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.
On Monday highlights included:
Calvin’s liturgy, 1545.
•Calvin emphasizes taking the words spoken in worship as one’s own. Worshippers are not intended to sit and do their own prayers but to participate actively.
•As a response to forgiveness of sins, the congregation sings the Commandments. This shows Calvin’s view of the law as a guide to grateful living.
•Calvin’s “long” prayer uses the same language that he used to teach about prayer, which shows that teaching prepares for worship.
Calvin’s sermon on 2 Samuel 6, “The True Worship of God”
•Calvin uses vertical language. In worship God comes down to us so that we might rise up to him. We cannot lift ourselves up to God.
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
•We looked at four antonyms for worship: idolatry, superstition, hypocrisy, and disobedience.
•We looked at Calvin’s emphasis on each person of the trinity, particularly the essential role of the Holy Spirit as the “sole author” of faith.
•For Calvin, the Lord’s Supper was a nourishing, perpetual, life-giving meal.
•Calvin recognizes the mystery of God.
Zwingli, An Exposition of the Christian Faith
•“To eat the body of Christ sacramentally is to eat the body of Christ with the heart and the mind in conjunction with the sacrament.”
•Zwingli and Calvin both emphasize the heart and the mind.
Themes: Trinity and Ascension
Trinity: A temptation in worship is to become “functionally Unitarian,” to think that the role of God in worship is only to receive our worship. But God is the one who receives our worship, perfects our worship, and prompts our worship.
•Witvliet, “The Trinitarian DNA of Christian Worship”
Ascension: If we do not fully appreciate the humanity and mediation of Christ, the focus in worship and prayer becomes on us and what we do instead of Christ, what he has done, and what he is doing. Since Christ is perfecting our worship, we have freedom. We don’t have to worry about perfection or our talents. We can offer ourselves freely, joyfully, expectantly.
•Spinks, “The Ascension and Vicarious Humanity of Christ”
•Redding, Prayer and the Priesthood of Christ in the Reformed Tradition
•Dawson, Jesus Ascended
•Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia
Events • Interdisciplinary Application • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink