There have been many very convincing arguments for the existence of a designer/creator of the universe, set forth by Christian philosophers and Christian scientists. One of the most plausible is in the book The Creator and the Cosmos by Hugh Ross. On page 129 he lays out a table with a number of cosmic variables, that if were slightly different, would make life on this planet or any planet impossible. William Dembski explains in his book, The Design Revolution, why the specified complexity present in all life on Earth is evidence of a Designer. But these only set forth the plausibility of a transcendent God, and all monotheistic religions point to a higher power. Christianity, however, is based on a personal God. The basis of this personal God is exclusively Christian. A relationship with any being requires three things to be personal: one it must be present, two there must be communication, and three there must be a personality.
The microscope has been around for four hundred years, and the telescope has been around for even longer. How much further do we have to look, to find evidence of God? If God were something to be found, we probably would have found at least evidence of him by now. He is, however, elusive and omnipotent and must not want to be found in any empirical way. But since he existed before space and time, and created both, and nothing exists outside of him, he must be all pervasive. There is a concept among some, that although God is everywhere, that He is not “in” everything, but as Einstein’s equation E=mc2 posits, matter and energy are interchangeable and thus to an omnipresent deity, different states of matter would be inconsequential. This points to the immanent presence of God, since only God existed before creation, there can be nothing apart from God. He is here, now, in everything we touch, the air we breathe, and even ourselves. This panentheistic view allows God to be in touch with all of creation at all times. We don’t need to look back into the past to see the creator; he holds all things in existence at this and every moment (Capon, 1995, p. 178)
Secondly, for there to be the possibility of a relationship with a being of any sort, communication is necessary. There are those who have heard the voice of God, but the majority of our communication with God is from our side. The answer to a prayer, most prayers of request, can be made into an evidence of the nature of God. Not the answer necessarily, but the timing of the answer. If one were to pray on Sunday morning that a friend, who was not an attendee, would attend church this morning, and that friend turns up for the service it would be an answer to that prayer. How does this work? Does the friend get jerked out of bed and into his Sunday clothes against his will? Of course not. The prayer was heard on Sunday morning, but God, since he is working outside the restraints of directional time, can start to work on the friend’s heart earlier in the week, to soften them towards the idea of church on Sunday or even put the idea into their head, without interfering in free will. The friend, of course, would be able to override this good idea, as anyone can override any good idea. God started the work early, foreseeing the prayer on Sunday. As C. S. Lewis states in Mere Christianity “If you picture Time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn… God, from above or outside or all round, contains the whole line, and sees it all.” (1943, p. 148) God does not move back in time, all points of our existence are present currently to him. Our prayers can be answered!
The third necessity in a relationship is personality. There must be something in the other person that speaks to our nature and allows for empathy. This proposition works in both directions. God became incarnate in the person of Jesus. Jesus grew like all children through to adulthood, just like all of us, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). The New Testament is full of examples of Jesus’ personality; he gets angry, he becomes sad, he speaks sarcastically, he is kind. He probably would not have had much of a following if he had not had a personality.
God knows, and states that he is, as the creator of the universe, unknowable. In Isaiah it says “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.” (55:8) and in I Corinthians, Paul states “For the foolishness of God
is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.” (1:25) If an omnipotent, omniscient being states that his thoughts are above ours, the The probability of us figuring out the nature of his existence is very slim. For us to know God in any meaningful way, he has to make himself accessible. He did this when he became man. The mechanics of the incarnation are a paradox, but the Christian faith is full of them, and yet it allows for a glimpse into the nature of our Creator.
We have an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent creator who for his own delight has created the universe and everything in it ex nihilo, and yet intervenes in our world for good, in the work of redemption and in the answering of everyday prayers. He became incarnate so as to empathize and allow empathy for himself, and to allow his creatures to know him to the extent possible. His omnipresence allows for subtle workings and grace that still give way to the free will necessary for us to turn to him as our choice.
Capon, R. F. (1995) The Romance of the Word. Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Dembski, W. A. (2004) The Design Revolution. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.
Lewis, C. S. (1943) Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Ross, H. (1994) The Creator and the Cosmos. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Roots of Early Christian Liturgy
Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican Christians make up a large majority of the Christian population. Their one commonality is the way they worship liturgically. The liturgy is the work of the people at worship (http://goannun.org/about/church/). The Orthodox Divine Liturgy, if viewed superficially, looks to have very little in common with the Catholic Mass or the Anglican Eucharist. If one looks deeper, one can find strains running through these traditions that harkens back to the church of the first and second generations after the Apostles. These themes of worship can be traced even further back to Jewish worship and custom to which Christ himself adhered. As in the ancient and modern Jewish faith, there are continuous cycles of prayer and Scripture readings in the liturgical traditions. The prayers in theses cycles are corporate prayers which often serve to summarize the specific themes of the day on which the congregants are encouraged to meditate. This summarization is why these prayers are called collects; they are the collection of prayers.(Dix 45) More generally than the structure of the prayers, the structure of the liturgical worship service points to the historical church of Jesus and his institution of the church and the sacraments. The sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted by Christ himself with the celebration of a religious meal which took on a deeper meaning to the church than the traditional Jewish meal that it was. There have been movements to bring the church back to its apostolic roots. It these movements were scholastically honest, they would have to take a serious look at early liturgy and the liturgical traditions.
Central to all liturgical worship is corporate prayer. Many Christians who have grown up outside the liturgical tradition may think of prayer as an almost completely extemporaneous practice. In liturgical churches, although private extemporaneous prayers and a deep personal prayer life is encouraged, the public worship service is filled with the recitation of literary prayers. There are a multitude of these prayers to be offered on specific days, or for specific saints or for special needs, but most all of them follow a pattern. These prayers, used regularly in the Anglican tradition are modeled on the Lord's Prayer which has four parts: an address; "Our Father", an identifying property of God; "Who art in heaven", intercessions or requests; "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done... but deliver us from evil"; closing "For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen". The collect for purity is one of the most common used in the Anglican church.
Almighty God,[1] to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid:[2] Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;[3] through Christ our Lord. Amen.[4] (Guilbert 355)
Collects are not used to stifle creativity, but to provide an example of clarity when it comes to communicating one's thoughts and desires to the Almighty. As far back as 340AD there were these types of collects used to sum up the private prayers of people in a corporate worship service. (Dix 42) In many parts of the modern Anglican worship service there is responsive corporate prayer and in the Orthodox litanies there are proper responses chanted to all of the Priest's intercessions. This points to the active role that the congregant plays in these liturgies. After the medieval period of laxity by the clergy and laity, the priestly illiteracy and the lay apathy, the Catholic Church went back to its early roots where liturgy became more of what it was supposed to be and once was; the work of the people.
Corporate prayer falls within the liturgical worship service. The structure of the worship services in the liturgical traditions are divided into two main components: the liturgy of the Word, and the Eucharist. In many Anglican and Catholic Churches there is a distinct delineation as one passes from the first part to the second part.( Guilbert 355-361) In Orthodox Churches the delineation is less distinct, but when noted it is much more dramatic. (Prayer Book 124-142)
The liturgy of the Word is just what it sounds like. The first half of the service is centered on the reading of the Holy Scriptures and the sermon by the Deacon, Priest or Bishop, which should be based in the readings of the day. The form of the liturgy of the Word is the descendent of the Apostolic synaxis (meeting). The synaxis was a continuation of an ancient Jewish prayer tradition which Jesus and the Apostles would have regularly participated in.
The Jewish synagogue service, which was the root from which the apostolic synaxis sprang, consisted of public readings from the Scripture, the singing of psalms, a sermon, and a number of set prayers. (Dix 37)
In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1979) it is prescribed that during the main service of the week (usually Sunday morning), there will be a total of four passages of Scripture read: an Old Testament lesson, a psalm, which is usually read responsively by a reader and the congregation, or sung by the choir, an epistle reading from the New Testament, and the Gospel reading for the day. From these four readings the preacher should draw his inspiration for the sermon. The Orthodox tradition there are fewer readings, but always a Gospel reading, and numerous psalms are always sung. The set prayers that are said during the liturgy of the Word have become formalized over the centuries, but they were codified very early in the church’s history. The order of worship in the synaxis is mirrored in the modern Anglican service:
SYNAXIS
Opening greeting
Lesson
Psalmody
Lesson(s)
Sermon
Dismissal of those not belonging to the church
Prayers
Dismissal (Dix 38)
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Collect
Old Testament Lesson
Psalm
Epistle Reading
Gradual Hymn
Gospel Reading
Sermon
Prayers
The correlation of the Synaxis to the liturgy of the Word is remarkable when one thinks of the almost 2000 intervening years. More convincing of the direct relationship of the two are the small pieces of language and the prayers that have survived from ancient Judaism through the early church and into the modern worship usage. “The Lord be with you,” is the opening sentence in every Anglican worship service and was originally uttered by Ruth in the Old Testament. (Dix 38) This blessing and the ensuing litany used in the Anglican service is quoted almost verbatim from the instructions for worship given by Hippolytus in his The Apostolic Tradition in the second or third centuries. (Cuming 10) "Peace be unto you" the other regularly used greeting in the Synaxis is also of Hebrew origin (Dix 38) and is regularly used in the Orthodox liturgy.
Hippolytus 4:2-3
2...and he [the bishop] shall lay his hand upon it, and give thanks, with the entire council of elders, saying:
3The Lord be with you.
And all reply:
And with your spirit.
The bishop says:
Lift up your hearts.
The people respond:
We have them with the Lord.
The bishop says:
Let us give thanks to the Lord.
The people respond:
It is proper and just.
1979 BCP pg. 333
The Celebrant, whether bishop or priest,
faces them and sings or says
The Lord be with you.
People
And with thy spirit.
Celebrant
Lift up your hearts.
People
We lift them up unto the Lord.
Celebrant
Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
People
It is meet and right so to do.
Orthodox Prayer Book
pg. 156
Priest: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
People:
And with your spirit.
Priest:
Let us lift up our hearts.
People:
We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest:
Let us give thanks to the Lord.
People:
It is proper and right.
The “set prayers” that Dix referred to are still used in the Eastern Orthodox Churches. These include: the great litany, the little litany, the litany for the departed, the litany of the catechumens, and the litany of fervent supplication, among others. There are also specific prayers for the day and the season the service falls under. The idea of a set cycle of prayers was not a post-apostolic invention. Jewish worship in the time of Christ and before had cycles of prayers that would be said over meals and in worship services. (Development)
A meal is the model for the second half of the liturgical worship service. The Eucharist is a reenactment of the Last Supper and a sacrament of the sacrifice made for humanity by Christ on the cross. Dix identifies seven actions Christ took at the last supper which included the thanksgiving over and the distribution of the bread and wine. The church has combined some of these actions to arrive at four actions that are common to all Eucharistic services from the very earliest churches: the offering of gifts, the prayer of institution, the breaking of bread, and the distribution of the elements to the congregation. (Dix 48) In the narratives of the Last Supper in the New Testament it may seem odd that the words Christ used to give thanks for the bread and the wine are not recorded, until one remembers that these prayers would be well know to the Jewish Disciples of Christ. (Dix 54) Whether the Last Supper was the Passover or not is up for debate, but the blessing and passing of a common cup, and the breaking and blessing of bread were regular occurrences during religious meals called Chaburah. (Dix 50)
There was a "meal liturgy" for the prayers of the meals, and in principle they were required for every meal. However, it took on the greatest importance in family meals and especially the meals of the Holy Days. The entire structure of the Last Supper as recorded by St. Luke mirrors the meal liturgy as practiced within Judaism at the time. These meal prayers and their structure contributed directly in the formation of the early Christian celebration of the Lord's Supper. (Development)
The Anglican Church has what is called an “open communion” which is allows communication by any baptized Christian, and thus, there is no need for the dismissal of those not belonging to the church. The Catholic Church has done away with the dismissal of those not belonging to the church but they still have a closed communion. The Orthodox tradition is that of a closed communion and they have kept the place in the service where those who are not full members of the church are told to depart, although few churches actually ask attendees to depart at that time. The Orthodox service states “The doors! The doors! In wisdom, let us attend!” At this point in the ancient service those who were not full members would be expected to leave the service. This is the point at which the liturgy became the mystery of the Eucharist. Closed communion may seem harsh, but the Didache (from 70AD to 120AD) is very clear. "But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, 'Give not that which is holy to the dogs.'" (Kerby 9)
The liturgical traditions were not, as some have stated, man-made artifices that complicate worship and get in the way of true devotion. Christ and the Apostles worshipped as devout Jews in a liturgical way. Their religion infused the entirety of their lives, down to their eating of meals. The last supper was a special meal, but the actions which Christ took at the end of the meal with bread and wine were not unusual. The fact that he instituted a sacrament was. In telling the Apostles to "do this in remembrance of me" he was leaving an example of proper worship which they respected.
Non-liturgical traditions fall into repeating patterns that may or may not, by chance, follow the liturgical tradition. When a pastor plans a worship service he is creating a liturgy. The liturgical churches merely reach back to the Jewish traditions used by Christ and the Apostles for their patterns.
Works consulted
Anonymous (Eds.). (2004) Prayer Book. Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA: South Bound Brook, NJ.
Cuming, Geoffrey J. (1976). Hippolytus: A Text for Students. Grove Books: Bramcote Notts.
Dix, Dom Gregory. (1945). The Shape of the Liturgy. Continuum: Great Britain.
Guilbert , Charles Mortimer (Custodian). (1979). The Book of Common Prayer. Church Publishing: Denver, CO.
Development of Christian Worship (n.d.) Liturgica.com. Retrieved from http://www.liturgica.com/html/litEChLitDev.jsp
Kerby, Peter (2001). The Didache. (Original work published circa 100AD) Retrieved from http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html.
Central to all liturgical worship is corporate prayer. Many Christians who have grown up outside the liturgical tradition may think of prayer as an almost completely extemporaneous practice. In liturgical churches, although private extemporaneous prayers and a deep personal prayer life is encouraged, the public worship service is filled with the recitation of literary prayers. There are a multitude of these prayers to be offered on specific days, or for specific saints or for special needs, but most all of them follow a pattern. These prayers, used regularly in the Anglican tradition are modeled on the Lord's Prayer which has four parts: an address; "Our Father", an identifying property of God; "Who art in heaven", intercessions or requests; "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done... but deliver us from evil"; closing "For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen". The collect for purity is one of the most common used in the Anglican church.
Almighty God,[1] to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid:[2] Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;[3] through Christ our Lord. Amen.[4] (Guilbert 355)
Collects are not used to stifle creativity, but to provide an example of clarity when it comes to communicating one's thoughts and desires to the Almighty. As far back as 340AD there were these types of collects used to sum up the private prayers of people in a corporate worship service. (Dix 42) In many parts of the modern Anglican worship service there is responsive corporate prayer and in the Orthodox litanies there are proper responses chanted to all of the Priest's intercessions. This points to the active role that the congregant plays in these liturgies. After the medieval period of laxity by the clergy and laity, the priestly illiteracy and the lay apathy, the Catholic Church went back to its early roots where liturgy became more of what it was supposed to be and once was; the work of the people.
Corporate prayer falls within the liturgical worship service. The structure of the worship services in the liturgical traditions are divided into two main components: the liturgy of the Word, and the Eucharist. In many Anglican and Catholic Churches there is a distinct delineation as one passes from the first part to the second part.( Guilbert 355-361) In Orthodox Churches the delineation is less distinct, but when noted it is much more dramatic. (Prayer Book 124-142)
The liturgy of the Word is just what it sounds like. The first half of the service is centered on the reading of the Holy Scriptures and the sermon by the Deacon, Priest or Bishop, which should be based in the readings of the day. The form of the liturgy of the Word is the descendent of the Apostolic synaxis (meeting). The synaxis was a continuation of an ancient Jewish prayer tradition which Jesus and the Apostles would have regularly participated in.
The Jewish synagogue service, which was the root from which the apostolic synaxis sprang, consisted of public readings from the Scripture, the singing of psalms, a sermon, and a number of set prayers. (Dix 37)
In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1979) it is prescribed that during the main service of the week (usually Sunday morning), there will be a total of four passages of Scripture read: an Old Testament lesson, a psalm, which is usually read responsively by a reader and the congregation, or sung by the choir, an epistle reading from the New Testament, and the Gospel reading for the day. From these four readings the preacher should draw his inspiration for the sermon. The Orthodox tradition there are fewer readings, but always a Gospel reading, and numerous psalms are always sung. The set prayers that are said during the liturgy of the Word have become formalized over the centuries, but they were codified very early in the church’s history. The order of worship in the synaxis is mirrored in the modern Anglican service:
SYNAXIS
Opening greeting
Lesson
Psalmody
Lesson(s)
Sermon
Dismissal of those not belonging to the church
Prayers
Dismissal (Dix 38)
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Collect
Old Testament Lesson
Psalm
Epistle Reading
Gradual Hymn
Gospel Reading
Sermon
Prayers
The correlation of the Synaxis to the liturgy of the Word is remarkable when one thinks of the almost 2000 intervening years. More convincing of the direct relationship of the two are the small pieces of language and the prayers that have survived from ancient Judaism through the early church and into the modern worship usage. “The Lord be with you,” is the opening sentence in every Anglican worship service and was originally uttered by Ruth in the Old Testament. (Dix 38) This blessing and the ensuing litany used in the Anglican service is quoted almost verbatim from the instructions for worship given by Hippolytus in his The Apostolic Tradition in the second or third centuries. (Cuming 10) "Peace be unto you" the other regularly used greeting in the Synaxis is also of Hebrew origin (Dix 38) and is regularly used in the Orthodox liturgy.
Hippolytus 4:2-3
2...and he [the bishop] shall lay his hand upon it, and give thanks, with the entire council of elders, saying:
3The Lord be with you.
And all reply:
And with your spirit.
The bishop says:
Lift up your hearts.
The people respond:
We have them with the Lord.
The bishop says:
Let us give thanks to the Lord.
The people respond:
It is proper and just.
1979 BCP pg. 333
The Celebrant, whether bishop or priest,
faces them and sings or says
The Lord be with you.
People
And with thy spirit.
Celebrant
Lift up your hearts.
People
We lift them up unto the Lord.
Celebrant
Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
People
It is meet and right so to do.
Orthodox Prayer Book
pg. 156
Priest: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
People:
And with your spirit.
Priest:
Let us lift up our hearts.
People:
We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest:
Let us give thanks to the Lord.
People:
It is proper and right.
The “set prayers” that Dix referred to are still used in the Eastern Orthodox Churches. These include: the great litany, the little litany, the litany for the departed, the litany of the catechumens, and the litany of fervent supplication, among others. There are also specific prayers for the day and the season the service falls under. The idea of a set cycle of prayers was not a post-apostolic invention. Jewish worship in the time of Christ and before had cycles of prayers that would be said over meals and in worship services. (Development)
A meal is the model for the second half of the liturgical worship service. The Eucharist is a reenactment of the Last Supper and a sacrament of the sacrifice made for humanity by Christ on the cross. Dix identifies seven actions Christ took at the last supper which included the thanksgiving over and the distribution of the bread and wine. The church has combined some of these actions to arrive at four actions that are common to all Eucharistic services from the very earliest churches: the offering of gifts, the prayer of institution, the breaking of bread, and the distribution of the elements to the congregation. (Dix 48) In the narratives of the Last Supper in the New Testament it may seem odd that the words Christ used to give thanks for the bread and the wine are not recorded, until one remembers that these prayers would be well know to the Jewish Disciples of Christ. (Dix 54) Whether the Last Supper was the Passover or not is up for debate, but the blessing and passing of a common cup, and the breaking and blessing of bread were regular occurrences during religious meals called Chaburah. (Dix 50)
There was a "meal liturgy" for the prayers of the meals, and in principle they were required for every meal. However, it took on the greatest importance in family meals and especially the meals of the Holy Days. The entire structure of the Last Supper as recorded by St. Luke mirrors the meal liturgy as practiced within Judaism at the time. These meal prayers and their structure contributed directly in the formation of the early Christian celebration of the Lord's Supper. (Development)
The Anglican Church has what is called an “open communion” which is allows communication by any baptized Christian, and thus, there is no need for the dismissal of those not belonging to the church. The Catholic Church has done away with the dismissal of those not belonging to the church but they still have a closed communion. The Orthodox tradition is that of a closed communion and they have kept the place in the service where those who are not full members of the church are told to depart, although few churches actually ask attendees to depart at that time. The Orthodox service states “The doors! The doors! In wisdom, let us attend!” At this point in the ancient service those who were not full members would be expected to leave the service. This is the point at which the liturgy became the mystery of the Eucharist. Closed communion may seem harsh, but the Didache (from 70AD to 120AD) is very clear. "But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, 'Give not that which is holy to the dogs.'" (Kerby 9)
The liturgical traditions were not, as some have stated, man-made artifices that complicate worship and get in the way of true devotion. Christ and the Apostles worshipped as devout Jews in a liturgical way. Their religion infused the entirety of their lives, down to their eating of meals. The last supper was a special meal, but the actions which Christ took at the end of the meal with bread and wine were not unusual. The fact that he instituted a sacrament was. In telling the Apostles to "do this in remembrance of me" he was leaving an example of proper worship which they respected.
Non-liturgical traditions fall into repeating patterns that may or may not, by chance, follow the liturgical tradition. When a pastor plans a worship service he is creating a liturgy. The liturgical churches merely reach back to the Jewish traditions used by Christ and the Apostles for their patterns.
Works consulted
Anonymous (Eds.). (2004) Prayer Book. Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA: South Bound Brook, NJ.
Cuming, Geoffrey J. (1976). Hippolytus: A Text for Students. Grove Books: Bramcote Notts.
Dix, Dom Gregory. (1945). The Shape of the Liturgy. Continuum: Great Britain.
Guilbert , Charles Mortimer (Custodian). (1979). The Book of Common Prayer. Church Publishing: Denver, CO.
Development of Christian Worship (n.d.) Liturgica.com. Retrieved from http://www.liturgica.com/html/litEChLitDev.jsp
Kerby, Peter (2001). The Didache. (Original work published circa 100AD) Retrieved from http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html.
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