Undoubtedly, we shall soon see the publication of ‘Forms of worship for use on Mars’ along with space-age choral arrangements of the Creed. But today I turn to something else: the dimension and choreography of our worship. The extent to which this is understood and utilised has become one of the criteria for a beneficial reaction to the present emergency.
If there is one thing that the widespread availability of on-line worship has brought home to us it is the way we use our space in church. The BBC Songs of Praise has familiarised us with the idea of roving cameras gliding in and out amongst a congregation singing familiar hymns. On-screen worship has brought to the fore the question of how far placing and movement in inside space contributes an element to worship that has become prominent when cameras are introduced to proceedings.
Just as the medium is the message, so the question of what makes a good picture imposes an obligation on the producer of a Sunday morning service. Good pictures are not naturally achieved by static readers, preachers and instrumentalists. They have to be created by producers who wish to see movement matching words. This is more than histrionic gestures in the pulpit. It is something other than turning a biblical story into a sketch or a nativity play. It is a deliberate use of space, distance and motion to form an interesting sequence. It is much like the required adaptation that goes on when a book is turned into a movie. It is an exercise of a creative imagination. It has much in common with ballet, opera or military ceremonial parades. It means giving the cameras something for them to fill their lenses with.
This comes more readily to High Churchmen, to use an old-fashioned term, than to those at the other end of the spectrum. A strongly sacramental outlook is quick to see parallels between the natural and the supernatural. It values ritual, form, pattern in a way that is alien to other traditions.
The forms of worship we find in the Old Testament are concerned with ritual and movement. The early Christians have left us little to guide us in patterns of worship apart from glimpses of songs and declarations, as in Ephesian 5.19, Philippians 2 and Romans 10.9.
Let me declare my respect – and, I am sure, the respect of all of us – or those who have made the huge effort of turning traditional forms into on-line events that enhance the majesty ascribed to God and celebrated in word and song before the IT age. They have marked themselves out for future responsibilities. Thanks to them we have a new way of joining with earlier generations in saying: ‘I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ (Psalm 122.1)
CHURCH OR SPACE-SHIP?
Is it a church trying to be a space-ship or a space-ship masquerading as a church? St Augustine’s, Romney Marsh has endured, as has its candle-snuffer tower. The extraordinary detached wooden structure was constructed in the 13th century and doubled in height in the 15th. The church building has box pews and and a double-decker pulpit. It is unique.
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