Woo hoo! I got to write a guest post for Carly Gelsinger‘s series From Grape Juice to Red Wine, stories of people shifting from mainstream, conservative, or fundamentalist evangelical to “high church” liturgical traditions.
I had the chance to meet Carly in person at the Faith & Culture Writers Conference a couple of weeks ago. She’s really cool, the sort of person who makes you feel like you’ve known her forever even though it’s only been a single weekend. She has a way of putting people at ease with her warmth. The coolest thing was finding someone else who shared my own experience–that of choosing (rather than having it forced on us) a conservative evangelical path before finding our way out again.
I’m excited to add my voice to the conversation, especially because it echoes my own journey so well. Go check out my post, and while you’re at it, give Carly some bloggy love on her other writing. Happy Friday!
I really resonate with what you’re saying here. This is a lot of what I found disconcerting about evangelical churches: a lack of concrete practice and an over-reliance on intangible “symbols.”
Well, and a complete lack of actually singable music. But that’s a whole different story!
Ha! Yeah, the lack of singable music was a big one for me, too.
One of the first Sundays we were at this church, the pastor talked in a sermon about how sensory worship is. I realized that’s what I’d been missing. Our previous church limited the sensory experience to a live band and maybe some kind of multi-media (meaning something up on the screen). But at our Lutheran church, it really IS sensory–the music, the scent of the burning candles, the taste of the Communion elements, the touch of hands when passing the peace, the table laid with the colors of the season. It forces us to experience our bodies in a way many contemporary evangelical services do not. It’s very limiting to see worship as a show or entertainment, as though that’s the right way to keep people’s attention.