Rowan Williams (!), Evangelical Liturgy, and Chapel Flowers

This last weekend was the conference between Radical Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy, which was held in Cambridge (boo hiss!). Even though it was located there, I still attended to check out the sweetest combination of theologies ever! Cambridge is only about an hour away from Oxford as the crow flies, but the bus ride takes roughly three and a half hours, which is ridiculous. The participants at the conference included such notables as Archbishop Rowan Williams (the head of the Anglican Communion), John Milbank (head of radical orthodoxy) and Basil, the Bishop of Sergievo (head of looking like santa claus in a long black robe).

I was once again reminded of how rich the Orthodox tradition is, and how rich the Western tradition is though the likes of St. Augustine and St. Aquinas. One comment seems particularly appropriate here in Oxford: Liturgy shapes our theology. Let me explain.

To my incredible frustration, all the conservative and evangelical churches in the UK are really low in worship. They function very much like low Presbyterian churches, with a long sermon and no communion generally. They also tend to focus on praise songs (the kind you can replace the name of Jesus with your significant other and they still make sense) as opposed to hymns. This absolutely drives me crazy. I attened one of these evangelical churches last night and for two hours we sung about God making us good people, loving Jesus with (only?) our hearts and hearing a sermon on congregationalism which had nothing to do with the Scripture passage. The problem is that if I want liturgy, I have to put up with liberal theology and possible a homosexual priest. There is no church which has high liturgy and orthodox teaching. This is so bizarre to me.

From a radically orthodox prespective, how we worship is very important to how we conceptualize God and relate to Him. Going to a high liturgy forces you to be on your knees (literally!) in worship and contemplation of an Almighty God who is Trinity. The liturgy has been the expression of praise for the church of God for the last two millenia, and now we have this low church experience of "buddy Jesus." I think we need to seriously reconsider our worship practice and the effect it has on our theology. Liturgy says that God in Christ is ever present, so present that you actually recieve Him bodily in the sacraments, He is physically dwelling with His poeple. We truly are His temple, His Body and His Bride. Low church worship says (to me) that we need to get Him figured out with out minds, and make sure we rationally relate to God, plus maybe we can meet Him through some non-confrontational fluffy sing-song.
Another disappointment in England is that the evangelical movement is so interested in "making church relevant." This I think is the death blow to any worshiping community. The Church is not called to be relevant, it is called to be redemptive. Jesus Christ did not become incarnate to reconcile the world to Himself in order to let girls come to worship wearing low-rider jeans and worse. But if you don't use projectors and popular secular music how will you fill the pews? I think we should probably trust Christ and His Spirit to bring people to Him rather than shooting low for mass appeal. If anyone thinks that traditional "stuffy" liturgy and Church teaching doesn't appeal to youth then why did half a million young Catholics show up to World Youth Day to support the most theologically conservative pope in one hundred years? I think the Church can do better than merely being another venue or meeting place, it is called to be a seperate city, though imperfect, reconciling the world to Christ through His sacraments and His word.

Those are just some ramblings I suppose, but it is a frustration of mine that we can't have both liturgical and evangelical in the same sentence for a church over here. In other news, I was in charge of chapel flowers this week for Wycliffe Hall, and I think I did an okay job. You will have to be the judge, but it is harder than it looks.

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