Ancient Meets Modern
"It is a most invaluable part of that blessed liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; that in his worship different forms and usages may without offence be allowed, provided the substance of the Faith be kept entire..." (Preface to The Book of Common Prayer, p. 9).
Constancy and Change
Some things never change, regardless of time or place. God is beyond all time and space, words and fashion, fads and cultures. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). The substance of the Christian Faith never changes. But the world changes. And the modern world keeps changing in the way it changes. We live in a world of speed, mobility, information overload, global culture, and obsolescence. As Anglicans we’re committed to worship God “in such a tongue as the people understandeth” (Article XXIV). Pop culture is the language that the Modern West “understandeth.” Whether people grew up on Benny Goodman, Elvis or Avril Lavigne — whether they watched Gone With the Wind or Lord of the Rings — our global society has been steeped in the pop culture of the mass media. Billboards, advertisements, jingles, the Internet, and cell phones populate our minds. The culture they preach is the single most worldview-forming force in our society. And pop culture changes every five minutes.
So how do we shape worship in which “the substance of the Faith be kept entire,” while we simultaneously worship “in such a tongue as the people understandeth”?
First of all, we need to bear in mind that worship isn’t really about us. Worship is about the Living God interacting with His people, face to face, in the promise of Jesus that “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” Worship is the threshold to the throne room of heaven. It’s a liminal event, an eschatological event, an eternal event, a glimpse on earth of heavenly reality. And this heavenly reality invades and challenges and transforms every culture. Therefore we must use the things of this world but not be engrossed by them. The heart of true worship isn’t to be found in big screens or modern technologies, but in a relationship with God. Conversely, the heart of true worship isn’t to be found in keeping things exactly the way they were 100 years ago (or even 600 years ago!), but in a relationship with God. True worship is about keeping first things first.
But second, we need to bear in mind the Anglican principle of liberty in “things indifferent.” The great 16th century theologian Richard Hooker taught us that our worship is one of those “things indifferent.” By “indifferent” Hooker didn’t mean “unimportant.” Worship is very important indeed. But he meant that we may legitimately vary the forms of our worship from time to time and from place to place, in order to provide worship “in such a tongue as the people understandeth.” Variety is permissible, provided that we do nothing that Scripture prohibits. That’s our boundary: Nothing contrary to Scripture. That’s what the Prayer Book means when it requires “that the substance of the Faith be kept entire.”
Ancient Tradition in the New World
During the past 20 years of ministry among young people, I have wrestled to remain a faithful steward of the Scriptures, while shaping worship “in such a tongue as the people understandeth.” And I have found that “the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” has allowed me to experiment in some interesting directions.
In 1999, a team of high school and university students, youth and campus leaders at the Church of the Ascension, near the university campuses in Pittsburgh, gathered together to form a ministry called Digital House of God. In essence, DHOG was an outreach ministry of traditional Prayer Book worship, set on warp speed, drawing youth and campus students from the city. Using texts from the American prayer book and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, we held services on Sunday evenings in the gothic nave of the church. Services would begin with the ancient Phos Hilaron, the “O Gracious Light” prayer of St. Athenogenes (obit c. 305), with the lighting of vesper candles, followed by Psalms, scriptures and prayers. In these services we sought to highlight themes such as pain, pleasure, chaos, time, truth, heaven, earth and the like, which we saw as relevant to young people in postmodern culture.
The services appeared, however, unlike anything that you might envision as traditional Anglican Prayer Book worship. To begin with, the ambience was quite different from a usual church service, using a mixture of candlelight and dim stagelighting to create a “funky” atmosphere. But the interesting thing was that at the heart of it, it was truly traditional Anglican liturgy. Only the ambience had changed. At times the mood was quiet and reflective. At others, it was quite loud, using turntables, guitars, percussion and keyboard.
The music would span from original liturgical arrangements to contemporary pop music with which young people might be familiar. One teenager wrote a hip-hop version of the creed, which then became a high point of the service. Can you imagine the creed as the most intense moment of a worship service?
It is amazing how much young people’s lives are shaped by music. Much of contemporary music highlights religious themes. It often strives to understand the things of God, at times quite sensitively, yet most often failing to grasp the revelation of God in Christ. So our task was to bridge the gap between the picture of human identity presented in mass culture and what we find in the Scriptures, an identity rooted in the love of Christ.
In addition to pop music, we would use clips from current film and slides of ancient Christian art, projected onto screens around the room, each speaking to the themes being presented, in the light of the Gospel. Instead of lengthy sermons we would often create interactive stations to challenge participants to engage in Christian faith and practice. We would also guide participants through the liturgy by explaining bits of history and theological significance for our actions. All of this unconventional yet traditional Prayer Book worship made for a rather fantastical ambience in which to expound the Scriptures and call young people to prayer, commitment, and even into silence before the God of all Creation.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the Digital House of God liturgical experiment was the sense of community that grew among the many team members. Together we experienced a profound sense of the presence of God as we sought to reach out to bring others into that community. A haunting question drove our experiment: “In a spectacle-oriented society which thrives on virtual reality, can participants still find God even after we take down the screens and turn off the projectors?” The answer was, yes, in the community and in the Word. But worship “in such a tongue as the people understandeth” was the threshold.
And now — Ancient Tradition in the Motherland
One thing that is amazing to me is God’s infinite sense of humor. After many years in youth ministry, I launched into a doctoral program on the influence of media on the faith of American youth, and the Lord has brought me to work as interim chaplain in a 14th century Oxford college with a candlelit gothic chapel. The worship atmosphere at New College is quite formal, using liturgy from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and a choir that oftentimes still sings in Latin. So, this present ministry is completely different from our “liturgical experiment” back in Pittsburgh.
Or is it?
New College choir under the direction of Dr. Edward Higginbottom is one of the finest, most famous and most innovative traditional choirs in the world. Edward has referred to his work here in chapel as “front-line evangelism.” People come to experience the fine art, architecture and music. But then they sing, hear and pray the Scriptures consistently. The glory of the architecture and the beauty of the music can inspire almost anyone to engage the God of Creation, who has given such gifts to humanity for use in praise.
This praise is the one thing that excites me the most. For more than 600 years, every evening at the 6:15 daily office, God gets praise, in season and out, in lean years and fat years. I have had the honor of stepping into the long line of saints who have lived out that call to praise God, just another “living stone” in this spiritual house. The tradition of choral Evensong is a slice of English heritage par excellence. Under the good work of Dr. Higginbottom and the Chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Jane Shaw (who is on sabbatical this year), attendance among the chapel community has flourished during the past few years, drawing students, staff, fellows and others from the city.
So what has carried over here from my previous work in the States?
For one thing, I understand that incarnational ministry is the way to earn the right to be heard by people during worship. I do this at New College by meeting with individuals and small groups for discussion, prayer, Bible study, spiritual direction and pastoral care. You might call it “pastoral evangelism” based on the business principle of “loving your customer more than your product.”
Secondly, I’m learning that community is built by involving people in something bigger than themselves — particularly something aimed at God and for the benefit of others. Bringing people together, involved in Kingdom business of whatever sort, challenges them to take their own faith more seriously.
And thirdly, I’m discovering that when the choir stops singing, the candles are snuffed and the chapel locked up, people can still find God not merely in the momentary experience of the sublime but in the community and in the Word. Worship is the threshold.
Some have asked me if there will be any liturgical experimentation off the beaten path? Well, in fact, yes, a little bit! Next term when the choir goes out on spring tour, we’ve planned to hold a Jazz Eucharist. A couple of college and music research students have written a full jazz liturgy in English for the event. We’re also planning an 8:00 a.m. Ascension Day hymn-sing for students on top of the ancient archeological mound in the college (see photo, page 9). And we’ll sponsor a university-wide Taizé service.
I hope they will all be meaningful events, of course. But above all, I trust that the praise of God here for lo these 600-plus years will continue to call people to community. After all,“It is very meet, right and our bounden duty, that we should at all times and in all places, give hearty thanks unto Thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.” Amen.
Jack Gabig (MDiv ‘95) served for several years at Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh leading an outreach youth ministry called “The Digital House of God.” Jack has recently moved to New College, Oxford (UK) as Interim Chaplain in a 14th century chapel. For more pictures of New College and its chapel, go to http://www.new.ox.ac.uk.
