Chautauqua Day 2 - Of Sermons and Speeches

Day 2 was a slow, acclimating kind of day. It started with good ole' Baptist worship at the Baptist house. There is something about Baptists and music - when they sing the walls shake. While the preaching was not stellar, it was solid enough and I enjoy worshiping with my folks. Then Chautauqua has its big Sunday worship. It is a service full of pomp, ritual and not much theological focus. The liturgy is nice enough and far from offensive. Sometimes I feel that when we try so hard not to offend anyone we end up not offering anything of substance. That was kind of what the service was like - a bowl of oatmeal. No spice and no flavor, but it wont hurt you. The music is great, polished, well rehearsed, but great. My biggest issue was with the sermon. The Right Rev. John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington D.C. was "preaching." He used a gospel text, but he really didn't speak from it. Instead he spoke about the importance of the separation of church and state, the necessary of the church having a voice in the polis and how we need to make sure the separation is ensured and churches continue to have a voice. For the most part I agree with his sentiment and ideas, but I was hoping for a sermon, not a speech. What Chane offered was a speech about religious liberty with a little flourish with scripture at the end. I would hope a sermon would be wrapped with the text, weaving the congregation in and out of the text until the text becomes our story. One could preach about separation of church and state, but in a worship setting (as much as that was a worship setting) is not a place for a speech or a soapbox. When we preach our concerns, our agenda and our ideals we are no longer allowing God to lead us, instead it is as if we are just telling God what to do, where to be and when.
Chane is going to be preaching all week, so maybe I'll still hear a sermon... maybe.

afterthought: There is a lot of emphasis on interfaith stuff this week, of which I am skeptical - not because I am a close minded ass, but because I wonder how deep can one go theologically when one is trying not to offend everyone. I wonder if the interfaith conversations will end us with us all holding a bowl of oatmeal