It’s Still True Even Though We Talk Past Each Other

I have been to an Ash Wednesday service at a Presbyterian Church before, but never to a regular morning service until this past Sunday. Experiencing their liturgy was a mix between the familiar (prayers that echo the Book of Common Prayer and hold much in common with most mainline liturgies) to different prayers and litany I had never heard before.

Denominations and their local churches are cultures unto themselves, probably for the better.  Familiarity is a good thing.  A common language is a good thing.  Dialects are revered for their abnoxiousness or beauty depending on which side of the line you stand and speak from, but all dialects are part of a common language. 

As Christians we are given a common language, the Word and the Sacraments, but we express these in dialects that we are sometimes unfamiliar with.  That doesn’t mean it’s wrong or false, because the common language is there.  The Word and Sacraments are still true even though we talk past each other.

I have been watching seasons 1 and 2 of The I.T. Crowd lately, and though I laugh at 90% of the jokes it is still a British comedy and I don’t always get everything.  My wife would sometimes look up from her Twilight books and ask, "what does that mean?" and I’d have to confess, "I have no idea."  They speak the English tongue but I have no idea what they mean.

Yet what they are saying is true, in that it is a speech act, a performance, and it does carry meaning for the Brits across the sea even if I cannot decipher it.  The same holds true for us as Christians, because even if we don’t understand what the point of reading this or the objective of doing that may be, it is all part of the never ending worship of God by his people.  We should look forward to the time when we will be able to stand with all cultures and understand the multiplicity of worship that rises as incense before God.