Part 1
The worship service held at the Washington National Cathedral last April 21, 2019, which marked the celebration of Easter Sunday was a reflection of the process called inculturation. Washington, being the seat and center of political power, is like a melting pot of culture with people coming from different ethnic backgrounds, political affiliations, and religious beliefs. The worship service reflected a combination of various religious influences. The presence of women ministress leading the reflection and officiating some of the essential parts of the service was one of the most significant differences in a traditional worship service for Catholics and Christians. A male priest officiates mass. Women only partake in the reading of the scriptures but not in delivering sermons or the homily and not during the offertory. However, in the worship service at the Washington National Cathedral for Easter, it was shown that women played a significant role in most of the service. They did not merely assist in the non-ceremonial process, but they even led some of the services. In the Catholic Church, the only notable creed that the people say is the “Apostle’s Creed” delivered after the homily. This is the same as the Nicene Creed that was recited after the sermon during the service. This shows the recognition and acknowledgment of the presence of the Trinity. In most non-Catholic service, like the Protestants and the Unitarians who rejects the concept of the Holy Trinity.
The transcultural nature of worship is reflected in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection in a Catholic and Christian celebration. The Eucharistic celebration, particularly during the offertory, Thanksgiving and the partaking of the bread are all examples of the transcultural nature of worship which was observed in the Easter worship service. Contextualization is reflected in the sermon, particularly on how the church interprets or translate the message that was read in the Scripture to the practical application of the message to today’s life. While contextualization is often obliterated by offering a personal interpretation or translation of the Scripture, it is still ideally taken in as a lesson instead of taking it as a true meaning of God message. The belief that the world is filled with evil is not according to the values of the Gospel. This is a reflection of worship being counter-cultural, as is it not within the culture that the Catholic Church professes. Instead, the Gospel expresses that the world, being created by God, is naturally good. While temptations are lurking around us, the Gospel emphasized the presence of Free Will and the divine nature of every human being having been created in the image and likeness of God who is innately good. The cross-cultural aspect of worship was reflected in the blending of the different influences and practices from other religion to be blended and combined in one Eucharistic celebration. The presence of hymns, music, dancing, art, and other elements of worship signifies cross-cultural sharing encouraged and manifested in the worship celebration during Easter.
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A pastor, priest, and minister faced numerous challenges in delivering and celebrating the Eucharistic celebration. This is because of the fear of offending other religion or sects in how they choose to provide and celebrate their respective service. The biggest challenge relates to contextualization because of the interpretation of the Gospel, varying from the culture or the beliefs of the celebrant.
Part 2
As I view this congregation doing the musical presentation, I see the doctrine of worship in action. I have observed that the congregation living outside the sacred tradition found in the Bible. The worship had a lot of musical offerings. The presence of musical instruments to accompany the hymns was something that cannot be found explicitly in the Bible (Schwertley, 1999). If anything, the sacred tradition only permits exclusive psalmody or the singing of psalms. Other parts of the worship service shall be limited only to the traditional reading or reciting of the scriptures. While the use of religious hymns is not out of the ordinary for a Catholic or Christian Eucharistic celebration, this is often limited in number and presentation, like the psalms which was mentioned earlier. Due to the use of musical performance, it significantly affected the degree of holiness in terms of prayer. Church service from other religious groups encouraged a lot of singing and even dancing because of the belief that songs and hymn are the highest forms of worship (Schwertley, 1999). Nevertheless, for some religion, this can be seen as less solemn and less appealing, it lacks seriousness.
However, the use of musical instruments, songs, and dances during religious worship is a contemporary practice to encourage people to partake in the gathering. This is a strategy employed mostly to encourage the youth to attend the service because of their strong inclination to this form of artistic expression. Nevertheless, this does not have to be offensive to other the members of the faith. Infusing music and musical instruments in worship does not have to be scandalous by being loud. It should not ruin the solemnity of the celebration because as the scripture encourages the use of songs in praising God. The argument that songs and hymns are not Biblical is not at all real. Several Bible verses emphasized on the use of songs to give praise to God. For example, Colossians 3:16 said, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual song.” In Psalm (105:1-2), the Lord himself called to the Israelites to sing songs of worship, “Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” I suggest that they limit the use of loud accompaniments that makes the religious worship look like a rock concert with the full use of musical instruments and the use of grand movements that look like the people are dancing in Church.
Reference
Schwertley, B. (1999). Musical instruments in the public worship of God . Southfield, MI: Reformed Witness.
