I picked up a festschrift to one of my favorite sarcastic Catholic monks (Aidan Kavanagh) who takes worship very seriously. It was a good reminder of some important things that should be in our minds as we think about our gatherings for worship. Here is a quick summary of some of the ideas in his On Liturgical Theology:
In other words, Christianity is not a system to be learned, but a life to be lived. It is a culture, not a theology. Kavanagh uses these word pairs to explain himself: assert, not argue; proclaim, not explain; engage, not discourse. And he's right. I learn by doing and being. The classroom can only get me so far into the Christian life; I must experience and engage. The church's worship is designed to be that "classroom" of experience, fresh, alive, and transforming. Where is this going that means anything to us? Because worship is culture, it is enacted in ritual, which is a very unique type of behavior. He uses two very cool words to describe ritual: antistructural and rhythmic. They represent two boundaries to a healthy understanding of worship. Antistructural means that once it is reduced to a static or concrete form, it becomes oppressive and destructive. He believes we must resist unchecked structure in worship, and I believe he has a point. Antistructuralism prevents the nature of rhythm from becoming mindless repetition. Rhythmic, on the other hand, prevents antistructuralism from devolving into compulsive innovation (love that term). Rhythm unites people and is a teaching tool. Why is all of that important? Because liturgy (the church at worship) is the ritual that enacts our Christian culture. It is the way that "Christianity" is made accessible to those present. So here's what we can do with this: (1) Think of the liturgies (in Baptist life we call them "orders of worship") we experience each week as more than a series of actions but the very formation of Christian identity. We want to find a way to be drawn into participating in the very rite of redemption. What makes baptism and the Lord's Supper so powerful? The participation, the symbolism, the action, the meaning, the imagery. Those might be the only two Scriptural ordinances (contra our friend Fr. Kavanagh), but there are so many other rites that could engage all of this. (2) Remember those most excellent boundaries: antistructural and rhythmic. Those are very thick words. They encourage us to stay away from a concrete order of service and from unbridled sponaneity. There is value both in restless creativity and also in principled repetition. I think Kavanagh makes a better point than even he realizes - as we move further and further away from true Christian community, every blast of ritual identity is made that much more important. Be encouraged. Our liturgical experiences are critical to our future!
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