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Our Worship There are many discussions and debates in what we call in the reformed world, the "worship wars." There are strong opinions and arguments for traditional, "historic" worship (with attention to traditional liturgies, prayers, use of the church calendar, etc.),
and for contemporary, "relevant" or "blended" worship (with attention to contemporary music styles, tastes, and culture).
Equally important is the Reformed argument for the so-called Puritan "Regulative Principle of Worship," that is that the Scripture alone should be our sufficient guide for worship and where it speaks to worship, we should definitely say "Amen!" and where it is silent, should we likewise be.
This approach to the elements of Christian worship is typical of Mennonite,
Congregational and historic Baptist churches. This is in contrast to the Anglican and Lutheran position on worship that what is not forbidden in Scripture is allowable for worship.
The Covenantal Principle of Worship
Rock Presbyterian Church takes a moderating position between the Puritans and Anglicans. Our philosophy of worship is called the "Covenantal Principle of Worship." This approach recognizes the sufficiency of Holy Scripture to guide our worship and inform our worship, but it does not view Holy Scripture as a legal text with which to deduce the
form of new covenant worship. For example, the Puritans eschewed observing the church calendar precisely because there is no command to observe it. However, Paul commends those who observe special days "unto the Lord" (Rom. 14). Equally, the Lord Jesus observed a Jewish day of remembrance--Hanukkah-- a day neither mentioned in the Law of God, nor anywhere commanded to be observed (See John 10:22ff).
The Worship Renewal Movement
In recent days there has been
interest in a recovery of the Christian tradition of liturgical worship among
Presbyterians. Scottish Presbyterianism as noted above held a moderate position
between Anglicanism and Puritanism. John Knox's liturgy of worship, what has now
become the Book of Common Order in the Church of Scotland, was replaced
by the Westminster Directory of Worship, document of suggested forms rather than
fixed prayers. The worship of American Presbyterianism worship is very close to
the Puritans in England, who had a great influence in the development of the
American Presbyterian tradition. The worship at Rock
Presbyterian Church therefore follows the Scottish tradition before the Puritan
reforms.
In the
1960's, there was a renewed interest in the mainline churches for "high-church
worship" in recovering historic fixed formularies and the Christian calendar.
Efforts were made at a common collection of texts for a “revised common
lectionary” in the mainline churches, based upon the Anglican Book of Common
Prayer and the innovations of Vatican II, 1965. There was equally
renewed interest in returning to the European wearing of clerical dress and the
use of vestments for high church Episcopal priests and Anglo-Catholics and
Lutheran ministers.
The Minister is Not a Priest
The Presbyterian faction in
England as well as the Second Reformation in Scotland was distinctly Calvinist
with regard to the sacraments and hence, with regard to the understanding of the
office of the clergy. The Teaching Elder is not a mediating priest, who does
not “pronounce” absolution for sins, nor does he have power conferred upon him
to mediate grace so that the Eucharist in some mystical sense is transformed,
accidental or otherwise to the actual Body and Blood of Christ. Thus, we affirm
the real presence of Christ with us by faith, we commune with Him in our
fellowship one with another and in Him by the Holy Spirit.
The Teaching Elder has been
set apart by the presbytery with authority to guard and distribute the
sacraments (hence, he is a “steward of the mysteries,” cf. 1 Cor. 4.1) under the
authority of the local Session and with such authority to powerfully communicate
the Gospel, perform marriages, funerals and pronounce the Benediction. This
self-conscious understanding of ordination drives the reformed minister to see
himself as under the authority of the Word of God; himself in need of an
assurance of pardon, as much as anyone else. This is informed by biblical
doctrine of the imputation of Christ’s active and passive obedience, not an
“infused grace,” as in Roman Catholic theology. The authority of the presbytery
has been imputed or given to the Teaching Elder; he is under the covering of the
presbytery as much as he is under the covering of Christ’s finished work for his
sin.
The Geneva Gown verses
Vestments
The Reformed movement,
based upon John Calvin’s lead, preferred the simple dress of the academic gown to identify the Teaching Elder. As noted above, this
was so because of the self-conscious understanding of the office of the clergy.
He is not a priest; hence he does not wear vestments as mirrored in Leviticus.
Many in the Reformed tradition, particularly the Church of Scotland, wore (and
still wear) the cassock (the parish "house-coat") underneath the preaching gown,
with accompanying stole (identifying ordination), academic hood and preaching
bands (two white strips of cloth on the collar, symbolizing the Law and the
Gospel; it is the precursor to the modern neck-tie). This is the standard
dress for ministers
at Rock Presbyterian Church.
For interesting discussions on the use of the Christian Year and "ceremonies"
and robes in the Church:
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Our Theology of Worship
Covenant theology is a Biblical theology, in that it
emphasizes that God has worked in human history by means of covenantal
relationships (with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David) and those covenants
have been updated and finalized in the giving of the New Covenant by Christ
Jesus, the Lord of the Covenant. One of the chief assumptions as noted below is
that New Covenant worship that is truly worship should reflect the pattern of
Temple worship analogically. The Temple in Scripture is the Body of God in the
Earth and becomes a motif in the New Testament scriptures for describing the
Church as the people of God.
When the people of God
gather on the New Covenant Sabbath (Heb. 4.9), we come to the fulfillment of the
hopes and realities of the Temple institution; to heaven, to the presence of the
Trinity, to adore and worship as His Word sufficiently dictates to renew
the covenant that God made with Abraham, with a sacrifice much superior to his
or any lamb or goat, we meet at the Table of the Lord, the very peace offering
made by Christ Himself to be nourished by Him, a picture of the eschatological
banquet in heaven
We
are the sacrifices of the new covenant; sacrifices are not abolished, they are
transformed; sacrifices are still made, but not in a Temple in Jerusalem, but in
the presentation of our bodies for worship every Lord’s Day in the heavenly
Jerusalem. Our bodies, unlike the sacrifices of the Old Covenant are not
consumed in fire, but offered wholly and renewed mind, body and spirit by God
for His service. (Rom. 12.1-4). Paul tells the reader that this new covenant
worship is reasonable, that is, Christian worship is intelligible, orderly and
specifically mirrors that of the Old Temple. Jesus as mediator of a new
and better covenant has established the form of new covenant worship:
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A New Temple: Jesus, as the new and final Temple of God; and His Body
the local church.
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New Jerusalem: worship is not tied to the physical Jerusalem, but
Hebrews 12 says that we are brought to heaven on the Lord’s Day for worship
to meet with God, the angels and martyrs as the Temple of the Lord in
heavenly places.
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New Sacrifices: of praise, discipleship, of giving and service to
others
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New Sabbath and Feast days– the Lord’s Day is the proper day of
worship and rest in the new covenant. (Heb. 10.24).
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New Passover: “as often as you celebrate it, do this in remembrance
of me” – this new Passover is about a new exodus from sin through a new
law-giver Jesus the King Messiah.
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New Covenant Sign: circumcision
was limited to male Israelites who represented their families to God;
baptism is universal, given to all who profess Jesus as Lord and is to be
given as the sign of the new covenant to their children, replacing
circumcision; it is now therefore the Biblical requirement for access to the
new covenant Passover, the Eucharist.
Signs, Seals and the Covenant of Grace
Moreover, there is a covenantal structure to baptism, the Lord’s Supper,
Marriage, church membership, church discipline, ordination, etc. All of these
rites and services assume a covenantal connection between the sign and the thing
signified; between baptism and salvation; between the Eucharist and the presence
of the Lord Jesus; between marriage and the Trinity; also between baptism and
the visible church; between the Lord’s Supper and the visible church. These are
not just symbols: God does meet us by faith in the discipline of prayer,
the Scripture, baptism and the Eucharist, for these are real means of grace—the
gifts of God for the people of God.
But the covenant itself does not guarantee
the relationship of the believer to God; it defines it and our
responsibilities. God’s relationship to the believer is by His sovereign grace.
He chose a people for himself, the same for whom Christ died and who are
regenerated by the Holy Spirit and given faith to believe, repent and do good
works. The benefits of the covenant come only to those with the eyes of faith.
The covenant is objective, but the benefits are appropriated by faith.
We follow therefore this Biblical-Temple pattern of gathering,
proclamation, response and sending. As we come to Christ, as the new
Temple, on the new Sabbath we are called to worship, we sing songs and psalms,
we hear the Law of God, confess our sins, hear the assurance of pardon, hear
righteous instruction, offer tithes and offerings, confess our faith in the
Triune God, share the paschal meal and receive the benediction for another week
of sweet communion with the covenant Lord and to serve wherever he has called
us.
We desire to keep and maintain that tradition of historic, reformed worship as we seek to glorify God in Christ-centered worship by celebrating the Christian year, expositional preaching, regular use of the sacraments and magnifying the doctrines of grace. |
