Last week our young adult group met for dinner. We left convinced that Domino’s new recipe really is better than their old one. Other than the discussion of the virtues of one delivery pizza over another, I asked the group to name what it was that they liked about St. Mary’s. The overwhelmingly common answer was its worship. St. Mary’s is one of those stone gothic churches with front-facing pews that we all know well. The music program is renown and the servers move with dignity and decorum. The worship is excellent because it is joy-driven, not anxiety-driven. The idea that worship of this sort in this kind of place is attractive to young adults is no surprise. Emerging worship patterns often employ actions, settings, and music found in mainline traditions (which themselves have inherited patterns from much older traditions). It is interesting, however, that in our efforts to get young adults engaged in the life of St. Mary’s by creating a group of peers, their favorite aspect of the life of this place is the part in which all age groups, political perspectives, races, sexual orientations, socio-economic levels, and tastes are crammed into one space – or more politely, held in tension with one another. Our lives have become so compartmentalized that the worship of the Church offers us one of those rare occasions in which we are put together with folks we might not otherwise have chosen to be around. The bishop of East Carolina often says, “The Church is no club of our own choosing.” In other words, the Church is full of people we may or may not like, but with whom we are bound in Christ for all eternity. Think of that next time you look down the row at church. The worship of The Episcopal Church at its best allows for and welcomes disparate groups to come together in one place. We young adults may only drink our coffee at the local, free-trade, shade-grown coffee bars and we may only eat out at restaurants with the hippest menus and lighting, but at worship, it’s not all about us and what we like or what makes us comfortable. Worship is the gathering of God’s family around God’s table for a taste of that eternal family feast. Like any family get-together, there are those there with whom we wish we didn’t share any DNA, but who are nonetheless a part of the family. The challenge today is to avoid the tendency to make worship, like everything else in our lives, just like we want it (the we being any group of like-minded people). The gospel never calls us to be comfortable. It calls us beyond ourselves into places and situations that shake us and surprise us. So head down to your local church this Sunday and sit next to the oldest person you can find (that is, if she lets you onto her pew) and celebrate the whole body of Christ, whether the hair is blue and spiked or blue and permed. by the Rev’d David Umphlett, Rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, NC
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Holy Stuff Episcopal worship is full of “stuff.” Candles, crosses, special garments, bread, wine, water, and more. We like to worship God in the beauty of holiness, and we use many things from God’s creation in order to communicate meaning and deepen prayer..... >>> |
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Tradition Where is our identity? Is it found in millennial march of the church, passing age to age through history, or is it found in the will and feeling of the people gathered? In seminary I was taught to be wary of tradition. Not the Tradition, mind you, that glorious arc of history that binds us together, particularly in the Anglican Communion. No, I was warned about tradition.... >>> |
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Moving Forward Another six months have passed since we last wrote at length about our office’s vision for our shared work with the 18-30 year olds of our church and our world. Many things have changed in that time at all levels of the church. We again are reminded of our call to give thanks, to rejoice in blessings, and to seek out and serve the least of these... >>> |
