If the Presbyterian and Reformed world was a piece of real estate, I have occupied a small cottage on the back forty for the past thirty plus years. Indeed it seems as if it is where I live and move and have my being. What follows is something I have observed through these years that troubles me a bit. Please permit me to step out on the front porch of my small cottage to get something off my chest, even if only the dogs, chickens, and Flannery O’Connor’s peacocks are listening.
Today is Palm Sunday and thus the beginning of the annual Holy Week cycle observed by millions of Christians the world over. There will be a large portion of the Presbyterian and Reformed world that will ignore this observance altogether, chiding the rest of us that do observe it, claiming that we are just closet Roman Catholics. These good folks are very Puritan in the non-liturgical, non-church calendar sense. There will be another portion of the P & R world that may give lip service to a Crucifixion and Easter observance, if perchance it can be used to bring “seekers” to a trendy, contemporary service, replete with rock band and casually attired worship leaders. These good folks have little care for tradition and history and are more concerned with what works to cause some aimless, hopeless souls to attend their high octane services on Sunday morning (or, ahem, Saturday night).
For as long as I can remember, I have held a deep appreciation for history and tradition. I believe that the history of the church did not begin in the 16th Century. In spite of the corruptions and accretions of the Late Medieval Church, there was a rich Biblical tradition that proceeded the Reformation that the first generation Reformers themselves sought to rescue. The Roman Catholic Church considers herself to be the “true” church, and all who protested to be heretics. The Reformers wanted to reform, not revolt. Those of us who stand with the Reformers recognize that the tradition, beauty, wonder, liturgy of the Church in the centuries prior to the arrival of a zealous Augustinian monk with hammer, nail, and 95 Theses belong more to us than to Rome. When the more Puritan types ignore the ecclesiastical calendar, the liturgical tradition, etc. that has existed since the early church; when the trendy, contemporary types use any of this tradition only as a tool to attract “seekers”, the net result is the same. Rome wins.
We simply must do better. We must become less reactionary and more actionary (is that a word?). If the reason we do not do something is simply because Rome does, maybe we should consider jettisoning the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Birth of Christ as well. I recently read an article by one of the Puritan types that complained about the encroachment of Roman Catholic practices in Presbyterian worship. One of the examples given was the use of the Agnus Dei (“O Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us”) because it is also used in the Roman Mass. Never mind that it is also the Gospel. Also, if the wealth bequeathed to us by faithful saints, bishops, and martyrs is only useful as one among any number of tools that can be employed to accomplish a desired end, then we’re doing it all wrong.
Much like a person who has inherited a fortune at the death of a rich uncle, we, the children of the Reformation have inherited a beautiful, Biblical liturgical and ecclesiastical tradition that has existed for centuries prior to the Reformation. The question is, what are we going to do with it? Are we going to reject it and turn it over to a cousin who arrogantly claims that it always belonged to him anyway? Or are we going to accept this great wealth, invest it, build upon it, and make it yet more glorious than ever before?
Today is Palm Sunday and thus the beginning of the annual Holy Week cycle observed by millions of Christians the world over. There will be a large portion of the Presbyterian and Reformed world that will ignore this observance altogether, chiding the rest of us that do observe it, claiming that we are just closet Roman Catholics. These good folks are very Puritan in the non-liturgical, non-church calendar sense. There will be another portion of the P & R world that may give lip service to a Crucifixion and Easter observance, if perchance it can be used to bring “seekers” to a trendy, contemporary service, replete with rock band and casually attired worship leaders. These good folks have little care for tradition and history and are more concerned with what works to cause some aimless, hopeless souls to attend their high octane services on Sunday morning (or, ahem, Saturday night).
For as long as I can remember, I have held a deep appreciation for history and tradition. I believe that the history of the church did not begin in the 16th Century. In spite of the corruptions and accretions of the Late Medieval Church, there was a rich Biblical tradition that proceeded the Reformation that the first generation Reformers themselves sought to rescue. The Roman Catholic Church considers herself to be the “true” church, and all who protested to be heretics. The Reformers wanted to reform, not revolt. Those of us who stand with the Reformers recognize that the tradition, beauty, wonder, liturgy of the Church in the centuries prior to the arrival of a zealous Augustinian monk with hammer, nail, and 95 Theses belong more to us than to Rome. When the more Puritan types ignore the ecclesiastical calendar, the liturgical tradition, etc. that has existed since the early church; when the trendy, contemporary types use any of this tradition only as a tool to attract “seekers”, the net result is the same. Rome wins.
We simply must do better. We must become less reactionary and more actionary (is that a word?). If the reason we do not do something is simply because Rome does, maybe we should consider jettisoning the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Birth of Christ as well. I recently read an article by one of the Puritan types that complained about the encroachment of Roman Catholic practices in Presbyterian worship. One of the examples given was the use of the Agnus Dei (“O Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us”) because it is also used in the Roman Mass. Never mind that it is also the Gospel. Also, if the wealth bequeathed to us by faithful saints, bishops, and martyrs is only useful as one among any number of tools that can be employed to accomplish a desired end, then we’re doing it all wrong.
Much like a person who has inherited a fortune at the death of a rich uncle, we, the children of the Reformation have inherited a beautiful, Biblical liturgical and ecclesiastical tradition that has existed for centuries prior to the Reformation. The question is, what are we going to do with it? Are we going to reject it and turn it over to a cousin who arrogantly claims that it always belonged to him anyway? Or are we going to accept this great wealth, invest it, build upon it, and make it yet more glorious than ever before?
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