corrupted corporate worship - part 1

"I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've been wrestling lately with why I feel so disenchanted with the experience of attending a church service on a Sunday. 

Like Emerson, I too love the silence and splendor that is to be found in the empty hallowed vaults of the great cathedrals and simple chapels of Christendom. The silence and serenity I am exposed to in those empty places is the epitome of Sacred and Beatific. The tragedy in losing sanctuary and blessing as those silently sacred spaces fill with people causes me consternation. 

What would the early Church Fathers think of our modern manifestations of Christian Corporate Worship? I fear they may wonder at the absence of compelling commonality in the "Corporate" and the inattention of those attending to "Worship."  

Does the Corporate part of our Sunday service require no more community than our physical presence in a predetermined arena for it to qualify as Corporate? And is the Worship element to be accorded the accolade of success with no more ado than our willingness to be present for a short period while we complete regulated rituals that are too often bereft of their Divine Essence through either ignorance of, or too long an acquaintance with, those self-same rituals?

I've heard it said that problem lies primarily with the current consumeristic congregations that populate the pews of churches. But I defend that common congregant for I think that this poor wretch is much arraigned before the court of public opinion. For surely such damning denunciation is laughably when one ponders this poor benighted figure who so obviously lacks the power and purpose to be the successful thief of Communal Adoration?

I think perhaps those who claim leadership of this benighted behemoth called "christianity" deserve the robe of responsibility for the lack of profound experience of community and worship in the average christian service on any given Sunday. 

As one of those who claim leadership and thus responsibility, I've been giving this thorny issue some thought and I have concluded that it might be beneficial to my own soul if I was to ponder what it means to be Corporate and what it means to Worship inside my dear world view of Christianity. 

As this is my favorite venue for pondering; you who read my pondering will have the challenging choice of perusing my musings on the sacredness of sanctuary within Christianity or absenting yourself for a short period as I peruse the purpose of corporate worship...