A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World, by Marva J. Dawn. Williams Eerdmans  Publishing Company. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1999. 

This book is a sequel to Reaching Out without Dumbing Down.  In this later book, Marva insists that the Christian Communities must engage in much community discernment  in terms of worship  while using the best tools and forms. Each of the six parts of this book begin with a sample homily concerned with culture, God as the center of worship, building community, forming character, making choices, and facing challenges. Every section follows the biblical guidelines that will assist in forming biblical communities.

Dawn makes every effort to convince readers that  worshiping God will foster in believers a way of life that reaches out in mission to the world and gives our neighbors a warrant for belief. She uses her knowledge of music and theology of church to sort out the issues that arise as contemporary congregations strive to praise God in true worship. She writes with clear knowledge of the problems that beset today's churches which are often involved in various side lines.  Meaningful liturgies can only come about when consultation with the "best of liturgists" is available and used.

The author knows the questions of today's Christian worshipers, and using her deep knowledge of postmodern seductions, aims to prove that worship is indeed a "royal" activity and deserves the best in terms of resources and applications that are biblical and deserving of a God who is our "All". Marva's last chapter deals with various questions , both new and old such as: eschatology true and false, spirituality, the language of worship, how the heavens worship, why worship is a waste of time, Sabbath worship, sacramental practices, suffering and worship, and  how worship gives true hope in the Gospel.

Valuable practical assistance is offered to the preacher and to the presider, as well as to the musicians and the congregations as a whole in its varied roles.

"May the Scriptures and the eschatological wisdom of your church be formative of our lives and of our worship, so that we might offer to the world around us the Gospel in all its truth, and beauty, and goodness." Marva's final prayer is that the church may become all it is designed to be " to your honor and glory and praise into the ages of the ages, and for the sake of a world longing for your reign. Amen"

(Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review.)



St. John Chrysostum (d. 407) September 13

The ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his name means "golden-mouthed") from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics.

If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.

His lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man.

His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam's fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were. When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards.

Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became excited in the pulpit, John was a sure target for criticism and personal trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine foods. His faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia, provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and chastity were concerned. His actions taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor were viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy, uncanonical extension of his authority.

Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia were determined to discredit John. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel (1 Kings 9:1-21:23) and impious Herodias (Mark 6:17-29) were associated with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.