As
we get ready for St. Rafe’s first Mass on Sunday, I thought it might be a good
idea to say a bit about why we have chosen the form of worship we will be
using. A reasonable person might well ask what purpose Latin chant, spoken
thees and thous, and medieval vestments serve on the edge of a university
campus. It’s an eminently reasonable question.
Those
of us who have been involved in getting this experiment off the ground would
say that we are trying to do something so contemporary that it is positively
post-modern. We embrace these forms
because we feel that they offer something valuable in the present, that they
help recover a sensibility that is too often lacking in contemporary religion.
People
increasingly describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” We would say that, rather than being a sign
of a decline in faith, people are often expressing a hunger for a different
sort of religious experience, that they have a sense that something is missing.
We believe that being spiritual is at the heart of the religious enterprise and
that we are trying to make a space for the spiritual life built on the wisdom
of preceding centuries even as we are mindful of contemporary needs and
conditions.
Traditional
worship engaged the senses, whether in beauty for the eye, music for the ear, or
even the smell of incense. These
elements worked together to take the worshipper outside of space and time to
encounter the Eternal. Rather than
focusing most of our effort on sermons and didactic learning, St. Rafe’s is
trying to create a space where the worshipper meets God through the words of
scripture, the music of the psalms, and prayers that have stood the test of
time for their ability to speak to the human condition. We focus on worship and contemplation as the
place where we encounter a personal God.
We believe these forms of worship open a space where Jesus Christ
reveals himself in love and asks us to walk with him.
Each
week, the changing readings and chants of the Mass focus on some aspect of our
journey into relationship with the One who is, was, and will be while the set
texts recapitulate the story of God’s relationship with humanity, culminating
in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are offered new opportunities for
encounter and at the same time given familiar images to contemplate more
deeply. The set texts and ritual action
of the service give continuity from week to week that allow us to move more
easily from our everyday lives into worship and contemplation, but the varying
texts and readings continually offer new opportunities to encounter the Holy
Trinity and gain insight into our own struggles and growth.
Is
all of this something that might speak to you?
My advice is the same that Philip gave to Nathaniel when he invited him
to meet Jesus: “Come and see.” At first our worship may seem a bit exotic,
but, once you get used to the forms, you may find that it speaks to you in ways
that other forms of worship have not. Our
focus is on worship, mystery, and joy—on helping people see that maybe spiritual
and religious aren’t so different after all.
Read more about what we're trying to do at the St. Rafe's web site.
Read more about what we're trying to do at the St. Rafe's web site.
