Beyond Smells and Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy, By Mark Galli
a review by Pastor Mike Cosper
Mark Galli’s 140-odd page book is a long love letter to Christian Liturgy. The book is less a field guide than a travel book – more Bill Bryson than John Audobon. Each chapter explores a theme of liturgical theology through anecdotes, musing and theological reflection, inviting the reader to enter into these practices at a deeper and richer level. For one who is part of a liturgical tradition, who feels drawn to the liturgy, or who loves the rhythms of Sunday and wants to dig deeper into them, this would be a very edifying book. Galli is well read in liturgical theology and tradition, and paints a beautiful picture of the riches that are served up in liturgical worship.
What’s unfortunate is the reality that Galli doesn’t explore – the vast ignorance of much of this theological nuance by the majority of those who participate in the liturgy from the pews. The beauty of tradition is the curse of tradition – familiarity breeds contempt. To the newcomer, the weekly repetition of the Great Acclamation or The Creed or The Lord’s Supper is centering rhythm, a place where life is refocused and our covenant is renewed. But to one who has lived in this tradition for years, this repetition can become rote, dull and lifeless.
Galli describes a renewal in the tradition amongst emerging generations, and points to the timelessness of the tradition as part of the appeal. Liturgical worship draws people into another world, a different reality. In truth, most liturgical traditions have struggled to speak to a culture of tiny attention spans, mega-churches and rock star worship leaders, and have transformed themselves dramatically in recent years. (See the Second Vatican Council, for example.) The movement amongst emerging generations to return to the liturgy is mostly a reaction against the commercial mega-church, and less a reform movement — yet.
In truth, Galli is doing the kind of work that pastors in liturgical churches need to do — desperately. Churches must build a bridge between the historical practices of the liturgy and the rich theological truths behind them. There is a difference between theologically informed mystery – the mystery of the Puritans, for example – and mystery rooted in confusion. For many, the liturgy is an odd collection of prayers and songs that mostly is a cold and disinterested practice. I imagine a buffet being served, but the guests are only munching on crackers, unaware of the feast in front of them. The need and opportunity exists each week to educate and invite the Church into that feast, but few pastors make an attempt at what Galli does in his book.
There is one additional danger that Galli doesn’t deal with, which I think of as the liturgical-gospel-gap. Chip Stam has described it like this: a church will gather on a Sunday, and the liturgy will be a beautiful celebration of the gospel. The church will confess the mystery of the faith: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,” and then the pastor or priest will take the pulpit and effectively refute all that has been said in the liturgy. Galli doesn’t mention the erosion of orthodoxy in many liturgical traditions – and the dangerous clouding of the gospel that sacramentalism in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions has done. Liturgy is worth celebrating if it points in unison with the whole life of a church to Jesus Christ.
With all that said, Beyond Smells and Bells stirred my heart, and made me hungry for the rich content of historical Christian worship. Reactionary movements tend to be fads, and at the pace that our culture is moving, the infatuation with liturgy in emerging churches could be over in a few months. I stand by my comments earlier about the return to liturgy not being a reform movement yet, but I hope and pray that pastors could make the same kind of invitation that Galli makes to their congregations, serving them a theologically rich gospel feast when they gather.
Vatican II is “recent years,” huh?
This is a GREAT review, brother. Thanks. I am right there with you.
Vatican II is recent in the scope of a 2000-odd year history. That’s a pretty recent reform – right?
The secret is out. Mike is much, much older than he appears. There’s a portrait of him in a secret room in his house, in which his likeness keeps aging. But curiously, the real Mike never seems to grow a minute older …