All The World's A Stage

The young woman in the video was excited. She was leading a quick tour of the church building that a very active and mission minded young congregation will be moving into soon. The younger church is swapping space with an older congregation that no longer fits. A kind of hand-me-up deal.

When she got to the worship space itself, she called the front part of the church, the focal point for all the seats, "the stage". Not the altar platform but the stage. In the full-page newspaper spread for a nearby megachurch, I notice that the focal point of worship looks more like the set or stage for American Idol than the focal point of the floorplan for a Romanesque, Gothic or even a modern church built in the 20th century.

There is no altar. There is no cross. There are video screens, lights and big speakers. There's a clear plexiglass enclosure for the drummer so that he can pound away vigorously without overpowering. What may have in the past functioned as a screen for the actual "sanctuary", the holy of holies in an Orthodox church, the place where the elements of Holy Communion were consecrated in sacred reverence, now functions as a sound deflector. It's transparent so we can see that drummer working his set. We expect to see that, don't we?

One could wonder, what god is being worshiped here--if this is about God at all? Is it the god of culture, the god of performance? The god of entertainment? The god of cool light shows and videos? Is what happens here about worship as the activity and participation of the people (the true definition of liturgy), or performance where one can either sing along and emote or just watch and be entertained by it all?

There are so many things that seem to be happening right: discipleship groups, not just outreach to but actual involvement by new ethnic and language groups.

And yet, I wonder. The only symbol in the entire full page ad, other than the logo of the church itself, is for Seattle's Best Coffee. Not the cross of Christ. What is being said between the lines? Has the cross become such a ubiquitous piece of costume jewelry that churches have had to distance themselves from it in order to not be understood? Or not be misunderstood?

Is it Seattle's Best Coffee that "does church" here? Is that what "doing church different" means? Jesus asked us to follow him. Is that different from doing church? How?

How much of what we think worship is about speaks to our culture? How much speaks to Christ? Does the term "corporate worship" mean something very different from what it did even 20 years ago? Do we understand that difference? And where do we go from here?

Is all the world a stage now? Has the church become one, too?

I hope that when we're not doing church we're still being church. With or without the coffee.

My hero, Joseph Sittler, wasn't much for the coffee. But when he'd lead worship, he'd go buy a bottle of good wine, very good wine, to go along with very good bread. He was insistent that like creation itself, holy communion was not an insipid thing to be dutifully trudged through but a marvelous giift to be enjoyed. So the wine and the bread should actually taste like something. Something good. Something very good.

For that, worship really needs an altar, not a stage.

Happy ponderings,

Roger

Vancouver, Canada 5

Hi, America!

If you're just joining us, we're on an extended excursion in Vancouver, BC. The series of posts is much longer than our trip--only four days. Scroll down to the first post "Vancouver, Canada" (no number) to join us at the beginning.
This isn't a travelogue, however. I'm sharing how different another city looks, one we know fairly well, when seen through new eyes, the eyes of ministry with folks whose life is near or on the streets.

That said, when was the last time you looked around the place you live? No, I mean REALLY looked around? Looked around through the eyes of a visitor or tourist? Try it sometime. Try it this week in your own city or town. Go to places you don't ordinarily go and simply see through new eyes the people and the little culture quirks you've sailed right by before.

Like that shop of trinkets in Chinatown. What kind of world even makes something like that little plastic doll with blue hair and a slingshot for bikini bottoms? What kind of city or state or world lets families get kicked out of their jobs or their housing and live on the street? What kind of society discharges women from psych treatment in a hospital when there is a 2-3 month wait for housing? Which is crazier, the plastic doll or the DC from psychiatric care with no place to go?

So.... Did you ever watch any shows on TV sponsored by Ovaltine? Have you ever had any? I'm not sure I have. We mostly drank chocolate milk made with Hershey's syrup when I was a kid. Or we made Postum. I remember dipping white toast with butter into the cup of Postum. Had to pull it out quick and eat it, or the bread would fall apart. Postum was made as a grain-based substitute for coffee that was hard to get during WWII. Personally, I think it's way better than instant coffee. Yucko! Is instant coffee even made anymore?

Oooops! Who said whatever that got somebody's buns so steamed anyway? I hope it wasn't me! But at least they're the best ones in town. Now, if you're gonna get your buns steamed, might as well do it up right. No half a---d buns here!

Like I said, have you ever really looked at your neighborhood, your city, your culture through a visitor's eyes? How about your church? How about if the visitor was not just another American like you but from another country? What would they see? How welcome would they be?

Has anything changed in the neighborhood where you live? Any new people, foods, cultures, languages, poverty, unemployment? Is the attitude of our faith group "Well, we're here. They can find us if they want to."

Or is it, "Well, they're here. So it's time we moved in next door and got to know them." ?????


Do our churches effectively have bars over the doors and windows just like the market above? Remember, the people inside cannot see the bars. But people outside sure can. Look closely, and think about what you see. Either on the street or in your church. Maybe both.



More from Vancouver still to come. Much more. Fun stuff. Stay tuned.


Shalom,

Pastor Roger

Class and Culture

Happy Winter, PDX!

Seems like the winter of '69-'70 I spent in intensive Russian in Syracuse, NY while in the USAF. Snowed every day for at least two months. Total immersion in Siberia, USA. But first...

A FREEBIE!!! Don't miss Dan Merchant's superb documentary dialogue movie, "Lord Save Us From Your Followers--Why is the Gospel of Love Dividing America?" Showing is this Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7 PM in the Vollum Auditorium on the Reed College campus. Merchant himself will be there. Brought to you FREE by Reed and Koine Community.

But now... Been reading two timely books. The first is Consuming Jesus--Byeond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by local author and professor at Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Dr. Paul Louis Metzger. Metzger makes some good and timely points on race and class but entirely misses the third from Paul's three-legged stool in Galatians 3:28: gender. Christ has torn down all three divisions of race, class and gender, not just the first two. The Evangelical church and the Catholic church have a way to go on this one. The U.S. Armed Forces and corporations like Intel are light years ahead of the church here.

But Metzger needs to get out a little more to really see what's going on in America. Poor non-whites in Mississippi aren't the only ones taking it in the shorts. But at least Metzger's heart is in the right place. He just needs to get to Winchester, Virginia. Thereabouts...

Second book is Deer Hunting With Jesus--Dispatches From America's Class War by Joe Bageant. Bageant himself grew up in Winchester, VA, then got out for several decades. After returning to live there, he takes a long, hard look at the permanent underclass of impoverished and undereducated Americans around him. Winchester is like much of America's small towns and rural areas which are only 25% of our population but which have contributed 50% of our war dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Winchester, hard working folk who despise government aid can work all their lives and maybe advance to $9/hour before they retire. And if they are lucky, they may be able to afford home ownership consisting of a mobile or modular home costing over $250K in payments and made of "exterior Masonite" that only depreciates in value and doesn't outlast the payment schedule.

BTW, Bageant published in 2007 and absolutely nailed the housing market collapse and the implosion of the financial world with it. Where were Alan Greenspan and the U.S. Congress? Deer hunting in Iraq or election La-La Land? Times can't be good in Winchester. Or Central Oregon.

Why is life becoming more impossible for so many folks in this "pro-America part of America"? And why do guns hold such strong attraction for these folks, half of whom don't vote but all of whom own guns? Go deer hunting with Bageant and find out why his brother is legend, why Lynndie England ended up in Iraq and in prison. For an honest look at America's heartlands that political speeches will expropriate but never show accurately, go Deer Hunting With Jesus. And maybe take Metzger along to the deer stand, the nursing home and the local bar. Five thumbs up for this spicy read.

Thought: if trickle-down economics work, why isn't America experiencing record wealth and economic growth across the board? After all, never has so much wealth flooded the penthouse holdings of so few. Surely it's going to come flooding down the stairwells and elevator shafts to us in the cellar soon! A trickle maybe? Or not.

Pray for a cloudburst, pray for a gusher, a deluge. Soon. And love your neighbor as yourself because God loves you. God was here first. Galatians 3:28.

Shalom,

Pastor Roger



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