Today we discussed what is necessary for worship to be authentic
in relation to Luther's
Seven Marks of the church and adiaphora. I am
one for whom worship is really important, but I also believe that there are
many ways in which worship can be authentic. I have had many conversations with
people about traditional vs. contemporary, church building vs. another local,
but this conversation becomes even more complex as we enter into the media
world, especially with digital and social media. We joked today if only the
questions were about traditional and contemporary. If only!
As we talked I had several questions I will
continue to ponder. The one I would love to hear your thoughts on is what is
important for you in worship? What makes worship authentic for you personally?
Now, the Seven Marks of the church are
important and I would say critical, but there are also those things that we
categorize as adiaphora but are still of importance. I think those adiaphora things
are some of what make us feel like worship is authentic or not even when it may
meet all the Seven Marks. However, I think this gets interesting when we start
to think about the community and the space that is created that is allowing for
prayer, public praise, and thanksgiving to God. This is a mark of the church
but I think some of the adiaphora things help it happen at times. For instance,
we would say most of the time the church building and sanctuary are adiaphora,
but how does that maybe influence the community in worship when we look at
these two worship spaces below? Now I am not saying one is right or wrong. I
think both can allow authentic worship to happen but does the set-up make a
difference when we extend out to social media like Skype, FaceTime, LiveStreaming (Ustream), etc.
Parker
Palmer in To
Know As We Are Known: Education As A Spiritual Journey talks about
the physical arrangement of the classroom, is our worship space different. He
talks about how the set-up can invite relations to form with each other and
have an element of hospitality or this can be absent. I think this is true of
our worship spaces virtual or physical. I also think the physical set-up could
be the same in two different places and relay two different messages based on
the community.
For instance, I think you could Skype the same person into two different churches that were physically set up the same and that person could say one was authentic and the other was not. They could report that it was because one they knew the community there even though they were on the screen. They could say both were not because it is important to be physically present in the community. I have to wonder what is "public", what is the role of the community, and does physical presence matter.
If only it was the question of traditional vs. contemporary...
I think sometimes the challenge is to find fun ways for people to even ask and think about these questions! Authenticity matters hugely to people, and finding ways to think about it that have communal or at least collective elements is really hard. Most people can think about it in personal or individual terms, but how do you think about together?
ReplyDeleteI think more churches need to ask these questions: What is authentic worship? Does using an iPad to attend a service count as authentic? When is it appropriate to use technology to attend events? I personally think that in extreme circumstances using an iPad to attend a service, funeral, wedding, etc. is perfectly acceptable, I think people just naturally assume if you start to make certain exceptions then it will become a habit if we can calm that fear then I think more congregations will be willing to use technology more.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy attending/listening to different churches and with different set-ups and worship styles. For me, if there's Scripture and I walk away with at least one new thought, then mission accomplished. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI feel that physicality (embodied-ness) is an important (essential?) part of "authentic" worship.
ReplyDeleteA number of years ago, I took a J-term course with Prof. Christianson on "Spirituality in Art and Architecture." Two quotes that I recall from that course:
Architecture is ‘built’ meaning. It fatefully expresses who we are. Charles Jencks, landscape designer
“When I think of a place of worship, I think of a place where one can sit and be reminded of all the things that are important outside of our individual lives… To express spirituality, the architect has to think of the original material of architecture, space and light.”
Architect Richard Meier
While using an iPad or Skype to provide a visual / audio view of a worship service at a distant location can be a way to enable people who would otherwise be unable to be present, my tendency would be to have it be the exception. If I've viewing a screen on the iPad or my laptop, I'm not "inhabiting" the architectural space where the worship is being conducted.
A good resource for examining church architecture is the following book -- which is available in the LTSG library:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/re-pitching-the-tent-re-ordering-the-church-building-for-worship-and-mission/oclc/55947475
In our conformation gatherings we have seen that the set-up of the room affects the flow of the lessons. We try to consider this as part of our planning (but sometimes forget).
ReplyDeleteWe are starting to think about a Sunday afternoon worship service. Location, set-up and music is very important as we start exploring this idea. Seeing how this is done in other churches is inspiring and motivationl.