AD CLERUM - September 2004

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

The Danish theologian and philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, said in his book, "Purity of Heart," that theatre is made up of 3 elements: the actors on the stage, the prompters behind them who give the actors their cues and remind them of their lines, and then beyond the footlights, the audience who have come to be entertained. Kierkegaard went on to say that in the church, we all too often lead worship as if it were theatre; that those wearing vestments, are the actors, God is the prompt and the congregation is the audience who have to be entertained.

There is a great deal of truth in that allegation. Worship is liturgical drama and always has an element of theatre in it. A professional actress attending an Easter Lighting of the Paschal Candle Service at St Martin's-in-the-Veld with her mother, was converted by the drama of the occasion. In many parishes, we have worship teams, (the actors) who meet together to listen to the prompt, (God) and to plan and prepare the worship know how carefully, each liturgical service is constructed and balanced, and how much the feelings of the congregation are taken into account. We might not be entertaining the congregation, although choral anthems and special songs often come very close, but we choose hymns that will be popular, keep things moving so that attention will not wander and people don't have to stand or sit or kneel for uncomfortably long periods, and above all, ensure that the service does not last longer than 1 hour, 1½ hours, or whatever the congregation finds acceptable.

But, says Kierkegaard, that perspective of worship as theatre, is completely wrong. It's not that worship should not be seen as theatre, but that we have it the wrong way round. In worship, he says, it is the congregation who are meant to be the actors. The clergy, choir and parish ministers are just there as prompts, and God is the audience. It is the congregation that comes every Sunday to praise God. The clergy and other worship leaders are only there to help the congregation worship God. The choir is not there to perform beautiful music; it offers its music as an aid to help the congregation praise God. The liturgy and the music are the script for the congregation to bring before God its life as a community of faith, and to offer itself again to God in love, adoration and praise. And, of course, those of us who are called to serve as prompts are also actors who make our own offering of love, adoration and praise.

Most of us can recognise and identify with the tendency to make the congregation the audience and of trying to meet the desires and needs of the congregation. Most of us can recognise, too, that such an emphasis detracts from true worship, where God is at the centre and is the focus of everything we do. Kierkegaard's reversal of the usual roles in the drama of worship is indisputable, for it is entirely consistent with the teaching of scripture where worship (literally "worth-ship") is about paying homage to God, magnifying God, making God greater - in our lives and in our world.

It is also consistent with the emphasis in our Diocesan Vision of every member ministry. The word "liturgy", means the work of the people. Worship is not worship unless it involves the bringing before God of our lives and the offering to God of ourselves, all that we are, all that we have done in the past, and all that we will do for the building of God's kingdom in the coming week. That is why at the end of the Eucharist, immediately before the blessing and dismissal, we pray:-

Father Almighty
We offer ourselves to you
As a living sacrifice
In Jesus Christ our Lord
Send us out into the world
In the power of the Holy Spirit
To live and work
To your praise and glory.

This reversal of roles in the drama of divine worship, is the same shift of perspective needed in our lives. "I must decrease that He might increase." Life is not about me, about what I desire and want, but about God, and God's goodness and love and about what God desires for us and the world. Our liturgy, as the script for worship, also provides the script for life. God at the centre of all that we say and do, God the focal point not just of worship, but of all our life, and of learning to see God in all things.

May we, as prompts, help our congregations be the actors - true to their calling.

May our congregations see liturgy for what it is - the offering of our lives.

May God be magnified and made great - not only in words, but in the world.

+Brian

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