Thom’s post (re-posted here) gave my heart a needed pause and conviction on my impatience. I hope you find it as much of a blessing as I did. Thank you Thom for letting me repost it here. Your poems and thoughts are Spirit-filled. (Readers and friends, I encourage you to check out Thom’s EveryDay Liturgy blog, soon!) Please feel encouraged to leave comments below if these thoughts somehow touched your heart, or share whatever the Holy Spirit brings to your heart/mind. Enjoy your weekend everyone! -By Thom Turner (Everyday Liturgy) 08 Sep 2011 12:30 PM PDT I remember the first time I heard the bizarre statement that repetition took away from worship. It was, not surprisingly, in a Baptist church. I had, probably naively, asked why the church didn’t practice communion more often. The response was that repetition made spiritual practice meaningless and unimportant: “If you do something too much it no longer has any value, so we only practice communion every now and then to keep it fresh and exciting.” That is an American response. That is the response of a person who was raised on instant gratification. That is the response of a person who expects new, exciting forms of entertainment. That is the response of a person who values change over consistency. That is the response of a person who values feeling more than commitment. Most importantly, that is not a Christian response. The Christian response is that our spirituality and worship are everyday, every hour, every minute happenings. We are admonished to take communion each time we gather, to pray without ceasing, to pray in a certain way, to sing songs, confess sins, listen to the reading of Scripture, meditate, teach, learn. These are all things we repeat. Unceasingly. Repetition is not unholy. It is a deep, elongated experience that should make us into disciples. Repetition in worship is just like when you tell a family member you love them. Repetition in worship is just like when you take a drink of water. Repetition in worship is just like when you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Repetition in worship is just like when you go to sleep. Repetition in worship is just like when you go to work. Repetition in worship is just like when you turn on a light so that you can see clearly. Yes, I can readily admit that we can stumble into laziness or unfocused action in repetition, but that is not the fault of the spiritual practice, just as much as it is love’s fault when a spouse just mumbles the words “I love you” without any thought or care. We need to learn to embrace repetition in worship, the normalcy and comfort of sameness in worship, just like we accept this normalcy and comfort of routine in the rest of our lives. I repeat: we need to learn to embrace repetition in worship. And when we do, we will become aware of the slow and steady movement of the Spirit in every aspect of our life. When we do, we will become aware of how God is steadily working on our holiness: through repetition. |
8 thoughts on “Is Repetition Unholy? -Thom Turner”
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I appreciate your thoughts on becoming more spiritually mature, Thom. What a help this was.
What you call repetition, I think I’ve noticed as blessed rhythm. Obviously, Rhythm is close to, but not the same as repetition but may include it. How wise to have that as a regular part of how we are, so we can “be”. Amusements and leisure can subtly foil us, and thwart the Holy Spirit. These elements of rhythm help us to not be as self-satisfied by our amusements and distracted by which is really our foolish and childish ways Rather, with rhythm we remember Reality (God and God’s Story) …and lest we forget, God’s faithfulness.
While I agree with Thom’s main piont, he left out an adjective, the most important one and (historically) the first one: “This is a Reformation response.” To be fair, I’m sure the person he originally asked did not know this. Baptists (and other free-churchers) customarily observe the Lord’s Supper quarterly because Ulrich Zwingli, wanting to break with the superstitious sacramentalism promoted by the very high (not to say idolatrous) view of the Mass in medieval Catholicism, restricted its observance to this pattern. To say that this is to keep the Lord’s Supper “special” is a corruption of that original viewpoint.
I don’t agree, by the way. Or at least, I think that on the other side of the half-millennium since the Reformation we have overcome that problem. I do take exception with Thom’s statement that taking communion each time we gather is a direct New Testament mandate. “As oft’ as ye drink it” seems to offer a chronology that avoids legalism. (I would still like to see us Baptists take the Lord’s Supper weekly.)
Thank you, Doug, my favorite academic Baptist. wait… am I allowed to say that?
Yes, it’s a good point to say that that experience of Thom’s is not really “Baptist” in origin or nature. I’m sure he wasn’t Baptist bashing, but rather the frustrating experience happened in that environment.
In my Plymouth Brethren style (basically…fundie and separatist type of church…er…um..no not church….we had to call it a “chapel” to be correct) we “broke bread” every Sunday. I found it rather boring as a kid, and now dearly miss the occurrence of that weekly sacrament (not that they would have called it anything other than “an observance” or “remembrance”). It’s a precious thing, communion.
Doug, that’s a great point. It is a Reformation response.
I would rather use blessed rhythm as a descriptor as well. The problem, unfortunately, is that often rhythm is not understood that way. Rhythm becomes routine and routine becomes repetition. If disciples could grow to learn repetition first, and then see the deeper rhythm behind it, that would be a wonderful thing.
This is a great clarification. I really appreciate this. I’d suggest that repetition of drivel isn’t probably all that helpful in worship. Stuff like “La, la, la” over and over again sort of loses me at a certain point. However, I often recite the Jesus prayer, and I find that wonderfully helpful in recentering myself. I think I have undervalued repetition for the most part.
Good point.
I think, St Benedict would be happy to hear you giving him some props. :)
Nothing wrong with repetition…
so let’s sing for the 704th time our chorus:
“let it rain
let it rain
open the floodgates of heaven…”
Oh wait, wrong tradition…