Tuesday before Thanksgiving a neighboring church was this year's host to the annual Community Thanksgiving Worship Service.
Even though it is mainstream Protestant like the place I normally attend, the differences in music style, the order of service, and the community-pitched style (ecumenical) caused me to pause and briefly examine each novel element to the service.
It occurs to me now that the old question of Form versus Content is present here: while the experience of expressing praise and thanks to God should be the same anywhere, anytime, in fact our mortal minds dwell on the small things on of the surface details. Things like the meter and mode of music, the lighting of the worship space, how the mix of strangers and acquaintances are dressed and exhibit worhiping behaviors, the manner in which the clergy speak to the Word and to the congregants --all these things crowd the senses and distract from the purpose and the message. And so there is an good argument to be made for routine and familiarity that lets the mind concentrate instead on the message and work of expressing praise and thanks as unselfconsciously as possible. There is another interpretation of my estrangement experience in the flow of this ecumenical service in a space I've attended just a few times before. Instead of concluding that familiarity is a good thing; that Form should be subordinate to Content, the other lesson could be that it is precisely this comfortable routinization that we look for each Sunday. When things are routine, then we feel content and can refresh ourselves to face the next 6 days of the week. So which is it: we desire routine or we require routine in order to reach greater heights of spiritual wondering, growth and commitment? Perhaps both at the same time: comfort and challenge?
Even though it is mainstream Protestant like the place I normally attend, the differences in music style, the order of service, and the community-pitched style (ecumenical) caused me to pause and briefly examine each novel element to the service.
It occurs to me now that the old question of Form versus Content is present here: while the experience of expressing praise and thanks to God should be the same anywhere, anytime, in fact our mortal minds dwell on the small things on of the surface details. Things like the meter and mode of music, the lighting of the worship space, how the mix of strangers and acquaintances are dressed and exhibit worhiping behaviors, the manner in which the clergy speak to the Word and to the congregants --all these things crowd the senses and distract from the purpose and the message. And so there is an good argument to be made for routine and familiarity that lets the mind concentrate instead on the message and work of expressing praise and thanks as unselfconsciously as possible. There is another interpretation of my estrangement experience in the flow of this ecumenical service in a space I've attended just a few times before. Instead of concluding that familiarity is a good thing; that Form should be subordinate to Content, the other lesson could be that it is precisely this comfortable routinization that we look for each Sunday. When things are routine, then we feel content and can refresh ourselves to face the next 6 days of the week. So which is it: we desire routine or we require routine in order to reach greater heights of spiritual wondering, growth and commitment? Perhaps both at the same time: comfort and challenge?
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