Matthew Fox is working to invigorate worship. Silenced by the Vatican and expelled from the Dominican Order, Fox continues to be the most read catholic theologian of our time. For several years Fox has been developing worship for a post-modern world. Taking the cyberspace revolution into sacred space. Quoting African spiritual teacher Malidoma Some who insists that there is no community without ritual, Fox has infused what he learned about rave masses in the United Kingdom with his own Creation Spirituality to create worship for 21st century Americans and dubbed this new form the “cosmic mass.”
“Our first 18 minute dance is during the Via Positiva, the last at the Via Transformativa wherein we receive the energy to be the spiritual warriors we need to be to transform society after we leave worship. In between there is a deep experience of shared grief (via negativa) often including wailing and lamentation and the sharing of communion (via creativa). At the close of the service is a “via transformativa” dance or warrior dance which prepares us to go into the world and back to our communities as healers and strong defenders of compassion. A variety of ages is always represented as well as many kinds of artists and people from diverse religious backgrounds ranging from Christian to Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Pagan. The worship is so pre-modern in many respects that many find home there. Beauty is everywhere present. And one might say, magic.”
I can’t help wondering what form a cosmic mass might take among Canadian middle-class Christians???
Dawn – this is extremely interesting to me – it reminds me of some of my experience at the Transpersonal Therapy Centre with the freedom of the dance. The via negativa portion of the liturgy points to a part of us that needs to be given expression within ritual. We are reminded that “spiritual” includes the word “ritual”. I think too, the inclusive nature of multifaith is clearly where we need to be going – all in good time. So – we will have to continue to have a conversation about this at Holy Cross. There is something here for us, I think.
Indeed!