May 10, 2005
JESUS IS BACK ON THE MAINLINE:
Old-Time Religion For Mainline Churches: Some Congregations Use Ancient Approaches To Stir the Fervor (Bill Broadway, May 1, 2005, Washington Post)
Mainline Protestants sometimes refer to themselves as the "frozen chosen," a reference to the reasoned, non-emotional approach to religion followed by many Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans and other non-evangelical Christians.But what's happening in some mainline churches today is anything but cool spiritual detachment. In its place is a heavily devotional, even mystical approach to spirituality that often calls on ancient Christian practices.
At St. George's Episcopal Church in Arlington, 30 parishioners have formed an "urban abbey," a kind of monastery without walls. Participants promise to follow a "rule of life" that includes daily prayer and Scripture reading, community service at least once a month and the pursuit of a new form of spiritual development each year.
At Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pa., a needleworking group meets regularly to knit prayer shawls for members who are ill, bereaved or otherwise in need of prayer. When people are given a shawl, "it's like wrapping them up in prayer," said the ministry coordinator, something they wouldn't experience if they were simply told that the congregation was praying for them.
And at Iglesia Santa Maria in Falls Church, the first free-standing Latino church in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, worshipers hold hands and sing Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" -- in Spanish -- before taking Communion. The pastor, the Rev. Jesus Reyes, and most of the congregants are former Roman Catholics who find comfort in the use of incense and other Catholic ritual elements in the service but also like the Protestant aspects, such as an open invitation to the Communion table for anyone who wants to partake.
What makes these churches distinctive from others? The greatest difference is "intentionality," a communal decision to return to traditional Christian spiritual practices or to adopt practices of other religions, said Diana Butler Bass, director of a two-year study of reemergent emotionalism in these and other mainline Protestant churches.
That whole religionless church deal wasn't working out too well. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2005 12:00 AM
I went to 2 communions, not Catholic, but dad was.
He thinks Latin for part of the service should be brought back.
It is the tie that binds.
Posted by: Sandy P. at May 10, 2005 12:41 AMOperas now use projected sub (or sur) titles. Why couldn't the Church?
Posted by: oj at May 10, 2005 12:44 AMI was listening to the Berean Calls show today.
These evangelicals said that the Russian Orthodox Catholics are 'an abomination to the lord' and that Roman Catholics are not Christians at all.
I look forward to the return to merciless religious warfare. Gimme that old time religion!
Posted by: Harry Eagar at May 10, 2005 1:25 AMHarry, I find your defense against critics of your embattled Catholic brothers and sisters touching. Inspiration to us all.
Posted by: h-man at May 10, 2005 7:16 AMI always thought the 'Frozen Chosen' were Jews who lived in Alaska.
Put me down on the side of tradition. There is no point to going to an Episcopal service if you are not going to use the Book of Common Prayer. I'd rather twist my nose off with a pair of rusty pliers than go to a guitar mass. A Lutheran service without a chorus of 'A Mighty Fortress' defeats the purpose. Liturgy matters. It gives us a kind of comfort from its constancy in an ever-changing world. The sense one got from the old Union Prayer Book that things were essentially unchanged for centuries was heart-warming. The fact that Jews in Singapore or Iran use the same prayers we do is wonderful.
Posted by: bart at May 10, 2005 7:33 AMI agree with bart and Sandy. !
Bring back the Latin Mass. Getting rid of it was a huge mistake.
Posted by: David Cohen at May 10, 2005 7:39 AMWell said, Bart.
Bart touched upon (one of) the main selling points of religion - constancy, the appeal to timelessness. A church that is desperate to appear 'modern' is already on the road to extinction.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at May 10, 2005 9:06 AMNo need for subtitles. The old daily missals had Latin and English side by side. Some times even today I unconsciously use the English from the St. Joseph missal rather than the current text.
Posted by: jdkelly at May 10, 2005 9:52 AMBruce: You are right about the timelessness. It was, I think, a desire to be relevant that hurt the mainline protestant denominations. What is relevant today becomes quickly irrelevant, and the denomination that desires relevance must continue to quickly shift in order to keep up with the tides of fad and fashion - building on a shifting foundation of sand, as it were.
Timelesseness is never fashionable, but it always remains, like the house built on the rock. And, in a sense, it truly makes it relevant because it is the constant in a person's life, a firm ground on which to anchor and ride out the storm.
Speaking as a moral freeloader, I have much preferred - dare I say enjoy - the Latin masses I have been invited to attend. Perhaps the English ones remind me of my rather vanilla Protestant upbringing.
Posted by: Rick T. at May 10, 2005 11:06 AMIt would be more traditional with more blood, Orrin, and we know you are a traditionalist.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at May 10, 2005 12:43 PMFWIW, I just realized I live a couple blocks from and 'urban abbey'!
Posted by: JAB at May 10, 2005 1:02 PMFriends don't call friends 'an abomination unto the lord.'
Posted by: Harry Eagar at May 10, 2005 11:27 PMwhy not, if they are?
Posted by: oj at May 10, 2005 11:43 PMBecause talking spiteful feels good, but is just talk.
Posted by: joe shropshire at May 11, 2005 1:25 AMWell, I think they are abominable on both sides, but I'm no friend ot theirs.
You're the one who keeps claiming all Christians are going to merge into one big, happy family.
I heard different.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at May 11, 2005 4:49 PM