Ancient/Modern Church.

I'll say up front that this is not a very well thought out blog post. For starters, I've been at work since 6:30 this morning and will remain here until 9:30 tonight. Yay. But more importantly, what follows is more or less right off the top of my head, mostly because I don't have a very strong idea of what I'm thinking yet. The ideas you're about to read are still forming. But let's dive in together:
I am in the office listening to this CD, a collection of modern worship bands singing ancient hymns. Lately, I have been enammored with the Church's rich traditions. It's come from a myriad of places, from books like Coffeehouse Theology and my new discovery of Thomas Merton's Dialogues with Silence, but then also just from discussions I've had with friends and experiences I've been working through, I'm very interested in our past.
For example, why is it that modern worship services have ditched the tradition of a call to worship, or a sense of the importance of hymns? Understandibly, contemporary worship as we know it today has grown out of a reaction AGAINST the traditional worship services of our parents. But does that mean that we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater? Do we have to ditch everything that is contained in the traditional worship services, or can we keep what works and lose what does not?
I'm very much appreciating the early church's desire to strip everything down, make it simple, and try to live a life that was focused on Christ and Christ alone. We live a life of convenience these days, but I wonder how much it has robbed us of the desire to grow closer to Christ. People used simple mazes like labyrinths to block everything out of their mind, to spend time focused on the Lord. People used Lectio Divina to PRAY the Scriptures, rather than just read them for what information they posess. (Can I say that I'm extremely happy that this practice has found its way back into popularity in recent years?)
I don't know. I think this all might be Christ screaming at me to stop trying to be "just" a teacher of his way, but a liver of it. It so easy to work in the Church and let your spiritual development take a total backseat to your desire to help others develop their spiritual lives.

Anyone else jiving with this?

Godspeed,

Jason

2 comments:

jake clawson said...

"I think this all might be Christ screaming at me to stop trying to be "just" a teacher of his way, but a liver of it"...I think he is screaming that very thing to all of us, my friend. I think our teaching should be secondary to, and flow out of, our living, especially in our roles as teachers within the church.

SarahFett said...

I think it is funny that there is an ad for Joel Osteen's stuff on your blog.

xo,
Sarah