From MJ, http://www.churchetc.blogspot.com/:
"Do you think that a traditional church such as the Cathedral could have services with elements of sanctus, or do the two ends of the scale have to remain seperate?"
Interesting question. What do we do? What makes us distinctive? Are we integrated with traditional church or separate from it? Discuss.
3 comments:
My immediate response is - what is meant by 'traditional church' ? What tradition(s) are we talking about here?
I think the term is often used quite lazily, to mean "anything which doesn't look like the emerging church"?
So 'traditional' becomes 'the other' which we define ourselves against, so tradition becomes a bad word and we get obsessed with the cult of the new.
Also, anyone who has come into contact with other emerging churches / alt.worship groups (e.g. at Greenbelt) should be quite aware that we have our own traditions now. You can't carry on being 'alternative' or 'non-traditional' for ever.
The distinction can become quite blurred. Clearly the cathedral is more "traditional" than most churches and at a Sunday morning service might feel very different than Sanctus (so might another emerging church). At another time they may do something that feels more "alternative".
I've been involved in "traditional" parish church where on occaisions we've done most of the things Sanctus would do in a service. Not usually all in one service, but occaionally it has been not very diferent from Sanctus at all. The main distinction is that at Sanctus we don't tend to sing and in any other setting I have sung (and of course some other "emerging" churches do sing).
This Christmas, Ben & I, are hoping to have a midnight Service at Trinity that holds together "traditional" and "alternative". We hope that it will feel safe enough for those expecting to sing carols with a priest stood at the front and yet will also be able to feel 'inclusive', 'creative' 'culturely relevent' etc. I think it can be done in a positive creative way but we'll see how it goes on 24th/25th December!
If we're being really honest, Sanctus 1 is as traditional as doilies and crochet; I think its style would dovetail into a cathedral service very well.
However, I find Manchester cathedral very oppressive and I would probably just cry in the corner all the way through.
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