March 17, 2023
The Spiritual Discipline of Communicating
St. Augustine was puzzled. How can I get a thought in my mind into the mind of another person? He concluded the only way to do so was through signs, words, and gestures. This may seem obvious, but its implications are tremendous. Especially because people groups differ on what signs, words, and gestures they use and how they interpret them. In some ways, a culture is defined by agreed upon signs, words, and gestures and their agreed upon meanings. A subculture is defined by a people group with agreed upon signs, words, and gestures but hold distinct meanings. For example, in our “American culture” we have a sign known as the Confederate Flag. This is a contested symbol, defining subcultures within our country according to its various meanings.
This is important because communication has created significant cultural distinctions between Christians. In Western Europe, the printing press elevated words above signs and gestures. This was particularly true for Protestants, a form of Christianity that would not exist without the advent of the printing press and the increase in literacy that followed. This also separated Lutherans from more reformed Protestants like Zwingli and Calvin who separated the upper body from the lower body in worship, needing only eyes to read words, ears to hear words, and mouths to speak and sing words. Using one’s body and using symbols were considered “too Catholic”—and they were trying to distinguish themselves from the Catholics. The effects of the Protestant emphasis on words has been long lasting, as Jews, Catholics, and even Orthodox people far outnumbered Protestants in almost any art form except literature.
Now Protestants have a problem; the culture is no longer primarily word-based. Growing up, an “icon” was something that some Christians used but not me. Now all my children have grown up interacting with icons on digital devices. At the same time, we have become a much more physical and tactile culture. We encourage people to move their bodies to stay healthy and to express themselves, in part because a good deal of work does not require much physical exertion.
Many Protestant churches have struggled to balance their word-centered approach to the gospel. Gestures are an interesting example. Our Seventh Day Adventist friends frequently kneel in their services. They have no kneelers, so they kneel on the hard floor as a sign of austerity. Here gestures are a way of reminding us—through pain—that the body must submit to spirit. But those of us who attended the concert of the North Park University Gospel Choir witnessed a tradition that did not come from Europe, but from Africa, where dance is as important as written language. Praise in many churches in the southern hemisphere, whose cultures were less affected by the printing press, use their bodies actively and enthusiastically to worship God. And we were invited to do the same on Monday night.
Having been a part of some predominantly Black churches, I have always appreciated that style of worship, but never felt it was my native language. However, more and more young people find that style of worship much more comfortable and desirable. We here at First Covenant have a modest repertoire of gestures, and though we may never have very active rituals, we might be able to extend our repertoire over time. For now, I simply invite you to pay attention to what we ask you to do with your body in worship: standing, sitting, processing, recessing, and so on.
We are better on the symbolic side. Part of that is the Swedish tradition of paintings in churches. For example, Habo Church has paintings on almost every surface in the church. (YouTube video here). Many Swedish churches like ours do not have a prominent Cross, but instead we have images in our stained-glass windows. The famous Covenant painter, Warner Sallman is an example of someone who extended this tradition in our continent. Still this tradition is more narrative than symbolic, illustrating Bible stories and passages. In Lent and Easter we will be using the symbols of doves which point to the Holy Spirit, but also invite us to recall the dove as a symbol of a promised kept to Noah and his family after 40 days, just as Easter is our promised kept after our 40 days of Lent. I invite you to look at all of nonverbal visuals in our worship space, and consider how they enhance your experience, and how they communicate to you about our community and our God.
A colleague of mine was Billy Graham’s right-hand-man in England. He was both a priest in the Church of England and an evangelist. He predicted that just as the 20th century was the century of the orator, the 21st century would be the century of the artist. In some ways, we are returning the church to more balanced communication, in our worship to God and to an increasingly less word-centered world. Join with me in praying what this might look like at First Covenant Church in the years ahead.
~ Pastor Todd