I’m not going to post the links here, and not because I want to silence anyone’s criticisms (let me know if you want the links, I’ll get them to you).  No, I’m not posting them because I think it will focus us on the problem instead of the solution.  Maybe in a future post we can discuss ways that we can do a better job of supporting those in ministry and those who are training to be in ministry.  For now, I can only say that I have renewed appreciation for Andy, Raigan, Jimmy and – especially – for Kevin.  We need to remember to lift them up in prayer always.  While we’re about praying, we can look to our East and pray on this subject as Bishop Willimon suggests.

In my previous post, I mentioned some thoughts about the use of blogging as part of promoting spiritual growth.  To that end, I’m taking a line (or two) from First Timothy:

6 If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed.
7 Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness,
8 for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
9 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.
10 For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11 These are the things you must insist on and teach. 1 Tim 4:6-11 (NRSV)

We’ll post about other issues from time to time, but the focus of this blog is the study of scripture and its application to our lives.

Indeed, as we’ve discussed before, the very word chosen to articulate the idea of “the church” – ekklesia – means to be called out: in the sense of being called out to serve.  That’s something that we’ve lost since the beginning of “modern times”.  We are so wrapped up in expressing our individualism, that we forget what it means to be part of community – to subordinate ourselves to God’s will and the service of others.

One neglected way of putting on the full armor of God is to “pray without ceasing”.  As mvtclass members know, I teach a couple of other classes as well – one of which doesn’t generally use the Adult Bible Studies series.  I had already thought of teaching a series in this class (which is focused on historical religious studies) on the Liturgy of the Hours.  Partly this was because I became interested in the concept not only of monastic prayer, but of cathedral prayer, when we did our study on the history of worship.  Partly it was because the references to Morning Prayer and Evensong that I’ve read quoted in novels (think P. D. James for one) always struck me as both comforting and beautiful.

 One thought that has recurred to me as I’ve explored this whole “blogging concept” is that – with our busy post-modern lives, maybe the only way to have daily communal prayer and study is virtually – in an online world.  It’s one of the reasons that I’ve added a feature to the right-hand sidebar that will provide the full text of the Daily Bible Study scripture from our quarterly lesson books.  That way, if you forget to read the verses before you leave the house in the morning (or if you forget where you put your book ), you can find it on the blog.  Whether you read any of the posts or comments, you can read God’s word – “the sword of the spirit” – and utter a brief prayer.  As virtual cathedral prayer, it’s not much, but it’s something. 

So – what are your thoughts on God’s call?

“He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.”

This is not to re-engage in that December discussion, only to state that “He Comes to Us” will be one of two anthems the choir sings at Sunday’s 11 o’clock service (the other a jazz rendition of “Jesus Calls Us”).  Of all the choral works I’ve sung, “He Comes to Us” would easily be in my Top Five.  I encourage you to tune in.

— Danny

Christ chose the Passover to reveal to his disciples that he was the Messiah and the law and the words of the prophets were fulfilled in him.  He was given in sacrifice for us and he commanded that we “do this” in remembrance of him.  Once again, the Greek word for “remembrance” is “anamnesis“.  This is not a simple act of recalling the words and acts of Jesus, but a communal reenactment of what he did that brings Christ’s presence “among us” — both his presence in sacrificial giving and his presence in future glory.

In recent years there has been increased attention paid in the United Methodist Church (and other liturgical denominations) to the Eucharist, drawing on a renewed understanding of the way in which this sacrament was observed in the first and second century Church.  In developing the versions of ”A Service of Word and Table” contained in the United Methodist Book of Worship and the United Methodist Hymnal, the General Board of Discipline relied on references to the Eucharist in the New Testament, early church documents such as the Didache, and the writing of church fathers such as Justin Martyr and Hippolytus of Rome.

The manner in which we observe the Eucharist today can be traced back directly to as early as the beginning of the second century Anaphora of Hippolytus, which arguably was an accurate account of the manner in which the Lord’s Supper was observed by the first Christians.  And so, we join with Christians through the ages in celebrating His gift to the Church.

Because the earliest Christians were predominantly Jewish, it is likely that they continued to worship in the synagogue, while also celebrating the Eucharist separately.  Ultimately, when they were expelled from the synagogue, it is thought that the service of the word was combined with the Eucharist, or service of the table.  We know from the writings of Justin Martyr in the middle of the second century that word and sacrament were both observed in worship:

“And on the day called Sunday there is a meeting in one place of those who live in cities or the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits.  When the reader has finished, the president in a discourse urges and invites [us] to the imitation of these noble things.  Then we all stand up together and offer prayers.  And, as said before, when we have finished the prayer, bread is brought, and wine and water.”

In the first four to five centuries of Christian worship the catechumens (those not yet baptized) were dismissed at the conclusion of the service of the word.  In the Eastern church, this tradition continues and, during the season of Lent, it is observed in some Roman Catholic churches.

Originally, readings from the Psalms, the Old Testament, one of the Epistles and one of the Gospels were all included in the service of the Word.  By the end of the fourth century, the Old Testament lection had been dropped.  Prayers of penitence came to hold a more significant place in worship throughout the Middle Ages.  At the time of the reformation, this emphasis continued and the service of the Word slowly came to constitute the whole of the worship experience, with the Eucharist becoming an occasional sacrament.  The sermon became more central to this service, with scriptural readings often consisting of no more than a few verses to introduce the theme of the sermon.

In the late twentieth century, the United Methodist Church, along with other denominations in the West, began to reconnect with the first six centuries of Christian worship.  Different denominations may differ in particulars, but they all share an emphasis on psalms and scripture sung or spoken aloud and central to the lesson or theme of the sermon.  The reunion of the Eucharist is also emphasized, with many churches including the service of the table in weekly worship.

The part the Lectionary plays in this is more than a minor role.  By using a common lectionary the universal nature of the Church is emphasized, as opposed to a local canon.  Through this emphasis we seek to conjoin Time (bringing the past into the present and anticipating the coming Kingdom now) and Space (worship in communion with one holy, catholic and apostolic church).

“We begin the seasons of the church year with anticipation, and we end the seasons of the church year declaring a certainty.  In Advent we waited for the needed and longed for definitive and ultimate self-disclosure of God in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.  On Reign of Christ Sunday we celebrate the fulfillment of the biblical revelation of God in Christ.

“Once again the church has listened to, reflected upon, rehearsed in worship, and tried to live in daily experience the redemption story.  We come away from the last Sunday of the church year soaked to the core in the revelation of God in Christ.  For us, as for those first disciples, there can be no turning back.  Here in the light of Christ’s triumphant presence we find our voice and declare once again, Jesus Christ is Lord of all and shall reign as Lord in my life.  So committed, we are ready to face every eventually of life because we now know the One in whom our life is found, redeemed and kept secure.  Our radical trust is in the One who is completely trustworthy (2 Timothy 1:12).  Life in Christ is good and complete.”

On this Thanksgiving Day, I wish each of you many blessings and I thank the precious Lord for all of the blessings that He has given to me.  Indeed, life in Christ is good and complete!

Dale

“In some contexts Emerging Worship may look like the “way we have always done it,” while in other contexts it may look very “contemporary.” Emerging Worship may be modeled after the prayers of Taize or Iona, the “rave” culture born in the United Kingdom, evangelical urban church plants (urban new church development projects) or the “regular” Sunday service of a particular community.”

You can find the same definition on the Emerging Worship website, by following the link for “What is Emerging Worship?”.  An article by Michael Moynagh on another emerging church website has this to say:

“Emerging church is a mindset (‘we’ll come to you’) rather than a model. It is a direction rather than a destination. It rests on principles rather than a plan. It arises out of a culture rather than being imposed on a culture. It is a mood, scarcely yet a movement.”

I encourage you to follow the links above and read further. If we don’t agree on anything else, I think we’ll have to agree that the definition of Emerging Worship can’t be reduced to a few pages, much less a paragraph!

Wikipedia has an article on the “Emergent Church” which begins:

“The emerging church (also known as the emerging church movement) is a controversial 21st-century Protestant Christian movement whose participants seek to engage postmodern people, especially the unchurched and post-churched. To accomplish this, “emerging Christians” (also known as “emergents”) deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods to accommodate postmodern culture. This accommodation is found largely in this movement’s embrace of postmodernism’s postfoundational epistemology, and pluralistic approach to religion and spirituality. Proponents of this movement call it a “conversation” to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature as well as its emphasis on interfaith dialog rather than verbal evangelism. The predominantly young participants in this movement prefer narrative presentations drawn from their own experiences and biblical narratives over propositional, Bible exposition. Emergents echo the postmodern rejection of absolutes and metanarratives. They emphasize the subjective over the objective since postmodern epistemology is ultimately destructive of certainty in objective propositions.”

Again, I encourage you to read the entire article, and to visit the websites listed above.  As you would expect, there are also a large number of blogs that discuss emerging worship.

About the only thing I can suggest as a short version of what this term means is . . . it can mean about anything.  The net is cast so wide here it’s difficult to know what the term stands for.  Whether you’re for it or against it depends on how you define it.  It reminds of me of Noah “Soggy” Sweat’s “Whiskey Speech”.

On a more serious note, it seems that an impetus for the emerging church movement is to reach people who aren’t being reached by the more traditional church.  I agree that this is a laudable goal, but for me it raises some questions:

• In trying to reach a secular, unchurched world, where do we draw the line in making the church “relevant” so as to compete with cineplexes and the like?
• Is there a point at which style compromises substance?
• Paul and James had to deal with differences in the early church’s approach to worship (including some differences between their own views):  how do you think they would view emerging worship?

I like this week so far . . . I get to ask the questions — you get to provide the answers.

Methodists — indeed just about any liturgical denomination — now use these terms in a broader sense in referring to worship styles that are more ordered and formal versus those which are more casual and open.  At one end of the spectrum, vestments are more ornate, symbolism is based on tradition and (in some churches) incense may play a part in worship.  At the other end of the spectrum, vestments may discarded altogether for casual clothing and symbolism may draw from current society.

One author has likened effective liturgy as a type of Bethel experience.  You’ll recall that Bethel (literally, “House of God”) was the place where Jacob dreamed of the ladder, or stairway, to Heaven, and God appeared to him and made his covenant with Jacob.  The next morning, Jacob set up as a pillar the stone on which he had laid his head while he slept and anointed it with oil.  Even this early we see the use of ritual as a means of re-creating communication with the Divine.

Whether you’re talking about High Church, Low Church or Emerging Church worship (more about the latter tomorrow), you’re talking about ritual.  One question is where these rituals are drawn from.  Another is whether they take into account that what we are about is sacred.  God is both completely “other” than us and yet, by the grace of the incarnation and the Spirit, accessible to us.  How then, do we go about achieving both a sense of awe at the mystery of the eternal and awesome nature of God, while also invoking a sense of His mercy and immediate presence?

For those who’ve been attending class the past few Sundays, you’ve heard the terms anamnesis and prolepsis more than once.  One of the things we try to achieve in worship is to recall the past into the present and to anticipate now the future of Christ’s reign.  We don’t let ourselves fall into the very human trap of boxing in the past, present and future, but attempt — as best humans can attempt — to intersect our world with God’s eternal world.  One of the ways we can do this is to recognize that the Church — not the individual — is (as Prof. Stookey puts it) the irreducible unit of Christianity; and the Church consists of the past, present and the future.

Can we do this without taking into account the rituals and symbols of centuries of worship by those who have gone before us?  Can we do this without also taking into account the needs of the present and the people who Christ directs us to in ministry — both physical and spiritual?  And how do we anticipate the reign of Christ the King while observing the other two?

Hey, I’m asking the questions here, you folks need to be getting your answers ready. 

But, as we head into our last week of our hastily constructed study of worship, liturgy and the church year (and, not coincidently, the last week of the church year — at least by the reckoning of the Lectionary), I’ll pose the question again:  What is worship?  This is your chance, reluctant bloggers:  one word answers count.

I hope to post four times this week.  The subjects will be:

• High Church
• Emerging Church
• Liturgy of the Word
• Liturgy of the Table

Those four don’t even begin to cover the subject, so please feel free to publish your own posts on the subject (or any subject for that matter).  Unlike the past three classes, let’s plan on more discussion of these areas.  There are abundant resource materials out there for you to check out — start with the United Methodist Hymnal.  What isn’t covered there is in the United Methodist Book of Discipline (2004), or the United Methodist Book of Worship.  There are a huge number of online resources that you can access without even leaving the Methodist “Home”.  Take some time and explore the resources available in the Worship section.  There are articles about every conceivable issue concerning worship, the sacraments, daily orders, the history of the liturgy . . . you name it.

You can also read any number of books that address the issues we’ve been discussing — from a Methodist viewpoint as well as the viewpoints of other denominations.  Just a few that I’d recommend are:  Patterned by Grace, by Daniel Benedict; United Methodist Doctrine, by Scott J. Jones; Introduction to Christian Worship, by James F. White; Inside the Organic Church, by Bob Whitesel; or anything by Laurence Hull Stookey . . . and that’s just scratching the surface of what’s available from a Methodist point of view.  You can order any of these books online or visit Reed’s Gumtree Bookstore and I’m sure they’d be glad to order them for you.  Note:  Jim McCormick, one of our former pastors will be at the Bookstore from 12 to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, signing books he’s authored — just another source of good information for our study on Christian worship.

Certain occasions in Ordinary Time (remember . . . counting by “ordinals”, e.g., First Sunday After Pentecost, etc.) can be viewed as transitions into and out of the Christmas and Easter cycles.  These are:

• Transfiguration Sunday — observed the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, we observe the identification of Jesus with the “Law” (Moses) and with the “Prophets” (Elijah).  The transfiguration narrative (Mark 9:1-8; Matthew 17:1-9; and Luke 9:28-36) also foreshadows both the Cross (Luke 9:31) and the Resurrection (Luke 9:29; Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:3) and serves as a kind of overture for the Easter Season.  (Note: in some denominations, Transfiguration is observed on August 6).
• Trinity Sunday — observed on the First Sunday After Pentecost.  As you’d guess, this is a date to ponder the Triune Nature of the One God.  Actually, this is a fundamental tenet of our faith that should be considered throughout the year.  The Trinity is, has always been from the beginning and ever shall be (read the Nicene Creed).  In the sense that we should always take account of this, it is a good way to transition from Lent and the Paschal celebration into Ordinary Time.
• Christ the King Sunday — is the occasion of transition from Ordinary Time into the Advent Season.  Gary’s comment on Buzzy’s post provides more information and since we’re less than ten days away from this celebration, I expect we’ll be hearing more soon.
• Baptism of the Lord — which we mentioned in last Sunday’s lesson, is observed on the first Sunday after January 6th, and, like the adoration of the Magi, moves us past the birth of Jesus into contemplating who this is that has come among us.

Now, you may think that the Sanctoral Cycle doesn’t have anything to do with us — “That’s a Catholic or Orthodox thing” — right?  Well, “right” in the sense that “orthodox” literally means “right belief”; and in the sense that “catholic” means “universal”.  Protestants may say not emphasize the saints, but we do recognize them — think of “Wesley” Hall at our own church.  As Paul repeatedly makes clear in writing to the “saints” in the early churches, we are all called to pursue sanctification.  And, just like the saints whose days we observe, we do not earn sainthood, it is conferred on us through God’s grace (2 Cor. 12:9-10).  Saint’s days are generally observed on the date of a person’s death — their “birth” into eternity.  Of course, we don’t know the actual dates of death for some of the early Christians, but we remember them nonetheless.  This “remembrance” is another combination of both anamnesis and prolepsis as we consider our unity with all of the saints and our expectation of eternal life in communion with them.  As G. K. Chesterton said, “If you want to know the size of the church, you have to count tombstones”.

As Methodists, we remember John Wesley on March 2nd and Charles Wesley on March 29th.  The Lord’s Day, takes precedence over any saint’s day when the two coincide.  Most of the various liturgical denominations recognize the following:

In the early church, the number of martyrs and others who were especially venerated as saints quickly outgrew the number of days available on the calendar.  Ultimately, one day was selected to honor all of the saints.  In the West, that day is November 1st, and the following Sunday is All Saints Sunday.  As Andy Ray reminded us this year, when counting the saints, you don’t just count tombstones — all of us and those to come are called on to pursue sainthood through the grace of God.