My fiancé recently posted the following article on Facebook, which I found very interesting, about the number of young Christians who grew up in Evangelical churches and are turning toward "high" church traditions such as Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Catholicism:
I found the article particularly interesting because I have felt some dissatisfaction with evangelicalism myself and been drawn to the sense of timelessness and sacredness inherent in some of the high church liturgy, hymns, and even the arrangement of space. The article has a definite bias, but it did make me think about some of the strengths of the Evangelical movement and how those churches which teach strong theology and such have singularly equipped young people to deepen and maintain Protestant faith.
My church's sanctuary is a combined gym-plus-auditorium, and there is something in me that, in the midst of a true, genuine worship service feels starved for the sacred. As Evangelicals we are great at making God and Christianity accessible through Christ, which I believe allows and compels us to love well and minister effectively in the community and abroad. But when we sing of God's holiness yet approach Him so casually, sometimes I feel a disconnect. It is good to "draw near the throne of grace with confidence" (Hebrews 4:16), but what happened to "[offering] God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire"? (Hebrews 12:28-29) Can the trust that is strengthened through relationship also be strengthened by a sense of His enormous greatness above and beyond our ken?
How do we simultaneously communicate Christ's immanence within the boundaries of our present time and culture, and yet also His transcendence above the confines of all times and places? For the God who intimately knows our hearts and dwells within us is also enthroned on high and knows all things.
Can we confront and honor this mystery of knowableness and unknowableness with zeal of discovery and proper respect for all mysteries as that which goes beyond our current understanding? For the Atonement is as mysterious as it is concrete. Love beyond all reason and reasons beyond our grasp meet with bones and blood, wood and stone. Perhaps we can imagine the Crucifixion and Resurrection, but how so the Incarnation and Ascension? So too our worship of a holy and glorious God should be mysterious as humility and excellence (for One who is supremely worthy) and concrete as our love for others in their physical needs and shortcomings in the dailyness of life. The mystery of forgiveness becomes very concrete when one is hurt by a friend.
Liturgy and sacrament, the soaring cathedral arc, give a sense of holiness and distance...but perhaps the guitar need not be abandoned for an organ. The gospel unites the mysterious and concrete without division; that which is in time and that which is timeless: is there a way between "high" church and "low"church which does the same and communicates both elements of God's character and His ways? How do we demonstrate that God is approachable and infinitely holy?
As always, there are so many more questions in my mind than answers, but I think there is a way without abandoning the good that Evangelical Christianity has accomplished nor discounting the validity of traditions within "high" churches such as the Anglicans, Lutherans, Orthodox, and Catholics. For I see one God in the Bible--and He is characterized by holiness and glory, justice and love, grace and beauty. Somehow our forms of worship (which, by the way, communicate much more than our words) have divvied up these attributes by what each tradition emphasizes. May we find a way to re-unify our understanding and worship of God!
amen! We have perhaps on both sides discounted the value of kneeling on stone or raising the hands in worship. We need not less of the second, but more of the first. It is not a matter of balancing reverence and intimacy, but chasing after both more and more.
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