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a visit to a mosque - 7/13/2009 8:40:07 PM
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RJR_fan
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I recently attended Friday prayers with a Turkish friend at his mosque. You leave your shoes at the door, of course. We went in, found places on the floor near a wall. Other worshippers filtered in, engaged in private prayer, then sat to hear the week’s address.
After nearly an hour of sitting on the floor, I learned what the stripes on the carpet were for. Imagine several hundred men lined up shoulder to shoulder (literally), standing on those stripes about five feet apart, and going through the motions of prayer. My knees are not as limber as they used to be, alas!
Two days later, on Pentecost Sunday, our Turkish friends joined us at our church, and seemed to enjoy themselves. Trying to see the event through their eyes, given their prior experience of decorous worship, was an eye-opener for me.
The independent charismatic church, the fastest-growing part of the Christian family in America today, owes its liturgical tradition to that baby-boomer bonding rite, the rock concert.
A band up front, performing and bouncing around in eye-catching fashion. Drums. Guitars. Bass. Professional singers, leading the audience in exuberant sing-alongs. Followed by sacred rituals (a few minutes of meeting and greeting neighbors, announcements, offering), and the stand-up routine. The hymnals are gone, replaced by brief choruses displayed by an overhead projector.
Were I a Muslim, I’d politely smile, and ask myself, “This is how Christians worship the Almighty?” Only some Christians, Suleyman! I assure you, there are Christian worship traditions as somber, serious, and sedate as those in your mosque. Then, there are the “happy clappy” evangelicals who enter God’s presence with joy, and noise. Exuberant, lively, gladness. And, there is a story behind this latter group.
The “Jesus movement” ramped up in California in the late 60s, then rapidly spread throughout the nation for the next few years. Suddenly, people from the counter-culture began to embrace, and transmit, the Christian message using their own metaphors and vocabulary. They assumed that the churches had been suborned and co-opted by “the establishment,” and therefore had little credibility. The stilted, pompous, archaic language, the rote mindless rituals, made traditional Christianity look like “a memory in the minds of middle-aged people,” rather than a vital and living contemporary reality. For the Jesus Freak, every conversion was a fresh miracle. Evangelism happened as real people (not professional orators) talked to their friends in the real world (beyond church walls), and introduced friends to a new Friend, the living and present Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.
In retrospect, this social movement piggy-backed on the counter-culture, which owed much to the Viet Nam war. When that crazy adventure wound down, so too did the energy, the passion, the urgent sense that something needed to be done. Thousands of Jesus Freaks woke up, looked around, dusted themselves off, and rejoined the real world.
But we had invented a genre, Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), and we brought our music back into the churches with us. And we had a sense that there are “Narnia moments” in life, seasons when a transcendent reality breaks through, in a whimsical, unpredictable way, to change lives forever.
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Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: a visit to a mosque - 7/15/2009 11:46:47 PM
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Chrio
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Joined: 6/25/2009
From: INLAND EMPIRE, CA.
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Greetings in Jesus!
RJR_fan, you make an interesting comparison. Christian worship has gone (and is) in various directions. No singing, no musical instruments, no stringed instruments (OOPPSS is that a piano?) no drums, all the way to full orchestras! Quiet, solemn, joyful, merry, celebratory etc.
I read the Psalms daily as part of my devotional reading ... I find that Psalm 100 is an exact summary of how God wants us to worship Him. Most interesting/compelling about the Psalm is that most every verb is written in the imperative mood! So it really contains commands from God on how to worship Him. So when we apply Scripture to how we conduct worship, what should it look and sound like?
regret looks back, worry looks around but faith looks up from where our help comes from ...
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Be A Blessing
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RE: a visit to a mosque - 7/16/2009 7:21:22 AM
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RJR_fan
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quote:
Another CCM is evil thread already? But the last one just ended. It's not time for another one yet!
No, just an observation about how God can be worshiped in many ways, appropriate to given cultures. It's wise, though, to be aware of the model you are copying! Exuberant and joyous, loud worship, with a lot of varied musical instruments, is Biblical. "Bubble-gum hymnody," chewing on the same fragment of a thought over and over again until all the flavor is gone and the brain's gone numb, is somewhat less Biblical.
Until last Pentecost, I was unaware of how much contemporary worship derives from rock concerts.
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: a visit to a mosque - 7/16/2009 10:08:21 AM
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sirwintery
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quote:
ORIGINAL: RJR_fan
Until last Pentecost, I was unaware of how much contemporary worship derives from rock concerts.
This is really very interesting, RJR_fan. When I consider those promoting that their version of worship has more "freedom" than others, I will have to think about it in terms of it being a rock concert derivative. Hmmm--"Concert mentality worship", "concert mentality ministry"...interesting.
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RE: a visit to a mosque - 7/16/2009 11:26:23 AM
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Ps103
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MODERATOR'S NOTE :: ATTENTION PLEASE
I have removed an off-topic post and the posts which responded to it.
Please do not use this thread to offer opinions on whether or not one should or should not visit a mosque, as that is not the topic of this thread.
Thanks.
Please do not reply to this message within the Community. Please do not send me PMs regarding this message.
Please email Community@salemwebnetwork.com with questions, comments, or concerns.
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RE: a visit to a mosque - 7/16/2009 12:11:38 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 1168
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From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
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David Chilton suggested that the Reformers' vision of an ears-only mode of worship owed more to Islam than it did to the Bible. Biblical worship SHOULD include color, texture, motion, incense, the seasons -- it SHOULD engage ALL the senses, not just the ears. After all if incense is a fixture of heavenly worship (see Revelation), why not use it here below? Scents have great power to fix moments in memory.
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: a visit to a mosque - 7/16/2009 3:58:58 PM
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Chrio
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From: INLAND EMPIRE, CA.
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Greetings in Jesus!
Wow RJR_fan, incense! I was raised in the episcopal(anglican) church and of course we always had the incense going!! There was incense in the Tabernacle & Temple as well as Heaven as you pointed out. Will have to consider bringing this scent back into our worship. Interesting, anyone have any thoughts on how this might (or not) be accepted in 21st century "contemporary" worship?
regret looks back, worry looks around but faith looks up from where our help comes from ...
_____________________________
Be A Blessing
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But the last one just ended. It's not time for another one yet! 
