07.26.04

Worshipping Catholic and the contemporary worship movement

Posted in faith at 6:22 pm by

I was at a wedding this past Saturday–thus the lack of posts. It was my first ever “Catholic wedding.” It wasn’t nearly as long as fabled. No mass. No communion. Which is good I expect. But I was really struck while I was there. I guess I was struck by the farmiliarity of it all. Now, I’m not catholic, never have been, and likely, never will be, but there was something about the worship in this service that really struck a chord with me. I felt at home there. Almost as if I had been raised Catholic.

Perhaps, I should offer a bit of self-disclosure about my upbringing. I was raised–and continue to be–protestant. Son of a preacher-man, and a Calvinist at that. I graduated from and Calvin College. (A Christian college rooted in the reformed tradition started by–you guessed it–John Calvin…though the college’s philosophy was deeply shaped by Abraham Kuyper, read this for more info on those philosophies.) I never really had many people in my life who were willing to step out on a limb and claim that Catholocism and Christianity were one and the same, albeit different expressions, faith. I figured that out on my own, slowly.

I was under the impression, though, that the Catholic Church and my very protestant one really wanted very little to do with another…which is of course true. However, after experiencing my first Catholic wedding, I’m not sure why. The people that I saw at that ceremony expressed beautiful sentiments of a heartfelt faith. And we did it together–as a unit. More than I can say for myself and much of the rest of our church on a typical Sunday morning. Rather, I drag my ass to church so that I can mumble a few words of a tune in which I tell God how “I could sing of his love forever.” Or whatever. The more emotional I look (eg. hands raised, eyes closed, a little strained look on my face, standing up when the “spirit leads”) the better christian I must be. I stand in the back row and mumble. Distracted by the almost cellophane wrappedness of the commercial worship. (Yes, I meant commercial rather than corporate.)

Maybe I just need to find another church. Maybe EVERYBODY ELSE is having a meaningful connection with those around them and with God. I’m not sure why they would…it seems like our worship consists of songs that are aesthetically pleasing to ourselves rather than aesthetically pleasing to God. Not that the two are mutually exclusive–but when we put our need to “like worship music” more than our need for God to like our worship, we step onto a fragile limb.

I’m not sure if there was any one thing that I can put my finger on that transformed my Catholic worship experience. I liked the formality of approaching God. I liked hearing from his word (something that’s been all too absent from contemporary American worship for years now.) Maybe it was the responsive readings. Perhaps it was the fact that since we were all doing the same thing in worship, we were doing it together. Nothing particularly Catholic about that I guess, it was just meaningful.

I’m not sure what the fear of the contemporary movement is. It may be that there is a desire to stay away from those things we don’t understand…such as the traditions of, well, “traditional” worship. But, those traditions are there for a reason. In many cases those traditions are beautiful acts which bring the people of God together binding them under the word of God. Without that true community cannot be experienced.

That’s not to say that contemporary worship is bad. It’s just that it can’t be done on a wing and a prayer (though often even a wing and a prayer would be an improvement.) We need to plumb the depths of tradition and ressurect the intent of that tradition–then preserve that intent. We are on the verge of losing an important generation–so grab the next octiginarian you find and ask them to teach you about the traditions of the Church, why they’re there, why they’re so important.

As for the Catholic church, I must refrain from comment. I’m simply underqualified to offer suggestions for improvement–namely, since I’m not a Catholic. However, I can speak to some protestant churches. Traditional ones in particular. It’s vital that you share your knowlege with us. Because we don’t understand your traditions and your values, we’ve formed our own megachurches and other contemporary worship centres. We no longer understand the value of tradition, you’ve failed to impart the reason that your traditions are so vital to the way of the church. Perhaps, it’s because we’ve failed to listen. Nonetheless, we need you and you need us.

Probably more on this later…

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Worshipping Catholic and the contemporary worship movement

Posted in faith at 6:22 pm by

I was at a wedding this past Saturday–thus the lack of posts. It was my first ever “Catholic wedding.” It wasn’t nearly as long as fabled. No mass. No communion. Which is good I expect. But I was really struck while I was there. I guess I was struck by the farmiliarity of it all. Now, I’m not catholic, never have been, and likely, never will be, but there was something about the worship in this service that really struck a chord with me. I felt at home there. Almost as if I had been raised Catholic.

Perhaps, I should offer a bit of self-disclosure about my upbringing. I was raised–and continue to be–protestant. Son of a preacher-man, and a Calvinist at that. I graduated from and Calvin College. (A Christian college rooted in the reformed tradition started by–you guessed it–John Calvin…though the college’s philosophy was deeply shaped by Abraham Kuyper, read this for more info on those philosophies.) I never really had many people in my life who were willing to step out on a limb and claim that Catholocism and Christianity were one and the same, albeit different expressions, faith. I figured that out on my own, slowly.

I was under the impression, though, that the Catholic Church and my very protestant one really wanted very little to do with another…which is of course true. However, after experiencing my first Catholic wedding, I’m not sure why. The people that I saw at that ceremony expressed beautiful sentiments of a heartfelt faith. And we did it together–as a unit. More than I can say for myself and much of the rest of our church on a typical Sunday morning. Rather, I drag my ass to church so that I can mumble a few words of a tune in which I tell God how “I could sing of his love forever.” Or whatever. The more emotional I look (eg. hands raised, eyes closed, a little strained look on my face, standing up when the “spirit leads”) the better christian I must be. I stand in the back row and mumble. Distracted by the almost cellophane wrappedness of the commercial worship. (Yes, I meant commercial rather than corporate.)

Maybe I just need to find another church. Maybe EVERYBODY ELSE is having a meaningful connection with those around them and with God. I’m not sure why they would…it seems like our worship consists of songs that are aesthetically pleasing to ourselves rather than aesthetically pleasing to God. Not that the two are mutually exclusive–but when we put our need to “like worship music” more than our need for God to like our worship, we step onto a fragile limb.

I’m not sure if there was any one thing that I can put my finger on that transformed my Catholic worship experience. I liked the formality of approaching God. I liked hearing from his word (something that’s been all too absent from contemporary American worship for years now.) Maybe it was the responsive readings. Perhaps it was the fact that since we were all doing the same thing in worship, we were doing it together. Nothing particularly Catholic about that I guess, it was just meaningful.

I’m not sure what the fear of the contemporary movement is. It may be that there is a desire to stay away from those things we don’t understand…such as the traditions of, well, “traditional” worship. But, those traditions are there for a reason. In many cases those traditions are beautiful acts which bring the people of God together binding them under the word of God. Without that true community cannot be experienced.

That’s not to say that contemporary worship is bad. It’s just that it can’t be done on a wing and a prayer (though often even a wing and a prayer would be an improvement.) We need to plumb the depths of tradition and ressurect the intent of that tradition–then preserve that intent. We are on the verge of losing an important generation–so grab the next octiginarian you find and ask them to teach you about the traditions of the Church, why they’re there, why they’re so important.

As for the Catholic church, I must refrain from comment. I’m simply underqualified to offer suggestions for improvement–namely, since I’m not a Catholic. However, I can speak to some protestant churches. Traditional ones in particular. It’s vital that you share your knowlege with us. Because we don’t understand your traditions and your values, we’ve formed our own megachurches and other contemporary worship centres. We no longer understand the value of tradition, you’ve failed to impart the reason that your traditions are so vital to the way of the church. Perhaps, it’s because we’ve failed to listen. Nonetheless, we need you and you need us.

Probably more on this later…

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