One of the great ideas I took away from IWS was: there are other people LIKE ME! No kidding. You all in the blogosphere are becoming my friends, but chatting with you via our keyboards is different from worshiping with you (I would never be content with attending a church of the 'net.) From the first song--a praise chorus, "He Is Exalted"--to the closing hymn, an original text sung to the tune "Gift of Love", I felt the presence of other believers who cared not only about worshiping God but about figuring out how God would like to be worshiped.
Furthermore, they had had several years of practicing this. They were the kinds of people who say creeds and memorize songs.
Feeling ourselves part of a community is important to our spiritual balance. But we also represent something to the world, to the "rulers and principalities", and to God Himself when we are able to join our voices and gather in one place for worship. We represent something very particular when we say together, instead of in the privacy of our rooms or alone in some outdoorsy "worshipful" setting, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth...."
What do you think it means, this trend to make up our own liturgies and our own songs? Not as a devotional exercise, but as a subsitute for the historic liturgies and songs. I was intrigued by the strong reaction of one of this blog's readers, when her liturgical leadership made up some prayers again. Why are people reacting so strongly to creativity in the service? Are there good and bad kinds of creativity when it comes to worship?
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I know it's difficult to judge the intensity of my reaction to the experience of having to recite this as my Creed of Faith among the assebly of Christ's Body--maybe this will help- and keep in mind that this is just one of many assaults that our liturgy suffers; they are literally "New every morning".
Our "creed" from Epiphany Service:
We believe in God, the creator and giver of life, who brought all creation to birth, who mothers us and fathers us, protecting, nurturing, and cherishing us.
We believe in Jesus Christ: God born among us as a fragile baby, embodying both love and the need for love, and calling us to rest in God as trustingly as a tiny child. We believe in the Holy Spirit, breathed into us at birth, always drawing us on to be born again, encouraging, exhorting, comforting, nourishing our growth and inspiring our living.
We believe in the reconciliation of the world to God, through Christ, Hunted at birth and humiliated at death, Christ entered our fearful darkness so that we might enter his glorious light and share the life of his resurrection.
And we believe that each new child is a glimpse of the face of God, an sign of the life to come, and a call to live in peace and celebrate living together. glory to god in the highest and peace to God's people on earth. Amen
I will leave it to any one remotely versed in theology to analyze it-
and would be interested in their views on the orthodoxy of it. It's not so much what is there (well, yes it's that , too).but what is not there.
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