07.02.2005

A longing for lively worship and spirituality

Have Reformed Christians grown stale in their theology and spiritual practice?

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Delegates to the 24th General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) meeting in Accra, Ghana, thought so and recommended a number of steps to counteract the trend, including serious study on the Holy Spirit and spirituality.
They also said WARC should begin to develop and document a theology of worship to speak to the diverse needs of its members, honouring enriching traditions and raising up different worship models.
Delegates said in the final report of General Council’s spirituality section that they wanted WARC to facilitate a process of worship renewal that would help immerse worship and spiritual life in the forms of the various cultures within the WARC family.
“We especially encourage an interchange of all creative methods, a sharing of musical, visual, liturgical and biblical resources and approaches,” the report stated.
There was also a call for a practical and creative response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic such as a gathering of resources that might help deepen the spirituality of church members so they might “resist, celebrate and feel for others in the midst of everything we face.”
The spirituality report called for alertness in the Reformed world to issues of language and participation, citing the divisive and exclusive practices of some churches, and it emphasized the need for dialogue that crosses the theological divides within faith traditions.
While stating that spirituality is the main way Christians discern the presence of God and while celebrating the wholistic and engaged African spirituality at General Council, the report stated that Reformed churches have a mixed record of responding to the spiritual hunger of their members.
“Varying and conflicting stories were told of people who felt lifted up by the church and others who felt cast down. We heard stories of those who, during time of war in their country, found something inspiring and strengthening.
“We heard stories of those who were living with pain and loss and were held up and empowered by the church. We also heard stories of those confronted and excluded by mean-spirited attitudes and an unwillingness to be open to people,” the report states.
“We are very clear how our practise of spirituality can enable healing of our personal and political hurt, soothe our memories and enable us to move on. But we see how it can also witness to a separation of worship from life and a flattering of our egos rather than a deep engagement with the will of God for our world and lives.”
The report confesses that Reformed Christians have not developed or honoured an understanding of the Holy Spirit or understood what a life in the Spirit might look like. Spirituality has been confined to worship.
“Our theology has emphasized the head over the heart, the mind over the body; this is a theology growing increasingly stale in the diverse cultures and environments we inhabit,” the spirituality report stated.
While spirituality seems lodged in worship alone, “So many of us spend so little time in worship and the worship we engage in often fails to address the issues of the day, nor does it engage us at any deep level.
“We are often not expressing ourselves, our faith or our theology at a level that moves us and compels us to struggle for life in all its fullness.”
The report called for Reformed Christians to develop spiritual resources to maintain the struggle for justice and fullness of life and not succumb to fatigue, cynicism or fatalism.
It also yearned for a spirituality that would move Reformed Christians to a deeper caring for the sacredness of the earth and doing justice so that all kinds of life are treated with respect rather than as mere commodities.
“Spirituality reveals to us a deepening sense of the God who cares for all living things, a care we, too, are called to exercize and sustain. But we still need to practise this ecologically responsible discipleship and see it inviting us into deeper partnership with Christ and the many who share this concern with us.”
At the same time the report raised some concerns about the dangers of spirituality becoming a form of self-centredness where one’s personal needs are central to the world, or mere comfort when challenge is also called for.
“Thus our spirituality needs to be shaped by our biblical reflection on God’s life and the life of the world, giving us points of reference beyond ourselves.”
An openness to the gifts of young people, women, indigenous peoples and those with disabilities and to new models of leadership, participation, worship and service were also called for in the report. “The Holy Spirit is at work in all people but so many people’s lives and gifts go unheeded.”
Delegates meeting in the spirituality section of the General Council heard stories of churches who use communion as a means to exclude some from church life, something council decried. “This is an aspect of our worship that can most powerfully equip us to resist, celebrate and feel for others in the midst of everything we face.
“How can we remember Jesus at that table, on that night, with those disciples, and not be inspired to seek fullness of life? Far from allowing communion to divide us even within the Reformed tradition, we see it calling us once more into a passionate, generous and joyful way of life together.”
While delegates expressed concern that young people were being lost to the free style of worship celebrated in Pentecostal, charismatic and evangelical churches, the report recognized there may be some things to learn from these groups.
“It seems that some churches cannot accept lively styles of worship but we want to affirm that using drums is not a sin; clapping and dance are not disrespectful. But also we want to affirm the role of silence and meditation, of chanting, in fact, all the modes of expression we could use.
“Being in Ghana and Africa excited us with so many examples of life-filled and lively worship and spirituality.”