Thursday, April 12, 2007

Thoughts on Venerating Icons

My lunch periods are always spent in the busy dining hall of Gordon-Conwell over a plate of food that some days makes me think they got it from Channel One and other days suggests to me that they might have actually started putting the money I give them to good use. But that is not what this post is about. This post is about a topic of the most recent debate I had over my lunch in the dining hall this past Saturday. The topic was veneration of icons and iconoclasm.

Being that it was the last week of Lent before Easter, I went to several Lenten services at a nearby Anglican church—a very orthodox, very liturgical, and very evangelical Anglican church. I was there for two hours on Maundy Thursday, two hours on Good Friday, and three hours on Saturday night (is there a name for Saturday? – Surely there must be). I appreciated just about everything I saw, experienced, and heard at each of the services, wishing the entire time that all protestant churches would be as rich in teaching and worship as this one, but with the degree of comfortability and flexibility as they (the non-liturgical protestant churches) have already mastered. Anyway. The one piece of the service that I was a bit hesitant to participate in was the veneration of the crucifix, kissing the feet of the Jesus icon.

Personally, I don’t see anything biblically wrong with having a crucifix in the church, up on a wall or standing somewhere. I also do not see anything biblically wrong with kissing the feet of the crucifix. Now before you go off on what they are teaching me here at this school, let me clarify. If a person is bowing to a cross, or kissing the feet of the crucifix with a heart of humility, gratitude, thanks, and giving honor, then I think it is acceptable. There is no idolatry with this, in the same way that there is no idolatry in the cultural tradition of Asian people bowing in humility and respect to one another. What I struggle with, however, is the fact that with something so physical and so meaningful as bowing to a cross or kissing the feet of a crucifix, there is a far greater possibility of falling into idolatry. We give ourselves as humans too much credit when we think that we can do this, especially kissing the feet, without for just a moment thinking in our minds that we are kissing the feet of Jesus himself (in a spiritual way), or even worse, kissing the feet of this icon that somehow, in some divine and physical way, is Jesus himself.

I am not an iconoclast. I believe icons of different kinds can be very beneficial to have in a worship service, either as wall hangings or statues. What I take issue with is the relationship we allow ourselves to have with these icons and to what degree we allow them to be a part of the worship, which is sometimes so extreme and idolatrous so as to make them the object of worship. Do I think this is done intentionally? No. Do I think that changes whether it is okay? Not at all.

I know that I cannot judge the hearts of the worshipers who participate in the veneration of icons like this. Who am I to say whether or not they are worshiping the icon (either intentionally or unintentionally) or whether that icon for them is simply a means of worshiping the Lord Jesus, in the same way that contemporary Christian music is a means of worshiping Christ. All I know is that, as a pastor or leader of the church (if I was one), there is no way I would want that responsibility on my hands… the responsibility of allowing the veneration of an icon, but making sure that all who are participating in worship are worshiping in the correct way and have the correct object of worship. The beauty of veneration of icons (in theory) is not worth the responsibility of making sure there is no idolatry that comes with it.

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