Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Fr. Ryan Hall weighs in on 'Targeted' Worship

He was going to comment here at NPA but the thoughts just kept on comin' and he blogged 'em there in Brookings:

Costly Grace: 'Targeted' Worship

"Or even in our [Anglican] tradition, when I was in Cambridge, there was a church I attended called Little St. Mary's. Copious amounts of incense, East facing altar, 1662 BCP with a lot of Sarum Rite stuff thrown in. Even Sunday I was there, it was nearly standing room only with lots of college age kids!

Why is that? I think it is because good liturgy (whether Pentacostal electric guitars or High Church Solemn High mass Anglo-catholic liturgy) invites people to experience the Divine, as if the wall in front of the altar dissolves and brief glimpse into the mysterious other of heaven is seen. I have trouble believing that an experience of the Divine in a meaningful and life changing sense can be had from the U2charist or the Hip Hop Prayerbook (remember that?) or even the Clown Mass."

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