Passed By

     When they went around the room in the parlor to introduce the members of the commission to ordain a young woman who had grown up in the church while I had served there, I introduced myself as the "has been."  That always seems to get a laugh, but it is more true than joke.

      The church, the culture, the religious landscape has passed me by and I do not know what is needed or what would be nourishment and blessing for a congregation.  The little congregations I supply from time to time are not willing to make any changes and so what I give them they welcome, but it is not the "bread of life" that a congregation in a major urban area would like

       That the worship has passed be by has been demonstrated to me very clearly in the last two sermons I have heard from two very high steeple churches in New York City.  Both preachers were well known preachers and they gave very strong messages and were, of course, well delivered. I get that.  They were very much like dramatic monologues, with all the gifts of good drama.

       What struck me so strange was that both congregations broke out in applause after the pastor finished.  Applause like it was a performance on a stage.  Applause like going to a concert and hearing a singer perform.  I was nurtured in the tradition that congregations were not supposed to even applaud the choir or the soloist.  We even thought it was unseemly for people to say "amen" in our congregations to good point in a sermon.

        What that suggested to me was that more and more the congregation does not see itself as part of the drama. That they do not understand that they are the Greek chorus and the whole worship is the play for the benefit of the world outside.  The congregation has speaking parts, confession, hymns, prayers, affirmation of faith, and the choir and preacher have other parts. The very coming to worship is a part of the drama which is conducted for the purpose of giving God praise and for witnessing to the world.

       The applause for the sermon is another step towards seeing the congregation as the audience and the preacher and choir as the actors on stage putting on a show for the crowd. It is not what I understood as worship.  But as I said, I am a has been and the new reality in religious worship has passed me by.