Jessica Shao Theology Survey 2 Book Review Dr. Paul Lim A Review of Marva J.

Dawns A Royal Waste of Time

In a day and age where the postmodern mindset has taken over the Western world and crept its way into churches, Marva Dawns A Royal Waste of Time is a timely and much-needed book for those involved in the ministry of the church. As a theologian and author, Dawns books are written in a way that is accessible and understandable for those who serve in the church but do not have a background in theological training. It is evident from her style of writing that her research and publications are aimed at the service of the church and not for mere academic scholasticism. A Royal Waste of Time is a great example of that aim, in which she hammers home the point that worship in the church must be centered on God. God-centered worship opens up greater resources and possibilities for encountering Gods presence and helps to avoid the dangers of a postmodern culture. The first part of the book is a broad summary and evaluation of how culture has progressed from premodernism to postmodernism and of how Christianity has been affected by this progression of change. In premodern times, there was widespread general belief in the supernatural. Most people believed that truth was absolute. In the modern period, that acceptance of absolute truth disappeared as a technological mindset invaded the culture. Christianity was rejected because it could not be scientifically proven. Truth became relative as each person was to decide for himself what they believed was true. Finally, in the postmodern era, there is a pervasive spirit of individualism that encourages everyone to create their own spirituality. There is also a loss of an overarching meta1

narrative, and values shift from having deeper meaning and purpose to superficial entertainment and consumerism. Dawn describes the various ways in which the church has tried to adapt to this changing culture in an effort to attract people into their services. These include altering services to be more therapeutic rather than theological, making services more entertaining, lowering moral standards in an effort to be more inclusive, and letting the emotional needs of the congregants dictate the content of the service. One of the biggest difficulties in ministering to the church is the influence of the media on peoples worldview. Dawn writes about how multimedia, especially television, has caused people to become lazy in using their senses, and that this transfers to the way people respond in church services. People come to church expecting to be entertained and being less willing to think or respond to what they hear. While churches may mean well in trying to adapt to the culture, Dawn observes that these strategies fail to offer a solution to the deeper needs of humanity, even in a postmodern society. She gives a good quote from Philip Yancey, All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window revealing a different way. This statement is a good assessment of what is happening in many churches, and Dawn continues by arguing that worship needs to be focused on God and not on evangelism. This apparent dichotomy of worship and evangelism probably arises from one of the bigger issues churches wrestle with these days whether to make their services seekerfriendly or geared towards members of the church community. Dawn makes the point that good worship that focuses on God will also be evangelistic, that doing the former does not automatically exclude the latter. However, when churches start arranging their services for the goal of attracting unbelievers in a seeker-friendly format, the result is that it robs the

people of God of their responsibility to care about the neighbor, defrauds the believers of transforming depth, and steals from God the profound praise of which he is worthy. In other words, the members begin to lose their impetus to reach out to their neighbors since they will learn to leave the responsibility to the church service. Dawn gives the example of the early church, which existed in a pagan culture that was also hostile to Christianity. Rather than adopting a strategy of evangelism and seeker-sensitivity in order to attract their unbelieving neighbors, the church remained faithful in meeting together for the sole purpose of worshipping God, seeking the Scriptures, and participating in community life. These were the elements that drew unbelievers to their midst. Thus, services that are centered on God first and foremost accomplish both the goals of true worship and outreach to unbelievers. The middle of Dawns book addresses the ways in which the church can be an alternative society or community in a culture where the sense of community has been lost and replaced by a strong emphasis on individualism and lack of intimacy in relationships. The two key words that Dawn uses when discussing worship service practices are education and hospitality. The service format and musical style are to be educational to the church, instructing them in sound theology, as well as hospitable to those new to the church. Hospitality is developed in the church not through a false sense of community by being tolerant of or compatible with each other, but by understanding that our acceptance of each other begins with the love and grace that comes from God, and that community takes hard work. Hospitality can also be practiced by engaging in God-centered worship in such a way that newcomers can understand what we are doing as a church, for example, giving explanations for what we do as we gather, being welcoming to strangers, and not

limiting our music to one style. Involving various gifts of the church community, rather than limiting it to financial giving only can also foster community. These are some of the ideas Dawn gives us so that the church can practice being a united body of Christ in an increasingly individualistic society. In the remainder of the book, Dawn addresses some of the more practical issues churches encounter today, including the common battles between traditional and contemporary music styles, the importance of involving children in worship, the process of planning for a worship service, etc. She ends with a brief look at how our worship services would be affected if they were informed by our eschatology. If every member of the church understood that they were going out into the world as a representative of the reign of Christ on earth, that would affect the way they viewed the people they encountered and the places they visited. There would also be a sense of hope and comfort in the midst of suffering, as worship reminds the church of the coming ultimate reign of God over every evil, pain, and disaster. In this book, Marva Dawn has given the church a very helpful and important reminder of what the church should deem most important in a postmodern era. It is easy to be tempted to conform the churchs worship practices to the entertainment and consumerist culture of the current generation. While the churchs effort to reach out to our neighbors and attract them to the church is well-intentioned, Dawn gently points out that these efforts are in fact detrimental to the church community and fall short of true, Godcentered worship. On the other hand, a proper focus on God results in the education of the church as well as in evangelism to strangers and unbelievers. Rather than catering to the worlds values in order to attract people, the church should offer an alternative society that

ministers to the deeper human needs, the needs that the current postmodern culture has been unable to fulfill for the current generation. One area in which A Royal Waste Of Time is lacking is in the theological or biblical grounds of keeping God as the center. Although it seems like an obvious fact to the believer, Dawn spends more time discussing the problems of worship and postmodernism than on the biblical basis for worshipping God. Some of the questions I would have liked to be more explored are: What does it mean to keep God as the center of worship? What does Scripture have to say about the worship of God? How does this idea of focus on worship versus evangelism fit into the biblical narrative? While her book gave very concrete examples and logical arguments for God-centered worship, less of the book was spent in exploring the biblical reasons for doing so, other than the brief mention of early church practices in Acts. Another smaller point I was hoping Dawn would address is the question of tolerating musical skill and excellence for the sake of unity in the church. In chapter 14, Worship Is Not a Matter of Taste, Dawn argues that there should not be a division between traditional and contemporary styles of worship. If the goal of the service is to worship God and not ourselves, then there are merits that can be gained from any style of music, so long as the songs are theologically sound and that the music serves the purpose of directing the congregation to worship God. Making a distinction between different styles of worship encourages the spirit of consumerism and often causes division between different generations. I am convinced of this point and agree with Dawn that there should not be a separation between the two. However, the question of what to do when excellence in musicianship is compromised still remains. Perhaps the members of the church do learn to sing songs they dont like but that are full of theological truth. Perhaps a church has

learned to choose songs based on their truth content and not on musical taste. What happens when the aesthetic quality of the music plummets? What if the organist is less skilled than the guitarist, or vice versa? Does musical incompetency do any damage to church community gathered for worship? Can it be a distraction to choose a theologically rich hymn less musically prepared over a spirited praise song that is accompanied with excellent musicianship? A worship service that uses ethnically diverse or historical elements certainly may connect the congregation to the global church and its historical roots, and it may also encourage the members to tolerate songs they do not like for the sake of building up the community and maintaining unity, but the aesthetic quality of the music itself also plays an important role in directing the people in worship to God. This question doesnt apply simply to musical excellence but also more broadly to the design and decorations of the worship space. Perhaps this discussion on the artistic aspect of worship is a larger topic that cannot be addressed fully in this book and must be explored separately. In conclusion, Marva Dawns book is an excellent contribution to the theological doctrine of ecclesiology, of what it looks like for the church to maintain a faithful witness to the gospel in the midst of a culture that is so opposed to the values of Gods kingdom. It is very relevant and applicable to the church today, especially given the current state of churches in the USA. The book is a timely encouragement to the church to be faithful in their worship of God as the greatest and proper means of demonstrating the gospel to unbelievers. The church that grows to become a community marked by their unity in God and hospitality to those who are seeking answers to their deepest longings will inevitably attract their neighbors to investigate the gospel message for themselves. A Royal Waste Of

Time is an important read for the church so that we understand what exactly we are doing when we gather for worship each week.