Liturgy: “Be in the culture, but not of it”
The King's student should know the relevant language of the culture in which he or she lives.
What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.
This Week’s Lectionary Readings
Exodus 20:1-17
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
Psalm 19
This week’s liturgy is contributed by Bracey Fuenzalida, Director of IT:
To begin to effectively engage the culture, a Christian must not only be a student of theology and the Bible, but he must also be a razor-sharp exegete of his world and culture around him. This means that the student should know the relevant language of the culture in which he or she lives. This is why the King’s student spends time studying, taking classes, writing, etc., all so that they can gain a foundation of learning so that they can effectively engage in and with the world.
The focus of the Christian ready to be in the world ought to be that you would “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” 1 Peter 3:15. This verse is of utmost importance when standing up for the faith, but many fall short of living it out due to not knowing how to relate the verse to their circumstance. Francis Schaeffer once said, “Men go out from the theological seminaries not knowing how to relate their philosophy . . . because they do not know the questions.”
What questions you ask? The queries one must ask of the culture in order to understand it. Thus, knowledge of modern day movies, music, art, forms, structures, and just about anything else that makes up our surrounding culture, is indispensable to one’s understanding of how to operate within the society, but also in answering the modern-day questions about reality and the meaning of life in general.
In the movie ‘Back to the Future,’ we encounter the character, Marty McFly, who is accidentally sent into the 50’s, in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown. The setting of the plot is for Marty to make sure that his high-school-age parents unite and fall in love in order to save his own existence. What is interesting about this movie is Marty’s encountering a society that he knows of only through his parents and reading history, but at first he also has no idea of how to effectively relate to it so as to engage and be persuasive within it. After trial and toil, the movie ends with Marty returning to his rightful time and accomplishing all he needed to do by successfully connecting with the people and the culture. So ‘Back to the Future’ shows us that knowing the right answers to the relevant cultural questions of the day can actually save lives. Could this not be an example for us?
Portrayed through examples in history and films, having discernment between knowing the answers and knowing the questions is crucial in any society in order to communicate with great relevance to the respective culture in which one lives. Though Christians are called to evangelize and disciple the nations, they must also be aware and sensitized of the beliefs and practices of the culture around them in order to not be subsumed and transformed by them. Saint Paul said it like this: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)
Therefore, understanding the difference between knowing the answers and the questions being posed, so that one may persuasively communicate truth to a culture that is in desperate need of it, is as important as maintaining one’s beliefs so that they do not lose them in the process of seeking to transform the culture.
Maintaining and keeping one’s beliefs is commonly referred to as sanctification and the Psalmist gives us a perfect example of how to sanctify our hearts with God’s words when approaching the culture when he declares, “The heavens are telling of the glory of the God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:1–2). Note how he takes examples from the created order to understand how we should approach the world and life. The more we read His words and infuse our minds with His thoughts the better we will be at discerning that ‘speech and night’ that reveals knowledge.
A little further the Psalmist says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7–8) Notice how the eyes are filled by the precepts of the Lord, and specifically how one becomes wise. Needless to say, to discern the culture, the ways of the society, so as to speak insightfully to it, so that it will have the life of God in it, know the way of the Psalmist and speak Life to it.