Yesterday I posted a link to Joshua Claybourn's criticism of pastor-led "greeting times" in worship services. (Thanks to those of you who offered comments both here and at Joshua's site.) Many of the comments discussed the way that the "fellowship time" felt forced or awkward. Let me today offer this excerpt from It Takes a Church:
In his book, Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism (p. 59-60) Patrick Keifert demonstrates, Israel’s awareness that they were welcomed by God led to an obligation that they welcome the stranger into their midst. Biblically, worship is always a “public” event where all are invited and shown hospitality (See especially the calls to praise God amongst “the nations,” e.g. Ps. 18:49; 45:17; 57:9; 106:47; 108:3; 117:1. Is 66:19; 2 Sam 22:50) Contrary to what was long accepted popular wisdom, most first contacts with churches by the unchurched now come through unannounced visitors anonymously “checking out” a church in their worship service.
For many churches however, worship is reduced to “family time” playing out what Kiefert has referred to as the “ideology of intimacy,” where activities that are meant to be public are instead translated into and valued for their privatized experiences. These churches actually are hindered in their ministry of hospitality and evangelism to outsiders because the ideology of intimacy inevitably excludes the very people whom they wish to include. They speak of being a “warm and real community,” yet there is often no agreed upon public rituals, avenues or hosts for a stranger or outsider to find his or her way into the shared corporate life of the fellowship.
When we “institute” a greeting to encourage a corporate shared welcome, and the passing of the peace a communal sharing of the assurance of pardon offered to us in Christ, we are not play-acting or “forcing” fellowship, but offering clear rituals for the “stranger” to make his or her way into the experience of fellowship, love and care that we offer in Jesus.
The truth is, we need MORE rituals of fellowship, not less. And the very fact that we honor and use them points to both a genuine desire to offer hospitality and our awareness that in our awkwardness we are not able to be as spontaneously welcoming as we all wish we could.
So…”The peace of Christ be with you…”
PS. Hopefully today, I'll post the next part of our series on the Lenten communal spiritual discipline of "eating together."
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