A Fresher Way Of Worship
October 30, 2009
Bettina Lehovec
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/10/31/religion/103109relallsaints.txt
BENTONVILLE — The strains of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” reverberate through the church, amplified by electric guitar, keyboard and a full set of drums.
The band’s play list for Sunday evening services includes music by The Beatles, The Who, Coldplay, Tom Petty and Johnny Cash. Very few “Christian” artists are on the list. Yet the music delivers a message that speaks to people’s yearning for the divine.
J.S. WEDGEWORTH THE MORNING NEWS The Reverend Roger Joslin, left, listens as Amber Gardner rehearses music for the All Saints’ Episcopal Church service at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Bentonville on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009.
“To be sacred, music doesn’t have to be labeled as Christian music,” said the Rev. Roger Joslin, vicar of All Saints Episcopal Church in Bentonville. The church, which meets in the Christ the King Lutheran Church building near the downtown square, began offering an alternative evening service in September.
Where the morning service follows the refined format found in most Episcopal churches, the evening service diverges with rock music, a conversational-style sermon and the use of the “earthier” New Zealand prayer book.
“This is a fresher way, a different way of looking at worship,” Joslin said. “We think the church is changing. We want to be part of that change.”
Joslin considers the service part of the emergent church movement, a loose grouping of followers experimenting with new forms of worship and discipleship. A hallmark of the emergent “conversation” is engaging the culture where it is, rather than in institutional formats that seem outmoded to some.
Yet there is also an emphasis on the worship traditions found in the early Christian church. Emerging congregations (emerging and emergent are often used interchangeably) often have an emphasis on liturgy, contemplative prayer and other forms of worship.
“The idea is to blur the distinction between what is seen as secular and sacred,” Joslin explained. “The church doesn’t have a hold on how God moves. We recognize that (the divine) is everywhere.”
At the Oct. 18 service, the steady beat of a drum replaced a processional hymn for the opening. Joslin threw a clerical stole over a pair of jeans and a crew neck shirt. His sermons are generally conversational, inviting people in the pews to join in, he said. On this particular Sunday, he read a short story he had penned that afternoon.
The service followed the familiar sequence through Scripture reading, sermon, prayers and communion found in other Episcopal services. Yet the use of the New Zealand prayer book, which is heavily influenced by Maori culture, added a sense of intimacy to the rites. “Confession” is referred to as “forgiveness,” for example.
Joslin said he’s open to continued experimentation and change.
“The main factor is to be receptive to different ideas,” he said. “We’re willing to try. We’re willing to fail. We don’t have to be perfect. ... Sometimes (things are) really beautiful. Sometimes we fall on our face.”
Feedback to the alternative service has been “decidedly mixed,” Joslin said. Attendance has averaged about 25. Some are younger folks looking for a contemporary church service. Others are longtime worshippers.
Jeanne Curtis, a vestry member of All Saints, called the service “the best-kept secret in Northwest Arkansas.”
“I just love the music,” she said. “I love the informality. I love the New Zealand liturgy. This is my service.”
‘Retraditioning’ Ancient Practices
The emerging church movement is a difficult phenomenon to quantify, said Thomas Brackett, program officer for church planting with the Evangelism and Congregational Life Center of the Episcopal Church.
A handful of Episcopal congregations nationwide identify themselves as emergent. Others, like All Saints, are trying emergent services and outreach. Many more combine elements of the emerging church without formally recognizing themselves as part of the trend.
“In its broadest application, a lot of churches are ‘emergent,’” Brackett said. “We believe in new hope and new life. We see ourselves as midwives to the Spirit in a world longing for reconciliation.”
Although emerging practices might seem on the edge, they actually follow a 2,000-year history of “retraditioning” ancient practices to make them available to the wider world, Brackett said.
Priests no longer celebrate the Eucharist in Latin, for example. They face the congregation and share responsibilities with lay members.
“Our ‘traditional’ church today would be considered an emergent church 2,000 years ago,” the church planter said.
The emerging movement crosses theological boundaries, with evangelical, charismatic and liberal churches joining in. There are no strict guidelines. Proponents generally agree that new approaches to religion are needed in a world disillusioned by the institutional church.
Key concepts include an emphasis on open-ended dialogue, on community, and on relative, or pluralistic, truth, said Robb Ryerse, pastor of Vintage Fellowship in Fayetteville, in a previous conversation. Like a number of evangelical churches, Vintage Fellowship identifies with the emerging conversation but not with the “big E” Emergent Church, a group of thinkers who are seen as too relativistic by some.
Evangelical Brian McLaren, an outspoken voice in the conversation, says emerging churches are seeking to engage a new mission field — the postmodern culture of today and tomorrow. Brackett agrees that the emphasis belongs on the change happening in the culture at large.
“The Spirit is emerging in the world around us. That shapes us,” he said. “Instead of us being emerging, the Spirit is birthing something new and that is emerging.”
Jolene Phelps, an All Saints member from Pea Ridge, said the evening service fits the All Saints ethos of exploration and open-mindedness. Three quarters of the congregation hail from non-Episcopal backgrounds, she said. They’re attracted to All Saints for its willingness to explore new ideas and create a space for personal transformation.
“We’re not tied to the past,” Phelps said. “We’re starting out here like we started at the school (where the group first met for services). We didn’t have a clue what we were doing.
“This service, too, is evolving,” she said. “All of us feel on the edge. This is an accepting congregation. In order to be that way, we have to throw away what’s not relevant.”