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London: The ideas for alternative-style worship
are part of an initiative launched by Dr. Rowan
Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to appeal to the
younger generation.
They are set out in a new book compiled by the Church's
Fresh Expressions programme, which aims to boost church
attendance with more relevant and exciting services.
However, traditionalists have criticised the unorthodox
services as "pointless" and "shallow", and have warned
that experimenting with Church tradition would do more
harm than good. One Holy Communion service promoted in
the book, called Ancient Faith, Future Mission, begins
with the congregation being shown a video clip from the
YouTube website about a United Nations anti-poverty
campaign.
Worshippers are told that "our planet is messed up" and
that "things are not right".
They are then asked to approach the altar and rub sea
salt on their fingers to represent tears, before walking
around and meditating at eight "prayer stations"
representing themes such as "gender equality" and
"environmental sustainability".
A psalm is recited in "beat poetry" style to the
accompaniment of African Djembe drums, and prayers are
said "for the corporate world, for influential CEOs who
oversee billion-dollar industries". The prayers
continue: "We pray for John Chambers of Cisco Systems,
Bill Gates of Microsoft, Dr Eric Schmidt of Google Inc,
H Lee Scott Jr of Wal-Mart Stores and others who have
already made commitments to justice."
Among the alternative services explored in the book,
which is co-edited by the Rt Rev Steven Croft, the new
Bishop of Sheffield, are so-called "U2charists",
services in which the congregation receives communion
but sings the songs of the Irish rock band U2 instead of
traditional hymns.
The services, which include such songs as "Mysterious
Ways", "One", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm
Looking For", have been pioneered at St Swithin's church
in Lincoln.
The book also features Transcendence, an event held in
York Minister in which traditional Latin chant is set by
DJs to hip hop or ambient dance music and video images
are projected onto the walls.
The Rev Sue Wallace, who has pioneered the event by
blending modern technology with ancient prayers, says
that the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Many of the services promoted in the book feature
physical activity and symbols alongside traditional
sermons.
In chapter of the book, Archbishop Williams says: "The
Bible is full of stories about God communicating through
act and sign as well as language ... Far from being
bound to communication through clear information
economically expressed in words, our society is still
deeply sensitive to symbols and inclined to express
important feelings and perceptions in this way."
The Fresh Expressions initiative was launched by the
Archbishop in 2004 to combat the significant drop in
churchgoing that has been seen in Britain over recent
decades. In the past few years the decline appears to
have steadied.
Church leaders are particularly concerned about the loss
of younger people, who are abandoning the pews at a
greater rate than their older counterparts.
The Rt Rev Graham Cray, who heads the Fresh Expressions
initiative, said that it was vital that the Church
explored new ways of engaging with modern culture. "We
have to reconnect with a very large percentage of the
population that has no contact or interest in
traditional church," he said.
"It is important to offer spirituality to people who are
offered a multi-choice lifestyle and who think that the
last place they'll find it is in church." He said that
the new services were carefully designed for specific
communities and stressed they was not supposed to
challenge traditional worship.
However, the Rev David Houlding at St Paul's Cathedral,
bemoaned the Church's attempt to widen its appeal. "All
this is trash. It's just a passing fad, irrelevant,
shallow and pointless," he said. "There's no depth to it
and it's embarrassing because it'll make people think
that we're eccentric and silly." The Fresh Expressions
initiative has spawned churches for surfers as well as
commissioning priests to work in night clubs and
skateboard parks.
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