopoetics is a deliberate approach to creating deeper understanding and meaning through long-term exposure and consideration of spiritually focused artistic stimulus.