How do you get people to come to church that don’t really think they need to? Give away free cars? Maybe just free pizza. Have a kickin’ worship band? Photos of smiling eligible bachelorettes on your website? And what is the fellowship like once they get there? Warm? Contrived?
When people tell me that they find Mass boring, I want to say to them: it’s supposed to be boring, or at least seriously underwhelming. It’s a long-term education in becoming un-excited, since only that will enable us to dwell in a quiet bliss which doesn’t abstract from our present or our surroundings or our neighbor, but which increases our attention, our presence, and our appreciation for what is around us.
-James Alison, Worship in a Violent World, Undergoing God, p.?
Christopher Rudy further comments:
This rather monastic vision of liturgy challenges Pelagian conceptions that emphasize stimulation, performance, and orchestrated community. Neither God nor humanity needs to be manipulated or bribed. God is already present, and the sacrifice already complete in Christ, so true worship should lead believers into the deliberate peacefulness of the forgiving victim.