On Church: Relevance Is A Crock
I think relevance is a crock. I don't think people care a whole lot about what kind of music you have or how you shape the service. They want a place where God is taken seriously, where they're taken seriously, where there is no manipulation of their emotions or their consumer needs.
[W]e're involved with something that has a huge mystery to it. Are we going to wipe out all the mystery so we can be in control of it? Isn't reverence at the very heart of the worship of God?
And if we present a rendition of the faith in which all the mystery is removed, and there's no reverence, how are people ever going to know there's something more than just their own emotions, their own needs? There's something a lot bigger than my needs that's going on. How do I ever get to that if the church service and worship program is all centered on my needs?
-- Eugene Peterson, Spirituality For All the Wrong Reasons
Amen to that.
1 Comments:
I think Peterson is correct to a point. I think culture effects church (i.e. the church of the 1st century is different, and should be different, from the church in the 21st century). Whether Petetrson would classify that as relevance I don't know. Therefore type of music does matter, and how one shapes a service does matter...to a point.
I do agree that 21st century churches lacks the mystery and reverence of its predecesors. But the focus should not be on relevance per se, but to question how a 21st century church can be nonself-centered, reverant, and retain the mystery of God in the climate it is in.
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