What exactly is emergent/altworship?
I think the first thing to be said in answer is that these are movements that enthusiastically embrace the postmodern cultural context in which we find ourselves. Some of the cultural features of this context include new technologies, new forms of connectivity, and decentralization. Those in the altworship and emerging movements embrace new technology as well as the decentralization of power and decision making that current technologies make possible.
The most stunning experience for me this interim was participating in an anglo-Catholic Mass in a very old church that blended ancient ritual, liturgy, and creeds with the use of image and sound reproduction, including a flat screen computer monitor which was perched on the altar table just to the left of the consecrated elements. I found this juxtaposition shocking. But what to me was a bit incongruous was to my students ho-hum. And I think it’s easy to see why. Bread and wine are ordinary things; so too a computer monitor. The former can become for us the body and blood of Christ. The other, ordinary though it may be, can function as a window through which God can communicate via images and sound. No incongruity at all.
Postmodernism is not just a cultural phenomenon, however. There is also what we might call philosophical postmodernism. And this involves, among other things, calling into question “meta-narratives” or grand stories of the world and our place in it, like Marxism, atheistic naturalism, consumerism and Christianity itself. Consciously or not, each of us fits our own particular story into a larger story (or stories), like those just cited.
What gets called into question by philosophical postmodernism is our ability to float free of the grand narratives we find ourselves in and to view things from a “God’s eye view.” Those sensitive to the postmodern situation, like those in the emergent and altworship movements, recognize therefore that our grasp of reality is always partial, incomplete, and fragmentary. And this recognition can engender humility, tolerance, and an opening for dialogue with others. Tolerance and dialogue are two practices those in emergent and altworship both welcome and invite. Someone who really appreciates our human finitude and situatedness might be more inclined to say, “Here’s how I see things and here’s why. But, I recognize that I am a finite and frail human being; so I could certainly be the one with blind spots. How do you see things?’ as opposed to saying “I’m right. You’re wrong, and going to hell. End of story.”
What do you associate with words like “postmodernism,” “emergent,” and “postmodernity”?