What Are Words Worth, by Ben Jeapes
Image by sebastiano iervolino from Pixabay
I fled liturgy when I was young. Non-liturgical worship just seemed more sincere. Being inspired on the spot was surely better than droning words read off a page, and the mandatory church services of my upbringing seemed dull and flat compared to the more vibrant styles that came to attract me. I will grudgingly admit they could have been described as happy-clappy, though I drew the line at the more wavy-ravy direction that some of my more zealous friends went.
Call it growing up, or healing, whatever, but I am increasingly coming back to it. (What can you call a medium-to-high Anglican church with processions and sung eucharist? Amble-candle?) Perhaps it’s just the editor in me wanting to interrupt one of those improvised prayer sessions that go for the world record of using the word “just”, and suggest that maybe they should write it down beforehand: it can still be Spirit-inspired, you know.
It’s not just the aesthetic satisfaction (the poetry of the words, the music, the sheer atmosphere), though that does come into it and there’s nothing wrong with it. There is a value to using the same words over and again. A nun talking to my wife described her community’s daily worship routine as “dipping in to a stream of worship that has flowed for a thousand years”, which I think is a pretty nice way of putting it. The more I immerse myself in worship, the more I say – or even sing – something like “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”, the more I believe it.
Not that I don’t also believe it in between services. I do, very much so. But I won’t deny that I suppose I believe it more in church, or, I feel the importance of that belief. I feel suitably struck with awe and holy. The feeling subsides through some kind of spiritual entropy as the week progresses, to be topped up again next week, same time, same place.
But, over time I find that it takes longer to subside. The dips are getting shallower; the links in the chain are getting larger. I am not getting into that stream and immediately getting out again. I am more and more being carried along with it. The more our words point people to God, the more support we are providing for them on the way. This is my ambition – to write words that carry people along in that stream of worship.
Ben Jeapes took up writing in the mistaken belief that it would be easier than a real job (it isn’t). Hence, as well as being the author of eight novels and co-author of many more, he has also been a journal editor, book publisher, and technical writer. His most recent title is a children’s biography of Ada Lovelace. www.benjeapes.com
Call it growing up, or healing, whatever, but I am increasingly coming back to it. (What can you call a medium-to-high Anglican church with processions and sung eucharist? Amble-candle?) Perhaps it’s just the editor in me wanting to interrupt one of those improvised prayer sessions that go for the world record of using the word “just”, and suggest that maybe they should write it down beforehand: it can still be Spirit-inspired, you know.
It’s not just the aesthetic satisfaction (the poetry of the words, the music, the sheer atmosphere), though that does come into it and there’s nothing wrong with it. There is a value to using the same words over and again. A nun talking to my wife described her community’s daily worship routine as “dipping in to a stream of worship that has flowed for a thousand years”, which I think is a pretty nice way of putting it. The more I immerse myself in worship, the more I say – or even sing – something like “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”, the more I believe it.
Not that I don’t also believe it in between services. I do, very much so. But I won’t deny that I suppose I believe it more in church, or, I feel the importance of that belief. I feel suitably struck with awe and holy. The feeling subsides through some kind of spiritual entropy as the week progresses, to be topped up again next week, same time, same place.
But, over time I find that it takes longer to subside. The dips are getting shallower; the links in the chain are getting larger. I am not getting into that stream and immediately getting out again. I am more and more being carried along with it. The more our words point people to God, the more support we are providing for them on the way. This is my ambition – to write words that carry people along in that stream of worship.
Great post, Ben. I grew up in the Open Brethren, whose non-liturgical worship was just as rigid as any liturgy, haha. I've been an Anglican lay minister for over 20 years. I love liturgy and agree with what you say here, adding the caveat that liturgical worship carries the risk of becoming something people just do by rote. That's not a fault with liturgy in itself, which is Scripturally based, the fault lies with us. And I still very much appreciate the joy and passion of charismatic worship, but again with caveats: without the wild theological excesses and the frequent tendency to worship the worship, rather than the Lord himself.
ReplyDelete'I'm coming bak to the heart of worship...' goes a charismatic-type song which I remember from my most-un-liturgic days. Welcome back, Ben: liturgical worship has ancient roots, right back to when the first Christian churches practiced it. It does indeed have value, and keeps the church on the right lines, with its Creed and confession etc... and, importantly the 'Lord's Prayer' or "our Father' which (though yes, some people find God as father a problem and we acknowledge that today) I remember being in the kind of church for about 20 years which didn't really say it, which increasingly felt not-right seeing it is Jesus's own prayer taught to his disciples. But, in liturgical worship we have the Christian church growing from its Jewish roots, which is right (I think). We do just need to always remember that beautiful music at Choral Evensong doesn't replace the reality of the Eucharist, the only worship which Jesus Himself instituted... Welcomed this piece. (And yes the Brethren are indeed rigid - one of my oldest friends from Uni days was raised there , and has tales to tell...will we human beings ever get it balanced and 'correct'?!!)
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Ben! Thanks. Your first paragraph drew smiles as you perfectly captured a world I once was entrenced, in the form of worship - 'wavy -ravy ' direction! However, I miss so much as well singing hymns from Songs of Praise[secondary school], Hymns Ancient and Modern[ Anglican Church] etc. Any worship that points to our Lord gives Him glory. I also share your dream and goal to write stories that will draw worship, praise and glory to our Lord. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteLove the image! I also like the old hymns and contemplative worship as well but also a mixture of 'happy clappy'. Hopefully, however we worship is unimportant as long as its sincere.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely some echoed in my experience. Dull and flat Anglican liturgical services of my childhood. Then thumping Baptist hymn singing (And Can it Be etc), then Charismatic churches. To my surprise in the last few years I have found I remember pretty well word perfect the rich language of the liturgy 'Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven...'. And the moment I became a Christian (I'm one of those I wasn't then I was believers) was as I opened my mouth to say the opening words of the Confession 'I believe in God...' and that was during one of those flat Anglican services I had rejected in favour of more heartfelt church services. God, it appears, is at work in all things. May your dips continue to get shallower!
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