Leitourgia, Leitmotif, Porn Stars and the Drowning Man

nCheck this list, and see if it is "church," or church as it should be, in your book and experience:

• the sense of any divide between the sacred/secular is demolished and exposed as a psuedo-Christian lie
• a group of people become something they were not as a mere collection of individuals through a deliberate process evoking a corporate connection
• a promise of ultimate fulfillment is rendered perceptible to the senses
• the world is done the way it ought to be done [justice is enacted],
• and people are engaged in a way that helps them offer up the totality of their uncensored lives and selves -Beth Maynard, link

I love this list for several reasons:
It captures most U2 concerts (which is the point of Beth's post), for one..

But it does beautifully articulate what we of third day fresno hope people encounter among us.
But Beth also makes an excellent point: that "church," while not intrinsically and completely the "wrong word," is not the best word for this experience... even when it happens "in church."

She offers the word leitourgia. Here is a link to the word's history and meaning, but I would love to hear Beth define it. Obviously, you see the word "liturgy" in there..but it's deeper, wider, and more multiplex than that.

[These are the] 5 characteristics of leitourgia as set forth by a cluster of recent liturgical theologians (David Fagerberg, Alexander Schmemann, Aidan Kavanaugh, and Peter Fink)...I did this in deliberate contradistincton to the popular "church" metaphor -- which I don't think is all bad, but has significant potential for misprision and category mistakes.
link

Though I have not seen the band yet this tour, I have been missing the "homiletical plot"
That word, too, is too evangelical Protestant...how about leitourgical leitmotif? (:
Many have been blogging about this, including those who have seen the show.
I guess I am coming to terms with it (Here is one post of me talking myself into it, anyway).
That some don't see a problem, and see a metamessage to the liturgiconcert...even sensing it is am "opera"...hmm, is that the hermenutical key?) is fine I guess..

But like Beth,
I am holding out some hope:

on some level, I guess I am still hoping that maybe there might still be some developments in this show (future legs?) that can foster the leitourgia experience that is what (unlike many many others, who of course have every right to come for very different reasons) I value most about the band live.
link

Actually, I'd better
cheat and pray.

Maybe pray that Bono....and our church...reads some

• Fagerberg,
• Schmemann,
• Kavanaugh,
• and Fink.

(Gee, I wonder how many of their books are sold at the Christian bookstore).
Or maybe just re-watch The Matrix

with some candles on the TV..

Once a wonderful Presbyterian gentleman visited our Sunday gathering. As we talked afterwards he said, "You know, I am a Presbyterian...but I kind of liked your service...it had no beginning...and it had no end."

I always loved that asessment, and it is helpful..It was a comment on the flow, and the open-endedness of afterglow, after-"benediction" time..the lack of (traditional Presbyterian-style) liturgy..

But it also hits me that we could fall into the trap satirized by this ("Virgin Sacrifices...That's "postmodern" worship!") wonderful "order of worship" from UCF, Syracuse

The call to worship.
Once your coffee is almost cool enough to drink, and you're about halfway done with your bagel, someone will get on the microphone and begin yelling for people to please come sit down so we can get started. Usually this will be Andy or Mary, but other people have been known to take part on occasion as well. Once the shrieking and hollering starts and your friends begin disappearing, it's usually a good time to follow them into the sanctuary. Don't make us turn the lights on and off...
Once all of us have drifted in like sheep, and chair disputes have ended..

The sermon? We'd do a responsive reading as part of it too, except that a lot of people don't read English good like we do.
link

My questions for Beth et al:

• What might an increased awareness of look like for an organic, informal tribe like ours? (I have been a UM pastor...even dressed like one...proof.. so I am not new to liturgy..but how to do it in a way that's us is a worthy challenge.
• Of the five characteristics, which stand out as reshaping us into a more missional, centered-set mindset and "holy wordliness" worldview...and into a less ethnocentric, commercial and modernity-based place? And how so?
• Related, what does all this mean as we move (literally) into a more "sacred space in public space" location for meetings? Especially towards a relationship with such nontraditional ministries as XXX Church and Jesus Loves Porn Stars?

• Does missiology precede ecclesiology?

• When do we get to see (or hear) Beth's full presentation?

PS: Maybe if U2 finally and actually (as threatened) launched out and inserted "Drowning Man" into the liturgical setlist,
all our problems would be solved overnight,
and the Kingdom would come in fullness ! (:

Come on boys, been soundchecked already:


Maybe Plan B would have them cover the new Mountain Goats CD under the Clawthedral?