Yo, G.

I went to this thing on Saturday that our church was sponsoring. They were hosting a group from New York that has created a "hip-hop" mass. 

Yep.  And this is no DC Talk kind of thing.  These guys are "legit."  And though I felt a little too "white" being there, it was a pretty interesting idea.  And my wife commented, there was more theology in what they were doing than alot of what contemporary christian music (CCM) is putting out these days. 

To be fair, CCM is for the masses (not the "mass") and is marketed as entertainment (for the most part), this thing on Saturday was supposed to be an example of an Episcopal Church Service using the hip-hop vernacular.  In my mind, the service on Saturday came off a bit like performance art and was similar to attending a concert.  But still I'm not sure that is a bad thing. 

Originally I thought I was going to just dismiss the service as another attempt by well meaning Christians to make the gospel "relevant" and "hip," but I'm not so sure that I can do that.  There were elements of the service that I thought were pretty darn cool (some of the prayers were offered as free-form "raps" and the rhyming and rhythm was pretty awesome to hear) and other parts that I thought were questionable (should we really refer to the "house of the Lord" as "the Lord's crib?").

So these guys have created their own version of the Episcopal Prayer Book and will be releasing it soon.  They were handing out little cards with alternate versions of the "Lord's Prayer" on them and the following (which is an excerpt from the 23rd Psalm that Ryan Kearse re-phrased).

"The Lord is all that, I need for nothing.  He allows me to chill. He keeps me from being heated and allows me to breathe easy.  He guides my life so that I can represent and give shouts out in His Name.

And even though I walk through the 'hood of death, I don't back down for you have my back.  The fact that He has me covered allows me to chill.  He provides me with back-up in front of my player-haters and I know that I am a baller and life will be phat. 

I fall back in the Lord's crib for the rest of my life."

Word?  You can view an article about the hip hop emass on the Episcopal news service website (which is where I got the picture from above)...but you'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the article ('Go forth and tell it like it is': Roskam raps at Hip Hop Mass), I couldn't figure out a way to link directly to it.  Excerpt:

"...The initiative behind the Hip Hop Mass came from Trinity Church's rector, the Rev. Tim Holder, after listening to young people in his neighborhood. "This is the first time anything like this has happened on the East Coast," he said. "Hip hop is the culture; it's the people. When it began it was all about speaking to the oppressor. Hip hop is the new civil rights."

Comments

[Carole Baker]

I thought your comments on the Hip Hop Mass were fair and honest. Something I think is at the heart of our uneasiness with this type of ecclesial experiment (for lack of a better phrase) is trying to determine the fine line that is the domestication of transcendance. Is worship about us? or God? The way we worship reveals who we believe God to be. I think many attempts to making God relevant too often sacrifice the wholly otherness of God. In other words, we think making him more like us will somehow make people want to be more like him. But Christ came for precisely the opposite reason i.e., to remind us that we were made in his image--not the other way around. I too have conflicting feelings about the HipHop Mass. But I do have to say that there was more substance in it (scripture, theology, liturgy) than most of the other Protestant services I've experienced throughout my life. Finally, if nothing else, I was reminded that the Spirit moves where it will. Regardless of my own issues and/or hang-ups, God is working through his Church in ways I can't begin to know or understand. God is always at work in spite of us. Thank God.

[Carole Baker]

One more thing...I don't want to sound as though God's working in spite of us means we shouldn't care about matters of orthodoxy (right worship.) We should care and strive to worship God as faithfully as we can, hence the need for the discipline of theology. But we pursue this always in humility knowing God will use us in spite of our shortcomings.

[Mark Keefer]

Word Carole.

[Aaron Pierce]

Couldn't agree more... When we try and make God trendy, what happens when that trend fades?

Aaron

[George B]

Great thoughts...

I find that the elements of any style of worship service that I enjoy the most are the ones that focus solidly (and accurately) on God, his attributes, and his character. No matter what the style, I find that those sorts of songs, readings, etc. are the ones that most effectively direct me to an attitude of worship, and that any lasting affective value I gain from the experience comes from that place of reflection/interaction.

See you tuesday...