The Emergence of the Eucharist in the Emerging Church
Most traditionalist Catholics who are concerned about the infiltration of "Protestant" ideas into the faith aren't aware that a mirror opposite movement exists among evangelicals that monitors Catholic ideas creeping into Protestant practice.
Understand the Times is a blog from within this "guard the purity of the Reformation" movement which has a fascinating article "THE EMERGENCE OF THE EUCHARIST IN THE EMERGING CHURCH"
One of the common beliefs circulating amongst the supporters of the Emergent Church is a concept called “Vintage Christianity”. According to this view, experiences effective in attracting Christians to come to church in the past should be reintroduced today in order to attract the postmodern generation who are hungry for experience.
Dan Kimball, author of the book The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generation is one of the key proponents of this idea. He firmly believes that worship must play an important role to attract post-moderns into Christianity. In a section of his book subtitled “Truly worshipping in a worship gathering,” he writes:
We should be returning to a no-holds-barred approach to worship and teaching so that when we gather, there is no doubt we are in the presence of God. I believe that both believers and unbelievers in our emerging culture are hungry for this. It isn’t about clever apologetics or careful exegetical and expository preaching or great worship bands. … Emerging generations are hungry to experience God in worship. [1]
Snip.
One example?
It may not qualify as a mini-Reformation, but a Communion service driven by the music of singer Bono and his U2 bandmates is catching on at Episcopal churches across the country. The U2 Eucharist is not some kind of youth service held in the church basement but is a traditional Episcopal liturgy that uses U2's best-selling songs as hymns.
"It makes you, like, warm inside," says Bridgette Roberts, 15, who is a Roman Catholic and attended a recent U2 Eucharist at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. "Usually at church, you love Jesus and everything. But this way you can express how you feel." Says her friend, Natalie Williams, 17: "I love Bono, and you can rock out to the music. But in church, you hear it in a different way. It's like new." [6]
According to the article, the Rev. Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, came up with the idea for the “U2-charist.” She held the first service at her church on July 31, 2005, displaying U2's lyrics on a screen by the altar. Since then she informally has consulted with about 150 churches that have had U2 Eucharists (or are planning to) in fifteen states and seven countries. [7]
Eucharistic Evangelization
Apparently interest in Rev. Blair’s innovation to celebrate communion is catching on. Blair's church is starting what it calls a "U2-charist team" to take U2-charist evangelism on the road.
The article's summary? "You can expect Eucharistic evangelization to become more popular and successful. We are living in the Last Days and spiritual deception is intensifying in the name of Jesus."
My question:
So what is this? A new openness to the idea of the Eucharist that will ultimately lead to the fullness of Eucharistic theology and full communion? Or will it be a temporary fad, unconnected to historic Eucharistic theology and ecclesiology and essentially Protestant. Or, most likely, a door to the historic Catholic faith for some and a passing fancy for others?
posted by Sherry W @ 7:34 AM
4 Comments
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4 Comments:
Sherry,
I, too, am fascinated by the Emerging Church movement. I believe that it can be a doorway back into the Catholic Church. In many ways, it is "rediscovering Catholicism." What is dangerous, however, is that it appropriates Catholic things (like liturgy, for example), but keeps it untethered to Tradition.
It is the same danger that exists for Catholics if we reflexively reappropriate catholic things (like a focus on mission, discipleship, and evangelism) from Protestantism.
I think in many ways the Emerging Church Movement is dagnerous because it can resemble traditional Christianity in many ways, but if you scratch the surface, you'll see a Christianity co-opted subtly by the tyranny of relativism.
I teach at an evangelical school, and this strikes many of us as a new fad. The leaders of the movement are theologically and philosophically naive in some very dangerous ways. Further, the movement seems to be no different in formal terms from previous movements in evangelicalism (church marketing, seeker-sensitive); pragmatic concerns underlie them all.
A question many of us have is for such folks, why not simply become Orthodox or Catholic? The movement seems to be play-acting. It's like pagan religions: a pale reflection of the truth that is full-blooded Christianity. So Keith is right when he wasys it's like 'rediscovering Catholicism.'
Finally, there's a major reaction against the influence and indeed the very possibility of doctrine; the Emergent movement is an experiential, existential, very avowedly postmodern movement. There's something to be said against Protestant rationalism, but in fleeing Scylla these folks hit Charibdis.
[btw: blog plug: catholidoxies.blogspot.com, where I'm exploring conversion to Catholicism or Orthodoxy]
This reminds me of a poster I saw just before last Ash Wednesday at the Evangelical university I attended back in the day.
"Come attend an Ash Wednesday worship service based on a 4th century liturgy."
That raised the questions, "but is it based on 4th century theology?" and "why not attend 4th century liturgy as it lives today?"
If the Emerging Church "conversation" tried to understand Christian history on its own terms rather than through postmodern and post-Christian lenses, I'd be more hopeful of it being a back door into full communion with the Church.
I am a former member of the second Episcopal church in the country who hosted a U2charist.
The actual innovator of this liturgy is Dylan Breuer (of sarahlaughed.net), a priest in training.
I find your criticism amusing. Roman Catholicism (and mainline denominations, too) have managed to make religion by and large irrelevant and meaningless.
I personally led a team in Richmond, VA to stage the first u2charist in Richmmond. Due to our publicity, we attracted some atheists to our service who thought the experience. Seems like piquing curiosity might be the spirit's way of intervening. That's the new mission of this church. You folks want to split hairs -- you should be glad to see spiritual awakening in younger generations who might not be reached in other ways.
I say this as a recovering Roman Catholic who experienced beauitful spiritual renewal in the Episcopal Church.
Liturgy that is not experential is dead in my opinion...and encourages a deadened spirituality. I am very thankful for God for the imagination that is present in the Episcopal Church.
There is something called creating an environment of passionate spirituality - and believe me conversions do happen in these environments. It is something beautiful and holy and God very much works through it.
Open your mind. If this isn't your form of worship, that's totally cool. But certainly you can apprecaite everyone has a different worship style and everyone needs different stimuli.
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