For fun I have slowly been working through James’ Varieties of Religious Experience with a friend of mine. We have read about conversions and saintliness and I had a thought. For conversion to occur, someone’s life must be altered. Or, in another way, those who are comfortable and satisfied with life cannot experience conversion. Something must happen to convince the person that the current life is inadequate and something greater must be strived for (or live in despair and agony).
So, it is good to have troubles, sufferings, and qualms. They may lead to a religious life. Or they may lead to a lot of bitching and moaning.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A Dry Baptism
Today, Pentecost, we had baptisms. They are always wonderful events to witness and to take part it; it is a true privilege of the office to officiate a baptism. This afternoon, I was thinking, “how can I make something so wonderful and powerful dry and academic?” This is what scholars do, right?
A baptism is not something that is personal or individualistic. It is a witness and at the same time a communal experience. Consider this through an apophatic and cataphatic experience. The cataphatic (more or less, a positive view of the event) finds meaning in the symbol of the water, in the full immersion, and in the commitment made by the individual. This is not only symbolic for the individual, but is also symbolic for the community. The water reminds the congregation of the cleansing and commitment they made in their baptism. The immersion reminds the congregation of their own immersion and their new life in Christ. All of the symbols in the service point to something greater than the act, the baptisms that many have encountered in the past, the commitments made, and the life found in Christ.
The apophatic reminds us that baptism is much more than a commitment or an immersion. The water is powerful, but does not capture all that a baptism is about. Even the baptism itself is about more than just a commitment, more than can be articulated. The actions of Christ is greater and beyond what we can know. As the congregation observes a baptism they are reminded that the event as well as their own baptism connects them with something powerful that cannot be articulated.
When looked at in this way baptism is a powerful moment. Even non-sacramental Baptists can be aware of the presence and the power of a baptism; what can be claimed and what cannot because it is greater than that which we can know.
Is that dry enough?
A baptism is not something that is personal or individualistic. It is a witness and at the same time a communal experience. Consider this through an apophatic and cataphatic experience. The cataphatic (more or less, a positive view of the event) finds meaning in the symbol of the water, in the full immersion, and in the commitment made by the individual. This is not only symbolic for the individual, but is also symbolic for the community. The water reminds the congregation of the cleansing and commitment they made in their baptism. The immersion reminds the congregation of their own immersion and their new life in Christ. All of the symbols in the service point to something greater than the act, the baptisms that many have encountered in the past, the commitments made, and the life found in Christ.
The apophatic reminds us that baptism is much more than a commitment or an immersion. The water is powerful, but does not capture all that a baptism is about. Even the baptism itself is about more than just a commitment, more than can be articulated. The actions of Christ is greater and beyond what we can know. As the congregation observes a baptism they are reminded that the event as well as their own baptism connects them with something powerful that cannot be articulated.
When looked at in this way baptism is a powerful moment. Even non-sacramental Baptists can be aware of the presence and the power of a baptism; what can be claimed and what cannot because it is greater than that which we can know.
Is that dry enough?
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Spontaneous Ritual
I recently received a link to this video
It is a great satire of a contemporary trend in Christian worship. It is a fairly honest critique at a style of worship that often describes itself as free of old church liturgy, led by the Holy Spirit, and removed from any ritual or formula. It is good to watch and laugh with a bit of smug satisfaction.
The same video could be made of more “classical” services – except we know that we are ridged and formulaic. It could also be made of my prayers, or of my sermons. We are creatures of habit. I remember in a worship class I took the professor stated that we tend to create our own liturgy and stick to it even when we don’t want to. This was why he felt a pre-written liturgy, prayers and all, is good. At least then we know some thought went into the worship service. I wonder if he is right.
On the other hand there needs to be room for spontaneity and the movement of the Spirit in worship. Last Sunday, during worship, a woman had a medical “incident” in the service and had to be carried out of the sanctuary. The flow of the service was not interrupted and we could have carried as if nothing happened. Yet something happened and I felt it was important to take a risk and break out of the norm. We prayed in a place where a prayer was not prescribed. It was a prayer that was very aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We are creatures of habit. We will find ourselves doing the same things again and again, yet we need to always be open to the calling and the movement of the Holy Spirit. This says the young, hip guy with a printed tee-shirt, hip glasses, and tattoos.
It is a great satire of a contemporary trend in Christian worship. It is a fairly honest critique at a style of worship that often describes itself as free of old church liturgy, led by the Holy Spirit, and removed from any ritual or formula. It is good to watch and laugh with a bit of smug satisfaction.
The same video could be made of more “classical” services – except we know that we are ridged and formulaic. It could also be made of my prayers, or of my sermons. We are creatures of habit. I remember in a worship class I took the professor stated that we tend to create our own liturgy and stick to it even when we don’t want to. This was why he felt a pre-written liturgy, prayers and all, is good. At least then we know some thought went into the worship service. I wonder if he is right.
On the other hand there needs to be room for spontaneity and the movement of the Spirit in worship. Last Sunday, during worship, a woman had a medical “incident” in the service and had to be carried out of the sanctuary. The flow of the service was not interrupted and we could have carried as if nothing happened. Yet something happened and I felt it was important to take a risk and break out of the norm. We prayed in a place where a prayer was not prescribed. It was a prayer that was very aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We are creatures of habit. We will find ourselves doing the same things again and again, yet we need to always be open to the calling and the movement of the Holy Spirit. This says the young, hip guy with a printed tee-shirt, hip glasses, and tattoos.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Is Propaganda the Only Way?
Can a community experience a conversion? Last night I was discussing James’ lectures on Conversion from Varieties of Religious Experience with a good friend of mine and we wondered such a question out loud. It seems that James is focusing on the experience of the individual in his discussion of conversion, but what about a community?
On the one hand people tend to join a community because they have already grasped a certain truth that is shared by all those in the community. A community may be the product of individual conversions and then is the place were people live into the new life found by conversion. On the other hand, it is not unheard of for a community to shift in its values and ethos. For example, the Republican party of the 1860s if very different from the Republican party of today. One could even argue that America as a culture has undergone a number of conversions as it slowly changes. It used to be a culture that embraced slavery and now no longer does.
Yet this gradual conversion is not the one that interests me. Such a conversion seems to happen because of outside influences and cultural trends. What I am wondering about is a sudden conversion of a group. One could say the Sneetches from the Dr. Seuss classic experienced a sudden conversion of sorts when they realized that the stars did not mean anything. Or in a more real observation, the events at Cane Ridge in 1801 was a conversion that shook individuals and a group as the majority of the people there experienced powerful spiritual experiences. Or the Azusa Street phenomenon in 1906 which led to the birth of the Pentecostal Movement is another example of a sudden group conversion.
So I am wondering how something of this nature happens. For those of us in church context, such a question can be very important. The church is a lumbering cruise ship that undergoes snail-like gradual conversions. How does a group, a church experience that sudden, powerful, moving conversion? Is it appropriate for a church to have such an experience? Currently I am skeptical that such a change can happen, but I am willing to be converted in my beliefs.
On the one hand people tend to join a community because they have already grasped a certain truth that is shared by all those in the community. A community may be the product of individual conversions and then is the place were people live into the new life found by conversion. On the other hand, it is not unheard of for a community to shift in its values and ethos. For example, the Republican party of the 1860s if very different from the Republican party of today. One could even argue that America as a culture has undergone a number of conversions as it slowly changes. It used to be a culture that embraced slavery and now no longer does.
Yet this gradual conversion is not the one that interests me. Such a conversion seems to happen because of outside influences and cultural trends. What I am wondering about is a sudden conversion of a group. One could say the Sneetches from the Dr. Seuss classic experienced a sudden conversion of sorts when they realized that the stars did not mean anything. Or in a more real observation, the events at Cane Ridge in 1801 was a conversion that shook individuals and a group as the majority of the people there experienced powerful spiritual experiences. Or the Azusa Street phenomenon in 1906 which led to the birth of the Pentecostal Movement is another example of a sudden group conversion.
So I am wondering how something of this nature happens. For those of us in church context, such a question can be very important. The church is a lumbering cruise ship that undergoes snail-like gradual conversions. How does a group, a church experience that sudden, powerful, moving conversion? Is it appropriate for a church to have such an experience? Currently I am skeptical that such a change can happen, but I am willing to be converted in my beliefs.
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