When is it right for a minister to allow her/his personal, ongoing faith journey to impact the worshipping tradition of his/her congregation?
When is it right for a minister to allow her/his personal, ongoing faith journey to impact the worshipping tradition of his/her congregation?
Deliberately provocative answer: All the time. The leader should be on a faith journey and should lead the congregation on the same journey, although each will have their individual experiences and side excursions on that journey.
ReplyDeleteNot just provocative; it's a really important question, Archdruid. The moment you make liturgy subject to personal tastes, an expression of the self, then you open your community to potential civil war. Which is to say that commonly observed rubrics actually bear fruit in charity.
ReplyDeleteThanks, both.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that where the pastor is on a journey with the congregation, it's one thing. When the pastor is going solo, possibly even leaving the local tradition, it's their responsibility to realise this and maintain the integrity of the congregation's worship, even at their own cost. Though they might need help to realise that they're on a journey on their own.