I'm glad to be back blogging; my time has been short owing to teaching, grading, etc. At this point, I want to narrow our focus while still building from the scriptural law of worship, which I have argued is a historic Baptist doctrine. The question I want to explore now is: what is included in a Christian worship service? To state this question another way: what are the element of New Covenant worship services?
Using the confession as a guide, the Westminster Confession lists the elements of worship as: prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, the preaching of the Scriptures, the conscionable hearing of the Scriptures (both read and taught), the singing of psalms, and the adminstration and receiving of the sacraments. The Directory of Worship written by the Westminster Divines in 1645 states the same elements.
Again, the London Baptist Confession repeats the Westminster Confession on this issue with the exception that it states that the singing should of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs drawing directly from Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. Though it seems pretty innocuous, this extension signified that Baptists believed in singing more than the biblical pslams in worship; they believed it was warranted to sing hymns of human composition. This is a discussion I'll take up in the future.
From the confessions, we see that both Baptists and Reformed Presbyterians share the same liturgical commitments. When we look at worship now, especially in African American Baptist churches, we see a great divergence. African American Baptists have gone far from the simple Reformed Protestant liturgy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
>"the Westminster Confession lists the elements of worship as"
If you're ging extra-Biblical, consider also Justin the Martyr's description of worship by early Christians:
"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.
Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.
And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration."
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-firstapology.html
Timothy, I've read this text before, and it does speak to the simplicity of post-apostolic worship. I would argue that using the Westminster Confession is strictly not going extra-biblical since the confession draws directly from the Holy Scriptures. I get your point, and I have used historical texts (extra-biblical) to find a locus of how early Christians worshiped.
Post a Comment