"It is possible that, some day soon, an advertising man who must create a television commercial for a new California Chardonnay will have the following inspiration: Jesus is standing alone in a desert oasis. A gentle breeze flutters the leaves of the stately palms behind him. Soft Mideastern music caresses the air. Jesus holds in […]
"The Lord be with you." "And with thy spirit." There are Episcopalians and then there are Episcopalians. "The Lord is in his holy temple: Let all the earth keep silence before him." Some Episcopalians are recently converted Baptists. They are like famished people who have been adrift three months in a life raft. When they […]
Some weeks ago I attended a worship service in another state. While I was reading through the bulletin and looking at the order of worship, I was surprised to see a section of the service that had just the heading "P&W." I knew that I was getting old and was out of touch, but I […]
One of the common ways of configuring the world of American Protestantism is to divide it along the lines of worship practice. Accordingly, there are liturgical and non-liturgical churches. What makes communions liturgical is their use of prayer books, set forms for worship, ministers dressing in garb different from the congregation (gowns or robes), an […]
Recently, I have been thinking through the possibilities of a modern Reformed liturgy. After working through the trail of worship books from the Old World to the New, from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, the following service resulted and is one of three forms we now use. It is not imposed on the folks […]
The Two-Fold Word "The Word of God is living and active" (Heb 4:12), the "Spirit-ed," exhalation out of the mouth of God, who breaths out his life-giving breath into lifeless clay and makes man a living being. Through the Word all things were created, and by the same Word all creation is sustained and preserved. […]
If anyone had told me that I would one day write an article defending any kind of liturgy, much less something called "Reformed liturgy," I would have politely changed the subject. But here I am, writing that very article and almost giddy with enthusiasm for the project. If the reader will permit a bit of […]
Many people who are interested in the Reformation are also interested in liturgy. This surprises some people, since they think that the Protestant Reformation was instituted to get rid of all of that "Papist claptrap." If anything, they believe, where the Reformation left vestiges of Catholic ritual, the Reformation was incomplete. Reformation means getting rid […]
