Alternative Worship
Hey, Benji, Thanks for the Invite. I am a newly returned to Full Time Youth Minister at an Anglican Church and I am busily working on a new program to inspire our jaded young people.
I realised as I was working that the word 'Alternative' kept cropping up in my descriptions and I took some time to consider whether it was 'le mot just' or just a cliche.
First stop, quick Bible search on Alternative. Unbelievably, it doesn't appear in the Anglicanised NIV. So the Bible didn't offer styles of worship, it just compels us to do so...
Psalm 100:2 (ANIV) "Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."
So the Alternative refers to a contrast to what already exists within our Church. I have to confess to being a conventional Christian. When I look around at all the creative projects surrounding me, I wish Alternative means Innovative.
And yet recently I read of one of the fastest growing Churches in America where the Pastor said do something you like....if other people like it, great!
So in our Calling, do we fully appreciate that God has called US, not someone else, we are the Alternative. And actually all God wants us to do is to Worship him as OURSELVES.
May we recognize that call, and far from trying to be clever, allow the Spirit of the Creator to permeate our Souls with joyful songs.....
1 Comments:
I too have a difficulty with the term "alternative" as it somehow denigrates what it is an alternative from.
It also has bizzare connotations with THE ALTERNATIVE SERVICE BOOK for me which is FAR from "alternative" nowadays.
My biggest fear is that "alternative" is a word which can be interpreted as "unstructured" or "non-liturgical" but much of what I do with young people which some would call alternative worship is very structured and liturgical but in a different way.
I worry that "alternative" sometimes means it isn't focussed sufficiently on God but on US and although worship is OUR response it is OUR response TO GOD and I think sometiems alternative seems just to be our response and nto so much TO GOD.
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