I’m currently reading two books: “The Scandalous God: The Use and Abuse of the Cross” by Vitor Westelle and “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch. Westelle is a Lutheran theologian and Hirsch an Evangelical church planter.
As Hirsch recounts his story of planting a new congregation in South Melbourne, Australia he shares his vision for changing the worship experience from a 80/20 passive/active event to a 20/80 passive/active event. That is where 20% of those worshipping are actively participating in worship. I am not sure how he defines passivity and activity in worship. He would also put the passive number higher for “traditional” congregations (around 95%). He calls this kind of worship consumptive. He is opposed to individuals coming to worship are coming to a feeding trough and to receive services. He would rather have the community become more active in their gatherings. Hirsch writes:
In order to ensure that we fulfilled the church’s mandate to ‘make disciples,’ we simply had to revers the ration of active to passive (from 20:80 to 80:20) in order to move away from being a vendor of religious goods and services. We wanted the majority of community members to becoming and directly involved in the journey of becoming like Jesus. (p 46)
I have seen a movement throughout our entire culture to become more active, from commenting on news reports and blogs to Twittering live during continuing education events (with Jurgen Moltmann) and sermons while posting the tweets on a screen to making the sermon more of a dialogue between the preacher and the community and between community members. I certainly appreciate this trend and look for ways to implement it in the ministry at Good Shepherd.
In reading Westelle today I came across his discussion of poiesis, praxis, and theoria (Aristotelian terms). Poiesis (where we get poetry) is the creation of something that is lasting. Praxis is the practice of something for the sake of doing it well. Theoria is an observer’s “pure receptivity.” He relates it to the theater. Poiesis is what the playwright does in writing the play that will be passed on. Praxis is what the actors do in attempting to perform well for the sake of doing something well. Theoria is what the audience does in observing the praxis of the poiesis. In doing so, they are enriched.
Westelle continues to relate these to how God has acted in the world in creation and in Christ.
While in Genesis poiesis (creation) is followed by theoria (Shabbat) and then by praxis (human interaction, here the praxis of Jesus (his interaction) leads to his death. An unlikely moment of contemplation, rest, theoria, comes next (at least for those women in the evangelical narrative). This is followed by a new creation, poiesis, which closes the cycle with the resurrection account, bu only have the Shabbat of utter empitness is over. (p 136)
Theoria is important. The act of pure receptivity. Those few moments when we stop producing, we stop practicing, and we simply receive.
In a church where the primary mode of interaction is through worship, maybe we rely too heavily on theoria. In a culture that finds its worth in producing or perfecting, maybe we rely too heavily on poiesis and praxis. They should not be pitted against one another – that’s too easy. As a church leader, I need to find ways that the community can use all three – producing lasting gifts for the world, practicing their discipleship through study and prayer, and purely receiving the gifts of God in worship.
