"My Needs Weren't Being Met": A Local Response [A Response to: "Gonna Rock the Town Tonight"]

Notes: The author, dean and rector of St. Matthew's Cathedral in Brandon, Manitoba, begins by noting that "Much has been written in recent years about how to attract people from different generations, with simplistic formulas like 'Just do [tactic] and the [generation] will flock to you." Would that it were so simple ! Liturgy is a hugely complex reality, steadfastly resisting the one-size-fits-all mindset, but the new 'North American liturgy' which John Stephenson describes has proven to be very attractive for many people". "The great appeal of the new liturgy is in its music, much of which is of very high quality within its own idiom." "We are left with the conundrum of responding to 'My needs weren't being met' in a way that does not do violence to our liturgical tradition. The response I suggest is not to try to meet everyone's perceived needs -- down that road lies chaos ! -- but to challenge the complaint at its heart. It reflects what I would call a consumerist attitude to worship, focused on the worshipper, not on God. The mark of good liturgy of any variety is its ability to summon worshippers across thresholds: from individual to corporate, from wants to real needs, from human to divine. We do not worship to meet our needs, but to give glory to God: not consumers of worship but consumed by worship. .... As for the new liturgy, if it is of God, it will stand -- and we will all be the richer for it".

Subjects: Liturgical renewal - North America - 21st century; Liturgical renewal - Anglican Church of Canada; Public worship - Anglican Church of Canada; Contemporary Christian music; Liturgy; Consumerism - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada