**Preface**

We live in a world that is rapidly becoming a globalized, multicultural community. Cultural and religious diversity are everyday life experiences in most local communities, which are themselves microcosms of the global village. We frequently experience racial tensions, hate crimes, and cultural hegemony related to differences in appearance, skin color, language, and religion, at individual and communal levels. Our multicultural society is also radically imbalanced, socially and economically, between descendants of Western colonizers and diasporas of the colonized, and the gap between the privileged and the marginalized is growing ever wider. In addition, Christian and other religious communities struggle to handle different beliefs and practices in our pluralistic society and to find harmonious ways to live together.

This reality is the context for exploring the theme of this special issue, "Multicultural Worship: Theory and Practice." Our globalized multicultural society challenges worship leaders to reconsider their theology and practice of worship and to probe paradigms that are more relevant for the contemporary context for worship. It is no longer realistic for religious communities to treat their worship services as exclusively monocultural and monoracial. Instead, they need to be sensitive to demographic changes and other critical issues occurring in our multicultural reality, locally and globally, and to consider seriously how their rituals, prayers, and worship services can contribute to fostering justice, peace, and reconciliation.

Ritual and worship are often understood as already formed, finished, and attributable to a particular social group or cultural system with its "historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols." (Geertz 1973, p. 89). However, multicultural worship is grounded in the belief that culture is neither finished nor attributable to a particular social group. Instead, it is open-ended and flexible, constantly changing the dynamic pattern of society, and mutually influencing other cultures that coexist in that society. Culture is fluid, and as a cultural expression, so too should worship be.

Prayers and worship services prepared from a multicultural perspective can help worshipers expand their interests and concerns beyond racial and cultural boundaries and participate in God's work, which is the peaceful living of all creatures in the world. Even if congregations are monoracial and monocultural, their worship needs to be multicultural if they are to consider themselves God's partners invited to work for this vision. The task of worship leaders is thus to investigate the complexity of the relationship between culture and worship, and to create vital multicultural worship that is meaningful and memorable, through which worshipers may renew their identities and life purposes and be inspired to live these out.

The term "multicultural worship" is important for worship leaders who take the current multicultural realities seriously. Yet it is also as ambiguous as the term "multiculturalism," for it is loaded as a political, social, and cultural construct. While multiculturalism often refers to a current social condition, some understand the word in a negative way as signifying "a disruptive, unsettling, and dangerous force" against the dominant racial and ethnic group in a multicultural society (ibid.). By contrast, some consider multiculturalism an affirmative and constructive "social model for the future," in which people are equally recognized and mutually respected, regardless of their differences of race, ethnicity, and religion (Collet 1994, pp. 28–29). Moreover, there is no consensus about meanings of the words "multicultural," "intercultural," and "cross-cultural," which are used as synonyms in many cases. Some scholars in cultural studies distinguish between them, though their distinctions are not universally accepted. Thus, for some, a multicultural approach has negative connotations of segregation and even alienation, while intercultural and cross-cultural approaches denote collaboration and mixing. For others, a multicultural approach is more positively understood as a minority-oriented cultural approach, while an intercultural approach is "biased towards the majority." (Parekh 2016, p. 277).

While acknowledging the existence of these dilemmas around the word "multicultural," this volume uses the word as an umbrella term for a number of approaches, such as intercultural, cross-cultural, and transcultural ways of dealing with more than one culture in worship services. Hence, "multicultural worship" in this volume refers to various worship services designed using one of these cultural approaches. Multicultural worship is not like a buffet table offering a variety of ethnic and cultural foods with exotic tastes, however. Rather than the token expression of various cultures in singing, praying, preaching, and other liturgical elements, multicultural worship is a holistic theological work that helps worshipers encounter the presence of God and discern what God is doing in our multicultural world beyond our limited sociocultural experiences. In other words, multicultural worship aims to help worshipers and their communities expand the horizons of their concern and compassion toward those who are racially and culturally different and provide new ways of worshiping God with and for them. In this sense, multicultural worship is a form of liturgical renewal in order to worship God in theologically appropriate, culturally relevant, and ethically responsible ways in our globalized world.

Although there are some resources available for the study of multicultural worship, this volume is unique in providing new paradigms of worship created from diverse cultural approaches. Each of the ten essays in the volume analyzes fundamental liturgical issues emerging from a particular multicultural context, and explores new possibilities for multicultural worship by responding to the following questions: What does multicultural worship mean? Why is it necessary? How can it be designed for relevance to a particular liturgical context? How can culturally diverse liturgical elements (e.g., participants, worship space, symbols, words, prayers, music, etc.) be used creatively to fulfill the purpose of worship? The ten essays offer not only theological and biblical foundations for answering these questions, but also concrete examples of ecumenical, intergenerational, and interfaith/interreligious rituals and liturgies.

In his essay, "Intercultural Worship and Decolonialization: Insights from the Book of Psalms," Safwat Marzouk insists that justice and liberation should be the goal of multicultural worship. He takes an intercultural approach to interpreting the Book of Psalms and presents it as a rich resource for multicultural worship, through which transformation, justice, and healing can occur in our postcolonial world.

Namjoog Kim and John Yu focus on the Korean American cultural context, in which worshipers struggle with intergenerational issues, such as the different languages and worldviews of the first-generation immigrants and their descendants. In "Exploring Intergenerational Worship of Interdependence in a Korean American Context," Kim suggests that a model for intergenerational worship should be based on the five characteristics of the Trinity—flexibility (innovation), communication (sharing and empathy), interconnection, ubiquity, and holistic artistry—and provides a sample liturgy designed for intergenerational communion worship.

Yu's essay, "Bilingual, Intergenerational Worship and Ministry for Unity," deals with the issue of separate worship services catering to the different needs of the different age and language groups within a congregation. Although separate worship services are typical among Korean American churches, Yu critically analyzes the negative consequences of this practice. Based on the results of qualitative research into his own church's congregational worship, he convinces readers that different generations can be brought together in unity when they worship together regularly. He also offers liturgical insights into and strategies for a creative and engaging bilingual, intergenerational worship service with the capacity to create one community with a common spiritual identity.

In "Finding Rhythm for Multicultural Worship: Heartful Indwelling with God and God's Creation," Hyuk Seonwoo stresses that justice seeking is an indispensable component of multicultural worship. He is concerned about ways multicultural worship can help the faith community build solidarity with others, and suggests that the Tai Chi rhythm of "loosen-empty-push" can be used as a liturgical movement. He also provides a sample liturgy designed for his predominantly white congregation.

In "Toward the Vision of Revelation: Multicultural Worship in a Korean Context," Hwarang Moon is concerned with the fast-growing multicultural situation of South Korea. He encourages Korean churches to be aware of the changing cultural context for worship and to shift their liturgical patterns from the monocultural to the multicultural. He also provides the Korean church with theological and liturgical guidance for preparing Sunday worship aimed at developing unity with racially and culturally different people.

Swee Hong Lim explores multicultural worship in an ecumenical setting. In "Potting Christianity: Ecumenical Worship in Its Multicultural and Multi-Ethnic Context," Lim uses the term "potting" as metaphor for ecumenical multicultural worship and points to an assembly worship celebration of the World Council of Churches as an illustration of one of the best practices. Based on his experience as a member of the 2022 assembly worship planning committee of the World Council of Churches, Lim shares "theo-liturgical principles" and provides liturgical resources effective for designing multicultural worship for reconciliation and unity.

Pierre Hegy's "The Multicultural Church of 'Le Jour du Seigneur'" and Heather Murray Elkins and Jeffrey S. Allen's "Public Lament and Intra-Faith Worship in an Appalachian Context" discuss multicultural worship in ecumenical and secular contexts. Hegy introduces readers to a Catholic television program, *Le Jour du Seigneur*, on the French state television, which is run by Catholic and Protestant lay leaders who are secular writers and university professors. He analyzes worship services offered by that program and concludes that the strategy of neutrality in avoiding theological arguments in worship services appeals to contemporary worshipers in the multicultural secular world. He also discusses other examples of multicultural worship adapted to our times of religious decline.

In their collaborative essay, Elkins and Allen interpret the entire process of the public memorial service for twenty-nine coal miners who died in an explosion in West Virginia in May 2010. They trace how the pastoral, political, and relational response to trauma shaped this multicultural public rite and examine conflicting or competing cultural values involved therein. They present this public service as a liturgical model of cross-participation that offers the possibility of healing and pastoral care for a trauma-shaped community.

The last two essays provide wisdom about and insights into interfaith worship. In "A Liturgical Model for Worship in the Multireligious Context: A Case Study Based on the Interfaith Service Held on September 25, 2015, at 9/11 Museum in New York City," Sunggu A. Yang proposes the "Pilgrim's Service" as a model for multicultural interfaith worship with three humanitarian liturgical principles—story-sharing, agreed symbols (metaphors), and de-centering. He expounds his proposed model in light of the interfaith service held at the 9/11 Museum in New York City on September 25, 2015, which he analyzes and annotates. Yang emphasizes the significance of interreligious dialogue and radical hospitality in developing multicultural interreligious worship.

In "Interfaith/Interreligious? Worship/Prayer? Service/Occasions? Interfaith Prayer Gatherings," Kathleen Mary Black looks at various interfaith gatherings and the complex theological and liturgical issues around them. She explores the models of host/guest, serial interfaith occasions, and "inter-riting" for interfaith gatherings, and illustrates them with the Lantern Floating Hawaii event, a largest Buddhist interfaith ritual gathering, designed for the purpose of fostering healing and peace.

Each of these essays is unique in exploring the theological and liturgical meaning of multicultural worship in a particular multicultural context. The case studies and the models for worship presented in each essay enrich the theory and practice of multicultural worship. They invite Christian and other religious communities to critically reflect on their current worship services and think about creative new ways of worshiping God in our globalized multicultural world. Therefore, this volume contributes to a paradigm change in worship services from monocultural to multicultural, and eventually participates in transforming our multicultural society into a better world, where people who differ in race, ethnicity, culture, and religion can worship together and live together peacefully with equally respected recognition of their diverse cultural identities.

## **References**


**Eunjoo Mary Kim** *Editor*

**Safwat Marzouk**

Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA 23227, USA; smarzouk@upsem.edu

**Abstract:** This essay unpacks the relationship between an intercultural approach to worship and the vision of decolonization. It argues that for justice and liberation to be front and center in intercultural practices, there is a need to analyze the power dynamics that are present in the midst of a diverse worshipping community. Equally important is that the vision of decolonization needs the intercultural approach because of its ability to build bridges between people who are different, so that the faith community can overcome fragmentation by experiencing truth telling, healing, and transformation. The essay goes on to suggest that the book of Psalms offers rich resources for envisioning an intercultural worship that seeks to embody alternatives to oppressive, exclusionary, and alienating politics of assimilation and segregation. The book of Psalms, which was, for the most part, composed or redacted in the shadow of different empires, proclaimed God's reign as a faith posture in the face of oppressive empires. This central motif of God's reign, which appears in psalms of lament and psalms of praise, restores the agency of the oppressed by giving them a voice and holds those who abuse their power accountable. Practices such as lament and praise allow a diverse worshipping community to pay attention to how people experience power differently, and it calls them to be authentic and truthful so that these diverse people may work together towards transformation, justice, and healing.

**Keywords:** worship; intercultural; decolonization; psalms; lament; praise; God's reign
