Ancient - Future Worship

Something that I am looking forward to on our trip is being able to experience a variety of worship services. We will be participating in worship that has its roots in ancient ritual, and worship that seeks to be post-modern in approach. We hope to take in a traditional Evensong service at one of the cathedrals in England. We plan to worship regularly while on Iona, using worship that blends Celtic traditions and forms with contemporary concerns and sensitivities. We might even be able to witness a Eucharist service in the catacombs of Rome while we tour through there (celebrating Communion in the catacombs is a practice that goes back to the earliest Christians). But perhaps the day that best illustrates the diversity of worship we will hopefully experience on our trip is Sunday June 21st (which just so happens to be the day of summer solstice, a day that marks a celestial turning point - somehow that seems appropriate to me for a day when we will participate in worship that looks to the traditions of the past, and worship that seeks to blaze new paths into the future).

Our plans for that day are to be either in London or Canterbury. We want to visit Canterbury for many reasons, but one of which is that the cathedral there is a famous site of Christian martyrdom, as the Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered there by the king's knights in 1170 A.D. This famous significant event in Christian history was portrayed in a play written by T.S. Eliot. The play was called Murder in the Cathedral. It just so happens that the Opera that Beth and I hope to see in Milan is based on this play... but more on that in another post.

Whether we are in London or Canterbury we will attend worship in the morning at an Anglican Cathedral, which will mean traditional liturgy done very well, with splendid music and ritual that is many generations old. This might be considered the best of the old form, high liturgy done as well as could be expected, worship fit for royalty we could say.

Later that we will be participating in a worship service that is sure to be quite different from what will have occurred earlier that day. Let me explain this by first noting that the United Kingdom was one of the first places where post-modern, or emergent worship was developed. What has shown up in North America really only in the last decade has been Scotland, Ireland and England for over 20 years in some places. Since the Mysterium worship gathering that I help put together here at Christ Lutheran is similar in approach to worship as these emergent or alternative services found around the U.K. my hope was to be able to attend one of these services while over there.

A little internet searching and I found an alternative worship community called Moot in London. Looking at their website (http://www.moot.uk.net/ ) I thought this would be exactly the kind of worship experience I was looking for. When I looked for its location it was promising because it is held at a church in the heart of London (near London Bridge). Specifically the Moot community meets for worship in St. Mary Woolnoth (picture above). A little more research to find the exact location of this church and I discover that St. Mary Woolnoth has some significant history itself - it was the church that John Newton was pastor at for the last 27 years of his life. This is composer of that best known hymn "Amazing Grace". William Wilberforce, the member of government who was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade worshiped at this church. So we will be worshiping at a site that has roots back to the earliest days of Christianity in Britain, which has a storied past, but is also the site of something that seeks to lead into the future. An interesting juxtaposition, one that seems entirely appropriate for our pilgrimage.