Through baptism, we are born into this holy mystery and become God’s royal priesthood serving the world.
This identity as God’s holy people has come to have a place in our Sunday liturgy. Churches experiencing a renewal of
faith are making use of a contemporary version of Cyril’s 4th century liturgy in the words: “Holy things for
holy people. One is holy, one is Lord. Jesus Christ, to the glory of God.” As with so much in worship, there is much
more than meets the eye, or ear as the case may be. These words form a high density creedal statement. I say “high density”
because it uses an economy of words to speak a concentrated truth overflowing with meaning and significance. We affirm
something about ourselves and something about God. There is commonality and there is distinction. We affirm a paradox which
shatters reason because opposites cannot be true except in the God whose own triune nature is a paradox. So the church
professes what it can only partially speak but never explain much less defend by logic. The church affirms the amazing truth
that the holy God shares through Christ God’s own nature without dissolving the fundamental relationship of Lover and
beloved. Here is a translation of the text from Cyril of Jerusalem on which our contemporary affirmation is based:
After this the bishop says, “Holy things to the holy.” Holy are the offerings which have been laid here and on which the
Holy Spirit has descended. Holy, too, are you who have been judged worthy of the Holy Spirit. The holy things, then, are
for those who are holy.
You then say: “One alone is holy, one alone is Lord: Jesus Christ.” Yes, truly is he alone holy, and he is so by nature.
We too are holy, not by nature, but by participation as well as by the exercise of the virtues and by prayer. — Catechetical
Lecture 23:19
Gods’ holiness which is shared with us belongs to the same mystery as God’s love itself. And it is freely offered us in
every liturgy, in the Word proclaimed - “Holy wisdom, holy word” and in the holy supper where we pray, “Lord, we pray that
in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us, and upon these gifts, sanctifying them and showing them to
be holy gifts for your holy people.” (4th century Great Thanksgiving of Saint Basil and his Alexandrine liturgy as found in
the Book of Common Worship).
Let us prepare our hearts for God’s lavish gifts to be received and lived for the
sake of the world.
David
March 23, 2007
Beginning with Passion/Palm Sunday, WPPC will enter an extended season of using the “traditional” version of
the Lord’s Prayer (hereafter LP). This comes after having used the Ecumenical version (spoken and sung) since
last September. During this time, our practice of using the Ecumenical version has opened us up to new
understandings as well as strongly held feelings associated with the language of this prayer. In this article,
I would like to reflect on some of what I have learned from our worship experience and in conversations with
many of you. What follows are some tentative reflections that are intended to be part of a continuing
conversation not a final word.
First, we have strong emotions attached to the language we use in praying the LP. For many of us, the LP is the
first prayer we learned to pray. Indeed, we learned the words at such a young age that we have no memory of
ever not knowing it. Since the prayer is rooted in the deepest recesses of our being, contemporary language
can be disruptive because our hearts and minds remember different words from those being said by everyone
else. This disruption can actually get in the way of our praying and cause us to become upset. Whereas we
have been used to saying the prayer by heart, we dislike having to read from a paper a prayer we’ve known all
our lives. When strong emotions get stirred like this, it is hard for even the most open minded to be receptive
to learning another way to pray the prayer.
Second; the percentage of cradle Presbyterians is in decline. More and more of our members are drawn from other
churches or no church at all and have no attachment to saying “debts and debtors.” Those from a Methodist,
Lutheran, Episcopalian, or Roman Catholic background are more accustomed to saying, “trespasses.” Rather than
a congregation stumbling over this portion of the prayer, some folks find the Ecumenical version an improvement
with its reference to “sins.” It makes sense to these people that we gradually move from more archaic language
to language that is more clearly understood. Similarly, the Ecumenical version offers an improvement by
replacing the Elizabethan “Thees” and “Thous” with “You” and “Your.”
Third; greater numbers of people are coming with little or no childhood background in a church. For them, the
language of the liturgy is being learned for the first time. For them, there is no conflict between traditional
and contemporary forms. It makes sense to learn prayers in the vernacular of everyday speech.
Fourth; the liturgy is the place where our children learn to pray. It makes sense to ask about the most helpful
language to give them. Which version might best equip our young ones to live their faith in the decades to come?
If we think there is value for them to know the more contemporary version, then our liturgy will need to make
some use of the Ecumenical LP to help plant the words in their hearts. This reality brings us to an unavoidable
tension that it true of many things in worship. Making it possible for new practices to become second nature to
the youngest generation will mean experiencing some discomfort among the older ones of us who have known
something different all our lives. The secret is finding the right balance and compromise. This takes pastoral
wisdom but it also challenges each of us to ask about whether we are putting the community first or our own
personal likes and dislikes. It is important for us to remember that the liturgy is a celebration of what God
has done, is doing, and will do in us and the world. It is not a time for us to retreat into a religious
experience of the way things were. In a culture of consumerism which depends on giving the customer what he or
she wants (e.g. “The customer is always right!”), the body of Christ at worship is always about the “we” rather
than the “me.”
Fifth; the LP is a sign of our oneness in Christ despite all our denominational differences. Since ancient
times, the LP was regarded as part of the deposit of faith which the church handed over to catechumens who
were preparing for baptism. The LP is the prayer of the baptized. In this present time of sacramental renewal,
we affirm our common baptism as a sign of unity even though we can not all eat at one Lord’s table. Praying
the LP with common language is a symbol of this unity.
Sixth; singing the LP offers a way to more deeply experience its meaning. Augustine said that when we sing we
pray twice. Since the liturgy is more akin to poetry than lecture, singing words we have heard spoken is part
of reclaiming the essential musicality of the liturgical forms. With time and practice, singing the prayer has
come to have meaning for many at WPPC. Singing (as with hymns) has the power to fuse separate persons into a
single worshiping body. Singing the LP also helps overcome some of the stumbling that occurs when we speak the
Ecumenical version since several of the lines are only slightly different from the traditional version. It
appears that singing is able to offer our church a valuable experience of being a community together in praying
the LP.
Seventh; all solutions will require some give and take from everyone. We call this “compromise.” What I have
called being liturgically “bilingual” is such a compromise. I have advocated that Christians today are well
served if we can learn the words to both versions and take joy in doing so, not because the prayer is being
prayed in my favorite version but because in praying a common text I am united with my sisters and brothers
who pray the prayer with me. One compromise experimented with here at WPPC has been to invite persons to pray
the prayer in the version of their choice even if what is printed in the worship aid is something different.
Such freedom is important because no one should ever be compelled to participate in the liturgy. One drawback
is that this practice undercuts the experience of hearing the whole assembly pray a common text. This may or
may not be important depending on how you view it. In some places where many native languages are spoken,
worshipers are invited to pray the LP in their own tongue. Hearing and praying together in this way, with
many languages simultaneously, has been a powerful experience bearing witness to our diversity within a
common unity.
Drawing upon my best pastoral insight and wisdom, I believe it is important to de-escalate any tension between
the two versions of the LP as if they were in competition with one another. At the same time, I am trying to
help us all experience what the Ecumenical version has to offer to offer our faith as we use it alongside
the traditional version. I believe WPPC is best served when it makes use of both versions of the LP having
periods, or “seasons” of use when one and then the other is the principal form in the liturgy. Reflecting
on our experience with the LP has been a learning experience for me and many of you have been helpful in
this regard. I hope each of you will be open to discovering even deeper riches of this prayer which feeds the
faith of our common baptism. I share these thoughts in the hope that they are helpful and invite you to
continue the conversation with me in person or via email.
Grace and peace.
David
March 23, 2007
"Time to spend?" "Retailers roll out holiday ad campaigns." "Holiday
battle has heated up for discounters." – These are the headlines featured
in the Dallas Morning News for Wednesday, November 23, 2005. One national
retailer is quoted as saying, "We're prepared for a violent peak [in
shopping] at the end [of the season]." What if I told you that I knew a
way to become immunized against the frenzy of the holiday rush? What if
there was a way to savor the spiritual riches of this yuletide but that
it would involve going against the grain of popular culture? Would you
be willing to surrender yourself to this opportunity?
Advent is "Alien"
Advent, though alien to our culture's commercial celebration of December's
festival, feeds the soul by converting our want for material prosperity to
a deeper desire for God.
Advent is about longing; about dwelling in the place between promise and
fulfillment. Advent patiently seeks to form in us a healthy suspicion of all
who make overreaching promises that offer too much too easily and make the
mistake of confusing seasonal wants with human need.
Do not expect to find our culture with its thinning Christian veneer to have
much interest in Advent. In truth, Advent's intent is at odds with the purpose
of retailers and their stockholders whose success depends upon our consent to
excess.
Only among those who have died and been raised with Christ will you find persons
willing to serve as watchmen telling of the night. Just about everywhere else,
a premature jubilate makes its appearance even before the jack-o-lanterns have
been put away.
Tempted by the Past
In a year filled with as much tragic news as we have had, it takes great courage
to look in the eyes of the world's suffering and proclaim God's hope. We know how
tempting it is to look away, let ourselves be distracted, and take refuge in the
comfort of a nostalgic Christmas Norman Rockwell style. Christmas without Advent
permits us to do just that, get lost in memories of chestnuts roasting on an open
fire even if we have never seen or eaten one.
Called to Hope
To be baptized is to be called to hope for ourselves and for the world. Hope is
a sturdy virtue because it must suffer waiting, postponement, and the doubts
which arise when it seems that hope's reward will not appear. There are some who
say that our situation is one in which people have lost their capacity to hope.
What do you think? Could this help explain the immense popularity of the "left
behind" phenomenon? In times of war, disaster, and fear it might be easier to believe
in some sort of divine evacuation for true believers than the promise of an earth
made new. Yet this promise lies at the heart of Advent and, without time to dwell
in such promise, we cannot hold fast against the contrary winds of our age.
Advent Liturgy: A Common Purpose
For this reason, the church's liturgy during Advent deliberately restrains itself
from prematurely celebrating the joy of Christmas so that we might live with longing.
Like pregnant Mary herself, we allow hope to grow inside us while accepting
discomfort and sometimes wishing it were over. Yet, we discover our lives more
deeply blessed as Advent anticipation is surpassed in the fulfillment of Christ's nativity.
Advent Hymns: Singing our Hope
The power of song is that it forms both mind and heart. By sinking its roots in memory,
song caresses the soul over a life-time. Advent is the school of hope. With Advent hymns
we sing God's promised future into the present and find ourselves strengthened against
the temptation to despair. While society around us has already moved from Halloween to
Christmas, the church embraces the discipline of waiting and restraint because we know
that we journey in the land between promise and fulfillment. To know God is to desire
God and to discover again and again the not enough of our faith. So we long for more
of God, more of God's promised well-being for ourselves and our world. Of all the music
of Advent, the O Antiphons express the depth of this longing.
The O Antiphons
With the people of God past and present, we sing our longing for God's promised coming.
This hymn captures the deep mystery of Advent by nurturing in us a holy desire for the
redemption of the world.
The Canticle of Simeon
John Calvin's Geneva liturgy concluded each week the assembly singing the praise of God
whose promised salvation has dawned in Christ. Simeon was told he would see this salvation
before his life ended. We, too, having seen the dawn of this salvation, hold fast the
promise of its fulfillment in the plan of God for the world. During Advent, we are sent
into the world with this praise on our lips.
Worship Space in Advent: Visualizing Hope
Space speaks. The space we inhabit for our worship has its own contribution to make to our
Advent liturgy. Thus, Advent's expectation visually translates into the color of blue in all
its hues. As our worship space itself is progressively transformed week by week, so our
patience with God's unfolding salvation grows.
Let your eyes feed upon the changing colors and the evocative symbols of Advent, especially
the finely crafted O Antiphon banners that accumulate week by week. Make each antiphon your
own prayer of longing for the fullness of God. Each banner depicts the Incarnate Son of God
with the divine titles of Wisdom (Prov 8; 9), Lord of Might (Ex 3), Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1),
Key of David (Rev 3:7), Dayspring (Malachi 4:2), Desire of Nations (Rev 15:3), and Emmanuel
(Isaiah 7:14).
Advent Scriptures
The organizing principle of the liturgy is the lectionary, an ecumenically agreed upon course
of scripture readings that call the church to enter the sacred time of salvation history. In
Advent we do not pretend we are living in the time before Christ's birth; we take into our own
lives the same longing for God's coming which has marked the people of God for all time. Thus,
Advent prepares in us a readiness for all Christ's comings including his comings in our daily
lives, in the meal we call Eucharist, his coming at the end of our individual lives, and his
final coming at the End of history. What we read in scripture we enact ritually in the lighting
of the Advent Wreath. Together, they invite us to enter more fully the mystery of God's promised coming.
Advent Eucharist: Eating the Promise
In the Lord's Supper we confront the paradox of faith: Christ is both present and absent. We
celebrate the presence of Christ in bread and wine while, at the same time, pray for Christ
coming again with the ancient cry, "Maranatha, come Lord Jesus!" For this reason, the Apostle
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim
the saving death of the risen Lord until he comes." Coming to the Lord's table we eat the meal
that deepens hunger for the day when all the nations will gather at the great feast at the end of
history. Thus, Advent Eucharist directs us to a future already dawning in our present.
You are Invited!
The gift of Advent includes its invitation to live against the grain of our culture. Though we
might feel as if we are somehow missing out, what we discover is a gift of grace, the grace of
hope for our suffering world.
© David B. Batchelder, 2005
Did you know that the Book of Common Worship never uses the language
"confirmation" in or for the service when our youth join the church?
Does this strike you as strange? You may have noticed that the actual
liturgy always speaks of this rite as "Reaffirmation of the Baptismal
Covenant." This is because our youth are affirming the faith of their
baptism. They are not ADDING to their baptism but DEEPENING its meaning
and claim upon their lives.
The ministry of confirmation, therefore, is always connected to God's
prior claim in baptism leading to study, discussion and activities that
contribute to DEEPENING baptismal living. Makes sense, doesn't it?
But this is not how I grew up as a Presbyterian. In fact, I never went
through confirmation but through Communicant's Class. In those days
long ago, you were not permitted to receive communion until you passed the
class. Hence, the name "Communicants." This struck some Presbyterians
as a contradiction, however, They asked, do I not become a full child of
God when baptized? Is something missing that baptism doesn't provide?
Then, why can't I come to the table if I am baptized but not yet an
adult member of the church? Very good question. In fact, these
questions exposed a theological inconsistency leading to changed practice. Hence,
all the baptized are welcome to the table where God's children are fed.
So, if it's no longer Communicants Class, what is it? Hence, leaders
latched onto the name "Confirmation" because youth are "confirming"
their faith. So for thirty or more years we have been using this
language but not without doubts and concerns. First the doubts: Isn't
it God the Holy Spirit who confirms faith when faith is professed? Doesn't
this first happen at baptism itself when the minister says, "You have
been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ's own
forever?" Moreover, doesn't the Spirit confirm our faith over and over
all our lives long? The answer to these questions is "Yes!" leading
people to wonder if what we're doing in confirmation is not a matter of
something by the wrong name.
The concerns for confirmation have had to do with the way confirmation
is seen by families of youth in the church. Thankfully, there are many
who take very seriously this time of learning and faith discovery. Yet
it must be admitted that there are just as many who come out of the
woodwork at confirmation age only to disappear after they are
"confirmed." Some have spoken of "confirmation" as a rite of exodus
from the church because the church never sees them again until later into
adulthood when they come back to be married. Those who have studied
this closely have noticed that confirmation is seen more as a destination to
be reached rather than one event in the life-long process of being
formed in the faith of baptism. As a result, there is a movement to
balance what happens in the year long study with youth so that it
emphasizes living the faith as much as knowing it, practicing spiritual
habits as much as being able to name them, deepening the relationship
with God as much as pondering the depths of faith's mysteries. WPPC has
been moving in this direction for several years, that is, a movement in
the direction of forming youth in the faith of their baptism.
It has occurred to us that if this is what confirmation REALLY is
anyway, if the name "confirmation" inaccurately describes what this
ministry means, and if the liturgy we have been using in receiving
youth is a service of reaffirmation of baptism, then we would be best served
by shifting to language that describes what we mean by this ministry.
We have settled on FYF - Forming Youth in the Faith. Quite apart from
taking anything away from this ministry, this new language enhances
meaning and understanding concerning what we are about in the church.
Those of you, like myself, who joined the church as youth under a
different name (whether Communicants' Class or Confirmation) can
readily trace the genealogy of our present ministry to its earlier forms and
see that it retains the focus it has always had, namely, leading our youth
to a deepened understanding and practice of the faith into which they
were baptized.
Thanks be to God!
David
© David B. Batchelder, 2004
During Advent we will not make use of the creed as is our customary practice. Instead, we will allow the
Eucharistic Prayer to function in its creedal/thanksgiving capacity which was the pattern in worship prior
to the 5th and 6th centuries when the Nicene Creed made its first appearance in the liturgy. The comments
below may help better inform us.
"Table blessings, whether in public or private, … are the true creeds of our common life, as they set the ordinary
in the context of a larger story, the story of our lives within the purposes of God. Prayers, not creeds, speak the
elemental language of faith." [Burkhart, John E. "Reshaping Table Blessings." Interpretation. 48:1, January 1994, 58.]
"Like so many other later additions to the liturgy, the creed is really superfluous. The eucharistic prayer itself,
with its account of salvation history and its repetition of the banquet of the New Covenant, is an entirely sufficient
profession of faith." [Robert Taft as quoted in Alexander, J. Neil Ed., Louis Weil, "Proclamation of Faith in the Eucharist,
"Time and Community. Pastoral Press, 1990, 283.]
"The eucharistic prayer functioned for centuries as the Church’s chief summary of faith. Beside it, a creed was redundant.
It was a sign of forgetfulness when the Church in the West finally incorporated the creed in the mass. It meant that the
church had forgotten what the eucharistic prayer was all about. Not until the early eleventh century did Rome yield to
pressure and add the Nicene Creed to the mass. By then, no one sensed the redundancy of doubling the eucharistic prayer.
It indicated that the Jewish roots of the prayer had finally shriveled up altogether. [James F. White "Function and Form
of the Eucharistic Prayer." Reformed Liturgy & Music, XVI:1 Winter 1982, 18-21.]
"During the first centuries of the church’s existence it was clearly understood, in keeping with the tradition of
Jewish mealtime prayers, that the creed of the Eucharist was the eucharistic prayer ... The use of the Nicene Creed in
the Eucharist seems to have been among the Monophysite heretics late in the fifth century or early in the sixth."
[Hatchett, J. Marian. Commentary on the American Prayer Book. Harper San Francisco, 1995.]
© David B. Batchelder, 2004
Worship (liturgical practice) makes a distinction between that which is "essential" and that which is "secondary."
That which is "secondary" is called, from the Greek, "adiaphora," meaning, indifferent. The use of candles, for
instance, falls into this category. So, also, is the matter of when servers of communion are served.
The longest tradition in the church, built on I Corinthians 11:23 ("For I received from the Lord what I also handed
on to you, ... "), is that one cannot give what one has not first received. Following this practice in Geneva, John Calvin
directed his elders to be served first before serving the congregation. In our own time, the advantage to this practice is
that any new form of receiving the bread and wine can be modeled by the servers before serving the congregation.
The other practice for receiving the elements is for the servers to be served after the congregations. Our changed
culture context has caused many to consider the value of this practice. In a time when everyone wants to be first,
few are willing to give their place up for another, and serving others before attending to my own needs is increasingly
rare, this practice reflects an important aspect of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, churches are recovering
the important understanding that Holy Communion is actually a meal having its origins in the dining habits of Jesus who
regularly ate with sinners and invested all his meals with Kingdom values. Thus, serving others before being served
corresponds to an ethic of gracious hospitality.
As we continue to reflect on what we do in worship and what it means, we believe this latter meaning is important to
make visible in our worship here at WPPC. Thus have we altered our practice to serving those who serve last at our
celebrations of the Lord’s Supper.
© David B. Batchelder, 2004
In his classic book, Elements of Rite, Aidan Kavanaugh writes, "The liturgy, like the feast, exists not to educate
but to seduce people into participating in common activity of the highest order, where one is freed to learn things that
cannot be taught" (Pueblo, 28). The truth of this statement came home to me when I was serving a Presbyterian Church in
Whitehall, Pennsylvania and had born to me and Nancy our twin boys, Scott and John. I had become disturbed with various
"alternative" programs to which children were being "sent" while the rest of the congregation worshiped. The birth of
our twins compelled me to ponder the deeper wisdom of the larger church catholic, that worship is the place where we learn
what cannot be taught. Though educating for worship is of immense importance, this "education" must never stand in the way
of children’s full participation. The Sunday liturgy itself is always "first catechesis," that is, it is where all the baptized,
from youngest to oldest, are formed in a common life of faithfulness.
Beginning in May, WPPC will take another step in its faithfulness to our children by including them in the entire service.
This step is in keeping with our Directory for Worship which states:
Children bring special gifts to worship and grow in the faith through their regular inclusion and participation in the worship
of the congregation ... The session should ensure that regular programs of the church do not prevent children's full
participation with the whole congregation in worship, in Word and Sacrament, on the Lord's Day. [W-3.1004 Children in Worship]
WPPC will continue to provide education in worship from time to time but it will not be offered during the time of the Sunday liturgy. If it is true that
the Sunday assembly includes all the baptized,
the assembly is the primary celebrant of the liturgy,
the liturgy is the primary formative influence in shaping our faith,
the human imagination the incubator for much of the Spirit’s transforming work,
and that children bring essential gifts into our worship that we must not be without,
then having our children as full, active, conscious participants is critical to the spiritual welfare of our church.
Not only does Jesus attach great significance to our welcome of children (see Mark 9:37), the child is the paradigm of
spiritual life (see Mark 10:15).
Therefore, I call upon us all in WPPC to practice the full meaning of baptismal hospitality that affirms and accords a
rightful place for all who have passed through the waters of the font. Let us convey to parents of young children a gracious
and affirming spirit as they attend their little ones. Let us support them in their own pastoral work with their children by
showing patience and understanding as they teach their children by doing the liturgy with them - the liturgy each Lord’s Day.
In May 2002, international leaders from the 190 Member States of the United Nations gathered in New York City for the
Special Session on Children. It was the first such meeting in 12 years. Originally scheduled September 19-21, it was
postponed because of the September 11th attacks. This purpose of this conference was to address how we adults must invest
ourselves in the central role that children play in bringing peace and stability to a world where 28,000 children die every
day. More than 300 children from all over the world participated, in the end producing and presenting to the United Nations
a Vision Statement. In this statement, these children announce:
We are the world’s children.
We are the victims of exploitation and abuse.
We are street children.
We are the children of war.
We are the victims and orphans of HIV/AIDS. . .
We want a world FIT FOR CHILDREN, because a world fit for us is a world fit for EVERYONE. (United Nations’ Website)
In the liturgy, we enact such a world which our worship welcomes children’s full inclusion.
© David B. Batchelder, 2004
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