194 Ibid, p. 125.
195 Ibid, p. 152.
It could be argued that if one prays without an image of God (whether physical or not) or at least some sense of the location of God (even if it is inside the one praying), one is participating in idolatry. Certainly, much of historical and contemporary worship practices are metaphorical and image oriented. A final example of veneration in the Evangelical context will be considered. This is the example of music. This veneration can be easily seen in the context of “contemporary” worship. To the uninitiated, the first exposure to contemporary worship practices would definitely appear to be veneration. In many of these contexts, there is only one time during a corporate worship service when people will either shut their eyes, bow, sway, raise hands or perform a number of other physical acts. This is during the participatory music, often identified as “worship” in evangelical churches. In fact, in many of these contexts, the only component of the corporate worship service referred to as worship is the participatory music. Whether it is intentional or not, these are acts of veneration. The music provides the window to the supernatural in the same way that the icon does. The similarities are significant.
The point of this discussion is not to condemn the Evangelical church for practices of veneration. Rather, it is to affirm that certain kinds of veneration exist in the Evangelical church already. To include the honoring sacred images along with the acts common to the practices of prayer, the place of the bible, the act of preaching and participation in music is not a significant leap. In fact, in post- modernity, the use of visual symbol (image) is essential for a holistic worship experience. The days when corporate worship could be primarily cerebral are past. Certainly, it would be inappropriate if worship did not have a cerebral component, but a more holistic inclusion of participatory music, prayer, reading of the scripture and use of sacred symbol is essential to the effective leadership of corporate worship today. It is apparent that this is also true of much of the worship over the past 2000 years. The iconoclastic tendencies of the western churches have been largely reactionary. It is time that the richness of various historical traditions, including those of sacred images, is included in Evangelical worship of the 21st century.
The Proper Introduction of Icon
Introducing the use of sacred image to the contemporary churches must be done in a very careful manner. The 20th century was full of the rediscovery of icons. This is largely because the technique of removing paint that had previously covered them was developed.196 There is a danger that fascination with sacred images may simply be an interest in novelty. The Orthodox are concerned that the use of sacred images and the icons themselves are not trivialized. In fact, the popularity of ancient icons in the west today is considered blasphemous, a distortion of their purpose.197 Giakalis declares “…no one apart from the believer has any right to put up icons of holy persons and the events of sacred history.” It is quite possible that he might amend this statement to exclude non-Orthodox believers. A trendy use of icons, more for art or decoration outside of true religion, is profane. Icons are not “art” or “mementos”.198
