Skip to main content
Sojourners
faith in action for social justice
Sojourners
About
About SojournersEventsOur TeamWork With UsMediaWays to GiveInvite a SpeakerContact Us
SojoAction
OverviewTake ActionIssue AreasResourcesFaith-Rooted AdvocatesChurch Engagement
Magazine
Current IssueArchivesManage My SubscriptionWrite for Sojourners
Sections
LatestPoliticsColumnsLiving FaithArts & CultureGlobalPodcastsVideoPreaching The Word
Subscribe
MagazineRenewPreaching the WordCustomer ServiceNewsletters
Donate
Login / Register

Visionary Vapor: Starting Lent with Michael Gungor and The Liturgists

By Andrew William Smith
Photo by Andrew William Smith
Guests received eucharist at The Liturgists concert. Photo by Andrew William Smith
Mar 10, 2014
Share Full Article
Share As A Gift
Share a paywall-free link to this article.
This feature is only available for subscribers.

Start your subscription for as low as $4.95. Already a subscriber?

  • Link copied!
Share This Article
Share Options
  • Link copied!

It was a busy weekend on the eve of Lent for fans of spirited singer and spiritually-minded musician Michael Gungor. If you were not on the Gungor or Michael Gungor Twitter feed over the first two days of March, you might have missed the news about a new band, a new record, and a new mini-tour.

As the band called Gungor takes a short break from touring in support of its sonically and lyrically adventurous album I Am Mountain, the family business has reinvented itself with the proverbial “side project” so common with musical visionaries who cannot contain their creative output to just one brand name or band name.

But The Liturgists — a collective that includes Michael’s wife Lisa, brother David, and a host of other supporting musicians and collaborators — are not just another band, and the brand is “the work of the people.” The band’s Vapor EP is a warm and experimental worship text that includes a song, a spoken-word invocation and incantation, and a guided centering prayer meditation. On the group’s Ash Wednesday-week mini-tour, all the shows are free by RSVP and are not really shows as at all — not as indie-consumers even in the contemporary Christian scene have come to expect.

The Liturgists are bringing something entirely different, defying expectations and redefining everything along the way. While we could say they are just instigating an interactive praise and worship experience on the road, what the Liturgists are up to is all that but so much more. The work of the people is reinventing or rediscovering how we interact inside the arts and culture angle of the Body of Christ. The Liturgists intentionally break through artificial walls and artfully involve all of us, creating a performance and preaching Happening, inviting us into a participatory Eucharistic epiphany.  

Since the speaker-on-tour is the self-defined evangelical and science nerd Mike McHargue and since the spirit of what The Liturgists are doing seems shockingly out-of-this-world cosmic, fans expecting either a Gungor concert or a pre-approved doctrinal message may feel denied, while the adventurous among us will be absolutely delighted.

At the core of The Liturgists’ traveling revival and recent EP we discover hope in our interconnectedness and humility in our infinite smallness, in our fleeting and vaporous vanity. The sing-along scenario of the events hits the perfect valleys and crescendos to evoke an emotional and spiritual response.

To fully enjoy this new experiment requires something of us, shedding any assumptions of religion or rock ‘n’ roll in order to get a joyful jolt of both. I know I have been to concerts where I have felt the spirit of communion, but here, I was offered the actual elements of bread and wine, shared sacramentally amid what only resembled a concert and clearly affirmed our resurrection.

Andrew William Smith is an English professor by day and DJ by night who works as the Faculty Head of the Tree House environmental living and learning village at Tennessee Tech. He’s an activist, poet, blogger, ruling elder in the PCUSA, Vanderbilt seminarian, and aspiring preacher. He blogs at http://unlikelysundayschool.blogspot.com/ and teacherontheradio.blogspot.com. Follow Andrew on Twitter @teacheronradio.

Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!

Tell Us What You Think!

We value your feedback on the articles we post. Please fill out the form below, and a member of our online publication team will receive your message. By submitting this form, you consent to your comment being featured in our Letters section. 

Please do not include any non-text characters, such as emojis or other non-standard content, into your submission.  It may cause errors in submitting the form.  Thanks!

Don't Miss a Story!

Sojourners is committed to faith and justice even in polarized times. Will you join us on the journey?
Confirm Your Email Address.
By entering your email we'll send you our newsletter each Thursday. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Guests received eucharist at The Liturgists concert. Photo by Andrew William Smith
Search Sojourners

Subscribe

Login Magazine Newsletters Preaching The Word
Follow on Facebook Follow on Bluesky Follow on Instagram Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Sojourners
Donate Products Editorial Policies Privacy Policy

Media

Advertising Press

Opportunities

Careers Fellowship Program

Contact

Office
408 C St. NE
Washington DC, 20002
Phone 202-328-8842
Fax 202-328-8757
Email sojourners@sojo.net
Unless otherwise noted, all material © Sojourners 2025