Washington Post Recognizes Large Influence Contemplative Spirituality Has On American Christians

LTRP Note: The following news story is posted here for informational and research purposes and not as an endorsement of the content. Interestingly, Washington Post wrote a similar story in 2008 titled “Feeling Renewed By Ancient Traditions.” In that story, they quoted briefly from one of the Lighthouse Trails editors (name spelled wrong) after a phone interview.

By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post

“Americans turning to ancient music, practices to experience their faith”

“[T]he rise in interest in early practices has become so common that at Wheaton College, the prominent evangelical school in Chicago, “the joke is, all these people are now liturgical.”

In our of-the-minute culture, Santa seems old-fashioned. But Christians are exploring far older ways of observing the holiday.In the living room this week along with the pile of presents, there’s more likely to be a wreath or calendar marking Advent, the month leading up to Christmas that symbolizes the waiting period before Jesus’s birth. Christmas services largely dominated by contemporary music are mixing in centuries-old chants and other a cappella sounds. Holiday sermons on topics such as prayer, meditation and finding a way to observe the Sabbath are becoming more common.

These early — some use the term “ancient” — spiritual practices are an effort to bring what feels to some like greater authenticity to perhaps the most thoroughly commercialized of religious holidays, say pastors, religious music experts and other worship-watchers.

“It’s the recognition that Christianity didn’t start when someone got an electric guitar,” said Ed Stetzer, a pastor and church consultant who runs Lifeway Research, a Christian polling firm. “I think particularly among younger Christians, they’re drawn to smells and bells and history in a way that boomers weren’t on the same level.” Click here to continue reading.