Liturgy: “More Than Prideful Ambition”
Imitation is an important part of education. We learn much more from human models than we learn from abstracted academic principles.
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 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
This week’s liturgy is contributed by Josiah Peterson, debate coach:
As an undergrad I moved from a small town in central Florida to attend a small Christian liberal arts college in the heart of NYC whose mission is to transform society through strategic institutions. From that College I led, and now coach, an internationally competitive debate team with a mission of training students to advocate truth in the marketplace of ideas. These are inspiring goals, but how are we supposed to get there?
It’s easy in seeking success in “society” or “the marketplace of ideas” to try and succeed through imitation. Watch what the leaders of business, politics, and academia are doing and try to do the same. Learn not only the tools of the trade but also the lingo and habits of the movers and shakers. We do this both consciously and unconsciously. Do you need to go out for drinks with the boss, and if so, should you offer to pay? Do you need to start reading the New York Times Arts and Culture Section and visit the MOMA more often? Is John Rawls still cool and how can you make yourself an ally of the intersectional oppressed? Do you need to binge-watch House of Cards and Stranger Things? Should you begin your sentences with “at the end of the day” and end them with “right?”
Imitation is an important part of education. We learn much more from human models than we learn from abstracted academic principles. The Thessalonians imitated Paul, Silas, and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 1:6). The psalmist holds out Moses and Samuel as examples (Psalm 99:6).
But imitation has its limits. For one thing, it has a ceiling. If you are always copying the best debater you will probably not ever be able to be beat the debaters you copy. At best you can hope that when they graduate themselves out of the league you can take their place. Just as your impression of a sophisticated Northeastern intellectual becomes passable, a new book or new movement will take hold, and you find yourself in need of a crash course on Slavoj Zizek and Peter Sloterdijkl. Just after you’ve mastered the essential Drucker everyone starts talking about Charles Duhigg and Liz Wiseman.
Not only does imitation have a ceiling, you will also ultimately miss the mission of influencing strategic institutions and advocating truth in the marketplace. You aren’t influencing them. They are influencing you. By the time you do manage to make it to the top and are the one being imitated you will simply be feeding back into the system what it has put into you over the course of your journey getting there.
Christians have a different source of distinction: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16).
Our work is motivated by more than prideful ambition and social approval: “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
The examples offered in Psalms and Thessalonians are those who committed themselves to imitating God and becoming vehicles through whom he works by his Spirit. They were characterized by the cardinal virtues of faith, hope, and love, which are not understood by the world in its striving.