Worship has always been innovative. Prehistoric people figured out how to scratch flint to start a sacrificial pyre. The first Christians huddled in the catacombs and scribbled religious graffiti on the walls. Martin Luther led worship in the people's German instead of ancient Latin. The Wesleys crafted new music. Architectural wonders we consider "traditional" once were mysteriously avant-garde. So innovation is old, and even "old-timey" hymns are really newcomers on the 2000 year old Church scene. When do we innovate? and how?
Tom Beaudoin tells how he experimented in worship, using a TV set as an altar, sermons built around "The Simpsons," clips from Star Wars, and crackers and Coke for Communion: "Each of these experiments left a disappointing aftertaste. Instead of the spiritual electricity I had anticipated, the worship space felt cheapened instead of elevated." Now he sees worship "as a sanctuary from media culture, a haven safe from pop culture, a place that offers a counter-cultural symbolic order, with awe and grandeur of God as mystery present in the suffering mystery of human life." We must constantly renew and update how we worship. Does our innovation elevate? or cheapen? Do we present an alternative to our vapid culture? or merely mirror it? Is it about God? or about us and what we think might be "neat" or "traditional"?
What about symbolism? When does it become tired, insider-oriented, plasticized, like a fossil in a museum instead of a living image? To dispense with old, corny images (a rattly bronze cross or pastel kitsch) may be a good thing. Many churches have jettisoned all icons, symbols, vestments, and candles in order to appeal to the young; but a new mood among today's young adults finds mystery and symbolism to be powerful, transforming. To dispense with images entirely would be like a parent not wanting to force his values on his child: society is not shy about pushing its values - and society is a potent wielder of symbols. The Nike swoosh, flag magnets, ads, celebrities: we are a people bombarded with symbols; silently they speak volumes, and we listen, and buy. The Church has symbols, counter-symbols in our world: the Cross, old Greek letters, candles, a beautifully bound Bible, God's rich invitation to enter into the divine realities to which they are windows. Symbols tap into the imagination, and shake us out of our stupor. A stained glass window with St. Francis urges me to be holy, to make peace. A cross is a reminder of my mortality, and a nagging question mark against bogus values. Images are not "decoration" to make the building pretty: gazing is required, meditation, reflection, letting the Cross get under my skin, and deeper inside me than where words go.
Without noticing what happened, our society has an ultimate idol of its own making that is usurping top billing: technology - and its impact on worship we will consider in part 2, eWorship7.
James
james@mpumc.org
Coming up:
eWorship7 - Symbols and Technology (part 2)
eWorship8 - Worship space
eWorship9 - Teach us to Worship
The complete eWorship series may be found on our web site.
