Movement 113

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small ritual tr small ritual I Whose story? steve collins Whose story does the music in your church embody - your own, or someone elsets? lf someone elsets, whose? . Steve Collins is a wtiter and web designer in London, and is involved in alternative worship Since recorded music was invented a century ago, all kinds of music have become available to all of us. For the first time in human history, we can have any music we want, whenever and wherever we want. We choose from the $reatest varietY of music available to any society in history. But our choices are lar$ely determined by which story we want to Put ourselves into. Every genre of music embodies and evokes its own story of social and personal identity. ln listenin$ we take part in those identities, even if only in imagination. Rejection of music is often about rejecting the identity it weaves. But if music embodies life-story, what about the music in church? Whose story does the music in your church embody - your own, or somepne else's? lf someone else's, whose? Thinking in terms of lifestory takes us beyond the usual arguments over 'good' and 'bad', 'contemporary' and 'traditional', and helps us see why musical style and change are such fraught issues in churches. The music we use in church can be a potent representation of our story to God. lf the music does not represent us, belongs to another story, we could be alienated at the point where we most need connection. The story embodied in our chosen music is often an inner story that circumstances will not allow to be expressed in any other way. lf this is so it's all the more important for us to use that music in our dealings with God, for honesty and freedom's sake. lf we can do this, church becomes a space of liberation, where our hidden selves can be expressed to God and to one another. We can recover our sense of who we are, and find strengfh to resist the pressures to be otherwise. But the musical menu available in most churches is very limited by comparison to the world outside. The music itself isn't necessarily bad, but the chances are it's alien both in style and in the way the music is used. ln limiting the forms of music that are permitted, churches limit the life-stories that are permitted expression. Often it has been forgotten that every story was someone's story at some time in history' and churches lapse into essentialism' saying this story is the only story for Christians, and to be a Christian you must walk in it. ln cultures where there are few musical stories this may suffice as an argument, but in our own culture we are aware of a great many musical stories, and have already placed ourselves somewhere among them as a part of our growing up. Story isn't necessarily about following a single genre. Mostly we weave several, and creatively appropriate music from seemingly different storylines into our own. Nor is it just about musical style, which is why Christian substitutes 'in the style of' don't always work. We expect artists to live up to the stories embedded in their music - in short, credibility. lt's been said that the job of the artist is to go through extreme states on our behalf, so that we can work through these things vicariously and survive. lf so it's no wonder that 'Christian' exercises in decency and moderation failto heal us. ln the light of all this, churches need a much more complex approach to music than they have generally demonstrated. Music in this context is a means of communication and expression between ourselves and God. lf the music we use in church represents us, then communion with God takes place within our own story. And since the music of our own story runs throughout our lives, when we discover how to make communion with God in it in one place it can, potentially, be a vehicle for communion with God anywhere, anytime else. Church is no longer an event outside our storyline, but an event within it. I've discussed the issue of life-story in terms of music, because music is its most potent carrier in our society, and we all understand the dynamic. But it's worth asking the question of all aspects of church, the liturgical, the visual, the theological - whose story is this? lf not mine, whose? Can I take it for my own' or would it be a charade? And what would it look like if re-embodied in my story? I 14 | movement
feature: i ntrod uci ng christian ity introducin$, christianity Our feature this issue explores the various courses currently available which try to introduce non-Ghristians to the church or to Ghristian belief. The aim of all these courses is essentially to create new Ghristians - although, as we'll see, different courses may create different kinds of Ghristian! The idea of evangelasm, in this form or any other, can be problematic in our multicultural society. So we start with a piece by theologian Tim Gorringe, exploring the deeper implications... evangettbm in a €Iobattbed world Can we spread the gospel whilst still respecting difference? When delegates met in Edinburgh in 1910 for the lnternational Missionary Conference, they were clear that their agenda was 'the evangelisation of the world in this generation'. No qualms for them: the map was coloured red; the sun never set over the British empire; humankind was visibly caught up in the great leap forwards, and the Christian gospel had to leaven that. What followed we all know: two world wars, the Holocaust, and then the carving up of the world for the profit of the multinational corporations. As we approach the l00th anniversary of that conference, we are in a different world. ln this brief article I willjust haghlight two points of difference. First, though imperialism remains a fact of life, there is a greater cultural self-confidence on the part of all humankind's constituents than there was at that earlier time. We recognise this in speaking of 'multiculturalism', the demand that difference be respected, and the insistence that there is no Archimedean point from which all standpoints can be assessed. Does this mean, then, that evangelism is just Western arrogance? The question is serious, and posed to Christians by many critics. A sensitive response to this question has been developed by the Jesuit Michael Barnes. The heart of his proposal is to understand God as involved in the experience of otherness. We are all familiar from Matthew 25 with the idea that we encounter God in our neighbour. ln Barnes'terms, God is'the primary Other'. lf that is the case, then openness to God means openness to others, and this is at the root of any Christian theolo$/. The aim of encounter cannot be conquest or conversion. lt is simply genuine meeting, the situation in which I genuinely hear what the other has to say. This is always fraught with difficulty, and never perfectly realised. ln every kind of meeting we always find ourselves in a 'broken middle', a relationship which is always under negotiation. Thinking of relationship like this, argues Barnes, allows us to imagine a situation where we can be passive in the face of the other without being crushed by them. He suggests that this is what we find in the famous 'Christ hymn' of Philippians 2 which speaks of Christ 'taking the form of a slave', but accomplishing redemption precisely by doing so. Christian theolory is rooted in the story of the God who is Emmanuel, the Word spoken in the 'broken middle' of the world, who still goes on speaking through the spirit which leads the disciples into all the truth. What they share is what God can do in and through human weakness. This is one form of Christian mission in a multicultural world. What about the situation of the imperialism of the multinational corporation, backed up by the might of US firepower? How does that affect our concept of evangelism? Another Jesuit, Aloysius Pieris ftom Sri Lanka, argues that evangelism ) Tim Gorringe openness to God means openness to others, and this is at the root of any Ghristian theology movementl15
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