We had an interesting time with David Fitch last Thursday evening. As you can tell from his blog, David comes from an evangelical background, and has been involved in a church in the Chicago area. I'm not going to cover everything, but highlight just a few things we touched on, and from my own sleep-deprived perspective.
There are two areas that I'd like to consider first
- liturgy
- the communion of the saints
One of the things David mentioned was the use of the pep rally (his term) in evangelical circles. What is this all about? Well, in one sense it is an attempt to satisfy the contemporary (and generally human) search for an engaging experience in which the emotions and (sometimes) the senses are called forth and stirred up. We are called to engage God with all that we are. Remember the heart, soul, mind and strength?
One of the questions talked about was the shaping or formation of ourselves during that event/ time frame/ hour on Sunday which we place into the folder labeled "worship". How are we shaped during that time, both as individuals and as a community? It was in this context of "being shaped" that liturgy comes in to play.
There is at least one concept which bears further reflection in the context of liturgy: confession. The word itself has different meanings. Broadly speaking, it can refer in a liturgical context both to the confession of sin, and also to the confession of, say, a creed - the forth-telling of Who this community is about. In the first sense, it involves speaking about ourselves as creatures and as a community in need of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is speech about ourselves. In the second sense, it involves speaking about the Gospel - it is our speech about God.
Second, what is the range of our fellowship? What is the communion of the saints? Often our communities are limited, our desire for individualism so unconscious and "natural", that we can barely maintain communion in any depth of the word with those in our own church community.
One aspect of the communion of the saints which is often, I submit, forgotten or ignored, is our fellowship through time with those who have gone before us (and by extension, with those who will follow after us). Now I must confess (in either sense of the word) that for myself, the communion of the saints - the fellowship I have through Christ with those who have gone before me, has been a great source of guidance and blessing in my journey as a Christian. Reading their books, praying their prayers (is this not what we do with the New Testament), sifting their wisdom and learning also from their limitations.
That's all for now.
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