We were talking about the things in a church service that can derail the momentum of the service – a poorly placed announcement, for example. And it seems that the liturgy has just this role: to lead us through the corporate experience of Christ’s presence in the community. This experience – which includes experiences of penitence which leads to confession, experiences thankfulness which leads to praise, etc – can be called the spirit. It can be called spirit in a perfectly non-religious sense, “the spirit of a room,” but Jenson insists that this experience is also the Holy Spirit. If this is the case, then that poorly placed announcement is nothing less than the quenching of the Spirit:
If the language of our gospel-address is broken and unnatural in its speech rhythms, if we read texts that set us glumly aback just as we are well launched into declamation, if ‘free’ prayer simply means clumsy and repetitious prayer, this is not merely an aesthetic misfortune; it is quenching on the Spirit. If music provides no way for the congregation to move singingly together, it is quenching of the Spirit. If our speech has no grandeur, it is quenching of the Spirit. The American black church knows this. So does the white church – but it wants the Spirit quenched.
- Robert Jenson, Visible Words
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August 13th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
This is super interesting to think about.