Franciscans and liturgy
I have now been in England for a week. I am attending the Inter-Provincial Third Order Chapter of the Society of Saint Francis. I am one of three people from the New Zealand and Melanesia Province. There are also three from the Provinces of Europe, the America’s, Australia and Africa. This is also a joint meeting with our First Order brothers and sisters. We pray together, have input together, eat together, study scripture together, but meet in our separate orders.
The Third Order is a
n "Order" within the Franciscan Family. It comprises people who find the life of Saint Francis attractive, and feel a call or vocation to live by the principles he lived by.
We are a dispersed community of women and men, some married, some single, living in our own homes and doing our own jobs. We are a community in that we pray for each other, we meet when we are able, and we encourage one another in living and witnessing to the Christian life. We are a community in that we share the greater calling follow Jesus in the way of Francis.
While being an autonomous order in our own right, we are closely linked to the Franciscan Brothers and Sisters of the First Order and Second Orders. In the Anglican Church, members of the Third Order are known as Tertiaries.
In trying to become the persons we were created to be we each keep a Rule of Life, tailored to individual needs, which contains the following main elements:
· The Eucharist
· Penitence
· Self Denial
· Retreat
· Study and Reading
· Simplicity
· Work and Service
· Spiritual Counsel
More information can be found on: http://www.franciscanthirdorder.godzone.net.nz/index.htm
It has been really interesting given the last few posts and comments on liturgy. This whole thing is surrounded in liturgical prayer, morning prayer from the office book, eucharist, and evening prayer, and on occasions night prayer. I have had two responses. One has been overwhelmed by the huge number of words. There are a lot of words in these services. Most of them are straight from scripture. At one level it is not very exciting. We recite the words with little inflection. Just slowly reading them. And some we read every day. Some might say boring and not from the heart.
Yet at another level I am aware of how powerfully forming this kind of prayer is. In one of the comments my friend Simon talks about the importance of prayer from the heart being the most important thing. Well, I don’t agree. Prayer that forms the heart is the most important thing. And that is what good liturgy does. It is what any worship does, any thing we do repeatedly forms us. So while I agree that worship needs to engage us, it also has to have the depth for form us deeply. This might sound arrogant, and I don’t mean to be, but liturgy based on scripture, which most liturgy is forms us in profound and deep ways that are only apparent in retrospect. I went to a Pentecostal service recently with so little scripture I nearly wept. (interestingly I am supposed to be the liberal, and they the bible believing Christians) And I wonder what will form them. Songs of spurious theology that in the end will fail to take them anywhere. Yes they were engaged, but at what cost?
So how then do we find the middle ground and engage yet offer depth?
The Third Order is a
n "Order" within the Franciscan Family. It comprises people who find the life of Saint Francis attractive, and feel a call or vocation to live by the principles he lived by.We are a dispersed community of women and men, some married, some single, living in our own homes and doing our own jobs. We are a community in that we pray for each other, we meet when we are able, and we encourage one another in living and witnessing to the Christian life. We are a community in that we share the greater calling follow Jesus in the way of Francis.
While being an autonomous order in our own right, we are closely linked to the Franciscan Brothers and Sisters of the First Order and Second Orders. In the Anglican Church, members of the Third Order are known as Tertiaries.
In trying to become the persons we were created to be we each keep a Rule of Life, tailored to individual needs, which contains the following main elements:
· The Eucharist
· Penitence
· Self Denial
· Retreat
· Study and Reading
· Simplicity
· Work and Service
· Spiritual Counsel
More information can be found on: http://www.franciscanthirdorder.godzone.net.nz/index.htm
It has been really interesting given the last few posts and comments on liturgy. This whole thing is surrounded in liturgical prayer, morning prayer from the office book, eucharist, and evening prayer, and on occasions night prayer. I have had two responses. One has been overwhelmed by the huge number of words. There are a lot of words in these services. Most of them are straight from scripture. At one level it is not very exciting. We recite the words with little inflection. Just slowly reading them. And some we read every day. Some might say boring and not from the heart.
Yet at another level I am aware of how powerfully forming this kind of prayer is. In one of the comments my friend Simon talks about the importance of prayer from the heart being the most important thing. Well, I don’t agree. Prayer that forms the heart is the most important thing. And that is what good liturgy does. It is what any worship does, any thing we do repeatedly forms us. So while I agree that worship needs to engage us, it also has to have the depth for form us deeply. This might sound arrogant, and I don’t mean to be, but liturgy based on scripture, which most liturgy is forms us in profound and deep ways that are only apparent in retrospect. I went to a Pentecostal service recently with so little scripture I nearly wept. (interestingly I am supposed to be the liberal, and they the bible believing Christians) And I wonder what will form them. Songs of spurious theology that in the end will fail to take them anywhere. Yes they were engaged, but at what cost?
So how then do we find the middle ground and engage yet offer depth?
Comments
Excellent blog and highly valid thoughts in regard to the power of formative liturgy.
I remember going to a Uniting service a couple of years ago and like your Pentecostal experience you mentioned - I really felt it lacked depth and theological underpinning.
Your words evoke a prayerful time away [and your photo of the chapel is equally evocative!!] Seems like a really prayerful place to be!!
You are in my prayer.
Peace my brother.
Matt
It is interesting to me how divergent Christians can be in their quest for spiritual fulfillment.
I agree that the Pentecostal movement at it's worst (or even at it's normal level) can be shallow and and, to be blunt, deceptive. In that way it is not dissimilar to the denominational churches. I find it hard to favour one over the other.
My point, however, is simple. It is that God looks at the heart of man. What He sees there will be dependent on the extent to which we have been able to bring our hearts into alignment with His heart (getting a bit abstract here, but humour me). So the question becomes, how do we best do that? By inviting God, by his Holy Spirit, to work in our hearts directly... or by searching for a set of words that, when repeated often enough, has some beneficial effect?
Ultimately, it comes down to whether the person concerned loves God or simply loves the church, with all it's trappings and ceremonies. Sadly, many on both sides of the Pentecostal divide are in love with "doing church". It is their hobby, their entertainment, their social framework.
Young people are notoriously good at seeing through the "bull" of religion. Given that premise, the question becomes, "which branch of the church is most effective at attracting young people to the point of conversion, and then best able to disciple them effectively?"
The answer to that question is, I think, relatively self-evident.
Anyway, look, this is your blog, so I'll shut up now and let you get on with recounting your trip. I suspect that we are too far apart on the subject to ever find much common ground, unless maybe quite a few beers and a very late night was involved!
Enjoy your time away.
Simon