Worship Weblog
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Report from CRC sesquicentennial planning committee at Trinity College
Here at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., at the planning meeting of the Christian Reformed Church’s sesquicentennial conference in 2007, we’ve begun by wrestling with the question of how an ethnic denomination can have a future once it has assimilated. The CRC was founded by Dutch immigrants and the vast majority of its current members descended from those immigrants (though now 1 in 10 CRC members are Korean). But while our Dutch names are unmistakable, today most CRC members are more American and Canadian than Dutch. As one member said, the problem may not be that the CRC is too Dutch (though indeed its historic ethnic insularity is lamentable), the problem may be that the CRC has lost its immigrant identity, an identity that once fostered a strong denominational loyalty and fervent piety. As another member put it, while the CRC once identified with its status as “stranger in a strange land,” now it must find a way to be a “stranger in a familiar land.”
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Friday, July 29, 2005
Imaginative Reading 7: Poetry
Report from Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching, a three-week seminar sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary, hosted by Seminars in Christian Scholarship, and co-led by CTS president Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.:
English Department Professor Susan Felch opened our discussion of poetry this morning (primarily by Jane Kenyon and Robert Frost) with a quote from Jane Kenyon:
“The poet’s job is to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in such a beautiful way that people cannot live without it; to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name… We have the consolation of beauty, of one soul extending to another soul and saying, ‘I’ve been there too.’”
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Thursday, July 28, 2005
Imaginative Reading 6: Norris and Lamott
Today’s seminar discussion covered two provocative books: Dakota by Kathleen Norris and Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. The discussion was lively and a number of difficult questions were raised.
One participant raised this question in our discussion of Dakota: How do we exegete a place?
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Theology of Reformed Worship 4
“What It Means to be Reformed”
This booklet gives three emphases of being Reformed: the doctrinalist emphasis, the pietist emphasis, and the transformationalist emphasis. We used these categories to reflect on theologians throughout class today.
Ostervald, The Liturgy of Neuchatel and Vallangin
We recognized influence from the early church, Calvin, and the Book of Common Prayer tradition.
Ostervald, The Liturgy of the French Protestant Church
•He argued that liturgical structure could be owned and could deepen the practice of the worshipper.
•He added congregational Amen! to increase congregational participation.
•He had shorter, more precise prayers so that people could more easily understand and engage them.
Mercersberg Liturgy, 1857
•This has one of the first references to choir in the official liturgy.
•The confession and assurance has a strong assurance (like Heidelberg) without judgment.
•After the creed, the congregation responds, “Help thou, O Lord, our unbelief!” This scriptural prayer is comfort for those who may struggle with doubt.
•The offering is brought forward before communion instead of the typical end of the service.
•The service ends with an extended blessing.
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Theology of Reformed Worship 3
Order of Low Mass
We pointed out the many similarities between the Mass and the Reformed liturgies we have been reading, but we also examined the key prayer that emphasizes the differences.
The Palatinate Liturgy, 1563
We noted a powerful declaration of grace and absolution.
There is an explicit emphasis of catechism in the sermon. The unity of liturgy and catechism shape preaching, prayer, and teaching. This is demonstrated through a prayer with the elaborations of the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, similar to what we saw in Calvin.
Ursinus, The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism
This document develops careful distinctions about points in the catechism. Following yesterday’s class, we looked at the section on the second commandment.
Taylor, Sacramental Meditations
We looked at a few poems by this Puritan and noted the use of Calvin’s images of nourishing in the Lord’s Supper.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Theology of Reformed Worship 2
Tuesday’s Texts
Zwingli, Zurich Liturgy 1525
•We observed many similarities between the Zurich liturgy and the Catholic mass: early church doxology, use of 4th century Gloria, and kissing the Bible.
•We also noted several differences: plates and cup made of wood, table instead of altar, each person breaks off a mouthful of bread instead of the priest putting a wafer in the person’s mouth.
•Zwingli showed simplicity, delight, creativity, and energy of participation.
Zwingli, An Exposition of the Faith
•The section from Zwingli dispels the typical memorial only caricature and shows his vitality. Among other reasons, he says the sacraments are important because they symbolize “the friendship by which God is reconciled to the human race in and through his Son.” He uses terms of nourishing, gladdening, and uniting.
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Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Theology of Reformed Worship 1
This week John Witvliet will be teaching a week long seminary course on the theology of Reformed Worship. We’ll be studying theological aspects of public worship. John compared our task this week to a bus tour of a mountain range. We’ll be in the actual primary sources ourselves, but we’ll only be getting periodic views. Each day will have a parallel structure of studying the liturgies, some theologians, and specific themes.
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Monday, July 25, 2005
Teaching Worship 10
Now assembled in Christ’s name, all your mercies to proclaim—
in the hearing of your word, in our prayer through Christ our Lord,
in the ministries we share, learning how to serve with care—
in the Spirit let us be one in faith and unity.
SNC 14 vs. 2
We began with the same hymn that we sang on the second day of our seminar. Yet, what we’ve learned through our time together helped us reflect on these words a little bit differently. Likewise, our discussions over the past two weeks informed our reading of 2 Corinthians 9. Reflecting on this passage, we hope that 2 Corinthians 9:12 describes our goal in the daily work we do: “The rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.”
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REC 12
On Sunday our Worship Team, along with the delegates, visited Migrant churches in the city of Rotterdam. This was an intense cultural experience. Some of us worshiped in Russian Orthodox churches, while others joined in Pentecostal worship with immigrants from the Congo. One Roman Catholic Church was half Dutch majority and half immigrants from around the world. Another church that held services in English felt very much like an American evangelical church. The church in Rotterdam is truly diverse! I imagine that worship on any given Sunday in large cities in the US is very similar. It is a tremendous blessing to experience this diversity!
-Paul Ryan
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REC 11
From Emily Brink:
Today the whole group took the bus to Rotterdam to attend migrant churches. In groups of about 10, we each attended parts or all of three different services, then met together for lunch and discussion at the Scots International Church. So many stories!
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Saturday, July 23, 2005
REC 10
I received the following email from Erin Westmaas:
[Last Sunday] I went with 4 other people to a mid-sized church in the country near
Utrecht. Most people in the area are on holiday, so the congregation
was mostly older people and the church wasn’t full. Our host family assured us that most
people were out of town and the church is generally quite full and has more
variety in ages. The worship was mostly in Dutch, except that the pastor
greeted us in English and translated the gist of the scripture readings. For
the afternoon, our host families took us boating on a lake and to their houses
for coffee and dinner.
While we were at the host family’s house on Sunday, Vanlal was talking about
worship renewal in his country (India) and how wonderful it has been that some
Indian churches are beginning to hang onto their own cultural heritage
a bit. They are starting to write their own songs, use some of their
traditional instruments, and not feel as bound by the western traditions originally
brought to them. He feels that this is very important to the church in all cultures,
and that it is essential to making people feel like the church is their own.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Teaching Worship 9
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
God’s mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning, new every morning;
great is your faithfulness, O Lord, great is your faithfulness.
SNC 242
After meditating on Malachi 3, we followed up on the idea of non-negotiables from yesterday’s discussion. We reflected on proverbs about worship instead of laws or requirements. We suggested using other terminology, such as “gifts of the Spirit that we are stewards of,” “treasures,” or Debra’s “things we should not do without.”
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Imaginative Reading 5: A River Runs Through It
Report from Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching, a three-week seminar sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary, hosted by Seminars in Christian Scholarship, and co-led by CTS president Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.:
The conversation in Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching today touched on a number of the themes in Norman MacLean’s A River Runs Through It. One idea that was developed by a number of the participants was the idea of being able to accept help.
The conversation focused especially on the narrator’s relationship to his brother Paul, who struggles with gambling and alcohol addictions. I noted a number of relevant points on this topic:
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Imaginative Reading 4: Children’s Literature
Today in Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching, Professor Gary Schmidt joined us to lead a discussion on children’s literature. Dr. Schmidt discussed the importance of the art in picture books and children’s books, and the importance of selecting good ones for our children. Highlights included an introduction to a number of recommended books for children (and adults), and a discussion his most recent book, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.
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Imaginative Reading 3: Silence
“In the end, what can be said about Silence?” Hulitt Gloer began the discussion of Shusako Endo’s thought-provoking novel about a 17th Century Portuguese priest in Japan at a time when Christians were being persecuted. The conversation was structured mainly around questions and comparisons.
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