Pages

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Why I am Catholic

The Why I AM Catholic Blog has testimonies of people from all denominations who have converted to Catholicism. This one by Katie Plato has a lot of similarities to Candy. AddThis Social Bookmark Button

2 comments:

Moonshadow said...

I'll read more there ... looks like a good blog.

Katie wrote (emphasis mine): "I realize that when you attend a church without liturgy, everything focuses on the sermon ... We realized that church was not about what we intellectually learned during the sermon ... but that we were going to ascribe worship to God through liturgy."

Katie doesn't seem aware that, in Protestantism and especially in the Reformed tradition, the sermon is worship.

Wiki puts it well: "In many Protestant churches, the sermon came to replace the Eucharist as the central act of Christian worship."

Anecdotally - if you don't trust Wiki - I attended a Presbyterian church (PCA - fairly conservative and certainly Reformed) this past Sunday and the bulletin listed "sermon" among their acts of worship.

As a Catholic, I'm not conditioned to see the sermon, or homily as we call it, as much. Catholics don't duplicate sermons on audio CDs for distribution to folks who miss the service. Outside of the Mass, Catholic homilies aren't broadcast over the media like Protestant sermons.

But Katie ought to have seen things differently. I'm surprised she ever questioned the role of the sermon in worship or ever found it lacking.

In the end, it is encouraging that people can change so radically.

Sue Bee said...

Katie P. said: Looking back, I realize that when you attend a church without liturgy, everything focuses on the sermon, pastor, and how we feel during worship….. It shouldn't matter if we didn't like the sermon or not. It wasn't about us; it was about worshipping Christ by participating in liturgy with a community of believers

I agree!

Typically the sermons in evangelical churches are designed to create heightened emotions or a sense of crisis in the audience. The usual formula is to present the problem, offer Biblical principles as the solution (in the form of a list) and then implore the audience to make a decision to follow Christ and live by the Biblical principles. If you have ever heard radio preachers (like David Jeremiah) the formula is easy recognize. The success of the service hinges on the pastor’s performance.

As a Methodist, the emotional “high point” of the service usually was the sermon or a special music performance. As a liturgical Lutheran the high point emotionally is almost always communion or a baptism – sacraments – when God’s Grace is given to us.