“In all the sacred things we are against, we find the same error coming up again and again. Are we using the liturgy as mural or a window? Are we staring at it, or are we looking through it?” (Against the Church, p. 12).
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Why a visual rather than an aural metaphor? John 5:39 uses an aural metaphor.
Aural metaphor works too:
Sure aural metaphors work too. Though, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase “listening through”, I’m not sure what we would be listening to if not the words we’re given, and perhaps listening “to” and speaking would be better.
If Petersen has never “listened through” a performance of Handel’s Messiah, I would highly recommend it to him. Even a recorded performance lifts the soul. I realize it’s an example of a performance, and not a worship liturgy, but it’s still an example of an aural lens to hear through. Music and song are the glory of words. Glorious words should be part of every worship service. We are filled with the Spirit as we speak to one another through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:18-19). As the congregation sings praises to God, we shouldn’t just hear the words… Read more »