I believe so, but if you attended a recent chapel at Asbury Seminary you wouldn't be able to tell. I've never been to services that are more void of joy in the weeks following Easter in my life. I'm not sure what the problem is but the services are dry and joyless. There is no excitement when the leader says "Christ is risen" and there seems to be even less excitement when the people respond "He is risen indeed." When we sing song proclaiming the resurrection they are listless and flat. We celebrate the resurrection with our words but our physical expressions and our emotions don't attest to the fact that Christ is truly risen.
Could it be that the end of the year rush has gotten students down? Well if it is the case that school work can rob you of the joy of Christ being risen from the dead then I would wondering if you have any business being a pastor.
I'm not sure if this is the case but I wonder if the problem is with the chapel services themselves. I don't want to say this is definitive problem, but I would like to offer it as a possibility. It seems to me that lately in chapel we have misplaced our focus. Instead of focusing on the major things (i.e. CHRIST'S RESURRECTION) we decide to focus on music, call to worship creativity, and other things. It seems to me that we may be allowing ourselves to become blinded by things that should just be natural expressions.
Allow me to offer one example.
During lent I suggested, using the Orthodox Church as my example, that we not only proclaim "Christ is Risen" in English, but that we also proclaim it in other languages (ideally those that are represented in our seminary community). It seemed good to the group that this was a good idea and thus we decided to press forward with it and even got a banner made with all the languages. The problem is that somewhere between idea and praxis this small expression has blinded us. It seems that we are striving so hard to "make this work" and "get enough mileage our of it" that we are forcing the issue. It's almost as if it is a showcase and we're trying so hard to be intercultural that we are allowing it to be our focus rather than the joy of the resurrection which indeed allows us to proclaim that there is "no longer Jew nor Greek."
I think this idea is great but it seems that it only works when the the focus is absolutely on the Resurrection and not on the means to convey the truth of it. It seems that this problem of focusing on the means rather than the truth to be conveyed has been a protestant problem for such a long time, but I digress.
This is just one example. I am completely befuddled as to how a SEMINARY community to be so lackluster and joyless in the weeks following Easter. I shudder to think that many in this community are merely semester away from leading churches in the celebration of our Lord's resurrection.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm completely out of my mind but this is what I observe. Maybe I'm not observing correctly because I sit in the balcony running sound or maybe I'm just comparing this to the amazing joy and celebration that was had during the Pascha Vigil at my church. I'm not sure, but if what I am observing is correct then I am scared to death for the western protestant church.
May the Lord rekindle his people and fill them with joy for truly Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death!!
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4 comments:
I know that, personally, I have never felt such joy after Easter as I have this year. We have had several services this week, and each has been even more joy-filled than the previous one.
You might want to try to come to one this weekend: Friday night at 6:30 or Saturday morning at 9am. We are still singing all the Paschal hymns and Fr. Justin has been teaching us new ones. It has just been such a blessing to be able to celebrate the Resurrection for days and days, not just on Easter.
Have a good week!
Mate
Never deny the power of the creative side to people - otherwise you are denying mine and many of my contemporaries a lifeline in our expression of worship - an expression that is part of being an ORDAINED pastor of several churches.
Your blog made me really sad. Chapels at ATS this week have stirred my spirit, have exhorted me to allow myself to live on the borderlands (a call to creative communication of the WHOLE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE) and into worship with my international brothers and sisters. That you take face value at the emotional energy in worship perhaps indicates that you do not know what is going on for the people to whom you are part of the team who you SERVE.
Ben - please allow the Spirit to stir you to see what God is doing in the lives of some broken people here amongst us - and have the courage to allow us to worship our resurrected saviour in our hearts, minds, souls, emotions and senses - just as we enable, encourage and exhort you to do the same.
Of course we should be joyous at the resurrection. But the reality is that many of us still live with the reality that is Easter Saturday - a constant wilderness time where our prayers for the cup to pass from us remain unanswered and we live in the tension that is the expectation of resurrection life.
We are still a broken people, Ben. May we know the joy of resurrection life, but let us not forget our present joys and woes.
Spirit of God speak. Pour down like rain - rain into the deserts of our hearts, washing us deep and clean and allowing us to journey away from the cross into the places where we are all to minister. May we be gracious to others who journey with us; allowing us to be who we are - knowing that there are greater miracles ahead.
First, I'm impressed that you used the word praxis. I don't think I've ever even thought the word praxis. Or thought about the word praxis.
Second, it doesn't surprise me from a psychological/cultural standpoint if what you say really is the case. I am finishing my third year of my graduate program, and even though I love linguistics and entered the program strongly believing God wanted me to be here, sometimes all I want is to get out. Hopefully a seminary tries to limit the strain of school in order to avoid doing that to people, but it wouldn't surprise me if the stresses of 'school' and intellectual academic training would sometimes end up occupying people's minds.
Of course, if this is the case, it is sad nonetheless. I would probably peg it as a result of doing ministry training academically. Which is not a bad thing, necessarily, but would have some potential emotional and spiritual bi-products which could be difficult to eliminate.
by the way, how are you?
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