Trad Worship Has Become Cool Again

And trying too hard to be cool is not.

I had an interesting and gratifying experience this past Sunday afternoon.  I lead a small prayer and study group that meets once or twice a month.  Most of those who come are 20somethings.  With it being Lent, I thought it would be good for us to pray by chanting the Litany from the Book of Common Prayer. But, although this much older guy loves the Litany, I was hesitant.  Only half of those who came were familiar with the Litany, and I thought chanting it responsively in a small group might be awkward for them.

I was happily wrong about that!

Not only did they chant the responses well, with beautiful voices no less, but it was clear they immediately took to praying that way.  One young man who rarely hides what he thinks and whom I did not expect would like it, immediately told me without my asking that he very much did like it.

I bring this up as a small confirmation of what

Rod Dreher

has just written for the European Conservative.

Dreher notes that the now infamous “rave in the nave” at Canterbury Cathedral is a desecration that not only outrages middle aged traditionalists like him and Gavin Ashenden but also turns off the very Zoomers such naff attempts at coolness try to attract.

Esmé Partridge, a rising academic star at Cambridge, wrote last week that her generation, Generation Z, doesn’t want disco cathedrals. Partridge writes:

It is far more subversive, as a member of Gen Z, to seek “re-enchantment”—something which entails treating sacred spaces with reverence—than raving in a nave. This is a generation intrigued by pagan sacred sites and spiritually-infused ecology, not the desacralisation of an ancient place of worship. 

And she notes that those attending the silent disco were more Gen X than Gen Z.  Read her whole succinct essay, which concludes:

The boomer rebellion against Christianity and attempts to modernise the church are themselves becoming outdated. It is now re-enchantment which holds subcultural value. Though this may take on questionable forms, it seems unlikely to entail holding silent discos in cathedrals. Young people have had enough of the profane; now, more and more are seeking the sacred.

I should say right here that I am attracted to traditional liturgical worship for its own sake and above that for God’s sake, not because I think it will attract the kids.  Heck, if I were the last traditional Anglican on the planet, I would consider creating a house cathedral and sticking with it anyway.  I am that committed (or should be committed).

Still, one of the arguments for modernizing worship and the use of Christian sacred spaces is to be more relevant to emerging generations.  But that is backwards, and the kids know it.  If the church waters down its worship and becomes more like the world, it becomes less relevant and less attractive.  The world is already much better at being like the world than the church — although God knows most of the Western church is trying to catch up.  So how is the church being like the world relevant?  Especially during times like this when the world is doing its worst to get more ugly and hellish by the day?

Rod Dreher gives a blunt answer (Emphasis his):

Churchmen who turn holy places into profane fun fairs close off a portal to transcendence to those who [like many Zoomers] are searching. They make the sacred ridiculous. Christian clerics who do this send the message: We don’t take this seriously, so why should you?

Traditional worship, on the other hand, sends the message that worshipping a holy God is serious business.  That does not mean I excommunicate those who worship in a more modern way.  And I am certainly willing to have a discussion about worship styles.  But let’s dispense with the excuse that modern worship attracts the kids.  Often it just makes us look like foolish Boomers to them instead.

And many of them are yearning for transcendence in the midst of a world that is starving them of it.  Should we starve them of it, too?

Better to attract the youth and others yearning for transcendence and enchantment to a transcendent holy God through transcendent holy worship.  That is really how we should worship the Lord anyway.

——

Apologies if this is a bit short as this topic begs for more to be said. Also my posting might be less frequent for a week or two.  For one thing, I intend to preach a sermon on a rather complex topic on the 3rd Sunday in Lent.  Pray for me as I prepare it . . . and for the congregation, which might need it.

If the sermon is tolerable, I will post it afterwards.