Unity in Diversity - Worship

Having come from a "shh...we're in church" background, being introduced to the "born again" version of Christianity in a charismatic Oneness Pentecostal church in the heart of the inner city in Youngstown was a swing to other end of the pendulum. However, because of this I was able to discern the cultural elements in this church.

There is a tendency to take the cultural elements and impose them as if they are part of the necessary truth of the faith. So if you aren't doing "X" enough or doing "Y" enough you aren't "saved" enough or "Christian" enough. It's a subtle form of enslavement. This imposition of the cultural elements is a potential in any faith tradition.

When we left there (due, in large part, to the overemphasis on the emotionalism and the cult of celebrity), we found a church with an upbeat style of worship but much more subdued (i.e. white). We thoroughly enjoy the worship even though I miss the style of worship at the church we left.

Anyhow, over the years I've realized that it's really all beautiful. The fact that grown people have found something that inspires them to praise in such a dynamic fashion in whatever form it is expressed is a powerful thing. Sometimes, however, it is easy to look at "other" religious traditions and admire their praise and their forms of worship. For some reason I found the worship within the tradition I found myself in to be strange, weird, overdone.

So at church this morning I noticed the people at the altar and their various forms of expression. At times there is a critical spirit that comes over me and I judge what they are doing. I have to stop myself and realize that it's easy to sit on my a** and be a critic. Instead of lifting my spirit up to God I am playing judge and jury on earth.

I realized this morning that I have no idea what the two men who were laid out on the floor have been going through. I have no idea what the woman jumping and bouncing has been going through. I don't know what is in their hearts. The point is I don't know. So who am I to sit back and criticize? It's a really disgusting feeling.

So with all the diversity within the Christian church, there is a unity in the diversity. It's just easier to notice the division. Embrace the diversity. We're all on the same team.

There is a series of videos circulating on the Web that are brilliantly done and highlight this quite well. For the cynic, it's obviously a slam. The video is pretty funny (and well edited).

But if you just stop for a moment and see the beauty in it the joy will become infectious. It really is pretty cool. Just different.

Enjoy:



Still haven't found any rave videos set to worship music. I think the contrast would point out that music is a form of or means toward expanding the mind toward something "higher". There are many parallels between the "trance" effect of both techno music and worship music.

So for the religious folk who think raves and techno music are somehow evil or some such thing, keep in mind that what people seek at raves are the same things people seek in church: community, relationship, connection, even spirituality.

So we come to where cultures and faith collide: check this video out (sorry if you aren't a techno fan...give it a chance anyhow, it's brief...):



This video is a snippet from a "Club Worship" in Reading PA featuring Andy Hunter, a Christian DJ though if you look at his website and such you may have to search a little to find this fact. His music appeared in The Matrix Reloaded so he has respect as a musician. Here's an interview with him.

So what do you think? Is this "true" worship music? Compromise? Sell out? Something to ponder.

I find it interesting but I'm not sure giving something a "Christian" stamp means a whole lot, kind of like Christian yoga and the Christian martial arts center down the street from my home (now for sale). Can't yoga just be yoga, martial arts just be martial arts, a DJ be a DJ and techno be techno?

Oratorio...Youngstown, Ohio...March 28, 2009

Last night was the performance of an Oratorio as created by Darren Thomas. He is worship leader at the church where I was baptized and spent the first four years of a truly committed walk with Christ. It is a Pentecostal church in the heart of the 'hood' on the South Side of Youngstown (a true divergence from my past on so many levels) and preaches the belief in the Oneness doctrine, that Jesus is in fact God and that the name of God is in fact Jesus.

There is a style of preaching and singing that is dear to my heart as it is where I was born, so to speak. I have fond memories of this period of time but have since moved on to a more subdued style of evangelical worship of the "white" variety, the music driven by acoustic guitar rather than the keyboard/organ. It is noticeable and lacks that certain "soul" of the black church. I enjoy both styles and can easily tire of too much one or the other, the variety a welcome balance.

So last night's Oratorio, rooted in the black church, was an attempt at mixing it all up, with a 100 person multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-church choir and musical styles ranging from salsa to reggae to gospel to a more classical feel. It is all the work of one man and seeks to tell the story of Jesus Christ from prophecy through his being raised from the dead, the message being the title of the Oratorio - Forgiven.

The show itself was stellar. Performed in an old venue affiliated with the Warner Brothers in Youngstown, Ohio, the setting was grand, professional, a far cry from the confines of the church walls. And through four acts, the music was tight, with instruments ranging from French horns to xylophones to drums, and the singing was powerful. I sat in awe at the power of the human voice.

And I realized how much I miss this style of worship, how much it stirs my soul. I miss the enthusiasm, the tight sound of the bass, the boldness of the choir. I am grateful for my roots in that church and would not be where I am today (though it is interesting as well how my gravitation towards Oneness doctrine in the beginning rather than Trinity at the time was also the reason that I was drawn to Islam).

The performance itself is a work of art. The man truly has a gift and I pray he is able to break out of the confines of the tradition in which he is so comfortable to fly on his own and share this, with his own style, with the world.

Without going into too much detail, there are some kinks that need to be worked out, and the show, as grand as it was, also reinforced the reasons that when my wife, a PK and herself born into this tradition, and I decided to move on there was no looking back. It is our ability to flow in and out of a variety of settings with a diversity of peoples that makes life so interesting and, like iron sharpens iron, helps us to grow as people, grateful for the diversity in the body of Christ in all its color and splendor.

This diversity, this muttness in my background, is a great thrill for me and has enlarged my worldview, freeing me from the fetters of cultural, racial and ethnic isolationism. I am able to enlarge rather than withdraw my picture of the world and engage, embrace and grow from the diversity. I thank God for difference and distinction and don't want a world where all the cultures blend into one homogeneous stew just as I don't want a religion where everything is blended into one.

If everything was the same, how would we learn? If everything was the same, how dull and uninteresting would life be?

I am reminded, once again, of the following:

"When everyone knows good as good, this is not good." (DDJ, 2, Cleary translation)