As I have been preparing to instruct those who assist in worship this coming Saturday morning, a thought has occurred to me: what I consider to be fairly simple instructions (not much different from the way we already do it), would be considered far too fussy by many. In many places, we in the contemporary church have confused authenticity with sloppiness.
The problem goes far beyond the out-moded "High Church/Low Church" identifications, or even the "traditional/contemporary" divide. As a graduate of VTS, I have seen both low church and contemporary worship executed with dignity, simplicity, and reverence. It might not be my cup of tea, but I can respect it. What sets me on edge is worship that fails to communicate beauty and reverence as an offering to God and a reflection (albeit imperfect) of God's love for us.
St. Jean Vainney said, "If we truly knew what happens in the Eucharist, we would die--not of fear, but of love." The Eucharist is God's offering of Himself for us and within us; a gift we receive each time we approach the Altar. God's gift in Jesus Christ merits our very best, our praise, joy, adoration, reverence, love: our all.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: O come, let us adore Him!
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2 comments:
Very well said, Father!
For years I've been amazed to hear the appellation "fussy" used of those who want nothing more than orderly and dignified worship, according to some recognizable model. Oddly enough, this is never said of the exacting way in which, say, brain surgery or automotive repair is performed. Why the double standard?
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your reply! You raise a good question. It seems that the contemporary church has simply set very low standards for itself. (I convict myself in this statement as well.) Anything that approaches the holy mysteries with gravity is seen as suspect, perhaps because we have only begun to grapple with the effects of the social and liturgical changes of the 20th century? In efforts to become welcoming we have mistakenly thrown out a lot of standards, and created a culture suspicious of them.
I think eventually the pendulum will swing the other way. For now, however, we must live with the culture we as church have created.
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