Clarity

OK, here's an example of what I was talking about in the last posting.

Consider this great sentence from Walter Brueggemann about 1 and 2 Chronicles:
"in the context of Persia as a dependent colony of the empire, Judaism's only chance for freedom of thought, faith and action is through the maintenance of a liturgical practice and sensibility.... [Chronicles] shows Israel as a choir that sings its way through historical crisis." (Introduction to the Old Testament, 375, 376.)

Contemporary Protestants tend to sneer at Chronicles because its lack of prophetic passion and concern for justice. It's all about Levites and singers. Brueggemann is arguing that it was the Jewish ability to maintain a clear focus in the midst of adverse circumstances (colonization, marginalization) that ensured their survival and thriving.

The anxiety of discontinuous change has caused many churches to react by trying to assimilate (or be assimilated by) the surrounding culture in the hopes that it will create a kind of marketable relevance. In so doing, churches will tend to neglect the very things that give them their identity and staying power -- including worship. Worship is exploited to serve ulterior ends, like attracting the disaffected back to the pews (itself fraught with ulterior motives, like, "And then they can help pay the bills"!)

In the much maligned Books of Chronicles, maybe there's a bit of a template for how to deal with a hostile and indifferent culture. Sing! Worship! Be the church!