Gen X Hates Liturgy Gen Z Loves Liturgy
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This is not new news and just a general observation, but lets talk about Gen X hates liturgy and Gen Z loves liturgy. Why and what should we think about this trend?
When young, people like myself in the 80’/90’s kicked out hymnals completely, and made modern music to connect with God with enthusiasm. We also wanted strong Biblical focused preaching. It was a heady exciting time where denominations split and the believers separated themselves from nominal faith. There was good and bad in what happened at that time. Not everything in those hymnals was against God. Much of the content of hymnals was actually quite Biblical, but we chose to find life in directly meeting God without forms. We reveled in our victories.
Two generations later many Gen Z people start joining Catholic and even Eastern Orthodox churches. We Gen Xers are appalled. They are connecting with hymnals and liturgy, that we had named as our enemies. They are chanting. Evangelical churches are now adding responsive readings to try to stop their losses.
The Bible does not say that chanting is wrong. The forms are not the point, but we Gen Xers feel lost. Then another issue.
Mariology seems to be the core of the trouble in our hearts
In 431AD at the Council of Ephesus, Arians who believed Jesus was only a demigod wanted to call Mary the mother of Christ as they said Christ was not God but a sub God. The Christians then fought to call her Mary Mother of God (Theotokos in Greek) They were not deifying Mary but defending Christ as part of Trinity!
A popular unknowingly Gnostic heretical document written in about AD150 gained strength in this. The Greek document, Gospel of James, says Mary was a perpetual virgin, Joseph was an elderly widower with grown sons, and Mary’s mother was Anne and Mary was born miraculously as was Jesus. All of these became part of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox teaching. The Latin follow on after 500 AD is called Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew.
The Biblical book of Matthew here and here says that Joseph and Mary had a normal marriage after Jesus was born. In the Gospel of James, Elderly Joseph with no romantic interest in Mary betroths her and later finds she is pregnant and is upset. It is too hard to resolve the conflicts (but men try) with the Bible and normal logic. Neither the Catholics nor the Orthodox defend these two documents, but they were highly influential, or we would not have Anne listed etc.
Catholics and Orthodox do not consider Mary God or Deity at all among the liturgy folks, though they say she is first/top of all creation. All of this is to defend the Trinity, and not deny the Trinity. They are more fiercely Trinitarian than most Protestants.
Gen Z Loves Liturgy or At Least Leans That Way- So What?
It is not idolatry. Many Protestants believe in the rapture though it has very weak Biblical support. This is not really different than Catholics and Mary. It is not the main thing. as both are not clear in the Bible. Well, you can always make the Bible say what you want. Gen Z is seeking God. Hurray. May they find him and not be harmed by making non central things central. We GenXers should do the same.
God did not clarify many things like Liturgy as He knew how many cultures and eras Christians face over time. Each generation will find God in ways the previous did not and all love God. Let us not become tied up in the forms or the things on the edges. We can use forms to help us seek God. God clarified the main things, and we should not let go.
