I needed a bit of a laugh...
My apologies in advance, if you don't find it equally entertaining. You have to admit that the priest has some great dance moves and pay particular attention to one of the altar boys! Most interesting is that this is Roman Catholic...I'm sure HR has some better memories from St. Greg's.
See it, in all its glory, HERE.
(thanks Bob!)
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Comments
-- Anonymous sockmonk
Was it St. Xenia who danced during the Liturgy on a least one occassion? Yes, David danced, I believe however that it was something extraordinary, no? In other words, the everyday liturgical worship of Israel didn't have dancing, did it? I mean, maybe the High Priest danced while in the Holy of Holies...but I kinda doubt it.
As I said, I know that this is NOTHING in the grand scheme of litrugical dancing that one could find, but that little altar boys' rythmic wiggle at the end just cracked me up and perhaps that in and of itself is a good reason why we don't try such a thing in the OC (at least for the sake of my unillumined sake.)
(at least for the sake of my unillumined SELF.)
I don't think we are getting at the heart of why we don't feel free to dance the Little Entrance. Yes, the awe of God coupled with deep and profound reverence - but I have in my mind the image of a slow, steady burning vigil lamp...as opposed to one burning out of control.
The Gospel book is an icon that we bow before and kiss. Even the Gnostic heretics venerated it. There is a certain dignity in a solemn procession. I have to say that IMO that dignity was missing in the video.
Monica
In this video, my focus was on the dancing, the movement, and on the emotion of the moment.
It reminded me a great deal of the type of church I went to in my high school days, where the worship was a well orchestrated emotional crescendo, complete with dancing and clapping...the only difference here was the vestmets and the procession. Viewing it was a weird combo of two worlds that have never before collided for me. I found it to be distracting. I, for one, NEED to be able to set my own emotions aside when worshiping God.
That being said, we must find a criticism that goes beyond "preference." For "preference" is potentially dangerous.
Elitism is profoundly scary...but is it perhaps too easily and erroneously heaped upon people who are simply being honestly and sincerely critical? A judgement in and of itself?
What of the term sobriety in our worship? I'm pushing for more and clearer arguments. Anyone recall when I wrote a brief article regarding why we Orthodox do what we do? In it, I try and make the case that as a sort of therapy, EVERYTHING in Orthodoxy is intended to heal and grow us - not entertain us or appeal to our supposed needs, but rather make us aware of our real needs.
Here's the link:
http://home.comcast.net/~irenaios/Library/landmarks.htm
Any thoughts? I'm not sure there is anything inherently or neccesairly WRONG with what they are doing (I dunno, there might be), but it just isn't the kind of medicine we are prescribed.
None of this is intended as arrogance or elitism; God forbid. On the contrary, we just don't trust ourselves enough to start down that path.
We also don't need to all feel the same emotion at the same time. We can pray the prayers joyfully, or sorrowfully, or with any other feeling, and it's ok. This kind of freedom doesn't exist when a songleader tries to get the whole assembly to feel the same wash of emotion. Trust me, I've been there.
-- sockmonk
First of all to use the Gospel procession (of all things) as an advertisment for your architectural company is (IMHO) the height of distaste. Secondly, is this supposed to be the dedication and consecration of the church as a place of worship of our our HOLY God?! If that is so, then (again IMHO) it ought to be a time of solemnity not frivolity. Dancing around with the Gospel of our God in the priest's hands...well, words escape me.
This smacks too close to the evangelical hilarity that is overtaking churches today. I left that for the seriousness of worship that is found in the Orthodox church. If my priest were to skip up the aisle during any part of the entrances or Liturgy, I'm not sure what I would do. Definitely cry. I think it is disrespectful to the Lord our God who sits on the Throne. I know David danced before our Lord, but was it in worship? I don't think so.
Forgive me if I offend any with my words. Just my cheap .02.
Peace out,
Too many memories of folk masses from the Carter years...Bad hair, bad skin (mine) and really, really bad liturgical auto-eroticism.
I guess I don't see that demand as being any different than "You ought to do it this way." Both can by tyranical.
But as for the Orthodox, Joel, I encourage you to read the article I posted. We do not view worship in a way that you may be familiar with. Such that this comment: "worship is a matter of lifestyle" will in most cases rub an Orthodox cat's fur the wrong way.
I think to a large degree seeing something done like this (that has a very real base semblace to what we do: the "Little Entrance") has a tendency to really take us aback a little. More than anything, I think it points out the difference of perspectives that transcends matters of lifestyle or preference.
That being said, I think Sockmonk makes some very good points about having to "one up" the previous years service or about trying to guide the emotions of those present. I am actually planning to say something more about this as the thought recently occurred to me as I recalled some of the old youth group planning sessions that used to torture me: "What are we going to do this week???"
Philippa...no apology needed, I didn't even realize this was also being used as an ad. That is sad. Truly mixing the profane and the sacred.
Aaron...wasn't it about that same time that David was doing (or about to do) his dance that God struck somebody dead for touching the ark...despite the fact that he was just trying to keep it from falling? Wow, talk about tangents.
I don't think anyone is saying that dancing cannot be worship...but...you say "clearly not the Little Entrance" and that is precisely what I want to be clear about.
I think we are getting there.
Is there something we learn from the quiet solemnity of the Little Entrance? We often talk about how we live in such a noisy and distraction filled world...I wonder if the overall sobriety, length, and ceremonial pomp of the Orthodox service speaks something to our microwave oven, do-it-my-way, overly-casual culture.
James, how much do i have to pay to get you to dance with might before me???
I was reminded by some comments of a conversation 23 years ago outside an Episcopal Church I attended in Albuquerque. There was some odd "procession" about to occur, and I asked why it was done. It was said to be a new idea. Did they do this last year, I asked? No, was the answer, "It's our tradition to never do the same thing twice". Really. I thought of asking just how that might be different from having *No* tradition whatever, but thought it was a little futile. THe little sashay done in this video will be gone soon enough, replaced by heaven knows what, because the folks at that parish don't know yet either. But gone it will be. Theres a great line from a Byzantine Catholic writer on the sacraments in the early Church. He was explaining how Christians changed rites and how pagans changed theirs. The Christians changed things he said, to better express their unchanging beliefs, while pagans changed their rites as often as the beliefs changed. A big idea. If you have to rewrite the weekly service that often, maybe more than the service is drifting. I never get tired of a liturgy that doesn't change. It isn't broken and needn't be fixed. --- Bob Koch
Aaron...how much to dance? Hmmmm...will there be cameras? But seriously, I sat down and read the account in 2nd Samuel of David's dance and it floored me too! Think about if you had just watched someone get struck down dead for touching the ark for trying to keep it from falling (labelled as "irreverance"). Then would you you have the nerve to dance around it?
Not me. I'd say: "Tell ya what fellas, you carry it in and I'll watch quietly from a safe distance." No thanks...you let these folks do the dancing (like St. Xenia and St. David and the folks in the video), as for me....I'm a little too scared.
When someone points out how Ethiopians or Copts or Assyrians liturgize, well, if you hadn't noticed, there are precious few Orthodox Yankees who have anything remotely able to be mistaken for any of those cultures. Their history is *not* ours, and if you want to look like the video we've been cackling at, just go ahead and get Ethiopian for a day. All the good taste of a Minstrel Show Liturgy. The Little Entrance may look a little odd as it's done now; entering something by means of starting inside and going out to go in again...It does have something most modern liturgies lack, which is a shred of dignity.
--- Bob Koch