Christian worship is a vast field of personalities, colors,
and expressions across the world that vary from culture to culture and
individual to individual. What is it
that unifies us while allowing for unique and creative expressions to
emerge? What foundational tenets of
worship ground us and yet free us at the same time to reveal the image of God
in us to those around us? In Introduction to Christian Worship, James
F. White discusses the history behind what we mean by worship, how time and
space define our worship, and the ways we communicate our worship through word
and sign.
Christian worship is
most easily explained by what it does than by what it is. “Worship…sums up and confirms ever afresh the
process of saving history which has reached its culminating point in the
intervention of Christ in human history, and through this summing-up and
ever-repeated confirmation Christ pursues His saving work by the operation of
the Holy Spirit.” [1] Worship reminds us anew of what God has done, what He is
doing, and what we can look for Him to do in the future. We are reminded that He is the same “yesterday,
today, and forever” [2], and, thus, we look to His saving acts in the
Scriptures and in our lives and remember that as He has done in the past, so He
is doing today and will do again.
Worship also reminds us of who we as the body of Christ are. We are objects of His love, saved and
redeemed, that we might bring this same love to those who do not yet know the
Source of this love.
The worship we give God glorifies Him and in the same motion
brings us into a more rightly aligned relationship with Him. As we attribute worth to God, He reveals to
us our true worth to Him. This takes
place as we worship together, otherwise known as common worship, and in
private, or personal devotions. [3] It occurs in the classical liturgical families
(seven within the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches) and in the Protestant
liturgical traditions (Anabaptist, Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, Quaker,
Puritan, Methodist, Frontier, and Pentecostal/Charismatic) “representing the
ability of people to preserve expressions and thought forms natural and dear to
them.” [4] Worship within each of these families or traditions take on both a
constancy found in the various service books associated with each group as well
as a spontaneous form which allows for the “using of the various gifts of
differing people for the benefit of the whole gathered community.” [5]
Space and time are important components of the Christian
community. God reveals Himself to His
people through time, through history. “Without
time there is no knowledge of the Christian God. For it is through actual events happening in
historical time that this God is revealed.” [6] Since the beginning of
creation, time has been the structure upon which key events are hung to aid us
in remembering who God is and how we are to relate to Him.
In the Old Testament, God set up feasts that created a
rhythm of worship rich with symbolic and prophetic meaning, pointing to the
Messiah. These feasts continued to be
celebrated by the early church with the added understanding of the revelation
of Jesus in the elements of the celebrations.
By the 4th century, following an edict by the Emperor Constantine,
the early church shifted from the traditional Jewish Sabbath as the day of rest
to Sunday being both the day of celebration (of the resurrection) and worship
as well as rest. Holy Week also became
established as traditions began to form around the biblical dating of the
crucifixion and resurrection.
It is interesting to me to note that the forming Christian
calendar began to take prominence over the already established feasts upon the
popularization of Christianity by Emperor Constantine and the subsequent
banning of all Jewish practices. While I am thankful for the creative
expressions that have arisen in the centuries since the resurrection, I believe
it to be important for believers to rediscover the riches of God revealed
through the feasts which the early church most definitely would have celebrated
and understood.
That said, the Christian calendar does provide a structure
and a constancy of remembering that facilitate the development of spiritual
disciplines that strengthen and ground us in our worship of God. “These cycles save us from a shallow
spirituality, based on ourselves, by pointing us to God’s works instead…The
Christian year is a means by which we relive for ourselves all that matters of
salvation history.” [7]
As God reveals Himself through time, He also is present in
our space. In order for us to worship
Him together, we must create a space, however large or small, for people to
gather. The space we choose shapes our
worship, so we must be intentional in its design. Liturgical space takes into consideration the
functions and expressions of worship as a gathered body, providing both
flexibility and intimacy. It serves the
community and creates and fosters beauty through art and music.
Beyond time and space, our worship is expressed through the “spoken
word and acted sign.” [8] The spoken word can be found in both public prayer
and the service of the word. “Daily
public prayer…is a response not just to word and sacraments but to the totality
of daily experience, the sun coming up , the squabbles in the family, the
tedium of work. “ [10] We come together to express our thanksgiving, our angst,
our praise to God…to pray together and for each other.
Christian worship through the service of the word is made
possible through the Jewish structure of worship. “Survival, for Israel, meant the ability to
remember God’s actions that had made them a distinctive people.” [11] For the
Jews, worship “became a way of teaching and transmitting the corporate memories
of a people with whom God had covenanted.” [12] Throughout the centuries, the
service of the word has taken on many forms - from sparse and direct to
elaborate and complex. Most often it has
contained the reading of the Bible, preaching, prayer, and songs with
variations of emphasis according to the tradition in which it was being
celebrated.
The acted signs of worship are those “sacraments which make
God’s love visible.” The word and sign “reinforce each other. A handshake does not compete with a spoken
greeting, each strengthens the warmth and meaning of the other.” [13] Taking objects
and combining them with words and actions reveal the ways in which God has
made, and continues to make, Himself known.
James White divides the sacraments into three categories:
initiation, the eucharist, and journeys and passages. Initiation includes such as baptism, laying
on of hands, and anointing. The
eucharist is the most common sacrament of all, celebrated daily and weekly in congregations
cross the world and is patterned after the Passover supper that Jesus
celebrated with His disciples just prior to His death. Those related to journeys and passages refer
to such sacraments as pastoral rites, healing, ordination, reconciliation,
etc.
These are meant to be experienced, embracing the mysterion of God giving of Himself, not
creating a precise theology but rather a place for a divine experience. They “depend upon what use God makes of them,
not on human moral character, ability, or intentions.” [14] God gives Himself
to us through them enabling us to give ourselves to others in more profound
ways.
James White gives a comprehensive overview of church history
that helps open up understanding to the ways of Christian worship today. I look forward to delving more into areas
that peeked my interest and am thankful for the deeper understanding and
appreciation I have for all of the church families and traditions as a result
of reading this book.
1 James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, revised
edition (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990), 27
2 Hebrews 13:8
3 James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, revised
edition (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990), 34
4 ibid, 42-44
5 ibid, 45
6 ibid, 52
7 ibid, 73
8 ibid, 122
9 ibid, 123
10 ibid, 137
11 ibid, 142
12 ibid, 143
13 ibid, 165
14 ibid, 189
