last night, i went to a taize worship service at a church near my house. it was a new and very different experience, and i'd recommend trying it out at a church near you, if only just to see how another group of Christians has decided to devote its time in worship.
my favourite part of it was...i guess, the idea behind it. the idea that we might put aside time to just sit, sing some very repetitive music, and just sit in silence, waiting on God. the idea that a worship service does not need to be a pastor telling us, in a true reformed 3pt sermon, what he has heard from God---but that we can hear from Him too. that a worship service can be this focussed on individual worship---while sometimes, we just assume the fact that individual meditation and worship does happen, or we take this fact for granted, because we don't really want to get involved. i also like the idea that the experience is doctrinally important.
also, i realized as i was walking home from this service, i think i've had a change of heart towards music. sometimes, when songs are written to be sung in worship, they're written to teach---so that when we're singing, we're singing theological truths, and we're edifying eachother at the same time as praising God. this is a good thing---we're being reminded of God's greatness, we're continually reminding eachother of the gospel message, of God's works in history and also of his works now and for the future.
but what about that chunk of revelation, where the elders are singing 'holy holy holy is the Lord Almighty...' they repeat this often. i don't think that the words have any less significance because they're said so often!
it's the same with this taize service. we sang some lines over and over and over...in really beautiful haunting melodies, simple and yet complex. and the lyrics were the same: simple and yet complex. they did not encompass all of the gospel truth--they simply brought you to your knees in prayer. the mindless repetition was actually not mindless at all---you really get a chance to think and feel what the words mean as you sing them again and again. and then there's space for you to pray. in simple yet complex words, if you like. or, in flowery christian-ese, if that works better for you. or, in long-winded elaborate words...yet, with this mindless repetition, you're not distracted by hyper tunes, by following the lyrics so you can sing along, by concentrating on the message of the song you're singing, by coming up with a new and improved way of praying the same thing David prayed years ago...you're simply focussing on God.
anyways, i see the 'danger' in 'mindless repetition'...but i don't think that mindless repetition really needs to be mindless. well...yeah. your mind definitely is involved, but is your heart? i think that's the key here---as you're engaging your mind in repeating a prayer, your heart is more and more able to respond to what God's doing in it.
that's my story and i'm sticking to it.
2 comments:
sounds interesting. and you may be right, repetition can be bad if it is mindless, but I can see the benefit of it as well. sometimes it is in repetitive songs that I can really praise God through them and not be thinking so much about the things I'm singing about. not that I don't like those kind of songs either, but I definately see what you are saying. it's something to think about...
I guess that makes it mindFUL repetition :)
I see what you mean about it being edifying, and the example from Revelation is a good one.
I don't like to downplay the preaching of the Gospel by the minister though. It is by the preaching that faith is built, not from personal meditation (which can be gnosticism, if you're looking for direct revelation from God). I don't see any problem with personally meditating on the Word of God, but I believe that the church service is a time for us to be worshiping together, as the communion of saints. (read Roadside Assistance recently?) and as such we shouldn't lose what the focus should be. As much as I don't like rote prayers and unthinking worship that has become common among some of our churches, we do have some things right when it comes to liturgy.
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