that everything in the Divine Service should be utterly clear, transparent, and understandable to the unbelieving and uncatechized person who happens upon it, is absolutely and totally destructive of the faith itself. Illumination comes THROUGH the Spirit's use of the Word; not TO it. What part of "and the darkness did not comprehend it" is incomprehensible to these liturgical innovators???
I would submit that not everything liturgical innovators do is clear, transparent, and understandable either, especially in their worship music.
ReplyDeleteNow, now, Pastor Weedon. Tell us how you REALLY feel about this. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, of course it's blatant nonsense. Perfectly consistent with certain types of theology, but not ours.
To borrow a phrase used by one of my seminary teachers about teaching children hymns in Sunday school: "Why not give them something to grow into rather than something to grow out of?"
Worse yet is the notion that if every aspect of the liturgy is not "familiar" or completely understandable to the uncatechized, this makes the liturgy or the parish that uses it somehow "unwelcoming" (as if it is US instead of God who welcomes in the first place).
ReplyDeleteLord, have mercy.
If one who comes to Church doesn't have to learn anything, why are they coming to Church?
ReplyDeleteDo children understand a language before they start to speak it? Or do they speak it and grow into their understanding of it?
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. The language of the faith is a foreign language and so it must be learned.
ReplyDelete"Lord, teach us to pray."
Tom Fast
Judas H Priest, in all this latter day Romantic nineteenth century rush to recover some sort of ecclesiastical Rousseauian "noble savage", we seem to ignore that non believers were not even allowed to be present at the second part of the mass, which was the mass of the faithful, precisely because of course it would not be transparent and understandable to the non-believer.
ReplyDeleteBe a Catholic like I am and as a
ReplyDeletelittle girl everything was in Latin, and now that I am older I
can understand what our church is
saying. My big thing is, even if you don't understand everything, some people go to church to just pray, others listen to everything.
But, most of all remember the Bible was written by man inspired by God.