Mystery

I love the church I'm pastor, I really do. I honestly believe that there is no other place I would rather be, and no other people I would rather be with, than this congregation. Most of the time, I wake up thinking, "I'm the luckiest guy in the world." (And the only reason I didn't say "all of the time" has less to do with the congregation and more with me!).

And overall, I love our worship style. (For those "non Central" readers, I guess you would call us a "contemporary worship" congregation, although I hate that label for reasons I won't get into).

But there is a real limitation to the "contemporary worship movement." And I see this in almost every congregation I have visited that does contemporary worship.

My opinion is that we have sucked most of the mystery out of God. AND, we have detached ourself from 2000 years of Christian tradition. In our effort to avoid what some of us grew up with, (unexplained symbols, boring hymns, responsive readings where we are running through the motions, etc.), I think we may have thrown the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

Where "hollow traditionalism" is not good, I'm really getting tired of "buddy Jesus." (By the way, I don't think we promote "buddy Jesus," but it can be a fine line.) I think, if we are not careful, we can suck all the mystery out of God and turn God into a nice little god who fits nicely in our box. And we will sing nice songs about this god, and say that we are "friends," and that we even have a "personal relationship" with this god (not a biblical phrase, by the way).

Yawn.

"He is not tame... "*

Last night we did our first Ash Wednesday service in, at least, 9 years...I suspect 15 years. Now, pastors everywhere will tell you it is almost impossible for us to worship while actually leading a worship service... but honestly, I really connected to God in that service. And all we did, really, was copy what the church has been doing for hundreds (thousands) of years. Sure, there was some contemporary flair, but you know... we reclaimed some symbols that have not been used around Central for some time.

We also have our worship space set up "in the round." The platform in in the middle of the room with the seating in concentric circles around it. "Wow, that is cutting edge." Ah, no... actually, the Church has been doing that since we started building buildings. (And in fact, the synagogues in Scripture had reading stands in the middle of the congregation... the Word was among the people.)

My point in all of this is that maybe, just maybe, God is bigger than us.

Maybe, just maybe, ash on the forehead, communal readings, the Lord's prayer, etc. have lasted all these years because there is something to them that stands the test of time.

Now, Central will probably never trade in our electric guitars for a pipe organ (although, I have heard some really cool ways to use a pipe organ), but last night taught me (showed us?) that, just as God is not limited to traditional worship, the contemporary folks don't have a corner on the market either.



*Quote from "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe."