On liturgy and inculturation « The Recovering Choir Director - Gregorian Chant & Catholic sacred music

On liturgy and inculturation

A Lutheran (LCMS) blogger has some pointed words for what passes as “inculturation” in his denomination.

If there is any one thing that completely turns me off about the “contemporary” worship movement in the LC-MS today, it is the way the movement so ardently insists upon its veracity in our midst. In unabashed disregard for others, “modern worship” asserts its necessity to the Church as the mandate of mission and the natural result of inculturation. But inculturation, by definition, needs no “necessities” nor “mandates.” Inculturation happens without one being aware of it. It’s like picking up a dialect. By the time you say “warsh” instead of “wash,” you don’t know that you’ve changed.

In contrast, the “need” for guitar and drums hardly creeps unnoticed into the church. Rather, it imposes itself upon the church from the outside, demanding acceptance and validation. This alone shows it to be what it is: yes, rock and roll. Rock and roll, by nature, asserts itself as new, different, better, and at once counter-cultural and anti-establishment. It is anti-”you” and pro-”me.” It is total demand for self-expression and absolute rejection of conformity. Is it really necessary for me to point out that these are not Biblical, confessional themes?

Posted 10.12.2005
by Aristotle Esguerra
2 comments.
Filed under: Relevant Reading.

2 Comments

What gets me in, not only the LCMS, but in a few of the Protestant circuits I’ve seen around here is that the “Contemporary Worship Service” gets this HUUUUUUUUUUUGE banner covering half a church wall. It’s like LOOK WHAT WE’VE GOT! Like you said - it’s anti-”you” and pro-”me”.

As bad as many Catholic churches have it with contemporary Masses, at least most of them limited their promos to the parish bulletins (except, of course, St. Joan’s)

Warsh me Lawd from all mah sins.

Brian Michael Page
10.13.2005 @ 8:10 pm #

i was thinking about this on the way home from mass today. solemn mass, unaccompanied gregorian chant, organ prelude and postlude, … somehow afterwards i found myself out in the windy streets with my mp3 player, turning on french rock from the 90s. we had an “asperges me” ! for the first time in 5 weeks ! i didn’t realize how much i’d missed that.

i left the church today with this glowering sadness about having only one mass like this a month, now, when in my old (french) parish it was 4 times on sundays and 3 latin masses every day, and even though it takes me an hour to get to this church and the mass is badly timed and i usually have to run off and do a bunch of work afterward to prepare for the coming week … i just can’t bring myself to go to the closer, more accessible, “easier” church in harvard square. it’s not just the modern liturgy, which - as you show in your weekly updates - can be celebrated with dignity and solemnity and true worship. it’s the whole “me” culture taking over the church.

when i go to mass i want to forget ME for a while. i want to disappear into god and let him take over. i want to have to adapt myself to something greater, and to feel that sacred emptying of self as timelessness takes me. this is why i have gregorian on my mp3 player - so i can recreate that experience outside the church. but the reverse cannot be true - french rock of the 90s (e.g.) shouldn’t be brought to the altar. ipod culture is ok for the subway, and sports, and commuting … but it’s not ok for a mass.

comments hijack (sorry aris) - your post has made me think. thanks for that.

romy
10.16.2005 @ 5:09 pm #

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