Worshipping Body as Ensemble

Reflections on Clayton Schmit Too Deep for Words: A Theology of Liturgical Expression, chapter By Faith and Not by Sight

What a wonderful world we live in to be able to worship God in ways not only speak to God but speaks our language and enlivens us in ways that are unexplainable. I have been a part of worship services that several gallons of coffee haven't helped and I have been in worship services that gave me energy in ways coffee never will. This isn't just a contemporary vs. traditional issue. It is more than that. The first question that I always ask myself in worship is, Where is God?

Many people struggle with certain worship spaces, venues, or expressions because of one word: Performance.

Does this feel like entertainment? Worship isn't about us, it's about the audience of one--->God!

As someone who has found theatre to be one of the most life giving expressions, I really struggled to hear people exclaim the importance of high reverence or elevated vernacular. I hated hearing scripture read in a tone of voice that made it sound like something that was supposed to be done but not the most important part of service.

So why is the word performance a struggle? Is is possibly because people want so desperately to separate church life from other forms of entertainment that is also performance. Entertainment such as concerts, movies, and even live theatre are to keep us engaged and the people performing are praised for their work. Churches simply do not want to praise the artists but to only praise God. There is a fear of performance in worship because of the possibility of the performer being the focus instead of God.

What can we learn though from performance? Schmit quotes Richard Ward in his definitions of performance from the French par+fournir which means 'carry through to completion" and as performance being a "form coming through" (p. 31)

I have heard a someone say a worship service is a rehearsal and the performance is what we do in our daily lives. We rehearse together as a community how to do kingdom living in the world. In many ways this works with the definition and in some ways it's counteracts the above statement. Because we are practicing kingdom living in worship, in community, as witnesses to the world but it is never completed. Schmit offers some insight into this from a quote by David Power in saying, "The church celebrates the presence of the Lord in these symbols [liturgy], while at the same time recognizing the absence that will endure until the eschaton." [the end of time, return of Christ] (p. 34) We are practicing to live like Christ but we not achieve that because one, we are not Christ, and two, Christ has promised his return.

Is worship performance? 
In many ways, yes. Thinking this way may be dangerous but it can be extremely powerful as well. Kierkagaard saw simlarites between worship and drama and said that the congregation and leadership were playing to God as the audience. But Schmit says something that is super powerful. "God is also active and performing in worship..in a sense there is no audience in worship." (p. 32)
   
What if we thought of the body of Christ, the worshipping body as an Ensemble. The group, including God, all come together to play, figure out, work out, sing, dance, move, mess up, create, destroy, try over and over again. Find their voice, lose it, create bonds, and work together for a common purpose. As an ensemble, all players are integral parts. We pray for God's presence and hold on to scriptures that tell us, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) Leaders of the church, whether it be the pastor or musicians are there to speak of the promises of God but it is the work of the Holy Spirit and the presence of God that makes it holy and changes substances such as the water for baptism, or the bread and wine for communion into more than merely visual symbols. We are participants with God, enacting the greater story alongside.

Worship is performance is not performance in that, the goal is the entertain the potential audience, which is the congregation. Many people feel certain worship styles do that for them and they struggle. But I have experienced the same type of expression of praise, in the form of clapping after a piece, following a particularly complicated organ piece. And the comment made to me by the minister is that she wished that she got that kind of response following her preaching. I remember my immediate response being I hope one day to get that kind of response from a congregation following what I had to say. I think back on that conversation and wonder was it that I got out of the way and creating a space for Presbyterians to actually clap after I spoke or that I wanted a big pat on the back for a job well done. What was the preacher's subtext when wondering about the applause following the organist piece of music?
 
Can performance be worshipful?  

Yes! I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what we do, God works with it and makes it beautiful. I think about this conversation and question a lot as someone who is a performer. I love being creative in worship and using my gifts in theatre to glorify God. I do know that there are times when I have to step back and ask myself is this "the Kristy" show or is this helping other come to know God in a rich, authentic way. Creativity for the sake of creativity, while beautiful and fun runs a big risk of having worship no longer be about God but about the performer(s). But can it still speak to people and glorify God.

God has created varieties of people and guided them to places in their lives to enrich their own worship and the worship of those with which they share community and identity. The words we hear in proclamation and the things we see in visual art or hear in music are words that 'God gives us and are a sign that God is with us, actively giving us the message of grace or reproval.' (p. 38) God is a hidden presence.

In theatre when people enter into a performance they are asked to suspend their disbelief. We know that the actors aren't actually the characters they are playing, we know that we are not in 1789 during the French Revolution when we see Les Misérables  performed but we suspend our disbelief as we watch and we are there with the performers, in the story, in the moment.

God is there with us, when we read the scriptures we are not in 1st century Palestine, walking with Jesus and the disciples but the words are real and can bring listeners in to feeling like they have heard it for the first time and that is powerful.

In thinking about theatre, the group practices and studies their roles for a long period of time, familiarizes themselves with the words so much that if something changes in the midst of the play (such is live theatre) than they can adapt and keep moving.

So what if we are worship leaders and active participants in worship put some of that effort into our gathering. How much more would we be familiar with the Word of God? How much more would we be familiar with the people with whom we tell the story?  How enriching to rehearse a text. I can't imagine how an oral tradition could not have had priest and rabbis as incredible engaging storytellers. Since we have the texts written down many times leaders are so wrapped up in the preparation of the sermon or in what is happening around them that they the end up just reading the text and not telling the story.

Acting is not a bad thing

The great Stanislavski, talked about the 'Magic If,' acting is asking a lot of "what if" questions. Schmit highlights Jana Childers comment that the word if, "gives us permission to be something other than what we are." (p.36) In thinking about us being imitators of Christ, and thinking of Christ in our lives and how we enact our faith.

When we read scripture, sing, dance, pray, or any other form of expression we are inviting the 'what if' into our lives. When we attempt to live out our faith in the world we are constantly asking ourselves the 'what if.' When we try to love one another and love God we are acting out our role as worshipful beings.

Can the idea of saying we are acting be dangerous---yes. But that is because the idea that we are putting on a face or facade is what acting means to someone. But plays are supposed to be imitations of real life. They may be abstractions or even distortions. Performance can achieve something in worship that can be extremely powerful for the whole worshipping body.