Symbols or Cymbals
This issue looks at the need for Healing in the Church
and making it what Christ wants. Why
are we so broken and fragmented, why don’t we present a loving image of Christ
Jesus to the world? Some of
the things that cause our divisions are not necessarily wrong but we have made
them important as we would like the church to conform to what we think is right
when it might only be ”best” for us.
When we try to speak of Unity as being important somehow people hear the
word Uniformity. When
we talk of ways to cooperate with other churches only a few seem willing to
experiment, loyalty to the local church outweighs our commitment to the Kingdom.
From the outside we are seen as muddled and having no
clear image to show the world, O the pain that this must bring to our Lord.
Recently I reread a book “The River Within” by Christopher
Bryant.* It spoke in
chapter 9 (The Pilgrim People) of
sacrament, worship and symbolism and it caused
me to consider my attitude to my brothers and sisters who prefer to do things
differently. But
let me quote from the passage that set me thinking:
“A
sacrament is meant to be a living symbol in the sense of a powerful sign,
focusing the imagination, releasing the emotions, moving to action.
Unfortunately symbols can go dead, they can lose their power
to speak to our depths, they degenerate into mere signs which express in a kind
of shorthand that could be put more fully and accurately in words.
The dead symbol can be restated in propositions which the mind can grasp,
but it cannot move us. Corporate
worship should use every means to bring the old symbols to life, to enhance
their power to grip the imagination, stir our depths and rouse us to action.
In practice public worship has been intellectualised, it has been made
too much a matter of words and intellectual concepts, there is too little to
appeal to the senses and to the imagination; the body is not enough involved as it
needs
to be if worship is to fulfil its function.”
He speaks of new liturgies but mentions some of the
ways through which parts of the Church are learning to express their worship in
symbolic acts...
“The kiss of peace, whether an embrace or a handshake, signifies the
union and fellowship of the worshipper. Lifting
up the arms expresses a certain openness to God and also the spirit of praise.
Walking in procession symbolizes the Church as a pilgrim body on the
move.
Dancing
expresses the spirit of
joyful celebration. The act
of corporate prostration signifies the spirit of worship and
adoration......”
Here is a
mixture of what goes on at our Flames of Fire conferences and also
in the traditional Anglo-Catholic services, he continues with:
“There are certain traditional gestures of the priest in the
celebration of the Eucharist, in some groups the worshippers as far as possible
make the same gestures, signifying that the whole congregation is celebrating
the Eucharist with the officiating priest.......”
The thought of dancing and prostration appeals to me
but genuflection does not. He
was encouraging us to experiment saying that it would take time for people to
learn new ways of worship, but that it would lead to a “a conscious realisation of the presence of God.”
This excited me but I realised that there is an
enormous amount of repenting and reconciliation needed if we are going to really
embrace the unity for which Christ prayed.(John
17).
I ask, “Are the Evangelicals guilty of walking over our more Catholic
brothers and sisters in our enthusiasm to take the gospel to the world? Have we
hurt them and actually slowed the pace of advancing the Gospel?
I have sought
articles from people within A.R.M.(Wales) who would open our eyes to a broader
horizon. We meet both
wings of churchmanship in A.R.M. and yet here we find the Lord overrules our
differences, (well most of the time), but many Christians feel strongly that
these differences matter. I
have found that when praying with a group of Christians, churchmanship and
denomination are irrelevant, what matters is that we love God and know Christ
crucified to save each and every one of us.
He draws us into a unity with Him and therefore with each other.
We are the body of Christ, but what have we made of that body?
Our prayer must be for a Holy Church, reconciled to God and to each
other, this will come when we have let God into all the dark places in our
churches, when the sins of the past have been acknowledged and repented of and
the hurts and wounds are healed.
So I pray that you will appreciate what our
contributors are saying and see a richer tapestry within the Church.
Since coming into Wales I have come to appreciate the ways of the
Anglo-Catholics I believe that I
have gained from it and recognise that we are “All One in Christ Jesus.” (Gal.3:28)
It is a great pleasure to include an article from Russ
Parker. We can learn
much from his teaching on Healing the Land, the Church and the Nation. (His
tapes from last conference are still available.)
As you
read this we shall have just celebrated Easter let us continue to live in the
light of the Resurrection and rejoice that Christ lives in us and would reveal
Himself to the world. So
COME NOW IS THE TIME TO WORSHIP, and let us praise Him on the well tuned
Cymbal!
Mary Newsom