06/07/2009

Pondering my purpose in England

I think one of the lessons I am here to learn and take back with me to Canader, is that it appears to me the English are much behind us in spirituality. I know the Anglican faith, much like the Roman Catholic faith, is spiritual in nature, but the tradition and pomp and circumstance that they go thru in worship takes away from the beauty of their spirit.

I was at church yesterday and there were about 15 people in this beautiful stone church with an alter that was stunning. The young clergy was so good and she captivated us with a refreshing message but the tradition was all around her in service and the recital of the words from the litergy book was verbadum, word for word and stuffy feeling. It seems to styfle the spirit as one needs to know exactly when to stand, sit, kneel, or listen and was so busy watching so not to look like a duck out of water, that the worship of God and nurturing of the spirit seemed to be secondary.

So I am thinking it is offering to me the opportunity to discover how I keep this beauty and tradition of spirit and repackage it for our Western world to understand and adopt. Much of the Evangelical movement is so patriarchial and literally biblically based... it stinks .. but it woos the people with its contemporary flair. The smoke and mirrors of the relaxed atmosphere, the contemporary worship style, and the lack of anything traditional allows for people to be in the moment. Simply be in worship but the message that is being shared is one of oppression and subjugating the people into a false sense of security.

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