Thursday, December 09, 2004
The V2T scale
My pastor shared this scale at a staff meeting a few weeks ago. It has stuck in my mind as something applicable not only to the state of volunteer involvement in my parish, but also the liturgy struggles of the Church, and the nature of priestly intercession.
1 The leader does everything
2 The leader does everything, the people watch
3 The leader does everything, the people help
4 The leader and people do things together
5 The people do things and the leader helps
6 The people do things and the leader watches
7 The people do everything
Suppressing a chuckle at the thought of being stuck at stage one--honestly, I'd assess my parish as averaging out at about 3.2, my mind started applying this to liturgy. The Old Testament (some would say Tridentine) model of priesthood would understand that the priest exists to intercede properly to God on behalf of the people. A Vatican II Catholic might take Jesus seriously when he speaks to the woman at the well:
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)
Does this abrogate much or all of the notion of the Israelite priesthood? How much of the priesthood of all believers should or could be expressed by people's more active participation in liturgy? I submit that the Tridentine model of worship hovers around 1 (private Masses) and 2 (passive spectators at prayer). The Vatican II ideal would strive for 4, but the reality is that most parishes are stuck around 3. It's very hard to get off 3. But even if we did, is it just a recipe for disaster as things lurched into 5, 6, and 7? Any thoughts?
