Monster Truck Rally or Episcopalian Worship Service?
My sister just sent me an mp3 file from a radio ad developed by St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s worth listening to. Seriously.
If you’ve listened already, you’re probably either laughing hysterically right now, or you’re completely offended. Or both. If you’ve not listened, stop now and click the link above.
I laughed. Then I listened to it again. And I laughed some more.
I really was never offended. It’s not my church, though, so I don’t have a dog in that hunt.
I did discover a blog about it called “Anglican Postmortem: Advertising Your Church” that does a great job of presenting both sides in a concise, 1 page read. These guys are real Episcopalians, and therefore (in my opinion) have a right to be offended. Or amused.
The rest of us are merely yelling out from the peanut gallery, so I’ll uncharacteristically refrain from further commentary.
I will say that Julie (my sis) is a member at another Episcopal church in Birmingham. She thought it was hysterical.
Filed under: General, Catbird, Random Thoughts on February 23rd, 2006
Dare I say it, but the guy’s voice was so scary, it sounded like he was actually on the OTHER team, if you know what I mean.
True,true. Bet you laughed, though.
You crack me up.
Greetings and peace. Thank you for taking the time to listen to that “train wreck” I wrote, produced and so aptly titled “Monster Truck Liturgy.”
First off, let me say how touched, moved, and-even inspired by the debate and comments from everyone, including those who are not amused. But because of their love of Christ, the Liturgy, corporate worship, and the spirit of agape, have taken the time to diplomatically state their discomfort.
That’s beautiful! That’s why I love being an Episcopalian. Color me naieve, however I’d like to think that Episcopalians aren’t so much like-minded as they are willing to either agree to disagree, or at least hear each other out.
This is also affirmation to me that God has planted me with the right group of people for corporate worship.
My motives, or creation of this thing wasn’t for attention or personal gain.
I was simply hit by “the goofy muse.”
I write and produce radio ad campaigns for a living. When I have down time in my studio, I will blow off a little creative steam. When I go back and look at other pieces I have done, I notice that most of them base their humor, or punch line, on polarity.
“Monster Truck Liturgy” is not just a source of amusement for me. It is inspired by the overwhelming joy I receive from the Eucharist. It is an abstract way of showing the endless fascination I have with the paradoxical nature of our Liturgy.
Maybe it’s because I am a creative person. Maybe it’s human nature. But, I am attracted to paradox the way a moth is attracted to a bug zapper.
I was “corn bread and fed” in a Baptist Church. For the first 11 years of my school career, I was educated in Baptist Schools. I was reared by a God-fearing, loving southern Mother and a loving, progressive-minded atheist Father. (I know you’re asking how did that happen-they met at Halloween weiny roast in south Alabama and the weekly cow-tipping olympics had been canceled so there was nothing else to do that night)
But, you can see why my whole existence has been about contrasts.
Mom had my sister and I in church every day the doors were opened. And even then some, as she being church seceratary had her own set of keys.
Having grown up in the - (pardon my baggage here, okay?) -the “fire and brimstone modus operundi” where you are fed by the fear of God, and really have no spiritual, let alone intellectual concept of the love of God. I was about fed up by the time I was old enough to not have to go to church.
The day after my 19th birthday, August 30, 1983, I walked away from the church for what I figured would be forever.
Over the next 22 years, I might, every-once-in-a-while, attend a service at a church here or there. But, only because I had a crush on the girl who invited me, or for some other alterior motive. I was always up-front about my motives and objection with what I called “organized and institutionalized religion.”
Then came Easter Sunday of 2005.
By invitation of my cousin, I attended Easter Mass at St. Andrew’s. (no, I didn’t have a crush on him-I know this is Alabama-but gee whiz)
St. Andrew’s is what folks here in the south will call “high church.” Depending on how far south you go, the word “high” can have more than one sylable. For instance, a proper southerner, like my cousin would say “HIIIIIIIIIIIIGH church.”
So, Easter Sunday, I dawned a coat and tie and went two blocks from my house to “HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH church.”
Even though I held no affiliation, nor fondness of the Baptist church, it was-after all, all I knew about church. And, the particular congregations I grew up in were real bad about the “we’re right and everyone else is wrong” kind of thing. So, I was not without my own pre-concieved notions regarding “HIIIIIIIIIIIIGH church.”
Maybe that was a good thing. Becaue, after all, sometimes you learn better when you find out things aren’t always what you thought they were.
I expected the chanting. I expecting the “smaells and bells.” But, what I didn’t expect was how all of that came togehter and worked for a reason.
The moments of being quiet, truly quiet with a blank slate mind, let to a moment of crystal clarity. Then came a sudden feeling of sweet relief, not unlike the one you feel after having hauled your washer and dryer up three-stories of apartment building stairs.
Wait a minute. This isn’t routine ritual. Despite all the flowery descriptive names for everything Episcopalian; the vestments, the ornate fixturesl, the incense, and pavlovian nature of standing and rising on cue. This is the royal protocol of welcoming The Holy Spirit as God manifests himself in that bread and wine.
Woah, what’s that? Great HG Wells! I just stepped into a time machine. Christ himself, with an ever-so-sweet, assuring smile just handed me a piece of broken bread and has placed a chalice next to my lips.
This is truly an epiphany-or at least my personal definition of one; that being a simultaneous realization of both heart and mind.
This isn’t just to honor Christ. This isn’t just “do in rememberance of me.” Christ is here with me. I am here with him. He’s not at all unhappy with me. As a matter of fact, he’s real happy I am here. And, he really seems to like this goofy, white boy just the way I am.
Well, needless to say, I became a junkie, hankering for my next bread and wine fix.
Let me say too, that had it not been the fact that the man behind the pulpit was Fr. Marc Burnette, I don’t think it would have been that moving an experience. No, he’s not a prophet, per se. But, he’s not a preacher. He’s a FABULOUS TEACHER! He is also someone that I can identify with. He’s not some out-of-touch, stodgy, self-important wind bag. This is a guy who has walked in my shoes. And I his. He has a profound sense of humor.
And he really digs the same kind of music, movies and books I do, too!
I can’t begin to tell you just how much my quality of life has improved because my renewed faith, and loving relationship with God, through Christ.
And I am so thankful to, and for, all of you for being able to share that.
It is not my intent to be the least bit irreverant when it comes to God. After all “….I am fearfully and wonderfully made….”
The Lord’s Peace, my friends, and keep laughing
Warmest Regards
-Mike McKenzie
Mike-
THANK YOU for your real, heart-warming comment. THANK YOU for taking the time to give me the history behind the story. I really am touched.
Part of the reason I’m touched, is that I, too, was raised in a Southern Baptist church with parents who served so deeply they had church keys.
In college, my sister and I both rejected at least some part of our early church experience. Julie once called it the “Traveling Jesus Show”…we both felt the church services had lost one of the quintessential characteristics of worship: reverence! (Not to mention the “accept this because I told you to” mentality sometimes found in Baptist churches. Questions of authority were frowned upon. And we had questions.)
I found a place of Christian community in the Methodist church at Auburn; ultimately God has brought my husband and I to a denomination that fits us well: the Presbyterian Church of America. My sister fought the same fight you did, and was without a church community for a long time. She has finally made peace with her view of church and has invested her heart in the community of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Homewood, AL. She feels loved there. And her opinions are respected as well, even when they don’t match the priest’s, the lay leader’s, or anyone else’s for that matter. Only through Christ is that possible, in my opinion.
I have attended services with her when I visit, and I have to say there is beauty in the order of the Liturgy. I appreciated the times in the service that called for quiet meditation most of all. The “world”…our world…is too busy and too loud sometimes to hear the gentle whisper of the LORD. Julie and I have talked about that many times. Meditation. Peace. Reverence. She, like me, craves these things and finds them every Sunday morning at All Saints’.
So, from the bottom of my heart, THANKS for your comment to my blog. I hope you don’t feel that I belittled you, your church or the Episcopal faith in any way. I am honored that you responded; I hope you can know that I truly just enjoyed “Monster Truck Liturgy” and am not offended in any way by it.
The Lord be with you. May He bless you through your wonderful (albeit quirky!) sense of humor, and may “the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto to you…and give you peace.”
With love and peace-
Cathy
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To Cathy:
Well, I don’t mind who reads, but ESPECIALLY to Cathy-
It sounds like we have some things in common. I attended school in Auburn ( didn’t have much choice, given that my great-grandfather was a trustee for 51 years)…if you lived in Auburn, you’ve heard of him…Paul Haley..yes, the one the big block of a building was named after.
But as a student, I was involved with the Wesley Foundation, and attended church with the Methodists next door, as my great grandfather had done…though when he was a student, the building that is now the chapel was the whole church.
And though I am now in the Episcopal Church…Senior Warden in Mike’s parish…like heading up the session for Presbyterians…when I was little, I attended a Presbyterian Church in Homewood.
I grew up in Edgewood and walked down the alley ( well, you know how kids are) behind your sister’s church every day of the school year for three years…while I was in Jr. High. Even if all these little dtails dont matter in the larger picture, because there are many points where our lives almost touch, I wanted to speak.
I’m sorry that any of your experience with the church has been less than what it should have been, though I am quite glad you have a church home NOW that is more than a social event…or at least that is what it sounded like to me from your post. ( By the way, I have also had experiences with the church that have been far from what I believe God wanted.) And though I am VERY glad for you that you have a church home that sounds like it feeds you as well as offering the chance to put your talents to work for the kingdom, something of your post spoke loudly to me…and it was not just the fact that you could see beauty and honor in a tradition other than your own.
These are things of note. Many who have a bad experience with the church, no matter the label, are driven away forever. Many who are IN the church cannot see value in traditions other than the one each has chosen. It sounds like you are able to overcome both of these things.
This matters to me for more reasons than hoping you are now happy, when once you may not have been. This matters to me because it sounds like you may well be intended to be one of the bridge-builders…those who work out ways to not only bring in those who do not yet know Christ, but who also help in bringing the different parts of the family closer.
This is not true of my own father, a good man, but one who believes his answers are the only right ones. Maybe it is because he completed an extra degree through a school run by the PCA that your willingness to embrace a larger understanding of the church strikes me.
But no matter the reason, as we are called to be people of love, I thank you for your willingness to see that God’s family is far to great to be housed in any one church, or tradition for that matter…but we are all still HIS.
So with all of this said, I will now close with a loving “thank you” and ask only that you continue to gently encourage any whom you may find God has placed in your journey, that all of God’s children who understand his love, need to share it freely with all who need it.
Harold Warren
Greetings Catbird,
Thank you for reading my blog re: monster truck ad and bringing my attention to the Anglican Postmortem. I had actually found that site through your blog (via google). I must have missed the posting-comments at that time though.
I am always wanting to verify facts–thank you.
Take care.