Another area where Asian culture can make a big big contribution. There needs to be efforts to redeem Asian piety (and we ARE a pious lot.. just that sometimes it gets muddled up with ‘superstition’.. a bit strong, I know…but you know what I mean).
E.g. can joss sticks be used? Traditionally, it’s food for the ghouls. But there’re many themes of offering of sacrifice, and fragrant aromas of our offerings, all can be wrapped up in there.
There’s this really useful distinction I heard once between being ‘traditional’ and being ‘traditionalist’. Whereas being traditional is the use of more established methods of worship to express ourselves, being traditionalist is to hold the view that it’s always better to use established methods.
As such, you can be one without being the other. For example, one can be ‘traditionalist’ about Matt Redman-type contemporary worship.
Perhaps we should also make the same distinction between ‘contemporary’ and ‘contemporarist’? It would be sad to do alternative worship just for the sake of being different right?
Another area where Asian culture can make a big big contribution. There needs to be efforts to redeem Asian piety (and we ARE a pious lot.. just that sometimes it gets muddled up with ‘superstition’.. a bit strong, I know…but you know what I mean).
E.g. can joss sticks be used? Traditionally, it’s food for the ghouls. But there’re many themes of offering of sacrifice, and fragrant aromas of our offerings, all can be wrapped up in there.
There’s this really useful distinction I heard once between being ‘traditional’ and being ‘traditionalist’. Whereas being traditional is the use of more established methods of worship to express ourselves, being traditionalist is to hold the view that it’s always better to use established methods.
As such, you can be one without being the other. For example, one can be ‘traditionalist’ about Matt Redman-type contemporary worship.
Perhaps we should also make the same distinction between ‘contemporary’ and ‘contemporarist’? It would be sad to do alternative worship just for the sake of being different right?