Once again, I find myself writing about a church service. I know, to some of you, it may seem that I have spent an inordinate amount of time writing about the services or the buildings or the people, but there are so many things to note!
Today, I went to church where C.S. Lewis went to church when he worked at Oxford, a little tiny, Anglican fellowship called Holy Trinity Church, in a suburb called Headington. As we walked in, we were greeted by many parishioners and the youngish-looking vicar, who immediately asked us if we were visiting and staying at the Kilns (Lewis' home) and where we were from. He also pointed out the Narnia window of the church (where there are some frosted depictions of scenes from the books), a map of Narnia on the wall, and then, straight-faced, looked at us and said, "In fact, this is Narnia."
The service was quite similar to the one we attended last week in many ways -- we followed almost exactly the same liturgy, which I really do appreciate. There were prayers of preparation for worship, then prayers of penitence and confession. The reading of Scripture is always interesting -- everyone sits during the Old and/or New Testament reading, but when the Gospel is read, all stand and the priest kisses the Bible and lifts it up when he is finished. Very reverent. After the sermon, we said the Nicene Creed (which I have to love because I'm a church history teacher!), then there were prayers of the people. The prayers of the people are said by one of the priests, and each is sectioned off by the priest praying, say, for our hearts to be prepared for worship, or for the world leaders, like the G8 to make wise decisions, etc. (Last time I was here, one of the priests prayed for England to win the World Cup.) Then, after each individual request (and there are usually about 4), the congregation says, "Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer." We grant each other peace (a traditional church greeting time), have communion (again, with crackers and wine from a community cup), sing hymns, and receive the blessing.
This church was more fun-loving (if I can say that), it seemed, than the one from last week, though. The building was full, the people were incredibly friendly (most congregations here are), and we were welcomed to coffee and tea after the service was over. We began service with a rousing, Rwandan hymn sung by an acapella group standing in the back of the church. And the recessional for the service was that children's song (which I completely remember from listening to Psalty, the Singing Songbook, on tape), "If I Were a Butterfly." I was cracking up laughing -- especially at the number of adults in the congregation who seemed to know all the motions. Not exactly "high church."
One thing that may have been noticeably missing, however, was a certain depth to the message itself. While I found it extremely interesting (the priest did not read off of a sheet of paper as our priest did last week), it is VERY difficult to get through the entirety of Romans chapter 7 in 10-15 minutes time, especially when the first 5 minutes is a sum-up of Romans 1-8. Now, I believe he mentioned that they had been going through a series, so there had been more to Romans 1-6 in past weeks, but still, he spent 10 minutes on Chapter 7, and next week will be covering Chapter 8, I presume in the same amount of time. If you've read Romans, you know that it's difficult to READ Chapter 7 in 10 minutes, much less interpret it. And while the priest was very entertaining and used several pertinent examples, I didn't agree with all of it. It completely threw me off when one of his examples lay in support of cultural and biological Darwinianism. What??? That's something you won't hear in a church everyday, particularly not in the Bible belt! I enjoyed the fact that the man seemed decently well-educated, quoting poet and scientist alike, and he had much that was good to say. It just 1) didn't seem to be completely backed by Scripture, 2) seemed more entertaining than doctrinal, and 3) did not give people a chance, or even encourage them, to dig into the Word at all themselves (here comes the Baptist girl in me!). After all, if the priest can skim over Romans 7 in 10 minutes, who am I to think that I can interpret better than he after spending MORE time on it? At least, that's what I imagine the viewpoint could be.
I enjoy visiting different places of worship -- it is truly valuable to know what others believe, why they believe it, and how they implement different things, like worship. After all, one of the things that we as Christians are unfortunately known for is being ignorant of anyone who is not like us, whether in denomination or religion -- not knowing what they actually believe and practice and why. It's great to find what is good in the practice of another denomination, what the reasons are behind it, and what I may or may not be missing out on in my own tradition. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe at all in combining Christianity with any other religion -- syncretism (combining belief systems) is not the way to go. But it can also be a great confirmation as to why I believe or do what I believe or do, a strangely galvanizing experience that helps me to appreciate my own faith tradition and background. I am also encouraged to examine (even more thoroughly) what I do by the same standards which I might compare anyone else's to -- Christ's Himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment