I'm not going to mention the name of the church I visited last Sunday partly because I don't think that it's appropriate when you have negative things to say, but mainly because the negatives are probably present in most evangelical churches including even my own beloved St Cuthberts!
Let me start with the positive. This is an active, faithful, growing group of Christians with a warm sense of fellowship and a genuine commitment to ministry and outreach. However, tragically in my view, there were serious weaknesses on view last Sunday.
For one, every song and even the 18th Century hymn with which we concluded - evidence that this is a problem not confined to our own age - was radically subjective, in other words, exlusively about me and my relationship with God. Of course, there is a rightful place for the expression of such feelings, as the Psalms demonstrate, but it should be part of a balanced 'diet'. What the many visitors present must have thought one can only imagine? That the name of Jesus was only mentioned in the context of 'me' and that only occasionally says it all!
For another thing, there was no liturgy. This in itself is not wrong - not all must be Anglicans - but it so often leads to shallowness. Thus there was no gathering prayer, no confession, no creed, no structured intercession etc of any sort, not even the Lords Prayer. In my view, sensible and sensitive use of liturgy develops individual grit and corporate identity.
Finally, although the minister did not preach, he did virtually everything else apart from the reading (no pew bibles by the way or print version on the noticesheet) I am sure that I have been guilty of this myself, but when viewed 'from a distance' it feels all wrong as well as very uncontemporary. We have come so far in many areas why not reform and renewal on this?
-----------------------------------------------
Click the following link to import this note into Appigo Notebook: Import Note
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment