CHURCH RELEVANCE
Frederica Mathewes-Green, author, NPR columnist, prolife spokesperson, and wife of an Orthodox priest was recently interviewed for Modern Reformation magazine. (Frederica and her husband were both non-believing hippy-types who were dramtically converted to Christ in the 70's. He eventually became an Episcopal priest but decided to leave the Episcopal Church in 1991 when their House of Bishops defeated a resolution stating, "Clergy should abstain from sex outside of marriage." They became Eastern Orthodox at that point.) The interview is not up on the magazine site but Frederica sent it out to a mailing list she has. And I think that the last section was particularly noteworthy for Christians of all backgrounds --

MR: As an Orthodox person, how do you respond to the obsession in
contemporary culture with relevance, being "postmodern," etc.?

FMG: I think it's entirely misguided. Even two old boomers like my husband and myself knew ten years ago that we didn't want to join any church that prioritized being relevant. The Gospel is already relevant, because it's timeless; hitching it to time-bound fashion only trivializes it. I think this insight is the wave of the future, ironically; I think that we will increasingly see it become fashionable to disdain passing fashion, a situation that makes Orthodox heads spin. For example, a friend recently told me that her Southern Baptist church has established a Celtic service, complete with chant, candles, and incense (at least until those with allergies complained). She said that boomers mostly go to the 9:30 "contemporary" service, where they can have all those middle-aged things like rock music and humor and skits. "But the older people wanted an earlier service, and the young people, of course, wanted something more traditional." Those words keep echoing in my mind: "The young people, of course, wanted something more traditional." If the church of the future wants to be up-to-the-minute, hip, and relevant, it had better look into tradition.

Link to the whole interview