Worship

________________________ The Language of the Postmodern Church

By: Cody Kimmel

Table of Contents

1. Rethinking Worship Ministry: Dialectic Liturgy 2. The Precedent for Teaching Theology Through Worship 3. Whats Unique About Postmodernism 4. Practical Steps Towards Strong Dialectic Liturgy

1 4 10 15

Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011

Chapter 1

Rethinking Worship Ministry: Dialectic Liturgy

But youre gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed Youre gonna have to serve somebody Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But youre gonna have to serve somebody1

Bob Dylan, in 1979, put out a very spiritually motivated album called Slow Train Coming. In one of
the more popular songs on the album, a bluesy Motown throwback called Gotta Serve Somebody, Dylan posits that it doesnt matter if someone is the president or a beggar on the street. Regardless of who a person is, he will inevitably serve somebody. Although it may not have sung as well, Dylan could have easily entitled his song, Gotta worship somebody. To serve something is to worship something.2 The deferral of ones identity to an outside influence, the subjection of a human to some form of authority, even the myth of self-authority, at its core is worship. John Calvin writes, There is scarcely an individual to be found without some idol or phantom as a substitute for Deity.3 Paul, in his letter to the Romans, observes, Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.4 Whether it happens properly or improperly, humans are bent towards worship. To define worship as succinctly as possible, worship is dialectic. Worship is the dialogue that occurs between the initiating God and his responding followers. As Marva Dawn writes, We worship only because God comes to us, loves us first, and enables us to worship. We respond with love and gratitude, adoration and praise.5 This dialogue can take many different forms, such as art, music, social action, prayer, tongues, bible study, etc. However, regardless of the form it takes, all worship is defined by the interaction between God and humans. Geoffrey Wainwright writes, Whether the correspondence be located in freedom or reason or speech, humankind is seen throughout Scripture as made by God sufficiently like himself for communication to take place between the Creator and the human creature, a personal exchange in which each partner is meant to find satisfaction.6 Worship is dialectic. Preaching, on the other hand, is rhetorical. Although in a broader sense the call to preaching may very well be seen as a dialectic response to Gods transformation on a persons life, the actual act of preaching is rhetorical in that it can happen without dialogue. Preaching is the active transmission of information to a passive recipient. For much of church history, the main means by which people learned about God, the central conduit 1"Gotta Serve Somebody," Slow Train Coming, 1979,. 2A Hebrew word commonly used in reference to the worship of God, dAbDo, has its etymological roots in the term for slave. So, the
worship of God in the Hebrew understanding of it was tantamount to enslavement to God. Cf. HALOT, 773. 3John Calvin, The Institutes of Calvin, trans. Henry Beveridge (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 2008). 1:5:12 4Rom 1:22-23 5Marva J. Dawn, "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Church in Postmodern Times," in Confident Witness - Changing World, 270=282 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999). 271 6Geoffrey Wainwright, "Christian Worship: Scriptural Basis and Theological Framework," in The Oxford History of Christian Worship, 1-31 (Oxford: Ofxord University Press, 2006). 9

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for teaching theology to congregations was through dialectic liturgy.7 However, as the Protestant Reformation progressed, founded by such preachers as Luther and Calvin, the tide shifted towards rhetorical preaching being the preferred medium of teaching theology to the church.8 Preaching fit well with the epistemological paradigm brought on by the Enlightenment.9 There was no overwhelming cultural suspicion of religious meta-narrative as long as it came through a reasoned argument taught by a credentialed speaker. Therefore, theological knowledge was transmitted easily from a credible preacher to a receptive church. Rhetorical preaching, however, is no longer sufficient in and of itself for teaching theology in a postmodern context. With the onslaught of postmodern angst and suspicion, the deconstruction of previously indestructible meta-narratives, and the rejection of systems of thought having carte-blanche authority over how people interpret the world around them, rhetorical preaching alone no longer has credibility. In order to effectively teach theology, preaching needs to occur within the context of strong dialectic liturgy. To put it differently, if a modernist wanted to learn about the homeless population in Dallas, he would go to the local library, find a few books on the topic, read some of the statistics, and collect the germane information to get a better understanding. If a postmodernist wanted to learn about homelessness in Dallas, he would go to Dallas and become homeless for a week. In each instance, both would walk away with a better understanding of the issue, but the means by which they reach their conclusions would vary immensely. Dawn later notes that in a worship context we learn more about Gods character.10 A postmodern culture does not learn about God by means of intuition, but by means of interaction. In order to effectively teach theology as pastors in a postmodern context, there must be a shift in priority from rhetorical preaching to dialectic liturgy. The specific field of worship ministry provides an advantageous office through which to teach theology to a postmodern church. What follows is (1) an examination of the precedent for teaching theology dialectically through worship ministry, (2) the specific features of postmodernism that necessitate this shift, and (3) some practical ways worship pastors can teach theology in a postmodern context. Worship Ministry Defined: Before continuing, it is important to define what is meant when talking about worship ministry. The current status of worship ministry is in many ways more like a music and production business than a pastoral church office. The teaching pastors are the theologians, whereas the worship pastors are the rockstars, the artists, the cheerleaders and glorified karaoke machines who lead people through songs talking about God, (some of the time). Although this is sadly the current state of much of worship ministry for reasons too vast and too comprehensive to be discussed in the scope of this paper, this is not what is meant by worship ministry here. If worship is dialectic, then worship ministry is the overseeing of dialectic liturgy. The role of the worship pastor is to create the atmosphere, space, context, and modes for the church to actively interact with God and know Him dialectically. This does not discount the role of music in the dialectic worship of God. However, effective worship ministry is one that sees music as part of a greater culture of interaction with God and not as the only medium 7Ibid. 14 8Ibid. 15 9Although the Enlightenment is a very broad term that can refer to multiple aspects of culture and history, the specific way it is meant
here is the epistemological priority of reason over tradition in understanding the world brought on by Descartes famous statement, Cogito, ergo sum. 10Marva J. Dawn, "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Church in Postmodern Times," in Confident Witness - Changing World, 270=282 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999). 271

 through which people can know and respond to God in a worshipful way. True worship leaders are liturgical architects.

Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011

Chapter 2

The Precedent for Teaching Theology Through Worship Ministry

If God had a name, what would it be? And would you call it to his face? If you were faced with him in all his glory, What would you ask if you had just one question? What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us, Just a stranger on the bus, Trying to make his way home?11

The one hit wonder Joan Osborn released the song One of Us on her 1995 debut album, Relish. In it,
she asks a series of questions about what life would be like if we looked around and met God living with us. After initially hearing the song, a Christian might assume that it is a reflection on the incarnation of Jesus, but Joan Osborn is not praising God for his incarnation. The song is showing a longing to be able to know God without the burden of religion, to know God by means of interaction, not institution. The question what if God was one of us? shouldnt be a difficult question for a Christian to answer. Through the incarnation of Christ, God did become one of us. John 1:1 says, The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is Emanuel, the God-with-us. So why does there seem to be a disconnect between the God who dwelt among men and the God who is taught through the institutional church? Both in the early existence of the nation of Israel and the church immediately following Jesus, the catalyst for knowing God was incarnation12, not institution; dialectics, not rhetoric. Whether it was the presence of the fire in the wilderness, the miracles surrounding the exodus and conquest, or the Ark of the Covenant, the Hebrew understanding of God grew out of a dialectic worship of an Incarnate Deity. Even more so, the early church learned of God by means of call and response creeds, communion, and other interactive liturgy because they lived in the reality that the God they worshipped did walk among them. Unfortunately, as the church grew distant from the incarnation, the catalyst for knowing God transitioned away from an incarnate dialectic to an institutional rhetoric. The song One of Us points to the postmodern desire to know God dialectically and the effect the absence of strong dialectic liturgy has had on the postmodern perception of God. However, both early Jewish history and early Christian history show that people learned about God through dialectics, not rhetoric, thus providing a historical precedent for teaching theology through worship ministry.

11Joan Osborn, "One of Us," Relish, comps. Eric Bazilian, 1995,. 12Incarnation in the scope of this paper is being used more loosely in that it is referring to the obvious interaction between God and
his people, not only in reference to the full Incarnation, Jesus.

 Old Testament Examples Although there are numerous examples in the Hebrew Scriptures that point to the use of dialectic liturgy arising out of Incarnation, there are three in particular that provide a precedent for the people of God learning about Him through a worship context. The first is the use of song as both a summary of Gods salvation and response to his action, the second is the lifestyle of Law, and the third is the celebration of Holy Days, in particular Passover. Each of these practices of Ancient Israel developed as a result of Gods initiating presence and are the dialectic responses through which Israel came to know about the God they worshipped. Use of Song in the Old Testament The Lord is my strength and my song, And he has become my salvation; This is my God and I will praise Him, My fathers God, and I will exalt him.13 The story of the Exodus begins drearily. The new Pharaoh doesnt know who Joseph was and decided to enslave the Hebrews in order to control them. Through a bizarre series of events, a certain Hebrew named Moses ended up being raised in the court of the Pharaoh and rose to a place of prominence within Pharaohs ranks. When he witnessed the unjust treatment of a Hebrew slave, Moses killed the oppressor and later fled in fear. After spending forty years herding sheep in the wilderness east of Egypt, Moses had an encounter with God, who appeared to him in the midst of a burning bush. Despite Moses misgivings, him and his brother returned to Egypt to plead for the release of the people of Israel. What ensued after they returned was the most public showing of Gods presence and interaction to date in the lives of people since he destroyed all but Noah in Genesis 6. After ten plagues, the last of which killed the firstborn son of every person in Egypt, the people were finally released, only to be pursued once again by Pharaoh and his army. Although the Israelites had been let go by Pharaoh, they were not out of the woods quite yet. It is at this point in the story that Moses and his people came to the Red Sea in Exodus 14. The people were disheartened and already questioning whether or not they should have followed Moses out of Egypt. But then God showed up again and parted the Red Sea for them, closing it back in on their pursuers, and finally giving the nation of Israel rest and salvation. Directly after this story, after Gods incarnation through the wonders in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the deliverance from Pharaoh, Moses and his people got a chance to respond. Exodus 15 is the first song of Moses, a song that both recounts the story of their salvation and exalts the inferred characteristics of God learned by Moses and the people through this interaction. After Moses sings the song, the writer of Exodus records that Miriam and the other women were dancing around singing the song over and over again.14 Exodus 15 is dialectic liturgy. God showed himself to the nation of Israel and they dialogued back with him through a song of praise. There are two important things to note about this: (1) The song was a response to Gods initiating presence. Exodus 14:30-31 says, Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. 13Exodus 15: 14Exodus 15:20-21 5

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The people of Israel saw God. The liturgical response following it was not ritual or rote, it was not forced or out of context. The people sang and worshipped because they saw God intersect their lives. (2) People learned something about God through their dialectic response. Although the song of Moses is only recorded fully here in Exodus 15, the note that Miriam and the other women continued to sing it as they danced through the camp implies that this was not the only time they sang this song. The women of Israel may not have been able to give a comprehensive report on the omnipotence of God, but they did learn that God is a God of power and victory. Psalms like Psalm 78 are proof that the songs originally sung at the times of Gods interaction continued throughout Israels history to tell the story of God, respond to his interaction, and teach future generations about Him. The use of songs to dialectically respond to God and learn about his nature is a liturgical element prominent in both Israel and the Church. The pneumonic advantage afforded by song and the aesthetic nature of music continue to be significant elements to dialectic liturgy and the equipping of saints in the knowledge of theology.15 The Lifestyle of Law Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.16 The people of Israel were a people characterized by Law. When Israel was at the base of Mount Sinai, before Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law, God told Moses, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.17 The overarching liturgy through which God interacted with His people was the system of Laws given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. The covenant between God and Israel was that as long as Israel was faithful to keep the Law, his presence would be with his people. The Law ranged from what Israel ate, how they sacrificed, and what made them ritually pure to moral laws, civil laws, and liturgical laws. At a few key times in Israels history, the Law served as the catalyst for reuniting Israel with Gods presence. In both the reigns of Hezekiah18 and later Josiah19, the rediscovery of the Law and return to its practice ushered in a new age of Gods presence with his people and a re-found knowledge of who God is. Even in post-Exilic Israel, Ezras study and implementation of the Law was the driving force reconnecting the exiles of Judah with their faithful but distant God.20 The interaction of Law and the connection with Gods presence, whether it was the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Ark of the Covenant in Joshua and pre-Temple Israel, or the Temple itself, is the most poignant example of Gods people responding to and understanding God through dialectic liturgy. Not only was living out the law of God a response to Gods incarnate presence, but it was a response that taught Israel truths about the God they worshiped. They learned that God does not want them 15William T. Flynn, "Liturgical Music," in The Oxford History of Christian Worship, 767-790 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). 767 16Deuteronomy 6:4-7 17Exodus 19:5-6a 182 Kings 18-20, 2 Chronicles 29-32 192 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35 20Ezra 7:10 6

 worshipping other Gods because it is Gods nature to be jealous for what is His.21 They learned that it is important to take care of the orphans and widows and sojourners because Gods nature is one of compassion.22 They learned that it is necessary to sacrifice because of Gods justice and mercy.23 Israel knew God by their dialectic response through the lifestyle of Law to his presence. Celebration of Passover And when in time to come your son asks you, What does this mean? you shall say to him, By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.24 Another dialectic liturgy through which the Israelites both interacted with God and learned about Him was the series of festivals and feast throughout the year commemorating different events in their history. One of the most significant of these was Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread. The Passover was a celebration commemorating the mercy granted to the firstborn of Israel in which the angel of death passed over the houses with lambs blood on the doorpost during the tenth plague in Egypt. This festival was also a celebration of Gods salvation of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The initial Passover in Egypt was Gods interaction with Israel and the subsequent celebration of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was Israels dialectic response. Once again, the Passover celebration served two functions. It was a consistent worshipful dialogue between Israel and God and it was a tool to teach future generations about the nature of God. In Ex 13:14, God commands Israel to use the time of the Passover as an opportunity to tell their children what God did for Israel. New Testament and Early Church Examples When Jesus came into the world, the incarnation of God was fully realized. The incarnation that was only a shadow in the Old Testament became literal flesh with Christ. As Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, He is the image of the invisible GodFor in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.25 The question of Joan Osborns song One of Us became a reality. God became one of us. The reality of incarnation to the Apostles and the early church led them to a predominantly dialectic liturgy through which they both worshipped God and transmitted a theological understanding of God to the church. This is evidenced by Pauls use of hymns in his Epistles to make doctrinal statements and the central place the sacrament of Communion took in the liturgical practice of the early church. Pauls Use of Hymns in Epistles Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.26 21Exodus 20:2-6 22Exodus 22:21-27 23Leviticus 16:2 24Exodus 13:14 25Colossians 1:15, 19 261 Timothy 3:16 7

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As a rabbinic Pharisee raised in a strongly Jewish context, Paul was familiar with the practice of using hymns to make creedal statements about God. This is seen in multiple places in his epistles where he refers to a hymn or known church creed to affirm or confirm a truth about God being expressed in his letter. One of the most distinct places Paul does this is in affirming the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3:16. Although there is debate on the specific structure of the hymn, it is agreed on by most that Paul is referring to a hymn already known by Timothy and the Ephesian church.27 Daniel Wallace argues that Romans 1:3-4 is a reference to a prePauline hymn and he cites Peter OBriens criteria for hymnic material in the New Testament, which are stylistic (the presence of parallelismus membrorum, chiasmus, and other rhetorical devices) and linguistic (the presence of heightened language and special theological terms).28 OBriens study of hymnic material in the New Testament centers around Philippians 2:6-11, another Pauline passage.29 The specific nature of the syntactical and linguistic elements of New Testament hymns or creeds in Paul or other New Testament authors is not as significant for establishing a precedent for dialectic liturgy in the early church as is their consistent presence in the epistles. The fact that Paul references pre-existing hymns explaining the basic tenants of the first century church shows that the dialectic liturgy of hymns was prevalent amongst first century Christians. Just as Israel interacted with and responded to various incarnations of God through songs and poetry, the first century church dialogued with God in the same way. And as the use of songs and poetry were both worshipful (dialectic) and teaching (didactic) in Ancient Israel, so was the dialectic liturgy of hymns in the first century church. Liturgy Centered Around Communion And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:1920 ESV) Maxwell Johnson, in his article The Apostolic Tradition, notes that despite previous scholarship on the continuity of Early Church liturgy, recent scholarship favors the view that what is encountered in that history is not a single tradition but various traditions.30 However, despite the difficulties in establishing a singular tradition that characterizes the whole of early church practices, there are a few shared commonalities that are significant in understanding the liturgical dynamic of the first and second century church. The most significant of these early commonalities was the centrality of the Lords Supper. Nevertheless, whatever conclusions may be drawn about eucharistic origins, our earliest documents do confirm that the eucharist was initially a literal meal, held most likely in the evening within a domestic, house church setting, with contents of the meal provided by members of the assembly. By the middle of the second century, the meal itself had in some places disappeared from the 27Ray Van Neste, "1 and 2 Timothy Study Notes," in English Standard Version Study Bible, ed. Wayne Grudem, 2330-2331
(Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2008); also discussed in Daniel Wallace, An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) where he writes The rhythmic patterns of this text are obvious: six lines of parallel passive verbs, followed by parallel ( +) dat. constructions. These features, coupled with an introductory , are signatures of poetry. (341) 28Dr. Wallaces class notes, delivered in September of 2010, argue for the hymnic characteristic of Rom 1:3-4 and he cites Peter T. O'Brien, Commentary on Philippians (NIGTC) 188-189. 29Peter T. O'Brien, Commentary on Philippians (NIGTC) 188-189. 30Maxwell E. Johnson, "The Apostolic Tradition," in The Oxford History of Christian Worship, 32-75 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). 32

 eucharist proper, with only the specific ritual sharing of bread and cup in the context of praise and thanksgiving, increasingly transferred to Sunday mornings and remaining as the central focus of worship.31 The Lords Supper was a practice initiated by Jesus during the Passover Feast immediately preceding his death. During the meal, the synoptic gospels record that Jesus took the bread and the wine and used them as symbols for his body that was about to be broken and blood that was about to be shed to usher in a New Covenant. The setting of the first Lords Supper within the context of the celebration of Passover should not be missed. As was discussed earlier, Passover was a celebration responding to the incarnate actions of God saving Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Now, the fully incarnate Deity was about to save not only Israel, but the whole world from the slavery of sin through his atonement on the cross. The dialectic response of the church, the way the first Christians remembered and dialogued with the initiating actions of Jesus on the cross was through the liturgy of the Eucharist. Christians would take the bread and the wine and recount the story of what Jesus did. As is the case with all the other previously cited examples, the practice of the Lords Supper is both dialectic and didactic because it not only provides a space to respond to the atoning sacrifice the Incarnate Christ made, but it taught the fundamental tenants of the gospel. With only a brief look at Ancient Israels worship practices and early church tradition, the precedent for theology being taught through dialectic liturgy is overwhelming. But how does dialectic liturgy meet the needs of a postmodern context? What is unique about the postmodern condition that necessitates a shift from an emphasis on rhetorical preaching to dialectic liturgy as the central means for teaching theology?

31Ibid. 49-50 9

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Chapter 3

Whats Unique About Postmodernism?

Been working for the church While your life falls apart. Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart Every spark of friendship and love Will die without a home.32

In 2006, the Canadian indie-rock band, Arcade Fire, purchased and renovated an old church to record
their second full length LP, Neon Bible. After the success of their first LP, Funeral, Win Butler and the rest of the band decided to seek a more prophetic message and focus specifically on the corruption of religion in North America. The albums first single, Intervention, is a very bitter and personal song about a minister who lost his family for the sake of his religion. Another track, Antichrist Television Blues, documents the story of a man who uses his daughters voice to make money through the church. Not only is the Arcade Fires album Neon Bible an example of the rising tide of religious questioning in postmodern culture, but the setting in which it was recorded is a telling symbol. Where once stood a church producing songs in praise of God, now stands a studio producing songs questioning the credibility of the God it once espoused. The postmodern context is a paradigm fraught with doubt. It is an exercise in rejection. Lee A. Wyatt writes, In postmodernism, there is no universally applicable account of humanity, its goals, or its purposes. There is no Story, only stories in all their bewildering variety and contradictoriness.33 The Arcade Fire, in a song off their Grammy winning third album, The Suburbs, called Ready to Start, writes, All the kids have always known/That the emperor wears no clothes/But they bow down to him anyway/Its better than being alone. 34 The postmodernist looks at the emperor of objectivity and metanarrative, of self-legitimating knowledge and reason, and exclaims, Youre naked! Not only is postmodernism a rejection of Modernist epistemology, but it is the proud rejection of it. In many ways, postmodernism stands antithetical to the church. It is a mistake to see the rise of postmodernism as an outright ally to the faith. However, postmodernism isnt going away and there are many aspects of postmodernity that align well with faith, despite its differences. If pastors want to continue to shepherd the church and effectively engage the culture, they must not only understand the larger influences driving the postmodern movement, but also try to find points of contact through which the church can connect. This section will examine two35 important aspects of postmodernism and how they intersect with the church: (1) the incredulity of metanarrative, (2) and the step/not of deconstruction. 32Arcade Fire, "Intervention," Neon Bible, comps. Arcade Fire, 2007,. 33Lee A. Wyatt, "Preaching in a Postmodern Context," in Confident Witness - Changing World, 155-170 (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999). 156 34Arcade Fire, "Ready to Start," The Suburbs, comps. Arcade Fire, 2010,. 35Typically, a discussion of the major tenants of postmodernism would include interactions with at least three thinkers; Lyotard, Derrida, and Foucault. I have decided to not discuss Michel Foucault at length here. This is not because he is not important, nor that his sociological study of power/discipline systems bares no relevance to the discussion. I am choosing not to include him for the sake of not being redundant. The reason worship ministry, a dialectic liturgy founded on Incarnation, meets the needs of a postmodern context better than rhetorical preaching is because of the postmodernists rejection of didactics rooted in institutions and the challenge

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 Incredulity of Metanarrative Simplifying to an extreme, I define postmodernism as an incredulity toward metanarratives.36 Although postmodernism by definition is difficult to define, any discussion of postmodernism would be lacking without a discussion of Jean-Francois Lyotard. James K. Smith, in his book Whos Afraid of Postmodernism, discusses at length the influence of Lyotard on the church in his chapter entitled, Where Have All the Metanarratives Gone? Starting with Lyotards basic premise, the incredulity of metanarrative, Smith walks through what exactly is meant by the phrase and what it ultimately means for the church. Postmodernism can be understood as the erosion of confidence in the rational as sole guarantor and deliverer of truth, coupled with a deep suspicion of scienceparticularly modern sciences pretentious claims to an ultimate theory of everything.37 Smith recognizes that at first glance, this might seem to imply that Christian faith and postmodernism must be antithetical since the Bible is thought to be the Metanarratives of all metanarratives.38 In fact, there are many scholars who do see the rejection of metanarrative inherent in postmodernism as exclusively opposed to orthodox faith. Lee Wyatt writes, If we reject the Enlightenment Story of reason, progress, and success on which our culture is built, along with the Christian Story that undergirded it much of the time, where do we go from there?39 Wyatt continues to try and establish a strategy of weathering the storm of postmodernism while still maintaining the Enlightenment driven faith in the Bible as metanarrative.40 Smith, however, sees the belief that postmodernism and faith are mutually exclusive as the result of a misunderstanding of Lyotard, calling it a bumper sticker interpretation of Lyotards central claim. The issue Lyotard has with metanarratives is the means by which metanarratives legitimate themselves.41 Take for example a conversation had between two baseball fans. Fan A looks at Fan B after witnessing a play and says, That guy was clearly safe. Since both the sender and the addressee are speaking the same language game, the language game of baseball, Fan B is able to understand what Fan A means without seeking outside legitimization. Now what if Fan A said the same thing to a person who knows nothing of baseball? Fan A could not rely on the shared language game to legitimate his claim. It is in this type of instant, in the reality of multiple language games that an appeal is made to an outside, universal criterion: Reason. This is what Lyotard
of the multiplicity of interpretations. Although Foucault does have something to say about these things, I feel it is sufficiently discussed in Lyotard and Derrida. One thing Foucault does show in his project that is worth noting and is not as clearly expressed in the others is how much of the rejection of metanarrative, or is he would call it, truth-power systems is rooted in the pain of the violent marginalization committed at the hands of those who know for the sake of normalization. When pastoring a postmodern world, whether worship pastors or preachers, there must be a sensitivity to the underlying pain driving the culture of rejection. 36Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi (Minneaplois: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), p. iv. 37James K. A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmordernism? (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishing, 2006), p. 62. 38Ibid. 63. 39Lee A. Wyatt, "Preaching in a Postmodern Context," in Confident Witness - Changing World, 155-170 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), p. 156. 40Ibid. 157-161. 41Smith, 64-70

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Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011

calls a metanarrative. A metanarrative is a self-legitimizing story functioning supposedly outside the realm of narrative.42 And herein lies the issue of incredulity towards metanarrative. The metanarrative of Science (reason) places itself above the scope of narrative despite the fact that it is just another language game birthed out of a narrative myth. Where many scholars go wrong is in believing that just because Christians believe in a Grand Story that informs every aspect of their life, that Christian faith necessarily qualifies as a metanarrative by Lyotards definition. As Smith summarizes, What characterizes the postmodern condition, then, is not a rejection of grand stories in terms of scope or in the sense of epic claims, but rather an unveiling of the fact that all knowledge is rooted in some narrative or myth.43 Smith admits that this does pose a serious threat to certain versions of Christianity, particularly the Modern version which roots its apologetic in an appeal to reason and sees Christianity as objectively true regardless of ones particular language game.44 However, it is not necessary for the church to see itself as hopelessly opposed to postmodernism. Smith suggests a return to a pre-Modern tradition of faith informing reason, a church rooted in story and recognizing that the beliefs they hold of God, they hold with faith, not autolegitimizing reason. With regards to worship, Smith writes, Authentic Christian worship both invites outsiders into the gospel story and provides a significant means for the formation of disciples of Jesus Christ. In other words, authentic worship does not have to choose between reaching seekers and building up the saints. Incarnational worship does both.45 Although Smith does not put it in these terms, he is suggesting a return to dialectic liturgy to engage a world that rejects metanarrative. The Step/Not of Deconstruction There is nothing outside the text.46 Jacques Derrida, like Lyotard, is a philosopher that needs to be addressed in understanding the postmodern context. Derridas presence in the philosophic milieu in which he inhabits is much like the project he purports. He is a deconstructive force in the realm of knowledge that has caused most Christians to scream in terror and run away. So what is deconstruction and why are Christians so afraid of it? The fear of deconstruction by the church is rooted in Derridas famous claim that there is nothing outside of the text. In other words, Derrida says that there is no way to see or understand the world outside of the context of language.47 What this means is that there is no such thing as knowledge that is not mediated by ones interpretation. Christians misinterpret Derridas claim in two significant ways. The first is that they see Derrida as saying that there is no such thing as objects that exist beyond language, that Derrida is some kind of linguistic idealist. Smith concedes that if this is what Derrida means, then this is completely antithetical to Christian faith. If there are no objects beyond language, then there is no Christ, no atonement, and no God.48 This is the interpretation John Caputo references (negatively) when he calls deconstruction the hermeneutics of the death 42Ibid. 66-68; also cf. PC, 23-24. 43Ibid. 69. 44Ibid. 45Ibid. 79-78. 46Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, trans. G. Spivak (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), p. 158. 47Smith, 34. 48Ibid. 39. 12

 of God.49 This, however, as both Smith and Caputo point out, is a misinterpretation of Derrida.50 Derrida does not deny that there are objects that exist beyond language. What Derrida is claiming is that although there are objects that exist beyond language, nobody can know them without the process of interpretation. Even though the view that everything is an interpretation of real objects is more accurate to what Derrida claims, many Christians still dont find this very comforting. Smith writes, Even if we understand Derridas claim not as linguistic idealism but rather as ubiquitous interpretation, it would seem that we have [another] reason why Derridas claim is antithetical to Christian faith. If everything is interpretation, then even the gospel is only an interpretation and not objectively true.51 Merold Westphal, in his book, Whose Community? Which Interpretation?, approaches the issue of postmodern interpretation through the lens of three twentieth century hermeneutical philosophers, Martin Heidegger, HansGeorg Gadamer, and Paul Ricoeur. Westphal, when describing the similarities between the three, writes, We are always somewhere (socially, culturally, historically, linguistically) and never nowhere when we interpret. Interpretation is never without presuppositions. It is always relative to the particular and contingent location of the interpreter.52 Elsewhere, Westphal observes that, because of the infinite multiplicity of perspectives, there is no such thing as a no interpretation needed reading of any text, including the bible.53 The reason many Christians find this view of interpretation so discomforting is the false belief that just because something is interpreted, it cannot then be true.54 This misunderstanding is rooted in the presupposition that if something is true, then it is thus objectively true, and without the need for interpretation. Smith, Westphal, and Caputo all reject this view and claim that just because something is interpreted, it does not preclude it from being true. Caputo, in light of the infinite plurality of interpretation, takes Derridas discussion of the Step/Not Beyond and applies it positively to the notion of faith for the church. Derrida uses plays on words often to highlight his point about interpretation and in this instance uses the play between the words step and not, which in French is the same word, pas. He posits that inherent in every step is the possibility of misstep. In every interpretation, there is the possibility of misinterpretation. This theory of step/not points to the idea of the impossible.55 Caputo writes, So we start to see how deeply the not is embedded in the path, how deeply the impasse is embedded in the pass, and more generally how deeply the impossible is embedded in the possiblealmost to the point that, far from being a simple play on words among wild-eyed French theorists, it is beginning to look like a law, and indeed one very close to the religious heart.56

49John D. Caputo, What Would Jesus Deconstruct? (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishing, 2007), p. 26. 50Ibid; Smith, 39. 51Ibid. 42. 52Merold Westphal, Whose Community? Which Interpretation? (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishing, 2009), p. 35. 53Ibid. 26. 54Smith, 43-45. 55Caputo, 41-50 56Ibid. 45. Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011 13

Ultimately, Caputo sees deconstruction as a positive force pointing the church back to a lifestyle of faith. Deconstruction claims that Christians will never have a complete and objective knowledge of God, that they will never know God beyond an interpretation rooted in their specific location, but how is that different from what is promised in the Bible? To know God means to dialectically engage with Him through faith, fully aware of the possibility of misstep and the ultimate impossibility of knowing God in his completeness.

14

Chapter 4

Practical Steps Towards Strong Dialectic Liturgy

Oh God, hold me now Oh Lord, hold me now Theres no other man who could raise the dead So do what you can to anoint my head.57

Singer/songwriter genius Sufjan Stevens is a unique blend of spiritual and postmodern in his approach
to God in his music. Although he claims no major religious affiliations and certainly does not manifest clear orthodoxy through his songs, there is a sincere desire in his music to engage with a God he longs to be near. In his song, Oh God, Where are You Now, Stevens begins by asking God to hold him, to draw near to him as he walks through his draught of faith. In another song off his 2004 album, Seven Swans, entitled, To Be Alone With You, Stevens explores the great depths of the implications of atonement, but does it in a very personal, interactive way, that is honest about the underlying doubts inherent in trusting through faith. I'd swim across lake Michigan I'd sell my shoes I'd give my body to be back again In the rest of the room To be alone with you To be alone with you To be alone with you To be alone with you You gave your body to the lonely They took your clothes You gave up a wife and a family You gave your goals To be alone with me To be alone with me To be alone with me You went up on a tree To be alone with me you went up on the tree 57Sufjan Stevens, "Oh God, Where are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake, Pigeon, Marquette? Mackinaw?)," Greetings from Michigan, comps. Sufjan Stevens, 2003,. Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011 15

I'll never know the man who loved me58 It is a mistake to believe that just because postmodern culture has rejected Enlightenment epistemology, that it has no interest in knowing God. As Stevens songs express, there are many in the postmodern context who want God to hold them, who want to be alone with the only man who can ever love them completely. But many feel like they cant know God through the tired recitations, the practiced bullet points, and the reasonentrenched liturgy of the institutional church. But is this the only way to do church? To understand true things about God, is it necessary to recognize them in an auto-legitimizing knowledge system rooted in Enlightenment epistemology? A look at the means by which Ancient Israel and the Early Church engaged with God liturgically and learned about his character says otherwise. The great hope for the church in the midst of the seemingly hopeless and nihilistic world of the postmodern is the doctrine of Incarnation. Postmodernists can reject metanarrative all they want, Christians know God through Christ! There is no need to fear the multiplicity of interpretation if the interpretation is coming through a walk of faith with an interactive Savior. In order to teach theology in a postmodern context, pastors need to approach it in a way that recognizes our knowledge of God comes through the manifestation of his presence, not the systematic theologies, tomes of dogmatic didactics, and rhetoric driven information. Worship pastors have the opportunity to re-orient and reshape the liturgical structure of the church in such a way that people can dialogue with God. In order to meet the needs of a postmodern culture and teach theology, there must be a reprioritization of dialectic, incarnational liturgy through which the church can know God through interaction. Before concluding, there are four brief suggestions for practical steps towards a dialectic liturgy that can teach a postmodern church theology. (1) Return to Pre-modern liturgy, (2) contextualization of songs with narrative, (3) the use of deconstructive aesthetics, and (4) the aesthetic of justice. The sacramental imagination begins from the assumption that our discipleship depends not only not even primariliyon the conveyance of ideas into our minds, but on the immersion in embodied practices and rituals that form us into the kind of people God calls us to be.59 A Return to Pre-modern Liturgy James Smith, in concluding his discussion of postmodernism and the church writes, The outcome of postmodernismshould be a robust confessional theology and ecclesiology that unapologetically reclaims premodern practices in and for a postmodern culture.60 Pre-modern liturgy is one founded on Incarnation, not Reason. Before the Enlightenment, people could know things without knowing them objectively, they could embrace faith without fear of it seeming unreasonable. Now that the man behind the curtain of Modern thinking has been exposed, Smith concludes that there is nothing stopping the church from returning to a dialectic liturgy centered on Incarnation and driven by faith. As is seen in a look at Ancient Israel and the Early Church, there is great precedence for knowing God through dialectic media. A return to practices such as the interactive taking of the Lords Supper, the dialectic interaction that takes place through participation in the traditional church calendar, and the communal sharing of 58Sufjan Stevens, "To Be Alone With You," Seven Swans, comps. Sufjan Stevens, 2004,. 59Smith, 140 60Ibid., 116. 16

 stories about Gods interaction in their life can create strong dialectic liturgy that both praises God and forms believers understanding of him. As Marva Dawn writes, The churchs catechumenal process forms us all both the new in faith and the more matureto be a people who drink exuberantly of the satisfying Water of life to quench our deepest thirst.61 The Lords Supper causes the church to interact with the God who saved them and the church surrounding them in a way that forms an understanding of God. Participating in things like Lent can teach Christians their poverty that led to the cross and the value of sacrificing for Christ, much like Ancient Israel knew God through the daily habits formed by Law-living. Recounting stories, both biblical and personal, can promote a dialogue with an interactive God that teaches truths about Him. Contextualize Songs With Narrative Music as a mode of both worship and teaching of theology, as discussed earlier, is an important part of both modern worship ministry and historical liturgy. However, modern worship music can often times feel like stars floating aimlessly through space, unaware of the galaxy surrounding them. It is good for the church to sing, Our God is greater, but the phrase doesnt mean as much when understood outside of the context of the narrative that expresses that truth about God. Without the narrative surrounding the songs sung in a liturgical setting, musical worship becomes rhetorical, merely affirming truths about God and not truly interacting with the God of truth. In order to connect worship songs effectively to a postmodern culture in a didactic way, the singing of them must happen in a dialectic context. This means contextualizing songs with either the biblical narrative surrounding them or the narrative of the church. Lee Wyatt, although writing primarily about preaching in a postmodern context, still makes an appropriate point. If we allow the shape of the Story to inform our preaching, then we will be primarily storytellers. No longer will we simply dip into the Scriptures to find a text, or use lectionary readings in isolation from their larger contexts. Specific texts will be embedded in a larger Story.62 Likewise, specific songs need to be embedded in the larger Story of faith. As a worship pastor, before leading the church through a series of songs about Gods faithfulness, I might try and share the story of God bringing his people back from exile, or talk about Jesus faithfulness to Peter despite Peters denial of him, or have a member of the congregation come and share her story of Gods faithfulness in her own life. By contextualizing songs in narrative, a liturgy that is currently rhetorical becomes dialectic again. Just as Moses sang out of response to Gods presence and interaction, the church is singing in a response to the narrative they inhabit. This simple addition to the current worship form of many Evangelical churches would turn music into a strong dialectic liturgy and a powerful didactic tool to a postmodern culture. Deconstructive Aesthetics John Caputo describes deconstruction as the hermeneutics of the Kingdom of God.63 What he means is that the kingdom of God, the advent of Jesus in the world, is the deconstructive force that tears down the systems of self and idolatry characterizing the world and reconstructs it in the image of Christ. He writes, In my view, deconstruction is good news because it delivers the shock of the other to the forces of the same, the 61Marva Dawn, A Royal "Waste" of Time (Grand Rapids: WIlliam B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), p. 251. 62Wyatt, 160. 63Caputo, 26. Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011 17

shock of the good (the ought) to the forces of being (what is), which is also why I think it bears good news to the church.64 In Caputos conclusion, he describes a church in Ireland called Ikon, which exemplifies the idea of incorporating a deconstructive aesthetic to create a dialectic liturgy. In its service there are interpretive readings and dance, plays expressing the darkness preceding the resurrection, dramatic iconography asking questions about forgiveness and acceptance of gays and lesbians, pallets and paints available for people to respond and an ultimate suspension of judgment for the sake of all entering into Gods presence.65 This, even by Caputos admission, is an extreme example of postmodern liturgy that would be difficult for many Christians, even Liberal ones, to enjoy participating in. However, it does show the powerful effect deconstructive aesthetics can have in helping people engage with God. A more palatable example of deconstructive aesthetic is Rob Bells series of devotional videos called Nooma. The videos range from two minutes to thirty minutes and usually consist of a series of questions or statements that invoke the viewer to work through the truth of God for himself. In these videos, theology is not normally explicitly expressed but rather inferred through its deconstructive presentation. Deconstructive aesthetic is any form of art that causes the receiver to actively engage with God. It is a prophetic voice calling the church out of her slumber into an active dialogue with her Redeemer. In order to create a dialectic liturgy in a postmodern context, art must not merely be used as passive reflections on truth, but active deconstructions that invoke interactions. The Aesthetic of Justice Smith in his conclusions about a radical orthodox church writes, The Christian ekklesia must be not only liturgical but also local; it must transform not only hearts but also neighborhoods; its worship must foster not only discipleship but also justiceindeed, disciples who are passionate about justice.66 During the research for this paper, I was surprised by the descriptions given by postmodern theologians like James Smith, John Caputo, and Merold Westphal of what postmodern liturgy should look like. It seems the assumption they make about postmodern culture is that it is a culture filled with highly educated people with nuanced artistic tastes. Although that does describe a small part of them, it is not characteristic of them all. In fact, the majority of postmodern culture is comprised of people who would find radical forms of deconstructive art off-putting. It is for this reason that I would like to suggest something new to be thrown into the discussion for what postmodern liturgy should look like. It is the aesthetic of justice. I am currently a worship pastor at a church called Fellowship White Rock in Dallas, TX. It is a new church started a year ago as a parish offshoot of the church Fellowship Bible Church Dallas. As an attempt to engage a postmodern culture with a dialectic liturgy, the teaching pastor and I decided to change the traditional structure of Sunday services to incorporate the aesthetic of justice into our common liturgy. Every fourth Sunday of the month, instead of the preaching and singing, instead of communion and story, we serve the community in which we inhabit. Since we meet in an underprivileged, underachieving school, there have been numerous ways to serve the community in meaningful ways. Doing things like planting a vegetable garden, hosting block party celebrations for the school kids, and even refurnishing the home of a student who lost all he had in an apartment fire, our church is actively engaging in making right the physical, community wrongs we see around us. 64Ibid. 26-27. 65Ibid. 131-133. 66Smith, 142. 18

 The people who go to our church, for the most part dont look like radical postmodernists. Although educated, they are mainly young professionals who couldnt recognize the beauty of a Jackson Pollock painting if it punched them in the face (which could happen). However, they are postmodern and recognize the beauty of seeking justice for the people around them. They are learning that God is a God who transforms people groups, that Gods grace seeks justice, that Gods people should be blessings to those around them. They are learning that the Gospel is both a now and not yet transformational force. In order to create a dialectic liturgy through deconstructive aesthetics, pastors need to think beyond the traditional realm of art and explore the more accessible aesthetic of social justice. Conclusion and a Prayer Postmodern people, despite their rejection of metanarrative, despite the affirmation of ubiquitous interpretation, can still know God and learn the truths about him. Worship ministry, when pursued as the overseeing of strong dialectic liturgy, is the appropriate context for postmodern people to interact with God and know him more fully. Let our prayer be to allow the Incarnate Christ to be the impetus for our liturgy, the engine for our formation, and the atmosphere through which we seek to know him and be known by him. I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.67

67Amos 5:21-24 19

Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011

Works Cited Calvin, John. The Institutes of Calvin. Translated by Henry Beveridge. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 2008. Caputo, John D. What Would Jesus Deconstruct? Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishing, 2007. Dawn, Marva. A Royal "Waste" of Time. Grand Rapids: WIlliam B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999. Dawn, Marva J. "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Church in Postmodern Times." In Confident Witness - Changing World, by Craig Van Gelder, 270=282. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999. Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Translated by G. Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. "Gotta Serve Somebody." Slow Train Coming. 1979. Fire, Arcade. "Intervention." Neon Bible. Comp. Arcade Fire. 2007. Fire, Arcade. "Ready to Start." The Suburbs. Comp. Arcade Fire. 2010. Flynn, William T. "Liturgical Music." In The Oxford History of Christian Worship, by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, 767-790. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Johnson, Maxwell E. "The Apostolic Tradition." In The Oxford History of Christian Worship, by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, 32-75. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Minneaplois: University of Minnesota Press, 1994. O'Brien, Peter T. Commentary on Philippians. NIGTC. Osborn, Joan. "One of Us." Relish. Comp. Eric Bazilian. 1995. Power, David N. Worship, Culture, and Theology. Washington DC: The Pastoral Press, 1990. Smith, James K. A. Who's Afraid of Postmordernism? Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishing, 2006. Stevens, Sufjan. "Oh God, Where are You Now? (In Pickeral Lake, Pigeon, Marquette? Mackinaw?)." Greetings from Michigan. Comp. Sufjan Stevens. 2003. Stevens, Sufjan. "To Be Alone With You." Seven Swans. Comp. Sufjan Stevens. 2004. Van Neste, Ray. "1 and 2 Timothy Study Notes." In English Standard Version Study Bible, edited by Wayne Grudem, 2330-2331. Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

 Wainwright, Geoffrey. "Christian Worship: Scriptural Basis and Theological Framework." In The Oxford History of Christian Worship, by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, 1-31. Oxford: Ofxord University Press, 2006. Wallace, Daniel. An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. Westphal, Merold. Whose Community? Which Interpretation? . Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Publishing, 2009. Wyatt, Lee A. "Preaching in a Postmodern Context." In Confident Witness - Changing World, by Craig Van Gelder, 155-170. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.

Copyright Cody Kimmel, 2011