The Church and the 'We've been having it' mentality - this dictator cracks me up!
There is an incredibly funny advert doing the rounds in South Africa at the moment. It is an advert for the Vodacom cellular telephone company (you can watch the advert on youtube at the bottom of this post).
In short (for those on the 'narrowband') this advert shows various clips of a hilarious African dictator who questions every new innovation and development in communication technology with the catch phrase We've been having it! Forget email, Multimedia Messaging, 'realtone' ringtones, up to the minute weather reporting - who needs it? We've been having it!
As I watched this I thought a lot about the Church, and my friend Gus' post (C'mon people), about how we often miss the mark with the Gospel! We're either so stuck in how We've been having it! that we can't move on to anything new, or we deny that there are changes taking place all around us and we simply stick to what we know (karaoke style singing in chairs facing the front where someone flaps their gums on some uninspiring topic for 1 hour at one of the most inconvenient times of the week! But, we cry We've been having it! like ignorant dictators!)....
I long for something new, don't you? I recently heard a friend comment that he no longer goes to his local Church because he leaves there feeling depressed rather than uplifted. I think we need more ministries like those of my friend Kevin Light (see www.labyrinth.co.za)! Let's find news ways to take the Gospel to the people, instead of just pretending that We've been having it!
The Reformation leader Martin Luther said, "If you preach the Gospel and do not relate it to the issues of the day, you're not preaching the Gospel at all." I'm not much of a Lutheran... But this is a challenge to me.
So, do you think I'm missing the point? Why not sit back and watch this hilarious video (it's just 1min30 long) and let me know what you think....
PS. My favourite bit is where he does the Makarena dance!!!!
posted by digitaldion (Dion Forster) at
3:03 PM
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4 Comments:
Some good thoughts here, Dion, but I must take issue with one thing.
I'm getting pretty tired of the uncritical way in which people are picking up and repeating Kevin Light's caricature of worship music as "Christian Karaoke" (see also comment on my blog in this regard, and my response). Make no mistake, I appreciate Kevin's concerns, and I generally find his thinking both challenging and stimulating. But, on this issue, I believe he is both cynical and mistaken.
In simple terms, karaoke is performance music and people watch as spectators. Worship music is participative - community singing. Kevin's claim (as I've heard it expressed) is that communities don't sing anymore - karaoke is dead. Well, karaoke may be, but it was never community singing. So, it is an invalid comparison with worship music - it's like comparing apples and tennis rackets!
Community singing on the other hand is still very much alive - just watch any crowd at any soccer match anywhere in the world. Watch any toyi toyi in Africa. Watch any crowd at a rock concert as they sing along with their favourite songs. Watch the fans as the Boks play rugby. Community singing is still very much alive, and it is this, not karaoke, that worship singing should be compared to. I'll be blogging more on this in the next few days, so stay tuned!
Thanks for a great blog, friend.
By
John van de Laar, at 4:09 PM
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment my friend! As always, there is both sense, and grace, in what you write.
I can only say that my experience of worship in many Churches that I visit is not all that positive. I don't feel that a space is created, or an encounter is facilitated, in which I can encounter Christ, be challenged by truth, and be changed by grace.
Thankfully, there are many wonderful exceptions - some of the most meaningful times in my faith life have been in our Chapel at John Wesley College singing hymns and choruses, in the evening services at Bryanston Methodist Church being led by truly excellent worship teams, and then some more remarkable events such as the Hillsong Conference in Australia a few years ago. I guess that your ministry is to help exactly in this area? To encourage, train, and develop the capacity for truthful encounter through worship and liturgy (rather than just putting up a photocopied overhead slide of a song and having 5 people bash away at it).
So, I guess what I am saying is that I would love for more Christian gatherings and communities to learn how to help us to truly worship - and not just to go through the motions of worship because that's what our history and collective tradition tells us we must do.
I'm not critical of ALL worship, I am just critical of the low level of commitment and truth that I encounter in a lot of worship services I attend.
I hope that adds a bit of fat to the fire?
Blessings to you guys!
PS. the final edited copies of our book go back to MPH tomorrow (9th), and then the work begins to get paper in our hands by Conference! It is looking great!
D
By
digitaldion (Dion Forster), at 11:50 AM
This is a helpful clarification of your previous post, Dion, thanks. I agree with what you have written here, and yes, this is a big part of what Sacredise is about.
I have a concern, though, that there is a tendency in some quarters of the church to throw the baby out with the bath water. Rather than do the hard and important work (in my view) of transforming our worship and music through teaching, training and the creation of new resources, some, it seems, would rather just throw our worship music out altogether.
My personal struggle is that the worship I most easily relate to (i.e. contemporary) is often framed and based in conservative or fundamentalist theology, while the worship that is theologically responsible and progressive is dry and/or boring. My quest is to create a new paradigm in which our worship can be theologically deep, and socially engaged with the issues of our time, but also vibrant, relevant and inspirational.
I pray that others will join in this quest (as many already have) and that those who are in positions of leadership would open the doors for those who do this work to teach and lead the Church into this new paradigm.
For what it's worth! Thanks for a great conversation.
By
John van de Laar, at 3:11 PM
I agree with the sentiment - there is a definite need to encourage worship that is both theologically deep (and dare I say sensible) but at the same time appropriate in our 21st century setting. One way of doing that, I believe is to look at actually how we define 'worship'.
People can gather together in the name of Jesus Christ and not necessarily be part of what we would traditionally call 'worship'. Film groups, discussion groups, coffee mornings, heck even bingo - call them worship. Because if Jesus taught nothing else he taught that all we do should be done to the glory of God.
Sorry, rather a rushed unthought-through reply, but an interesting discussion!
By
Paddy, at 5:00 PM
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