Titles In This Series TITLES IN PRINT Taking Faith Seriously Taking Love Seriously Taking the Anglican Communion Seriously Taking Our Future Seriously by Archie Pell Taking Evangelism Seriously Taking Repentance Seriously Taking the Church’s Year Seriously Taking the Bible Seriously Taking Christian Unity Seriously Taking Doctrine Seriously Taking Discipleship Seriously Taking the Trinity Seriously Taking the Holy Spirit Seriously Taking Christian Disciplines Seriously Taking Worship Seriously TITLES PLANNED Taking the Sermon Seriously Taking Holy Communion Seriously Taking Baptism Seriously Taking Other Religions Seriously Taking Th eology Seriously Taking the Prayer Book Seriously and more… Anglican Agenda Series ◆ J.I. Packer, editor Taking Worship Seriously by Archie Pell published by Preface To The Series The Anglican Agenda series of publications aims to open up current questions that call for thought, discussion, prayer and decision among members of the Anglican Church of Canada at this time. The series is sponsored by the Essentials movement, which seeks all-round renewal of life and strength in the Anglican Church, and its writers are Anglican Church personnel speaking out of their loyalty to the Church and their acute sense of its present needs. It is hoped that the series will spark deep personal reflection and group discussion within and between parishes, so that we all may be better prepared for the difficult and demanding era into which, as it seems, our Church is now entering. J.I.PACKER Editor The Rev. Dr. Archie Pell is a Sessional Lecturer in the Anglican Studies Programme at Regent College. The Rev. Dr. J.I. Packer is Board of Governors Professor of Theology and Director of the Anglican Studies Programme at Regent College and Assistant Minister at St. John’s Church, Shaughnessy, Vancouver. Taking Worship Seriously Published by Anglican Network in Canada Box 1013, Burlington, ON, Canada, L7R 4L8 Web: www.anglicannetwork.ca Email: [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-897538-05-0 Copyright © 2008 by Archie Pell. No part of this publication may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without specific permission of the copyright owner. Printed in Canada. 2 Taking Worship Seriously Archie Pell Worship Is Important Books can tell us a great deal about their owner. If a pastor’s study has John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion in a prominent place on the bookshelves, then that pastor is probably Reformed or Presbyterian. If the pastor’s bookshelves have all 55 volumes of Luther’s Works front and centre, then she or he is probably Lutheran. But what about an Anglican pastor’s study? What books will be on the desk or within easy reach on the bookshelf? In Canada it likely would be the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services, accompanied perhaps by a liturgical “how to” manual or two. Anglicans around the world are people who take worship seriously, for Anglicanism is a form of Christianity that began not with bold theologi- cal statements like Luther’s 95 Theses or the Confession of Augsburg, but with a series of worship reforms. In 1544 an English language version of the medieval Litany was issued, and it was followed by the Order of the Communion in 1548, an English language devotional supplement to the Latin Mass for use as people received the sacrament. The 1549 Book of Common Prayer provided in English reformed versions of all services necessary for regular parish use, and the 1552 Book of Common Prayer was the culmination of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s reforming of public worship, giving Anglican worship the basic shape it has borne over the centuries. The theological Articles of Religion, known to most of us as “The Thirty-Nine Articles,” came later; they were finalized and published in 1571. If Anglicans take worship seriously, they do so because they take seriously the examples found in the Scriptures of both Hebrews and Christians. The people of God have always made worship central to their lives both as individuals and as a community. In the Old Testament the focus of worship for the people of Israel was first the Tabernacle, then later the Temple. Separated from the Temple and the worship conducted there daily, the Hebrews felt lost: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song 3 in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4) When the exiles were able to return to their homeland, a key task was to rebuild the Temple so that Israel could restore its corporate worship life (Ezra 3:8-13 and 6:13-18). In the time between the Old and New Testaments, when Judas Maccabaeus led an uprising of the Jews against their Greek oppressors, the climax of the campaign was the cleansing and rededication of the Temple so that the people of Israel could once more gather there for worship (I Maccabees 4:41-59 in the Apocrypha). For close to 1000 years the Temple was a call to and a focal point for worship of the one true God. Those who lived nearby made it the place for their personal worship. It was the place where Israelites from far and near gathered to worship together at major festivals such as Passover. These were occasions of great celebration, with incense, music, and splendid priestly garments. Yet even the daily morning and evening sacrifices were approached with intense seriousness, because the Hebrews knew that there was no greater duty for God’s people than to worship the Lord, the Creator of life, the God who had chosen Israel as His own people. When we turn to the New Testament we find Jesus taking worship se- riously wherever He went. Every Sabbath He would be found in a syna- gogue or, in Jerusalem, in the Temple (e.g., Luke 4:16). From an early age He spent the Passover season in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41) and eventually He used Passover to teach His closest followers about the meaning of His coming crucifixion (Mark 14:12-25). The first Christians followed Jesus’ example and made worship central to the life of the early church (Acts 2:46-47). Over the following 20 centuries Christians have continued to regard worship as central to the Christian life. During that time distinc- tive worship forms have arisen to emphasize various Gospel truths (com- pare Anglican baptism services to those in Baptist churches) or to com- municate the faith in various cultural settings (compare Egyptian Coptic worship to a Vineyard service). Anglican worship springs from this long tradition of Christian wor- ship. It arose in England and has been adopted and adapted by a family of churches around the world, the Anglican Communion. Unfortunately we frequently take our Anglican worship for granted. At times we par- ticipate in it by memory, almost unconsciously. This book is meant to recall all of us Anglicans to a thoughtful, meaningful worship life in our congregations. 4 What Is Worship? For generation after generation of ordinary Anglicans the answer to the above question has been found in the Exhortation at the beginning of the Book of Common Prayer services of Morning and Evening Prayer. Many would be able to quote from memory the key paragraph: Although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God, yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at this hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as for the soul. This description of corporate worship introduces something that sur- prises, and may make feel uncomfortable, many 21st century Christians, namely confession as we “humbly acknowledge our sins before God.” Our Father God is holy, but we humans are sinners, imperfect people who rebel against God’s high moral and ethical standards for everyday human life. As 1 John 1:8-9 reminds us: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (English Standard Version) So to approach such a holy God we need to confess the many ways we have offended against God’s laws for ourselves and plead for forgiveness on the basis of the sacrificial death on the Cross of His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Worship starts at the point where, through our confes- sion and God’s forgiveness, our relationship with God is restored and made whole, allowing us to enter His presence and enjoy His fatherly fellowship. Forgiven people are thankful people, and so thanksgiving is the sec- ond ingredient in our corporate worship — “to render thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands.” Confession and forgive- ness open our minds and hearts to the truth that our forgiving God is a generous God, who through His creation and the circumstances of our lives provides all that is necessary for us to live for Him. Beginning with divine forgiveness, God blesses us with food, shelter, family, friends, an occupation, and a supportive community of fellow followers of Jesus Christ. So we express our gratitude by saying “Thank you.” 5 Thanksgiving leads to the next component of worship, praise — “to set forth his most worthy praise.” Our word “worship” has Saxon ori- gins in a word meaning to pay homage to a person who is one’s superior. Praise is our recognising and declaring the character and actions of our triune God. Praise focuses on the God we worship, not on the individual worshippers or the congregation. Praise is about “You,” not “me” or “us.” In praising God we find our hearts lifted by joy, and so our praise is regularly expressed by music in psalms, hymns and choruses. The fourth element of worship is “to hear his most holy Word,” holy Scripture. Anglican Christians are Bible people. Two or three passages of Scripture are read at each act of corporate worship so that together all worshippers present are placed under the authority of the Bible. And where the Bible is publicly read, the message of one or more of those passages is explained and taught so that we can be knowledgeable follow- ers of Christ. Scripture informs, challenges and guides our minds, and through our minds our whole lives. Finally worship consists, in part, of petitionary and intercessory prayer, when we “ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as for the soul.” In thanksgiving we gratefully recognize our dependence upon God. In intercessory prayer we put that recogni- tion into action in petitions that move outward in concentric circles. The needs of the people gathered in worship make up the inner circle of prayer. The next circle consists of the universal church, the whole world- wide family of God in Jesus Christ. The outer circle, no less important than the others, contains all people on earth and the nations in which they live. For all these peoples, near and far, we pray for God to supply the needs of the body — food for the hungry, money for the poor, heal- ing for the sick. But it is equally important to pray for God to supply the needs of the soul — openness to the truth of the Gospel, reconciliation between enemies, godly laws in the nations. Thoughtful prayer in corpo- rate worship expresses the mind of the congregation to the Lord and will inform our personal prayer life during the week ahead. For a group of Christians to experience these elements in a complete worship experience when they “assemble and meet together,” a plan and working framework are necessary. That role is provided by liturgy, a practical combination of four things. All Anglicans would quickly identify the first aspect of liturgy as be- ing the text. We are a people of the book, in fact of two books: first of all the Bible and secondly the Book of Common Prayer. The Prayer Book 6 is, as we noted at the outset, the invaluable legacy of Thomas Cranmer, the reforming Archbishop of Canterbury. The printed text of a service gives unity and discipline to the act of worship, particularly when the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion are being administered. Unity is achieved for the congregation by drawing their eyes and ears, and through them their hearts and minds, to shared words. In our eve- ryday lives there is a babble of voices, each wanting its ideas and its way of expressing those ideas to prevail. But when a set service begins, our voices are blended into one, just as in Christ we become one people. At the same time the shared text draws the local congregation into unity with the wider church. The texts we use are formulated and authorized by national or regional Anglican synods and houses of bishops. In any ecclesial province, which is not usually a single national body, congrega- tions are united into one church by their liturgical words. Most Anglicans may be unaware of the discipline exercised by a wor- ship text. The approved wordings for creeds, eucharistic prayers, and baptism by water are provided so that the local church and individual clergy will not stray from Gospel truth in what is said aloud. Anglicans trust that the leading of the Holy Spirit is discerned in a very particular way when the whole church (a diocese or province or national church) prayerfully works to produce a liturgical text. Individual Anglican wor- ship leaders are then, in theory at least, held accountable by the wider church to conform to the discipline of holding to the approved text so that God’s people will be nourished in worship by the whole church’s understanding of God’s holy truth. The second component of liturgy is movement. Worship is more than the activity that television producers would call “talking heads” — or for that matter, singing heads. The central worship services of the Christian faith, the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are in part dra- matic proclamations of the Gospel. In the Baptism service the candidate is brought forward, goes under the water, either by immersion or by it being poured on his or her forehead, and is received back into the con- gregation as a new member of the redeemed family of God. The person thus acts out our common story of becoming Christian: being called out of the world by Christ; submitting to Jesus Christ; joining fellow Christians in serving Christ. In the service our Prayer Book calls “The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion,” and modern alternative rites often call “Holy Eucharist,” the Last Supper is symbolically acted out. The celebrant takes bread and 7 blesses it, takes wine and blesses it, and then distributes these to the wor- shippers as Christ did to His disciples. For their part the worshippers put their own faith into movement. Having heard the Gospel proclaimed, they come forward to be strengthened by Christ, in order to go out from the congregation to be the servants and ambassadors of Christ in every- day life. In the sacraments, movement with water and bread and wine becomes “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace” as the Catechism puts it. Music is the third component of liturgy, and it is often what people remember most clearly when the service is over. Music draws people together as they sing the same words, particularly when singing of “we” rather than “I.” Hymns help us remember the Gospel truths proclaimed in Scripture, sermon, and sacrament, as the hymns of Charles Wesley or Timothy Dudley-Smith demonstrate. The style of music used can reflect and give expression to the wonder of Christmas, the contemplative as- pect of Lent, and the joy of Easter. Music can engage the heart and give life to our words of faith. Finally liturgy also encompasses and makes use of symbols. The col- ours of the hangings that decorate the front of a church remind us of different aspects of the Gospel message. For example, white at Easter points to the new life of the risen Jesus. The special clothes worn by the clergy, whether alb and chasuble or cassock and surplice, point to the reality that this gathering is not just another meeting, and that the cleric is present not as a personality in his or her own right, but as an ordained minister and servant of the Gospel. The worship space may be laid out in the form of a cross, reminding us of Christ’s death for us sinners, or in a partial circle to indicate that worship is a gathering around the table of the Lord as His family. Symbols wordlessly point us to different truths of the Gospel which lead us to worship the God who is Father, Son and Spirit. What Does Worship Do? In recent decades many Anglicans, along with most of their fellow Christians in other denominations across North America, have treated the main purpose of worship as making the worshipper “feel good” by the end of the service. This has led to much “church shopping” as peo- ple move from congregation to congregation, from denomination to denomination, seeking the elusive sense of self-gratification in worship. 8 This approach to worship is problematic for two reasons that begin to point us toward what good worship does. First, to approach worship for “what it can do for me” elevates the style of the liturgy over the content. What pleases a person usually comes from the mechanics of worship, most commonly the language style of the liturgical text or the style and amount of music used in the service. Often the content of the worship — confession, thanksgiving, praise, Scripture, prayer — is not taken into account in reaching a conclusion about the impact of the service. Second, while liturgy is about worship, worship is about far more than liturgy. As Evelyn Underhill’s often-quoted definition puts it, “Worship, in all its grades and kinds, is the response of the creature to the Creator.” Worship is an I-Thou relationship (or better, a Thou-I relation- ship), the place and occasion where the worshipper’s relationship with the redeeming Lord God is forged, repaired, deepened, and strengthened. This makes the fullness of the content paramount. The role of the com- ponents of liturgy is to bring this content together in a manner which enables a gathering of people to worship as one people. Whenever one of us, in any way, approaches a church service while elevating “me” as the central and most important character, the relational I-Thou nature of worship crumbles. Archbishop William Temple has left Anglicans with a semi-poetic statement of the purpose of worship: to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. What stands out in this definition is, firstly, that worship is meant to fo- cus primarily upon God: Father, Son and Spirit. As the worshippers turn their full attention to God, to responding to God, each is transformed intellectually, emotionally, and in their actions. Put another way, the purpose of worship is to open the worshipper to the redeeming, saving grace of God in Jesus Christ so that God’s sanctifying Spirit can be an active part of the worshipper’s everyday life in a fallen world. Second, Temple sees the worshipper as an active, not passive, partici- 9