It's my first "Youth Sunday" in my new call. That's just one in a string of firsts that greet all new pastors. Next comes my first Stewardship season, followed closely by my first Advent and Christmas, and so on. One of the reasons it takes a pastor a while to get acclimated is the need to go through a string of firsts that takes at least a year.
Today's first doesn't ask much of me, other than to step aside. As much as I love preaching, a Sunday off when I'm not away on vacation is something of a gift, and so I am happy to accommodate. But as I step aside, and middle and high schoolers take center stage, I find myself reflecting on Kierkegaard's critique of worship as drama.
We Protestants speak of a "priesthood of all believers," meaning that there are no special people needed to act a conduits for divine access. We all have direct access to God in Jesus, and we all can share God's presence with others. And so it makes prefect sense that people other than pastors would lead worship, would seek to draw others into God's presence. Indeed, the only reasons that Presbyterians require ordained pastors (or commissioned lay pastors) to preside over baptisms and the Lord's Supper is because they have special training to explain and interpret the meaning of such events. Other than this training, their presence confers no special aura to the moment.
And yet, worship in most churches remains a show of which pastors are lead players along with choirs and others. It is a show folks come to watch. This is what infuriated Kierkegaard all those years ago, this notion of a drama on stage with the congregation as audience. He insisted that the only audience for worship was God, and all of us involved are the actors presenting the drama to God.
The Youth Sunday that will unfold later this morning at least has the advantage that people who ordinarily would be part of the "audience" now become the lead actors. Perhaps in that process, a greater sense of worship as shared offering to God can be glimpsed. If nothing else, perhaps the youth can have a better sense of worship as their offering to God.
But I suspect that for many worshipers, the old patterns are hard to break. The actors on the stage are different this week, but for the most part, the audience remains the same (other than friends, grandparents, etc. in the audience who came especially for this service). And expectations likely remain the same. Everyone realizes that worship will look a bit different today, but it will be something done by those on the stage, other than those few moments of congregational speaking of singing.
This is not a critique of congregations on my part, and I don't think of Kierkegaard's part either. I'm inclined to think that whatever sense people have of going to a show has been cultivated by those of us who are the presumed actors. We're the ones who have done worship all these years in a way to focus all attention on us. We Presbyterians speak of the Word being the central part of worship. In old worship orders this Word functioned as grand finale. In more current orders of worship, the Word is at the center of the service with parts flowing toward or away from it. But of course the major element of the Word is sermon. There is a long, rich, theological history in our tradition focused on the the Word and its place in worship. But practically speaking, we pastors oversee a worship tradition in which sermon, if not in fact pastor, is the star of the show.
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what a good, viable alternative to this is. And there are no doubt many people in the "audience" who feel very engaged in worship, who feel that their singing, attention, etc. are gifts they offer to God whose presence is quite real to them. But I worry that they are more exception than rule. And I feel that we need to do more to help others worship on Sunday morning rather than serve as audience.
I'd love to hear from people who think I'm off base, who have ideas that might help, or whatever. How do we do worship so that it becomes an event in which we all participate, an event where God's presence is palpable, and we offer out best to God?
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