All Saints Parish Paper MARGARET STREET, LONDON W.1 JUNE 2006 £1.00 VICAR’S LETTER I like”. Liturgical choices would be based more on psychology than theology. A School of Worship In fact, I believe that our instincts are The latest in our “School of Worship” right but that does not mean that we do not series has just been given by ˇr Aquilina have to think hard about why this is so, and and was on Bishop John Cosin. Cosin why we should want to commend what we was a 17th century liturgical scholar, an have. exile during the Commonwealth period, and involved as Bishop of Durham in the We have to face the fact that cutting restoration of the Church of England and edge of Christian mission in this country the Prayer Book liturgy after it. Many of is perceived as not being with the liturgical his suggestions had to wait a great deal churches but rather with those that have longer than 1662 to be implemented as espoused the contemporary and flexible. there was an overriding desire simply to restore the Prayer Book, which had been Much of the inspiration for this hallowed by persecution, rather than to approach comes, as it has done for at revise it. In any case, the principal conflict least a century, from the United States. was between the use of a set liturgy and the There revivalist religion has down-played Puritans who opposed this. tradition (while unconsciously becoming a tradition) and community in favour of This is an argument which has not gone direct personal emotion and experience as away. There continue to be siren voices the means of relationship with God and summoning us to abandon our forms of the standard by which to judge its reality. worship in favour of the relevant and accessible. Many of us are reluctant to go When we were in New York recently, down this path but perhaps we are unsure I came across a book by David ˇitch, an of why. It is not enough to see it merely evangelical pastor and teacher in Chicago. in terms of taste as it often seems to be in In it he identified what he believed to be what the Americans call “worship wars”. wrong with much contemporary worship If that were the case, then we would have and then argued for a liturgical and little ground for sticking with what we have sacramental form as the remedy. He did or rejecting something else beyond “I don’t this without abandoning his evangelical know much about liturgy, but I know what church. 1 ˇitch identified part of the problem in “We merely reinforce the emotions we two forms of radical modern individualism. walked into the Sunday service with. If One which is encouraged by that form there is no art, no images faithful to Christ, of evangelicalism which centres on no Eucharistic rituals to submit our bodies expository preaching. Worshippers are to, no communal discourse to enter into, seen as individual minds to be approached or hymns rich in substantive doctrine, the with information about God. The trouble ‘subjectivity’ of the self is driven inward, with this is that in a culture which assumes and the emotional formation that is already that the individual mind is capable (with enclosed is what will be expressed and help from the Holy Spirit) of reaching reinforced.” the truth about anything, even God, the unintended consequence is to put the in- If transformation is to occur, we need dividual mind in the driving seat. Any a worship which forms the worshippers’ one of us can interpret the Bible as well as thinking, experience and emotion. the next person. We need no community, no Church, which over time and space I have not written all this that you or I engages with Scripture and what God might feel smug and superior because we is saying through it. This intellectual have art and images, rituals and discourse individualism ignores the effect that and hymns. We are just as much vulnerable culture and society have on the way we to the pressures and influences of culture think, including the way we think about and society as anyone else, particularly if God. The danger is that, rather than our we are not aware of them. These things can ideas being transformed by what we hear become consumer goods rather than things of God, our idea of God is shaped by the which do us good. ideas we bring to church on a Sunday. Many of us have all come across those Another strand of evangelical life has “ever-so-catholic” worshippers who can come to the fore in recent years, often tell us exactly how to perform the most called “charismatic”. This focuses not so obscure liturgical rites and where the Vicar much on the intellect as on emotion and has got it wrong, yet seem to miss out on experience. Like its more intellectual the more important liturgical principle cousin, it is deeply influenced by modern of being in love and charity with their individualism. Many of the “worship and neighbours. This is a religion of the head, a praise songs” which dominate its worship fundamentalism just as much as the biblical are deeply personal and subjective; variety. It may well testify to emotions not designed to encourage self-expression so much expressed as repressed, let alone and spontaneity. This is “I” rather than transformed by the Spirit. “We” religion. ˇitch argues again that, because our culture is increasingly post- Our form of worship is a gift we have Christian, this worship is less likely to inherited and one which we must allow to transform its participants, to re-orient them do God’s work upon our lives. It is a gift in a Christian way, than simply to provide a rather than a possession and we share it spiritual form of consumer culture’s desire with others. We do not best commend it by for self-fulfilment. boasting of its superiority, and therefore, 2 by implication, our own. PARISH NOTES In commending many of the things we do in church, ˇitch asks his evangelical readers St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy if this means that they are simply becoming Many of you will know that the clergy of Catholic. He admits this is a legitimate All Saints act as chaplains to the hospital in question. There is the risk of turning ˇitzroy Square, celebrating the Eucharist worship into a dry and rote exercise devoid there several times a week, taking the of experience, the ‘everyman’s critique’ of blessed sacrament to those unable to get to high church liturgy. While commending the chapel, and visiting patients as well as ‘catholic’ practices to his fellow-evangel- taking an interest in the staff. icals, he says: “At the same time, I believe there are things the High Church folks The hospital has now closed for a can learn from evangelicalism, mainly our programme of major refurbishment which resolve to reach out to those in our midst will allow it to continue its work into who are strangers to the Gospel… Liturgy the future. It is anticipated that it will should not be rejected but rather developed re-open in early 2007. In the meantime, to both keep its historical integrity and yet to the hospital’s council will be holding its have some point of contact with the foreign meetings in our Parish Room. world within which it seeks to live. Visitors from Hong Kong We have to be aware of the danger of making liturgy into the arcane rituals of a On Sunday May 14th we welcomed the secret society; fascinating to us but utterly Principal, staff members and students, from impenetrable and off-putting to those who the Theological College of the Anglican are not in the know. Church in Hong Kong to Evensong. One of the points which ˇr Aquilina Holiday Travels made in his lecture was that Cosin saw the The Vicar and Theresa travelled to New Eucharist as a sacrament in which Christ York after Easter and were guests of ˇr is not passive but actively constituting, Stephen Gerth, the Rector of the Church building up his Church. This month we of St Mary the Virgin just off Times will be celebrating with friends from other Square. parishes the feast of Corpus Christi with a glorious liturgy and outdoor procession. As ˇr Alan preached at Evensong at St we do so, we remember that we celebrate Mary’s on Low Sunday. They met a the sacrament of the Eucharist so that number of old friends of All Saints and we may become what we celebrate: the there was one current worshipper here in Body of Christ; taken, blessed, broken and the congregation — also on a short Easter shared. holiday. Yours in Christ, A Move to Oxford Alan Moses David and John Welch have now moved 3 to St John’s Home at the convent of the The Buddha’s Birthday All Saints Sisters in Oxford. They have appreciated visitors from Margaret Street, Together with the Deputy Lord Mayor of including the Aquilina family, Jean Westminster and others, the Vicar was the Castledine and Christopher Swift. David guest of the Buddhist Temple on Saturday had a fall recently and had to be admitted May 6th for the celebrations of Vesak — to hospital. ˇr Alan was able to visit him the Birthday of the Buddha — which is the in the John Radcliffe Infirmary as well as high point of the Buddhist Calendar.