HIGH CHURCH
I was listening to Tom Long lecture on his work relating to death, burial, and the Christian tradition. He spoke of the importance of pageantry at funerals, and how it communicates dignity to the deceased. Through the narration, form, and participation of the community in pageantry, the departed are given a dignified reverence, no matter how known or unknown they are. This is, to me, one of the powerful qualities of high church: it communicates dignity and narrative, not only to Christ but to His body, the gathered. Held rightly, high church reveals human dignity. It confers the sharing of nobility all the way down, to the depths of the human experience. Here is the opportunity to witness the reality of Luke 6 and James 2, the poor rightly seen as inheritors of the kingdom - sharers in grace upon grace. Our vision of the other, especially those considered the least and lowest, finds healing clarity in the Mass.
High church makes possible the right view of our neighbor. For example, those who posses wealth find their equal in their co-worshipper who may happen to be experiencing poverty. They meet their sibling at the altar. This becomes the site of revelation where the poor one may in fact be robed in white, a Eucharistic minister, administering the gift of grace that fortifies the life of the recipient who extends their hand for the Bread of Life. The gift of high church is a healing equity, a radical joining, that unifies each and every social particularity.
This matters greatly. A high view of neighbor is desperately needed in our world, and perhaps this is one of the greatest things restored by the Liturgy that gives our neighbor the pageantry due them. Even then, it’s not enough, but it is a start.
In the current world order, the rich and powerful (those who have accumulated or inherited money, status, and prestige) are the ones to whom pageantry is usually given. Rulers of the state, owners of resources, graduates, those who society deems productive and beneficial, all of these are typically given pageantry. The church, however, is the remaining institution that bestows honor, dignity, and pageantry upon the poor, the least, and the disinherited.
In my opinion, there is no high church that is high enough to match God’s election of the poor who are rich in faith. So until the Great Banquet, let there always be a place on earth that gathers to honor God’s image without distinction.
High church is Mary’s Song embodied. The lowly servant is now seen rightly as blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for them. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts and the powerful will not find their thrones here. The lowly, however, are lifted up. The hungry are filled with good things, and the rich are sent away empty. This is, of course, so they may return hungry.
Again, high church (when rightly held) communicates dignity to those denied of it by the powers. It not only clothes the naked, it ornaments them with foretastes of the robes they will wear at the consumption of all things. It not only feeds the hungry, it nourishes them with the bread of heaven. It not only gives the thirsty drink, but places the Lord’s cup to their lips - and life flows.
High church unveils the dignity of all human kind.