I had a lot
of time to reflect on worship this past week.
Holy Week can be one of the most humbling, awe-inspiring, and most
passionate weeks of the year. Or it can….you
know…not be.
One of the
local start up churches was advertising for their Easter Service. There was no Holy Week (No Maundy Thursday,
no Good Friday)…just Easter. As if we
could skip those times and go straight to the joy of the Resurrection. The service promised “dynamic worship, an
uplifting sermon,” and a “cup of coffee”.
The entire advertisement was perfectly geared for the consumeristic, capitalistic,
consumption based ministry that encapsulates American Christianity these days.
They hoped that ‘you had a wonderful Easter experience.’
For full
disclosure, I did not attend these services. Maybe they were completely spiritual and maybe
they had moments of honest communion with God. I don’t know. I couldn’t get my mind off the ‘complimentary
cup of coffee.’
I attended
most of the Triduum with my Roman Catholic friends. There was no rock band experience. There was no entertainment, and there was no
complimentary cup of coffee.
I was raised Catholic and have been cut off from the Church. But I do not remember in my childhood ever attending these services near the end of Holy Week. The three services were Maundy Thursday, Good Friday (Adoration of the Cross) and the Easter Vigil. While they did not offer free coffee…these masses offered something much more precious…Christ.
Unfortunately
I was called away from Maundy Thursday service and could not fully meditate on Christ’s
Last Supper before He was betrayed by Judas.
I was there
for Good Friday. It has been my practice
for the last several years to go through the Stations of the Cross on the
Fridays during Lent. I had missed the
previous one and I missed Stations the morning of this service. While this was not the Stations, this service
was focused on the crucifixion of Christ.
The altar had been stripped and the statues of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus
that had decorated the church for the past few weeks had been covered up. As we
went through the Gospel narrative (dramatized by the priest and several lay
leaders), I was brought into the narrat
ive.
The congregation had to respond with the words of the crowd to ‘crucify
Jesus’ and I heard my own voice calling for the death of my Savior. It was
humbling and I once again saw the horror of my own sin.
As the Crucifix
came forward, they slowly uncovered it to reveal the statue of Jesus nailed to
the cross. As is custom, the Faithful
come forward and kiss the cross. I could
not come forward. I dared not come
forward. I was stunned in my pew as I
beheld the image of my Savior. I
cried. I a grown man in my 40s, cried at
a statue of Christ as the depth of my sins came home. I could not come forward
because I do not deserve the death of my Savior. I do not deserve the ability
to kiss the cross which He died upon.
The Church…and churches have always been clear to me that I do not
belong and I should not presume to come into the presence of the living Christ.
We gathered
the next the night for the Easter Vigil.
There were nine readings (!).
Evangelicals who say that Catholics do not read the Bible have clearly
not been to a mass. The Mass is the most
Biblical worship service that exists because almost every word came from the Bible.
There were no contemporary praise songs, no emotionally manipulating
entertainment…just the words of Scripture as we recounted the story of God and
His redemption for mankind.
Yes there
was kneeling. But kneeling in the
presence of the King was appropriate. Yes there was standing…in an almost
Catholic Aerobic workout scheme…but it flowed because it was all focused on
Christ. The entire service and the entire
community focused on the celebration of Jesus Christ. They celebrated the prophesies…they
celebrated the coming of the Messiah and they celebrated the bursting forth
from the grave.
I was sorry
I could not make it to the Easter mass.
I went to preach my own service…which I do not know if it was received well.
I do know that we do not have the lights, we don’t have the big band…we don’t
have the technology to make the service appealing for the masses. Heck, we don’t even have complimentary
coffee.
But as I
reflect back on the week…I began to realize that maybe this is what we are
doing wrong. Maybe we have our
priorities screwed up. Maybe, instead of
offering complimentary coffee…and ‘dynamic’ (whatever that means) worship…maybe…just
like this Roman Catholic Parish…maybe we should just offer them Jesus.