Stanley Hauerwas says that the church doesn’t have a social
ethic; rather, the church is a social
ethic. John Howard Yoder describes the ethical task of the church in the world
simply as the church needing to be the church. What these statements mean
became clearer to me today. I was studying in the university library, listening
to the sound of a mint swirling around in my mouth and construction work on the
adjacent building, when somewhere outside the walls music started seeping
through. I didn’t know where it was coming from, and its sound was faint at
best, but I was curious. I left the library to pick up some lunch in a nearby
shop, and on my way there I heard the music again, this time louder and with
its source finally apparent – the cathedral. I wanted to go closer to see what
my ears were hearing, but I decided to stay on track, pick up my traditional
ham and cheese sandwich, and return to the library.
Yet as I listened to the music fading into the background,
it struck me: this is what the church – and only the church – has to offer the
world. A carol service is not just a tip of the hat in the direction of the real
meaning of Christmas. It is a social ethic, a way of being in the world that
only the church knows, because the church knows Jesus. This, as Walter
Brueggemann has said, is a profoundly artistic way of being. The organ and the
choir were resonating out into the world from the cathedral, infusing the
ordinary with a moment of sacredness, a glimpse of something bigger. They were
witnesses to a different world, interrupting the prosaic nature of life with a
poetry and rhythm that is beautiful – and because beautiful, attractive.
Incarnation names this interruption at one particular moment in history. Church
names this interruption at every moment in history since, with the church being,
in Barth-speak, the crater remaining after the explosion of the gospel.
Of course there must be more to the being of the church than
music. The conservative would like to remain worshipping in the church, but the
liberal knows that true religion consists of caring for the widow and the
orphan. The prophet knows this too, for our worship services without the
commitment to justice are empty sounds before God. No matter how artistic our
worship services are, if we have not love, we are nothing.
Yet the music, the carols, and the stories they tell have a
power outside of ourselves. A worship service is a dangerous place to be. It is
even dangerous to experience it from a distance, as I did from the library.
Someone might see and hear and think “Surely God is in this place.”
Social ethics and worship, it turns out, are not two things
but one. The church that sings “Oh Come let us adore Him” is thus extending an
invitation and committing itself to its distinctive mission – the invitation is
to come and see and experience the beauty of the form of Christ; the mission is
for the church to be transformed into that same form: a transformation that
begins in worship and which, ultimately, ends in worship.
Beautifully and thoughtfully said, sir. A Happy Christmas to you!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully and thoughtfully said, sir. A Happy Christmas to you!
ReplyDelete