Via Crucis :: Immersion 2008 flyer

(post updated 1/23/12 with new links)

Well, I’ll admit it.  I’m procrastinating.  I should be writing a seminary paper on podcasting.  But at the moment I’m pondering more about non-linear, emergent, participatory, ambient music.

Yeah, I know.  You were thinking the exact. same. thing!

Specifically, I’m looking forward to Via Crucis :: Immerison 2010 that we’ll be creating this Spring. (if you want to play, let me know)  Every year we’ve had some kind of opening night event.  In 2006, Aradhna played a beautiful concert in the round.  In 2008, Isaac Karns (of the Pomegranates) conducted an ensemble of brilliant musicians who created a fantastic musical happening (I’ll repost the mp3s that we recorded soon.  I finally posted here them in 2012!).  In 2010, I’d love to push the envelope a bit further and create music together as a gathered body – but do it in a non-linear, emergent, participatory, ambient way.  I’ll attempt to delineate deliberately in reverse:

Music

It matters.  As much as worship isn’t only music – a helpful corrective from folks like Lilly Lewin – music remains a powerful and visceral way we connect with God, the world around us (in a sonic, vibration sorta way), and one another.  There is something about music that quite literally rings in our ears and penetrates to the heart.

Ambient

I’m thinking here of the musical genre, which our friend Wikipedia defines thusly:

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an “atmospheric”, “visual” or “unobtrusive” quality.

As such, this would be building on the work and thought of Brian Eno.  Deep resonances and earthy electronica that evoke (and perhaps, provoke) more than they instruct, lead, or demand.  Allowing the space between to be attended to as much, if not more, than the actual notes, sounds, or chords.

Participatory

One of the bones to pick with typical “worship music” – be that “traditional” (hymns, organs, choirs) or “contemporary” (bands, guitars, drums) is how non-participatory it actually is.  In both cases we watch the professionals/experts on the stage conduct us to minimally participate at the lowest common denominator.  Sure, we may sing – or some do – but that’s it.  Deciding what we sing, when we sing, how we sing and the notes to which we sing – that’s the expert’s job.  So, what if Via Crucis :: Immersion was a deeply participatory event?  Not just those who create the stations and engage the stations – but what if the music that is generated on opening night is fully participatory.  What if what existed that night would not exist if not for each person gathered – not merely in the spiritual presence sense – but in the actual live creation of music.  I’m thinking here of an Aural Event – that resonates from our the soles of our shoes to souls of our brains.  Sort of like a musical wiki.

Emergent

Imagine an aural event of ambient music created together by active, live participation that EMERGES out of a set of simple rules that everyone follows.  I’m thinking here of the complex behavior of ant colonies or bee hives.  All created by leaderless systems of autonomous individuals following specific behavioral codes.  This music would be birthed out of people following a simple set of guidelines.  Nothing pre-ordained, no sheet music, no conductor.  Rather when the gathered assemble we would instruct them of 3 rules about how, what, and when they can play (this might be vocal or instrumental) – out of this social matrix (something that is intentional and crafted) the musical aural event would emerge.  Think fractals.  See also emergence on Wikipedia.

non-linear

- This would not be a 1, 2, 3 process.  Sure, the Stations of the Cross are linear – they follow a path that leads from point A (Jesus’ condemnation) to point B (Jesus in the tomb).  And the music event would have a beginning and an end (though you could debate that to an extent).  But within the (parenthetical) confines of the Aural Event the music would follow it’s own path – not one that we predetermined.  It would be the Worship Music equivalent of a Spirit-led walk in the woods.

So, what do you think?  How could we pull this off?  What would we need to pull this off?

Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
Eddie Gibbs, Ryan K. Bolger

Identifying with Jesus
Transforming Secular Space
Living as Community
Welcoming the Stranger
Serving with Generosity
Participating as Producers
Creating as Created Beings
Leading as a Body
Merging Ancient and Contemporary Spiritualities

An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches
Ray S. Anderson

It’s about Theology, not Geography
It’s about Christ, not just Christology
It’s about the Spirit, not just Spirituality
It’s about the Right Gospel, not just the Right Polity
It’s about Kingdom Living, not Kingdom Building
It’s about the Work of God, not just the Word of God
It’s about the Law of Love, not the Letter of the Law
It’s about the Community of the Spirit, not just the Gifts of the Spirit
It’s about Mission, not just Ministry
It’s about the Church ahead of Us, not only the Church behind Us

This industrial cycle is one that Easum stands at the end of, and one that was largely driven by a scientific epistemological approach to ecclesiology. This epistemology affected the way Christians conceptualized being a follower of Jesus and greatly influenced the kind of congregations we created. Thus, theological orthodoxy became accedence to a set of propositionally constructed truths, as opposed to adherence to belief statements. And, as proof that “form follows function,” a kind of methodological orthodoxy crept in as well, enabling an ongoing conversation about which model is right. Thus was born the need within the Church for firms whose sole purpose is to help churches connect with the right model and grow, with growth generally being measured in economic and consumer terms as more: more people, more buildings, more giving, more small groups, etc.

Good post from Will Samson.  I submit that you may agree or disagree with his assessment of Easum’s assessment, but I think it is a good engagement with the core issues at hand in the shifts taking place in the church.