When identical twin brothers asked the Rev. Yamily Bass-Choate for a quinceañera-like ceremony for themselves a few years ago, a new liturgy, “Los Cumpleañeros,” was born.
With the twins’ input, Bass-Choate created a male version of the Latin American culture’s coming-of-age celebration for girls reaching their 15th birthday. After the 16th-birthday celebration for Raul and Guillermo Renderos, the new rite caught on quickly with teen-aged boys at San Andres Church in Yonkers, New York, she said.
“They want to be blessed going into the world, just like the girls,” Bass-Choate said during a June 18 telephone interview from her office.
(ENS) Experiments in love: liturgies as cultural expressions
Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Episcopal Church (TEC)
Maybe that can take the place of Confirmation.
Later on in the piece you can read about the Hawaiian experiment,
[blockquote]Without inculturated liturgies, he said, “people who are curious about the Episcopal Church come, sit in the back pew and you never see them again.â€[/blockquote]
Wait a second, wasn’t the 1979 BCP supposed to make things more accessible to the modern culture (of the time), and the language more understandable so that people wouldn’t run for their lives after attending their first service. You can see how well that worked.
[blockquote]“They’re all aids in worshiping God, our liturgy, our practices, and I think a lot of people right now that are disconnected from a lot of traditions are seeking some kind of connection,†he said. “And if we as a church can offer that, that’s good.â€[/blockquote]
but what are these new liturgical practices connecting people to? I agree that adapting to the local culture is essential, and that the liturgy should be an expression of the congregation’s love of God. That said, worshippers should be directed towards Jesus and nothing else. [blockquote] The tradition is similar to those she has seen at other Japanese American and even Buddhist funerals. “I just went to a [b]Buddhist funeral this past Saturday and they did the same thing[/b],†she said during a June 20 telephone interview. “At that funeral, it was done with incense and they called it an incense offering. They approach the incense pot, take a pinch and place it in the incense burner, then bow to the family. [/blockquote] Are participants in this tradition led to Christ?