I’m currently reading through Elaine Scarry’s excellent book On Beauty and Being Just. I came across the following passage, which I found relevant to our current discussion of Liturgy. Now, Scarry is not, as far as I know, a Christian, nor was she referring to liturgy; but God, in his abundant common grace, has made the world in such a way that all truth is His truth. So, Scarry writes:

You are about to be in the presence of something life-giving, lifesaving, something that deserves from you a posture of reverence or petition. It is not clear whether you should throw yourself on your knees before it or keep your distance from it, but you had better figure out the right answer because this is not an occasion for carelessness or for leaving your own postures wholly to chance.”

Another quote that comes to mind is this on from Annie Dillard’s Teaching a Stone to Talk:

“Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourist on a packaged tour of the Absolute?
…
One the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?…It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should strap us to our pews.”

Discuss.

The two terms, ’spiritual’ and ‘theology’, keep good company with one another. ‘Theology” is the attention that we give to God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and in Jesus Christ. ‘Spiritual’ is the insistence that everything that God reveals of himself and his works is capable of being lived by ordinary men and women in their homes and work places. ‘Spiritual’ keeps ‘theology’ from degenerating onto merely thinking and talking and writing about God at a distance. ‘Theology’ keeps ’spiritual’ from becoming merely thinking and talking and writing about the feelings and thoughts one has about God. The two terms need each other, for we know how easy it is to let our study of God (theology) get separated from the way we live; we also know how easy it is to let our desires to live whole and satisfying lives (spiritual lives) get disconnected from who God actually is and the ways he works among us.”

-Eugene Peterson from the Introduction to Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

Part I

I want to make it clear before posting my next installment on liturgy that I am not arguing against other modes of worship. I am advocating liturgy because it is a philosophy of worship that often finds itself in ill repute. I hope these words edify you and challenge the notions that you may carry.

Liturgical worship services are often harangued for their needless pomp and pageantry, and evangelicals have reacted primarily in one of two ways: either the church meeting is more akin to a Broadway show than a reverent worship of the Sovereign of all creation or it is a bleak affair, quiet and sanitary. In either image, the congregants remain in their seats more audience than a fellow worshiper. We invest as much of ourselves in the worship of God as we spend solving crimes while watching our favorite iteration of CSI or as we spend sitting in a doctor’s waiting room biding our time until we are free to leave. Worship is meant as a communal activity, and liturgy helps us to do just that. Just as the clergy is meant to lead the service, so the congregants are meant to respond and participate. Many people would be absolutely frightened of speaking out during a service in fear that they would say the wrong thing, or worse yet, draw unnecessary attention to themselves. Liturgy treats the congregation as a unit, giving them the words they can speak to their God and allowing them to be engaged and involved in His worship. A prescribed order is also more than reciting words written long ago. It also gives a worship service a framework that is conducive toward worshipping God and understanding the relationships between ourselves and our Savior. For example, a service might begin with a glorification of God, followed by a confession of sin and absolution, which would subsequently be followed by a sermon and the Eucharist. That service would follow redemptive history: we are unable stand before a holy and righteous God, we must submit to his punishment, but are spared, and then we learn how we must live as his followers, and finally we share true communion with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as we are meant to. A service that encapsulates these truths is rich in imagery and serves as a weekly reminder of our great savior Jesus Christ and his work to redeem this world.

More to come.

I read an interesting interview the other day with a Portland, OR couple who have refused to pay that portion of their taxes every year which were being used to support wars they disagreed with. Rather than simply using this as an excuse to not pay any taxes at all, the couple has written a check to their local government every year covering the amount they have refused to pay to the national government. Of course, as you can imagine, Uncle Sam is not a big fan and has pursued these uncollected taxes rather vigorously.

This is pretty radical to think about for your average American. All good, law-abiding citizens pay taxes, and avoiding doing so seems somehow dirty or wrong. I can’t help but feel like this couple is doing a moral thing, however. They are paying exactly the same amount in taxes as the government says they should, they are simply refusing their money to be allocated towards that which they feel is immoral.

Christians should stand up for what is right, and good, and honoring to God. We should also not allow our allegiance to worldly institutions to supersede our allegiance to Christ. According to Christ’s commands, we should follow the rules of, and pray for, our government. These things being said, there is a clearly a point at which “rendering unto Caesar” crashes headlong into “honoring Christ“, and our commitment as Christians to that which is good and pleasing to God must always win.

For example, if the government were to designate a portion of your tax dollars towards subsidizing the cost of abortions in America (thus increasing the rate of abortions for convenience sake alone), and you felt that abortion was a morally unacceptable thing for a Christian to financially support, then surely you would be justified in not helping fund such an endeavor by voluntarily withholding, and redirecting, your tax contribution towards abortion subsidies.

By the same logic then, if a Christian were convinced that tax-payer funded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were morally unacceptable things for followers of Christ to support, then would they not be justified in following a course of action similar to that of this couple from Oregon? Do we ever allow our allegiance to our government and unwillingness to experience social (or legal) pressure prevent us from following Christ radically?

In the beginning of this first chapter, Cameron notes that the church in this century has had something of a psychology of retreat. She has had to defend herself at the same time from liberalism on the inside, and a growing secularism on the outside. So apologetics has come to take a prominent place in evangelicalism. But there is a danger: “Christian apologetics often seeks to make Christianity believable and acceptable on the worlds terms.” We must guard against an apologetics that becomes: ‘Sorry about the Scandalon, here’s my book to show that the whole thing is actually tame and uncontroversial. Sorry about the stumbling block, let’s work on fixing that road so that it does not offend.’ The gospel is intended to knock us off our feet and bring us to our knees. So while apologetics is important, we must remember that it is the Holy Spirit who changes hearts. Also, when emphasizing apologetics, we must be careful to not be “constantly seeking to reinforce our own convictions.” Always being in self-defense mode may cause us to be uncritical about our own thoughts.

“Justifying the ways of god to man has taken over from expounding those ways in every area of the evangelical church.“

Apologetics has overshadowed dogmatics. Cameron shows that our emphasis on apologetics, defending the faith, has started to subtly affect and distort the faith it is defending by placing greater emphasis on those doctrines that the culture happens to deny. Theology has come to be governed by apologetics:

“The tail has begun to wag the dog. The center of gravity of our thinking about God has been shifted from true. The need to justify ourselves before a skeptical world has distorted our theological understanding.“

In order to counter this error, Cameron suggests:

“What is needed is an awareness of the silent distortions which constantly result from this process if it is not checked. Since we can hardly lay less stress upon apologetics, we must consciously compensate for it’s distorting tendencies by deliberately giving more adequate emphasis to areas of Christian belief which are not on the apologetic front line.“

In this context, Nigel Cameron then turns to look at the Humanity of Jesus.

For more information on Are Christians Human?, look at this summery from Mars Hill Audio, or check it out on amazon here.

Liturgy is technically the mode by which a religious group worships, thus, a Catholic Mass is every bit as liturgical as a Southern Baptist’s rock band worship service. However, in this article when using the word “liturgy” I am using the popular definition: a set of regulated orders that govern a worship service, much like a Catholic Mass or the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. The examples that I cite in the following paragraphs are not mere straw men that I have set up to easily knock down nor are they meant to mock those with differing ideas. The Western world, and specifically America, has a tendency to have a Progressive view of history which leads to a disregard for the past. My chief desire in these words is to argue for that which is good in liturgy and ultimately to praise God. Lastly, this is by no means an exhaustive article, but rather my thoughts and convictions on this matter. I have much room for growth and hope you will seriously consider what I say, while granting me the charity to continue to learn.

Many Christian denominations of the day flee from Liturgical trappings. They cite the desire to have a relevant service that touches humans in their present condition. Others desire to worship God in a way that aligns with our modern pursuits and conveniences. And finally, many churches want to ensure that their services do not become “habit-forming,” or a series of tired statements so well known by their congregants that they are rended completely devoid of meaning. While each of these points are worth considering, liturgy isn’t the poison that so many Christians fear, but truly a balm for our scarred souls. Thus, we must reevaluate what is truly to be gained when using liturgy in our Worship.

The first benefit is that liturgy connects us with past Christians. An important and influential work in the Western world is in fact a collection of liturgies and prayers: The Book of Common Prayer. This work has been utilized since the 16th Century by Anglicans throughout the world. Although history is not our rule, the corroboration of saints throughout the world in different centuries should encourage us in our usage of this venerable work. The globalism that is popularly sought after in today’s world is short-sighted in light of the universalism that we Christians can appeal to with fellow believers throughout time. The various Creeds of the Church give us the same confidence, knowing that we stand on a rock with a whole army of saints. Additionally, the human condition has not changed over the years. We are still just as incapable of being righteous before a Holy God without the blood of Jesus as Christians were 50, 100, or even 1,000 years ago. These authors of old can encourage us as we seek God through their words, similar to how we can pray to our God with the Psalmist. The following prayers are taken from a smattering of different traditions, but still hold just as much relevance in our age:

Shine within our hearts, loving Master, the pure light of Your divine knowledge and open the eyes of our minds that we may comprehend the message of your Gospel. Instill in us, also, reverence for Your blessed commandments, so that having conquered sinful desires, we may pursue a spiritual life, thinking and doing all those things that are pleasing to You. For You, Christ our God, are the light of our souls and bodies, and to You we give glory together with Your Father who is without beginning and Your all holy, good, and life giving Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.”

- Prayer after The Epistle reading of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostum

or

“ALMIGHTY God, whose compassions fail not, and whose loving-kindness reacheth unto the world’s end; We give thee humble thanks for opening heathen lands to the light of thy truth; for making paths in the deep waters and highways in the desert; and for planting thy Church in all the earth. Grant, we beseech thee, unto us thy servants, that with lively faith we may labour abundantly to make known to all men thy blessed gift of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

- Prayer for Missions from The 1928 Book of Common Prayer

While “spontaneous prayers” are sometimes praised as being more authentic, these “prepared prayers” convey just as much gravitas. Perhaps our culture believes that we are going through something that hasn’t been experienced before. Perhaps this is merely pride in our modern lifestyle. Either way, the rich language of these texts does not harm the image of the church by making it irrelevant, but instead can help build it up.

Part II

I was listening to the Rich Mullins song Brother’s Keeper the other day. This lyric stood out to me:

And I will be my brother’s keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won’t despise him for his weakness
I won’t regard him for his strength

Despising someone for their weakness, while common enough, is at least an obvious sin. But, at least for me, unguardedly regarding someone who is strong in places I am weak, goes unnoticed and unchecked. Now, of course there is a healthy kind of regard, but there is also a kind that is akin to envy and idolatry. What do you all think of this?

Previously, I wrote that I found Lewis’ rendering of the Moral Argument for the Existence of God compelling. Obviously, however, there are some difficulties and objections that need to be raised. The first objection is that there is no absolute standard of right and wrong because different peoples and cultures have historically defined right and wrong in different ways.

I know that some people say the idea of a … decent behaviour known to all men is unsound, because different civilisations and different ages have had quite different moralities.

But this is not true. There have been differences between their moralities, but these have never amounted to anything like a total difference.

Essentially, Lewis argues that differences between cultures are largely insignificant when looking at their big-picture systems of morality. Take for example, that while not all cultures have agreed on how many wifes a man should have, it is universally agreed upon that I cannot just go out and take another man’s wife for myself simply because I wanted to (and if I tried to I’d be in for trouble with the husband, brothers-in-law, fathers, etc.).

There are of course some difficulties even with this argument, because there will always be a “what if” exception. Anytime we start talking in universals (”universally agreed upon that…”) we are setting ourselves up for, “yes…but what about such-and-such murderous, bloodthirsty individual who appears to lack any moral compass whatsoever.” To this I would respond that our near universal condemnation of such individuals show them to be at odds with our human experience of right and wrong. Even if we grant that these individuals don’t believe what they are doing is wrong, we can safely say that everybody else does; and in our world of uncertainty this is, to me, quite convincing.

This seems related to Andrew’s last post about the friend he brought to church. Something in her mental picture of what ‘religious’ people were like didn’t jive with the the welcoming, warm straightforwardness of the people she met there. Perhaps she thought being religious meant an austere, ascetic denial of the pleasures of life. These people enjoyed one another and themselves, they weren’t cold and disinterested, thus in her mind, they didn’t seem religious.

Can you enjoy yourself and die to self at the same time?
Why should we delight in material things if it’s all gonna burn?
Should we celebrate being human if we are going to become angle-like spirits when we die and go to heaven?

This seems to be part of the mentality of a lot of Christians and the way Christianity is often perceived from the outside. Bioethicist Nigel Cameron offers a thoughtful engagement with this outlook in his 1988 book Are Christians Human?

I quote from the introduction:

Are Christians human? This seems a rather facetious question to ask. I ask it in order to draw attention to a striking omission in our thinking about the Christian life. For there are many influences at work in the church today who seem to imply that the right answer to it is no. Their idea of what it means to be a Christian requires us to rise above not simply sin, but human nature itself. The motive is commendable: to help us be more spiritual. But it is a fundamental mistake to believe that spirituality lies in a denial of humanity. The problem is that our human nature has been effected by sin, and we find it hard to imagine what it would be like to be human and yet sinless. Yet, there is a human life which has been lived like that; and we must let the human life of Jesus govern our imagination set the goals for our Christian living.”

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting notes, quotes, and questions from this book, and I’m looking forward to discussion, so please comment.

The eight chapters of the book are as follows:

1. The Challenge of the Incarnation
2. Was Jesus Human?
3. Faith and the Mind
4. Guidance and the Will
5. Emotion and the Heart
6. Life in the Flesh
7. A Cloud of Witnesses
8. God’s Human Face

If you are interested you can buy an mp3 audiobook of Are Christians Human? from Mars Hill Audio for just 11$ (that’s what I have, it’s about 4 hours) or you can buy an actual book used on amazon (it’s currently out of print).

I’ll close with another quote by Cameron on the Christian Life :

The Christian life is the story of the renewal and affirmation of the image of God in us. In his son Jesus, God himself was not ashamed to become our brother man. Let us in our turn not be ashamed to be the men and the women he has called us to be.”

Recently a friend of mine from work, who could be described as a “lapsed Catholic,” came to visit my church.  After the service, during a congregational meal, we discussed the many differences between her time in the Catholic church and what she had just experienced.  Thankfully, many of my friends at the church were with us to help answer questions she raised as well as being immensely welcoming.  We had a great time joking around and just generally enjoying one another.

The next day at work, she casually commented that my friends weren’t very religious.  Not sure what to think about this comment, I asked her what she meant.  It came down to the fact that my friends were not cold, condemning, or even arrogant.  Instead she found us enjoyable to be with and very helpful in answering her questions.

It occurred to me that this is the way Christians ought to be.  We are confronted with a juxtaposition: the brutality of this life and the pain of one’s sin, and the joy of a victorious God and Father who lovingly reaches down to us and holds us in His hands.  Fortunately, the Bible gives us guidance as to what should overwhelm our hearts and minds: the joy of the Holy Ghost.  We can remember Paul who “in all [his] affliction [was] overflowing with joy.” (2 Cor. 7:4 ESV)  Or John desiring to be with his brothers and sisters so that his joy may be complete.

We live after the fulfillment of God’s promises to the ancient nation Israel.  Our Messiah has come, our war has been won.  Just as Christ has already been raised up to Glory, we shall soon follow.  Praise God for His faithfulness!  We can find true joy in Him and His work.