Reformational Liturgy and Hospitality
We need to begin moving our liturgical efforts into the realm of hospitality. What I mean by this may appear obvious, but it is quite complicated on a large scale. Some congregations may want to move into that arena but are paralyzed by self-inflicted wounds. They are more interested in showing their distinctness than proving their distinctives through tangible actions.
We use a saying in our inquirer’s class that goes something like this: “We need to bathe our weirdness with a deep sense of commonness.” Internally and behind the scenes, we don’t view ourselves as weird, but we know that the perception exists in a thoroughly de-liturgized culture.
This came across in an observation from a mother who raised her daughter in a Reformed context and saw her daughter go into a different tradition altogether. Now, mind you, the daughter was not antagonistic towards Reformed Theology, but she found the practices of this broadly evangelical environment more friendly and inviting. For the record, I am the last person to give much credence to an impressionable young adult. Still, I do want to take the opportunity to offer some general thoughts on the art of commonness and why black coffee Calvinists like myself think our churches need more than mere liturgism.
The first observation is that our Reformational theology/liturgy should be inviting. However it is communicated–paraments or stripped tables–it must carry on the gravitas of joy from beginning to end.
We live in a culture that craves the normalcy of joy. If we invite younger generations to taste and see Geneva’s God, we must also ensure that we don’t portray Geneva as some ogre attempting to tyrannize conscience. Geneva needs to show up with smiles and greetings, not five points of inquiry.
The second note is that the sweetness of worship ought to give folks a sense of the holy. We need liturgical worship that brings people to see the sovereignty of God resting in every element of worship from beginning to end, in every line and every response.
Once, a visitor told one of our congregants that it was one of the most joyful experiences, even though much of what happened was foreign to him. But even if the impression is viscerally oppositional–and it has happened–we should still communicate a culture where the holy is a common ritual of the people. You cannot control reactions, but you can control interactions. You can control a sweet disposition towards a visitor. You can sit next to them when they walk in alone and guide them through the order of worship.
Third, and finally, if the liturgy is a living liturgy–contrary to modernistic ritualization experiences in mainline churches with alternating “Mother God” lines–then that liturgy must breathe life into the home. It needs to be perpetuated with food and drink for those strangers who visit. If they are not invited to see your lived-out liturgy, it is unlikely they will find pleasure in your acted-out liturgy on Sunday mornings. It will continue to be strange and foreign rather than warm and inviting.
Our liturgical efforts must move into hospitable efforts. In fact, I argue that liturgy necessarily moves into homes. Ultimately, we may still appear strange, and our songs may still give a Jane Austen vibe, but at the very least, we will have given visitors a sense of the holy and an invitation to joy. Our Reformed churches should contemplate that model in our day.
On Food and Congregational Meals
Our congregation holds a monthly fellowship meal. It’s spectacular in every culinary way. The other weeks, we host people in our homes, but it’s a fattening extravaganza on the last Sunday of the month! All sinners come home, and we kill the fatted calf with vigor and throw a party!
It’s also shaped by the kinds of things Robert Capon would savor were he present with us. Apart from the main dishes, there are delicacies made with gifted hands. Both have their place at the table. The desserts carry another special place serving as holy ambassadors. She brings rest to the weary and a boost of energy to the little covenanters running around.
It seems that food koinonias have lost their vigor in the scientific laboratory of the germaphobes of our culture. Long gone are the healthy gatherings of vivid recollections of stuffed-ness. We have allowed extraneous things to serve as an apologetic or an extra rationale to not eat as one should: with gusto.
One of the problems of modern evangelical “food theology” is that it has departed from its Hebrew history. We have chosen the mortification of the flesh over the enjoyment of life.
Paul was a strong critic of the “Do not taste! Do not touch!” attitudes of his contemporaries and indeed our own (Col. 2:21). We have forgotten that the Bible is an edible book, a book of lovely and superb meals beginning in the abundance of the Garden and ending in the Supper of the New World. But, in every portion of Scripture, you will find a tree that gives and gives and gives food to the hungry.
We ought to take every meal hostage in season and out of season. Every delicious bite is an act of praise and adoration, and when eaten in the company of fellow saints, it is a festive day; one with additional pleasure, for we were made to eat with one another.
When we partake together at the Lord’s Table on Sundays, the common table afterward becomes an extension of the holy. It is good and beneficial. It is sobering and enlightening. It is both delicious and life-altering.
When we eat together, we change ourselves into living sacrifices edible to the Triune God who swallows us into his glorious grace.
Saved by the Virgin Birth
The Born Again Christian
In American evangelical Christianity, the term “born again” is now used to describe a personal spiritual experience of conversion and often marks a new beginning in a person’s relationship with God. It is often associated with the concept of being “saved.”
The phrase itself is thoroughly Biblical and originates from Jesus’ conversation with the pharisee Nicodemus in the Gospel of St. John, where Jesus tells him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” a. This conversation is often interpreted to emphasizes the need for a spiritual transformation in one’s relationship with God.
For modern evangelicals, being “born again” typically involves acknowledging one’s sinful nature b, recognizing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and surrendering one’s life to Him. It is viewed as a moment of decision and personal commitment to follow Jesus. In many evangelical circles, the phrase “born again” is used to distinguish those who have had this personal conversion experience from those who did not have a individualized experience. This is often expressed as a criticism of liturgical churches (whether they be Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, etc.) that more often expect the corporate forms of worship and sacramental identity to sufficiently endow the believer with an individual Christian identity through the ecclesiastically means of grace like baptism, confirmation, catechesis, and the eucharistic service.
(more…)
The Future and Female Ordination in the SBC
The Southern Baptist Convention is on the brink of disaster. I pastor a small liturgical Presbyterian congregation in the panhandle of Florida that uses wine during the Lord’s Supper. That fact alone is sufficient to cause great consternation from our SBC friends. Still, I think our practical and theological differences are the kinds of differences that can stir a good conversation around a beer…make that sweet tea.
I love my SBC brethren, but this entire struggle for identity is one they should embrace wholeheartedly. Their future is at stake. SBC ministers must fight for the heart of theological integrity and uphold their commitment to Paul’s distinct vision for only qualified male leaders in the pulpit.
The Southern Baptists I know are committed to doing so, and they should strive for the peace of the convention through stricter definitions and not looser ones. As a former Baptist, I am committed to supporting them in this endeavor, which leads me to my main point: Rick Warren and his tribe must go if the SBC is going to survive.
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (BFM) states unequivocally, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Some, like JD Greer, argue that the number of female pastors in the SBC is declining. But it is clear that this is a statistical error.
(more…)
‘Love & Death’ stands or falls with the church
Warning: Spoilers ahead
HBO’s Love & Death is a 7-episode miniseries set in the late 70s and early 80s. It tells the true story of an adulterous affair in Wylie, Texas that resulted in a killing. The show portrays Candy Montgomery as the initiator of an affair with Allan Gore. Candy eventually kills Betty Gore, Allan’s wife, with an axe in Betty’s laundry room (viewer discretion is advised).
Why Candy killed Betty is a matter of debate, but you’ll have to watch the series or research the case if you want to know more. The focus of this article is on what drew me to the series in the first place — the Christian faith of the main characters.
Episode 1 begins with a traditional church service. Candy, Allan, and their spouses are members of the choir. They are singing the Gloria Patri in Sunday worship, donned with choir vestments. I was instantly intrigued and wondered what kind of church they belonged to.
(more…)
Women Who Play Like Warriors
Pride month kicks in like an avalanche of perversions! And while I am eager to call men back to their roles, I want to spend a little time addressing evangelical women. I believe they are crucial to pushing back against the modern insinuations of our day, which open up platforms for sexual confusion. Women are much more easily seduced by the proliferation of false Gospels and therefore, they need to stand firm.
I address them because they are being duped by sentimental slobbery, and our evangelical churches act as if women want this sentimental slobbery. They are offering messages that have no objectivity. They assume that women have no interest in theology or biblical orthodoxy, and all they want is an avalanche of emotional darts that will penetrate their “silly, teenage hearts.”
When churches and well-known female authors perpetuate this mentality, Christian women will easily be seduced into thinking that Deborah was a biblical abhorrence, that Ruth was too zealous for the covenant, and that grandmother Lois (II Tim. 1:5) was too committed to catechesis. No matter how “Hippie-dippy, Big Love Jesus Type,” you may be, you are not being a faithful follower of Jesus unless you agree that the Bible does not tame women; the Bible sets them free to be image-bearers who dwell in God’s house forever with the strength of a covenantal warrior. This is not a conversation about the role of women; it’s a conversation about who women are in Christ.
(more…)
Pentecost 101: A Brief Lesson
Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday! It’s a big deal in our neck of the woods. I have been a vocal apologist for the church calendar for quite a while. The reason for this is not because I think there is salvation in a calendar but because I believe there is salvation in whom the Calendar points to.
For the two of you worried about my enthusiasm to continue this program, don’t worry. I am fully proteinied-up for the next decade. My liturgical muscles won’t atrophy. For those still curious about what I am proposing, let me sketch this out:
We are talking only about Classic Reformational and Lutheran celebrations, including Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. In other words, these are conspicuously Christ-Centered feasts. These feasts exalt the work and name of Jesus. Jesus. More Jesus.
Some may say, “But we celebrate Easter all year long. Why do we have to set time aside to celebrate Pentecost in particular?” While this comment is noble, it is important to note that you can’t always say everything lest you say nothing at all. There is simply no way to celebrate all these events all the time. Hence, the Church has developed a way of commemorating, remembering, and internalizing the life of Jesus throughout the year.
So, what is Pentecost, and how can we celebrate this Feast?
Pentecost means the “fiftieth day” because it is the 50th day after Passover. This was also the Feast of the Harvest. In fact, we can say that Pentecost in Acts 2 is the great fulfillment of all previous Pentecosts. The Old Testament Feasts led us to this fiery moment of redemptive history in the first century. The Great Harvest Feast is now being fulfilled, and God is harvesting the nations. Since Christ is sitting at the Father’s right hand, the nations are being given to Jesus Christ as an inheritance (Ps. 110) through the ministry of the Church.
How can I celebrate this Feast?
Pentecost goes from the 28th of May to the 2nd of December. One way to be liturgically self-conscious is by practicing a few things.
First, you may consider wearing something red this Sunday. Remember the promise of Acts 2 that the Spirit would be poured out like fire. Pentecost is the re-birth of the Church. Red symbolizes the fire that came from heaven and indwelt the Church as they moved from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Secondly, use this time to talk to your children about the Holy Spirit. The Third Person of the Godhead is often set aside as the forgotten Person of the Trinity, but he should not be. We must remember that Jesus refers to the Spirit as our Comforter (Jn. 14:16). Reading Acts 2 and other passages about the work of the Spirit is a healthy way of bringing recognition to the One who is truly God.
Thirdly, allow this feast, which celebrates the subversion of Babel, to be a reminder that God has made a new humanity through his Spirit. We are no longer a divided ethnos but one new creation of Jews and Gentiles. Live out gospel reconciliation in every possible situation. As Malcolm Guite puts it, “Whose mother tongue is Love in every nation.”
Finally, do not be hopeless in this season. God has not left us orphans. The absence of Jesus’ physical body on earth means his presence at the right hand of the Father in heaven is one of power and might. He rules and reigns by his Spirit, forming a resurrected creation under his reign.
May Your Pentecost be Mighty! Rejoice greatly! The Spirit is among us!
A Theology of Place
I have been pondering the question of place lately–the matter of belonging. Or, we might even say the space of meaning.
This became especially salient when I finished Robert Capon’s notoriously and oddly named book, “An Offering of Uncles: The Priesthood of Adam and the Shape of the World.” The thing about strangely named books is that after a while, they become more endearing. The book was kind of a metaphysical tour through the role of place in the Bible and its unique purpose in shaping our priesthood.
And while Capon delved initially into place as a synonym for his own town and home, he moved into some description of parish life. Parish life is where I think place is most soberly discussed. It’s, in fact, the place where place finds its culmination. It’s the parish, stupid! Not economy. Not even, ultimately, the oikos.
I wish to simply opine on three features of parish life that mark our lives and confirm our place. Again, to quote my favorite gastronomist, Capon:
“Every person I meet has a history which threatens or promises involvement in my history.”
To call somewhere “my place” implies a dance; the intermingling of realities. I think the three features which most confirm place are faces, words, and postures.
Walking into the sanctuary, I am introduced to faces that confirm my place. Faces come with structural dimensions. Faces are architectural. Human smiles provide symmetry to the project, but more, it provides familiarity. To see the smiling faces of little children during a doxology is the kind of ritual that confirm the place. “Yeah, this is my people, my place, my party.” Faces are like living decorations that confirm the reality of place.
Then, there is the exchange of words. In a dialogical worship, words are exchanged like divine currency because husband and wife–Christ and his Bride–are talking. Each back and forth give meaning to each other: “The Lord be with you” “and also with you.”
One word can confirm place. One loud “amen” can seal place. One speech rightly administered and rhetorically delivered can make all things well. And that speech received makes all things new. Don’t take words for granted, even if they are small and a token of the day. Those words threaten involvement in your history and you should be happy with that.
Finally, there are postures. Hands lifted, hands receiving, kneeling, rising, passing, taking, qui magis. Postures are articulations of reality. If everyone kneels and you dare stand, you admit you have no interest in place or that you want to find another one. If you put your hands in a receptive form in a benediction, you confirm place. Not in isolation, mind you. But in togetherness. Places are made in togetherness.
When I meet you in my place, your history will threaten or promise to be in mine. It’s the structure of life. No place, no rationale for life. No place, no salvation.
What does the Ascension of Jesus Mean?
The Church celebrates the Ascension of our Lord today. Since most churches do not have Thursday services, many traditionally celebrate Ascension on Sunday. But today, the Ascension of Jesus is barely mentioned in the evangelical vocabulary. We make room for his birth, death, and resurrection, but we tend to put a period where God puts a comma.
If the resurrection was the beginning of Jesus’ enthronement, then the ascension is the establishment of his enthronement. The Ascension activates Christ’s victory in history. The Great Commission is only relevant because of the Ascension. Without the Ascension, the call to baptize and disciple the nations would be meaningless. It is based on Jesus’ enthronement at the right-hand of the Father that we image-bearers can de-throne rulers through the power and authority of our Great Ruler, Jesus Christ.
The Ascension is a joyful event because it vindicates the Church’s triumph over the world. Further, it defines us as a people of glory and power, not weakness and shame. As Jesus is ascended, we too enter into his ascension glory (Col. 3:1). This glory exhorts us to embrace full joy. As Alexander Schmemann once wrote:
“The Church was victorious over the world through joy…and she will lose the world when she loses its joy… Of all accusations against Christians, the most terrible one was uttered by Nietzsche when he said that Christians had no joy.”
A joyless Christian faith is a faith that has not ascended. Where Christ is, we are. And we know that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. He is ruling and reigning from his heavenly throne. The Father has given him the kingdom (Psalm 2), and now he is preserving, progressing, and perfecting his kingdom. He is bringing all things under subjection (I Cor. 15:24-26).
We know that when he was raised from the dead, Jesus was raised bodily. But Gnostic thinking would have us assume that since Jesus is in heaven he longer needs a physical body. But the same Father who raised Jesus physically also has his Son sitting beside him in a physical body.
As one author observed:
“Jesus has gone before us in a way we may follow through the Holy Spirit whom he has sent, because the way is in his flesh, in his humanity.”
Our Lord is in his incarnation body at the right hand of the Father. This has all sorts of implications for us in worship. We are worshipping a God/Man; one who descended in human flesh and who ascended in human flesh. He is not a disembodied spirit. He is truly God and truly man.
As we consider and celebrate the Ascension of our blessed Lord, remember that you are worshiping the One who understands your needs because he has a body just like you, and he rejoices with you now because he has a body just like you.
