The title alone that Tillich has given this work, ‘The Dynamics Of Faith’, indicates a most important aspect of faith— Faith Is Dynamic!’ Where religious history’s authoritative forces have sought to formalize faith (and quite successfully as can be seen in the capitalistic state of the modern day church), it must be borne in mind that ‘Faith Is Dynamic! As Howard Thurman puts it— around every corner lies a new encounter with God. Faith is Dynamic! With each new day’s dawning…
Must tarry awhile, then, in Tillich’s section ‘Faith As A Centered Act’ where he writes, “Faith as ultimate concern is an act of the total personality. It happens in the center of the personal life and includes all its elements. Faith is the most centered act of the human mind.” “…This makes the psychology of personality highly dynamic and requires a dynamic theory of faith as the most personal of all personal acts.”
The discussion centers on several polarities which create tension and conflict by their very nature. The unconscious and the conscious; faith and freedom; ego and superego; the ecstatic and the rational; cognitive and emotion.
In my birth church, shouting was a free will way of worship. No nurses, no ushers functioning as ‘prohibitors’ of spiritual and emotional acts of faith. No water, no fans, no ‘holding of hands to form a constraining barrier???’ around an ecstatic act of faith. Just the free will outpouring of faith in worship happening at the very ‘center of the personal life and including all its elements’. As a child, it scared me to be in the midst of this worship and I recall my grandmother saying to me in my fright, “nobody ever got hurt in the spirit!”
Now, it scares me when I enter a church that has established a tradition to include an entire team of nurses dressed with capes, hats and all. A conflict for me that the dynamics of faith at work in the personal life in worship has become a ‘formalized’ treatment as illness. Looking at some of the ‘worship nurses’ (and ushers with fans and water; and ‘ring barriers’) demands another look.
Courts are now being required to settle disputes regarding injuries when worshippers are “slain in the spirit.” In Michigan, Dadd v. Mount Hope Church, the church’s pastor told the congregation that “others are against it because they’re afraid of getting hurt. That’s why we train our ushers to catch people if this happens.” Witnesses testified that “people were falling all over” and being caught by ushers. But when this plaintiff was slain in the spirit, there was no usher to catch her and she fell to the floor. A jury awarded her $40,000 for the injury from the fall and more than $275,000 for the libel, slander and other costs. The Appeals Court removed the Libel judgement and maintained the Injury stating that it generally agreed with the church that it had no legal duty to protect from injury all congregants who participate in church services. However, the court believed that the church had voluntarily assumed a duty to protect. And, the court issued this opinion as an “unpublished” opinion; meaning it could not to be relied upon as precedent by others having a similar type of case.
I am convinced that the Church’s ‘First Responders’ must be very clear that they are ‘worshippers’… too. YOU cease to worship when YOU have concern for CONTROL (even when appointed to you) OVER the manifestations of the Spirit in Worship. Polarities which create tension and conflict by their very nature. The unconscious and the conscious; faith and freedom; ego and superego; the ecstatic and the rational; cognitive and emotion. Pastors and Preachers… too!
Can’t go without a statement Tillich makes in discussing the polarity of ‘faith and freedom’ where he has a logic line conclusion that “faith IS freedom”. Jesus said it— “whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”
by email: myfathersmansion@mail.com
reprint: #43 Jan 8, 2011
