Mike's musings

Thoughtful thoughts

(backposting) A friend of mine, Helen, posted a very interesting blog entry, entitled Searching for meaning in worship. It's a really interesting read, and I've wanted to reply to it, but haven't had the space to think about it. Helen's coming from a very different place to me, in terms of tradition, and I've never really been happy with the "worship song" style of worship. There are some modern songs that I enjoy, but not in the sort of "song sandwich" that she describes.

I'm lucky in that I really enjoy liturgy, and I really enjoy music, particularly sacred classical (e.g. choral or organ music). I can become dispirited by bad music, but can use the liturgy, usually, to find the worship I need. And I love a good choral evensong or Sung Eucharist: I find that the music absolutely lifts me. And the theology tends to be pretty good: it's either Bible-based or in Latin (which is fine, though sometimes a little Catholic!). So I do OK. I feel for Helen: the worst I tend to get is dirgeful Anglican hymns, badly sung, but we have a good organist who plays at a decent pace, so that's rarely a problem.

What I really miss is the daily and weekly round of choral music that I'm used to. And there are times I find that very difficult.

Labels: worship

09042009186
Originally uploaded by MikeCamel

After our Agape meal and communion, we stripped the main altar and closed the triptych.

Labels: worship

Fatty. Liver.

(backposting) Two words which I almost begged the people doing my ultrasound to find an alternative to. Something medical-sounding. With "hepatic" in it, maybe, but no: everyone calls it "fatty liver", so that's what I'm going to have to tell friends and family. The good news is that it's entirely reversible, and is almost certainly down to my being a bit of a lardy *rse over the past few months. You _can_ be thin and have a fatty liver, but I'm not, and I do, so less fatty food, less alcohol, and more exercise. All the things that I know I should be doing anyway. It'll take a while to sort, but that's fine.

In the evening, I attended James' installation as interim assistant priest at St Peter's, Bocking. It was a very moving service, partly because it's good to see James going into his first post after his title post (his curacy), but also because the parish is going through difficult times, and I think that James will be able to offer much to those associated with the parish. I sat, robed, with the other clergy, and it was great to feel part of a larger fellowship - not just Anglicans, not just men, Methodists and women, too. A very special evening.

Labels: illness, worship

More veneration (or not)

So, thanks to everyone who responded to yesterday's post: I really appreciate the thought that people have clearly put into the comments. I've done some more thinking since yesterday, and the best way to explain some of that thought is to respond to some of your comments.

James wrote: "When you did so [kneeling to lead prayers], you did it in front of the Altar, not because you were worshipping the wooden table, but because it was an appropriate focus for your worship of God."

I find this interesting, because it's not why I did it at all. I knelt because I thought it was important to lead the congregation from a kneeling position, and I did it in front of the altar not because I saw it as an appropriate focus for my worship of God, but because if I'd knelt anywhere else, I would have been either hidden from view (by the altar) or separated physically from the congregation.

I can see why you thought I knelt there, and I wonder whether other people thought the same. It doesn't bother me that they might, but it's not why I did it.

Gary wrote: "Since the holy sacrament is the body and blood of our Lord, by definition we can (and should) pay reverence to it."

I disagree. I think that we should treat it with respect, and possibly lean towards showing reverence towards it (to employ James' original definition at face value), but I think that they word "pay" is a give-away here. Reverence, in practice, isn't as clear-cut as the definition seems to suggest. The cross is an object to which we do not owe anything. We only owe anything to God, not to physical objects.

The only exception might be the physical body of Christ, incarnated as a man, though he seems to have been pretty cagey about being treated specially, with the exception of washing and baptism, which are both actions which are extended to other people, too.

That said, I realise that I'm somewhat conflicted about this: I treat the physical book which comprises Bible, at least within a worship setting, with great respect - almost as much as the sacrament. I think this, however, is because or the importance I attach to the Word (which is contained within the Bible and which the Lord's Body in the sacrament is, of course). This is a pretty protestant position, I'd argue.

Sam talked about using icons as an aid to worship, and pointed to a useful blog entry about Corpus Christi.

I agree on this: and we have a set of Stations of the Cross in our church. My father's very attached to various sets that he knows or has, and I find some of the images helpful for meditation and prayer. I'm not, however, attached to the Stations of the Cross as a specific thing, in the same way that I've used prayer beads in the past, but am not attached to them as a specific process or requirement.

I genearally agree with the post about Corpus Christi, and I like the way Sam discussed the shift in emphasis of the phrase "corpus verum".

Sally bemoaned the lack of symbol in her tradition.

I find symbology very useful, too, and wouldn't want to lose it. It's when the symbols are used as more than that that I get unhappy, because I see this as a move to sacramentalism: moving beyond the sacraments to regarding objects as having a sacramental power. The reason, I think, that the bread and wine are special is that, as part of a sacrament, they are the body and blood our Our Lord. The Bible is special (and I still find it difficult to see people writing on a Bible!) because it's the Word: God's working in this world through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

KT suggested talking to the PCC.

I don't think this is needed, to be honest. I'm not worried about the legality of the service at all, and have already discussed my concerns about confession and absolution to my training incumbent (I'm in the first year of my title post, and not yet priested!), who was very supportive.

Neither am I worried about the service itself for general consumption (James has dealt very helpfully with the particular phrase that I picked up, and I acknowledge that his introduction is a good piece of guidance to the congregation), but what I'm trying to explore is how elements of the service - and, in many ways, the core assumption (now, _there's_ a word to reflect on...!) behind the service just doesn't fit with my theology. (I'd be interested to hear your situation, by the way, KT, if you'd like to share).

I rather hope that this isn't the end of it. I'm really enjoying this discussion with you all, and making myself think. This, for me, is Reflective Theology (cue Gary turning up in a day-glo jacket), and is a Good Thing[tm]. I'm not trying to inflict my theology on other people (yet...), but I'm interested to see where I'm being led with this, and it's to a re-affirmation of the protestant underpinnings of my theology and my faith. May the Holy Spirit guide us all.

Labels: liturgy, protestantism, theology, worship

First tooth

Yup, Miri's first tooth has come through. Centre bottom, left. Yay!

D. popped in with Morgan this afternoon - just, of course, as work really kicked off, but that's typical. Lovely to see her, and Boo (Charlotte) has grown nicely. She did say that Miri basically looked like a toddler, though...

Had a good supervision with Keith. I'm going to be doing a joint Great & Little Yeldham service on the 2nd Sunday of each month, and he's approved the ideas that I had come up with for liturgy.

Labels: friends, miri, worship

"Bring your Methodist Worship Books"

(backposting) I had, over the past few days, announced rather too often (4 times?) over meals that people should remember to bring their Methodist Worship Books to Morning Prayer, and had started to be mocked for it. This, however, didn't bother me, and when it came down to it, there were lots in evidence, so it had worked. So there.

I was leading the service, and had rehearsed "Ghimel" (just the title, not the main bit) with the same group of singers for the madrigals, which we performed in the ante-chapel just before starting the service. We did well, apart from my screwing up a lead. Oh, well. I'd decided to make the service about affirming vocation, as this was half-way through the week for some of us, but only a few hours in for the new first years, and everyone was a bit shell-shocked. We had the Commissioning of Aaron and the "Holy Nation, Royal Priesthood" piece from 1 Peter, and during the intercessions, I encouraged people to pray for themselves chiefly, as we have lots of prayers for other people, but not always enough for ourselves. I asked people to stay at the end for some organ music, and hit them with the last 3 minutes of "Dieu Parmi Nous" by Messiaen, which always blows me away. Not everyone liked it, but everyone who I spoke to seemed to have engaged with it.

After breakfast, we had an excellent session on Visual Arts through the ages by a visiting speaker, Neil. I ended up next to a student with a significant visual impairment, and as pictures came up on the screen, tried to describe what I was seeing. It was fascinating thinking about how all she could see (with the exception of a few pieces of work like a couple of Rothko paintings) was what I described to her, and it really made me think about what I was seeing in a new light. She said that she learnt lots about me, which was unsurprising!

In the afternoon, a session learning "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" with a bunch of singers of various abilities, ready to discuss the process tomorrow. Course photograph after supper, followed by a pub quiz. Our team won. Big surprise, but lots of wine as a prize. All gone within the hour...

Labels: art, ERMC, music, worship

Sunday, the day of rest

(backposting) Not if you're on an ERMC summer school, it's not! A Methodist communion - wow, all those little cups of non-wine! - at 0730 (ow!), then breakfast, then more discussion on films. After that, another Ian and Richard double-act, this time discussing post-Christendom. Have to admit that I had a bit of a dose through some of this, as the historical stuff wasn't new to me.

Free time in the afternoon - again, laughable, because there was more choir rehearsal. Much, much better, the Tye, and ready for performing at this evening's worship.

In the afternoon, a session on literature, which focused rather oddly on A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, which I'm afraid I hadn't got round to reading (I wasn't alone). Lots of education on post-structuralist and deconstructionist theory, which should be a good underpinning for the rest of the week.

At one point, one of the students, who's firmly from a more evangelical tradition than me, said, "As a Christian theologian, we accept the authority of the Bible...", and I took it up with him later on. I absolutely can't make a blanket statement like that. I have to look at any such acceptance, _particularly_ of the Bible, critically, and when it comes down to it, I find that it's my faith that is the bedrock of my Christianity, shored up by the Bible, and not really the other way round. This isn't a new thing for me, and it's an issue that I grapple with, but it's one that I'm very happy that I _do_ grapple with. It's one of the concerns I used to have about how many scientists at university took to evangelical Christianity: when they're so used to probing and questioning in their own lines of work, how can they be so uncritical in just accepting the Bible (and a rather narrow set of interpretations thereof)? An _uncritical_ sola scriptura just doesn't hold it for me.

The Tye went well, despite a missed alto entry, which we salvaged quickly, and no-one was the wiser. I was very pleased, and lots of people said how much they'd enjoyed it: both choir and congregation.

Labels: bible, ERMC, music, worship

Worship style

Does this surprise anybody? I'd have expected less ascetic, but more enthusiast - but maybe I'm enthusiastic about particular issues, while it's not my style of worship. Makes sense.

From Sacred Pathways, thanks to Sally and Gary.

Labels: worship