Changes May Blur the Sacred vs. Secular Boundaries

The issue of Liturgy entitled “Future Renewals: Looking Toward the Next Fifty Years of Worship Scholarship and Practice,” was co-edited by Andrew Wymer, vice-president of the Liturgical Conference board and professor of worship at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and me.

We solicited essays from a range of members of the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) looking at what has changed in liturgical scholarship and liturgical practice in the years since NAAL was founded in response to the Second Vatican Council.

Here is an excerpt from an essay by Lisa Weaver from Columbia Theological Seminary discussing how worship adjustments during the pandemic have called into question assumptions long held about pastoral authority, the roles people are allowed to take in service to the church, and the pressures of learning new technologies. –– Melinda Quivik

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In some ways, the Baptist tradition, as a free church tradition and by virtue of its polity, had more latitude for change than other ecclesial traditions. . . The pandemic was an invitation to reexamine the theology and praxis of the baptismal priesthood and the ordained priesthood and reevaluate the lines of ministry and service, especially within the realm of worship broadly and ordinances specifically. The hard lines of demarcation that had traditionally—and some would say categorically—delineated who could and could not do and say are now more porous, and in some instances even erased, as a consequence of the pandemic. As a result, in order for the future of worship in the Baptist church to be theologically rich, nourishing, and more closely aligned to an understanding of the priesthood of all believers, Baptist church leaders must review, revise, and in some instances reimagine roles and responsibilities for its liturgical participants. The pandemic made the entire church liturgical participants (though this should have already been the case), and in the future, there will be increased liturgical participation of the laity in more aspects of worship than ever before.

This time also invites the Baptist church to consider how it forms both its clergy and laity in and for the future. Elder pastors should be taking an intense self-inventory of both their formation and their egos, acknowledging the practices and forms of their own formation while having the courage to accept that all those practices and forms do not translate well to this present age and won’t serve the church into the future it is entering. Because both elder and younger clergy share a common call and a common theology, this time offers an opportunity to forge together into the future rather than letting preferences and differences be the fodder for tensions and frustrations in accomplishing their common work in ministry broadly and liturgical ministry specifically. Relatedly, the knowledge and proficiency with technology and other communications platforms that younger clergy have should be received and employed with joy and as a complement to elder pastors’ experience and wisdom. While clergy leaders will have to become minimally familiar with technology and other communications platforms, clergy leaders will also have to take this into consideration in discerning, retooling, training, and hiring laity and staff for ministry. . .

Finally, the future of worship sees greater integration between the worship in the church building with life beyond it. The line between the “sacred” and “secular” becomes fainter as the church moves into the future. The laity expect that the concerns and challenges of their hearts and lives outside the church building are integrated into the liturgy they celebrate weekly. They expect those concerns and challenges to be reflected in the language of the liturgy and that embodied and ritual practices are more integrated into the liturgy. The future of worship takes all these things into account, linguistically and liturgically eroding the hard line of demarcation between the “sacred” and the “secular,” blurring it, if not completely erasing it.

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The full essay including references is available now in the digital and print editions of Liturgy. All of the essays in Liturgy 38, no. 1 are available by personal subscription and through many libraries.

Lisa M. Weaver is assistant professor of worship at Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, Georgia. She serves as a board member on the worship grants advisory board for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, serves on the executive committee of The Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada, and works as a liturgical consultant.

Lisa Weaver, “‘To Serve This Present Age’: The Future of Worship in the Baptist Church,” Liturgy 38, no. 1 (2023): 59–65.