God's not up there...

There are no stupid questions…at least not on Sunday morning.  Because there are no questions on Sunday morning.  Right?  The preacher always blows your mind, says Amen, literally drops the mic…BOOM!  nailed it!!  Right?  And you always “get it”.  Right?  Sure…you didn’t exactly follow that part about synoptic eschatological discourse, post-narrative theology, and Sunday school attendance, but you can Google that after a few responsive readings.  (You don’t)

Think about it…we willingly sit down for a lecture every Sunday.  (Seriously…a lecture.  Other than Sunday, name one time you’ve ever willingly sat for a lecture, and you get dressed up for it!)  This is a lecture on what we claim to be the most important subject…period.  Ever.  We are likely in a fairly small setting …We are likely comfortable with the minister and congregation..and we don’t even entertain the idea of a Q&A session following the sermon? We have just heard a lecture encouraging us to follow a human being that is also a God and also somehow part of our selves, a man that has supernatural powers, but was brutally executed by the Romans without so much as a hiccup…a man whose own disciples missed His point more often than not,  etc etc (insert any quote from Richard Dawkins) and…. and It doesn’t even cross our minds to ask a question?  Ever?  Seriously?

Frankly, I’d never considered the lack of Q&A as part of a sermon until recently.  I attended a lecture that bordered on being a sermon, which concluded with the speaker thanking the audience for their attention and walking off the stage…only to reappear dragging a chair, unfolding it center stage, sitting down, and saying, “OK, we covered a lot of stuff…questions?”   What followed was incredibly enlightening…for me and likely for the speaker.

I can’t help but think that our services would be better if we included a Q&A.  And the more I think about it, the more reasons I find to believe a Q&A session would deepen our understanding of the message, the Divine, our congregation, ourselves and the relationship between all of these.  Maybe there should be some more hand-raising in the Church, if you get my drift.

(Imagine that I slowly unfold a metal chair, sit down, shrug…and say…)  “Ok…questions?”

“Religion seeks to cement the world order….Spirituality seeks to escape it…

For religions, spirituality is a dangerous threat.  Religions typically try to rein in the spiritual quests of their followers, and many religions were challenged not by laypeople preoccupied by food, sex and power, but rather by spiritual truth-seekers that wanted more than mere platitudes.  Thus the Protestant revolt against the authority of the Catholic Church was ignited not by hedonistic atheists but rather by a devout and ascetic monk, Martin Luther.   Luther wanted answers to the existential questions of life and refused to settle for the rites, rituals and deals offered by the Church.”

From the book: Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, By Yuval Noah Harari

If you have done any reading at all on church worship trends in the last decade, you have likely noticed that criticism of “contemporary” services are everywhere.   Coverage of this topic by mainstream Christian media seems to range from a lukewarm “at least they come to church” position to some insinuating outright heresy.   Often, “support” for contemporary worship is couched in terms that indicates that contemporary worship is great for the spiritual novice…who, with maturity, will eventually move on to a “deeper” worship.  IMHO,  a large percentage of the lukewarm “for” crowd, is merely hedging their bets…they see the numbers, and they aren’t about to kill the golden goose (not yet, and not while it’s still laying).   Those with strong negative feelings about contemporary worship now have good reason to ratchet up the angst….if there is a schism in the UMC, where will these non-traditional congregations (and their tithes) go?

Most who know me would be surprised to hear that I agree with many of the concerns and criticisms heaped upon what is collectively known as “contemporary” worship.

Sadly, it seems that many congregations have used contemporary worship not as a means of creating a more authentic worship, in synch with the realities of the world we inhabit Sunday evening through Saturday night, but as a means of increasing attendance (or slowing the decline). What was, for many, a way of finding space to cover new topics, new concerns, new focus has became little more than a way to get more people in the door.

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