Pop Culture and Christianity
I guess its time to dust the cobwebs off of this
blog. There's been a lot to blog about - especially regarding the Episcopal
Church - which I will mostly leave alone (although there might be a thing or two
to respond to). Of greater interest are a couple of related items, one, sent to me by a friend, and the other, talked
about in his blog . The basic question that both of these
articles raise is, what is the purpose of worship? Underlying that question is
one that is even more significant - what is the purpose of Christianity. Please
bear with me as I attempt to develop this
thought.Both of these articles attempt
to engage a long standing debate within most denominations about what is
appropriate within the context of worship. Even Orthodoxy hasn't been
completely immune to such debates, although these are usually limited to
discussions around the introduction organs and polyphonic choral music. In
order to reach a conclusion about what is appropriate as worship, one must first
answer the question of what is the purpose of
worship.One of the things that is
relatively new on the scene is worship as a means of evangelism. This seems to
go hand in hand with the concept of "making a decision for Jesus," which is a
one time event. In this environment, its critical to make everything about the
worship as appealing as possible, so that you can "make the sale." At times
this leads to a watering down of beliefs, but that is surely not always the
case.However, the older view of
worship, like other aspects of the faith - prayer, fasting, almsgiving, etc., is
intended to further allow us to "acquire" the Holy Spirit - to allow us to
become more conformed to Christ. In this context, we can understand that very
secular modifications to worship will probably not allow this to happen. How
can we become conformed to Christ if we are so busy conforming our worship to
the world?So, if the purpose of
Christianity is really centered on a one time "decision," with little
significance attached to what follows, then the style of worship should be
allowed to morph and adapt to the present day fads and fashions. If the purpose
of Christianity is the process of salvation, then a great deal of concern needs
to be centered on the nature of worship and its ability to help us become
conformed to Christ.
Posted: Sunday - October 14, 2007 at 09:53 PM
