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Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship StudiesWorship Seminar Notes, June 2010Dr. Simon ChanI. The Glorious ChurchThe Church as the Revelation of the Glory of ChristThe Glory of Christ: Power and CrossJohn 2:11: “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana ofGalilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”Through the miracle Jesus reveals God‟s generosityJohn 12: 23-33: The “hour” for him to be glorified is the hour of his death: the kernelof wheat falling to the ground.v. 32: “lifted up” exaltation; lifted up on the CrossThe revealed glory of God is always manifested in a paradoxical manner.Ex 33:18-23; 34:5-7The church is glorious because she is meant to be like Christ both in “the power of hisresurrection” and in “the fellowship of his suffering” (Phil 3:10).But how is the church to reflect Christ‟s glory?By imitationThrough the work of the triune God: the church is brought into existence by beingspiritually and ontologically linked to the triuneThe Church as the Body of Christ: The totus ChristusWho Christ is, cannot be understand apart from his relation to the One he calls“Father” and to the Paraclete who is sent from the Father in Jesus‟ Name.Jesus and the SpiritJesus‟ relation to the Holy Spirit at the Incarnation and at his baptism illuminates theNT portrayal of Jesus as the Temple of God Immanuel: “God with us” (Mt. 1:22,23):“one greater than the temple is here” (Mt 12:6)John 2:18-21: His body is the templeMt 28:16-20: he promised: I am with you always—“God with us”John sees the coming of Jesus in the flesh as the pitching of God‟s tabernacleamong his people (John 1:14) 2010 by Simon Chan. All rights reserved.-1-
Jesus and the churchThe church‟s most basic identity is defined by her relationship to Jesus Christ. Thisrelationship is established at baptism.Jesus is the most decisive factor of life. We either gain all with him or lose everythingwithout himMatt 10:33: “But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before myFather in heaven.”Luke 14:26: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother Matt 10:34-35: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth The church is instituted by ChristWith bread and wine he established the new covenant with them. He made themthe primary witnesses of his resurrection.John 20:21-23: Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I amsending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the HolySpirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgivethem, they are not forgiven."Authority to proclaim reconciliationThe apostles laid the foundation and were themselves the first “building blocks”of the church and the ones through whom the church came into existence.The church is the “embodied Christ” in the worldJesus is the foundation, but the apostles are also foundations (Rev. 21:14)What happened to Christ could be said to happen to the churchThe suffering church implies that she is not of this world.The church most clearly embodies and reveals Christ in its sufferingConclusionTo be the body of Christ is to be called to reflect the glory of Christ, a glorymanifested in power and poverty, meekness and majesty, weakness and authority.-2-
II. The Church as the Communion of the Holy SpiritThere is a Christological and also a pneumatological dimension of the church. The church is instituted by Christ and constituted by the Spirit (Zizioulas) Jesus institutes the church, i.e., establishes the church and gives to the church adistinct identity. Jesus establishes the “legal” status as the Body of Christ.But the Holy Spirit con-stitutes, i.e. brings it together or actualizes the church as avibrant communion.Distinctions: The church is instituted by Christ as the de jure Body, but constituted by the Spirit asthe de facto Body. If the gift of the Spirit in John 20:22 is an institutive act of Jesus, Pentecost is theconstitutive event of the Spirit. The redemptive work of Christ is once-for-all. It is decisive, in the aorist tense,whereas the work of the Holy Spirit is on-going and dynamic. Christ‟s work is a work for us. It is the objective basis of our reconciliation and peacewith God. The Spirit‟s work is a work in us through his indwelling presence.This distinctive work of the Spirit gives rise to an important theological principleconcerning the liturgy: The liturgy, which is the work of the people of God, is also thework of the Spirit.Constituted by the Spirit as a CommunionSummary In Scripture, communion is appropriated to the Holy Spirit, as seen in Paul‟sbenediction in 2 Corinthians: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.” Theologically, the Spirit effects communion by uniting the church to the Christ,making the church the Body of Christ and vivifying the church with his life.The Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life, according to the Nicene Creed. By his indwelling the church becomes “the temple of the Spirit.”In his indwelling the church, the Spirit is revealed as the Third Person of the Trinity.-3-
The Pentecost Event: The Personal Indwelling of the SpiritThe intimate connection between the church and Holy Spirit has been noted throughmuch of church history: In the third article of the Creed the Holy Spirit and the church are linked together. In the Canons of Hippolytus, a third century liturgical document, the question put tocatechumens is: “Do you believe in the Holy Spirit in the catholic church?” Josef Jungmann: The church is the unity of the Holy SpiritThe Communion of SaintsThe essential characteristic of the church is communion: “I believe in the holy catholicchurch, the communion of saints.”Three ways of understanding communion of the Holy SpiritFirst, the Holy Spirit stands as the bond of unity between Father and Son.Second, the Spirit is the communion between the church and the Trinity.Third, the Spirit is the communion between members of the body of Christ.Spirit as Gift and Giver of giftsActualized most supremely in the liturgyThe whole liturgy begins with the coming together from the world and ends with thescattering into the world.The nature of ecclesial communion in the Holy SpiritYves Congar: The Spirit is “the person without a personal face.”The communion of the Holy Spirit in the church is characterized by a certain selfforgetfulness, a personal self-effacement.The same principle applies to the worship of the church.The church images the SpiritIf the Spirit is Gift and Communion, the church reveals the Spirit‟s face by beingGift and Communion.Spirit as Third PersonVladimir Lossky: a relation of two implies “reciprocal limitation,” whereas arelationship of three “establishes absolute diversity” and “open-ended infinity.-4-
In the Spirit-fellowship the primary reality is not individual self-fulfillment oreven mutual enrichment but an ecstatic movement.Ecstasy and Missio DeiJust as the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not satisfied withjust themselves but desires to include the “other,” that is, the church in theTrinitarian communion, the church mirrors the Trinitarian fellowship by beingthe missionary church.Communion expressed in a concrete visible structureCharisma and institution belong together in the church. Institution without charisma isdead; charisma without institution is destructive.Visible structure ordered hierarchically patterned after the Trinitarian hierarchy in which the Father is the source ofboth the unity and the distinction of persons in the TrinityThe very structure of the church enables real communion to take place because it is inthis very structure that we can be liberated from individualismCommunion of the Holy SpiritThe holiness of the communion is the holiness of separation from the world anddevotion to GodThe separation of the church from the world is the very means of the consummationof the world-5-
III. The Church as the Consummation of CreationThe church is called out of this world, but this is not dualism. The world finds itsconsummation in the church.The creation of the world and manThe creation of the world was to prepare for the entrance of man.Man is created free in order that he may freely enter into a relationship of communionwith God.The covenantal relationship takes its most concrete shape in the election of Abraham.The church is what God wanted the world to become. It embraces the non-human andinanimate creation.The scandal of particularityThrough one man Abraham comes a particular nation through whom comes one Man,Jesus Christ, who will ultimately bless the world.The story of salvation did not end with the coming of Christ but continues with thesending of the particular Spirit: the Holy Spirit.Ratzinger, “Dominus Iesus”: rejects the concept of the cosmic Christ that separates theeternal Logos from the incarnate ChristThis is the vision of the church that is most consistently preserved in Orthodoxy:Without limiting the Spirit to the institutional church, we have always to rememberthat the destiny of the whole creation somehow passes through the church, where theworld finds its true meaning and salvation. All this makes the community of thechurch the place where creation is liberated from self-sufficiency and is offered to itsCreator as being “His own.”1The church is intrinsic to the whole process of renewing creationTwo fundamental concepts underlie the Orthodox understanding of the church:1. Personhood as the ultimate ontological category for uniting church and creation2. The doctrine of the church as a divine-human realityPersonhoodOrthodoxy: does not just see persons as relational beings, but more specifically asecclesial beings.1“Orthodox Reflections,” §4e.-6-
Zizioulas: “chain of hypostatic existence”:1. The triune God as the source of personhood and particularity;2. Human persons made in the image of God3. The rest of creation hypostatized by “incorporation in the human being”Vladimir Lossky: The “absolute correspondence of person with a personal God allowshim to „personalize‟ the world. Man no longer saves himself through the universe, but theuniverse is saved through man. For man is the hypostasis of the whole cosmos whichparticipates in his nature.”2Ecological implication: Zizioulas:The Church as koinōnia relates also to the animal and material world as a whole.Perhaps the most urgent mission of the Church today is to become conscious of andto proclaim in the strongest terms the fact that there is an intrinsic communionbetween the human being and its natural environment, a communion that must bebrought into the Church‟s very being in order to receive its fullness.3The whole creation must pass through the church—eucharisticallyThe church as a divine-human realityCatholicism stresses church‟s institutional lifeProtestantism reduces church to sociological phenomenonOrthodoxy stresses both institution and spiritual nature of church, both earthly andheavenly.Divine origin of church seen in various aspects of Orthodox theology1. Liturgy as enactment of worship of heaven; icons2. The Bride of Christ “coming down out of heaven from God (Rev 21:2); a divinehumanityConclusionEucharist, the means for the spiritualization of creationThree visions of the glorious church:1. She is clothed in cruciform glory2. She is the communion of the Holy Spirit, united with Christ by the indwelling Spirit3. She is the sign and means of the consummation of creationThe liturgy is the embodiment and expression of such a church.2Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, trans. Ian and Ihita Kesarcodi-Watson (Crestwood, NY: St.Vladimir Seminary Press, 1989), 71.3John Zizioulas, “The Church as Communion,” St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 38.1 (1994): 13.-7-
IV. The Liturgy as the Actualization of the ChurchKarl Barth:The work of construction in which the community is the true Church is at itscentre the work in which true to its name of ekklesia, the community comestogether as the congregation of the Lord and is at work and confesses and gives itselfto be known as such before God and His angels and the world and not least itself andits individual members. This work is its common worship.4Schmemann, worship is church “manifesting, creating and fulfilling herself as the Bodyof Christ.”5J.-J. von Allmen:[I]t is in the sphere of worship, the sphere par excellence where the life of the Churchcomes into being, that the fact of the Church first emerges. It is there that it givesproof of itself, there where it is focused, and where we are led when we truly seek it,and it is from that point that it goes out into the world to exercise its mission.6von Allmen:Every time the Church assembles to celebrate the cult, to “proclaim the death ofChrist” (1 Cor 11:26), it proclaims also the end of the world and the failure of theworld. It contradicts the world‟s claim to provide men with a valid justification fortheir existence, it renounces the world: it affirms, since it is made up of the baptized,that it is only on the other side of death to this world that life can assume itsmeaning . Christian worship is the strongest denial that can be hurled in face of theworld‟s claim to provide men with an effective and sufficient protest against the prideand the despair of the world than that implied in Church worship.7True worship distinguishes the church as churchThe church‟s defining characteristic is its worshipful response to the call of God to be hispeople.At worship we “glorify” God; and to glorify God and enjoy him forever (communion) isto realize “man‟s chief end.”Worship and liturgyNon-liturgical worshipIn non-liturgical worship the needs of the people determine how the worship is to beconstructed or deconstructed4CD IV/2, 638.Introduction to Liturgical Theology (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir‟s Seminary Press, 1966, 1996), pp. 29,31.6J.-J. von Allmen, Worship Its Theology and Practice (London: Lutterworth, 1965), p. 44.7Worship: Its Theology and Practice (London: Lutterworth, 1966), p. 63.5-8-
monological rather than dialogicalLiturgical worshipThe liturgy seeks to be faithful to this theological given: The revelation of the triune Godsummed up in the Paschal Mystery.1. God reveals himself as the triune God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.2. The focal point of the revelation of the triune God is Jesus Christ and the work ofredemption3. In this work God shows himself to be both loving and holy (the cruciform glory)4. The end of his work is the churchLiturgy as enactmentWe are participating in the fullest sense, “indwelling” the liturgyWe are proclaiming corporately and objectively who God is and not how I feel aboutGod.Liturgical: “Gloria in Excelsis”Non-liturgical: “I Will Worship”The liturgy may be compared to a drama in which all the worshippers are engaged inacting out a given script.The liturgy manifests the faith of the churchActive participants are given a fresh vision of the ChurchIn indwelling the liturgy, we are participating in the faith of the church.Ritus pacis: “Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, mypeace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church and grantus the peace and unity of your kingdom.”In the Western Church, the glorious church seen in the Doxology: “with angels andarchangels and all the heavenly hosts.”In the Eastern Church, the liturgy manifests the solidarity of the church on earth withthe church in heaven: the iconostasis-9-
The form and content of the liturgyDifferences in liturgical traditions: The Paschal Mystery is not understood in the samewayIn mainline Protestantism, liturgical language has actually distorted the orthodoxdoctrine of the Trinity. The language of Father, Son and Spirit conspicuously muted.ConclusionThe liturgy cannot be compromised either in its basic rationale or content. How do we educate the people of God to better appreciate and better participate in theliturgy? How do we carry out the liturgy well so that it will form people as the church of JesusChristLiturgical education is more than liturgical instruction; it requires imagination.- 10 -
V. The Liturgy as TheologyThe development of the liturgy reflects the development of theology. A “liturgy”governed by human needs distorts the worshippers‟ understanding of God.Seen in “contemporary” worship: Christian life is primarily about my personal relationship with God No place for sorrow and weakness God is the “nice guy” A sentimental concept of divine holinessBiblical concept holiness and the divine glory seen in:Isa 6:1-5Job 42:1-6Eze 1:28; 3:23Rev. 1:12-17The traditional liturgy is structured around certain theological “givens” andcommunicates the central truths of the Christian faith.1. It enacts a Trinitarian theology as seen in The opening of the serviceRoman missal: The Pauline benedictionOrthodoxy: “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and the Son, and the HolySpirit.”The Trisagion Hymn of AdorationGloria in Excelsis/ Gloria Patri The collects The Creed The Eucharistic Prayer The Doxology at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer2. It centers in the gospel of Jesus ChristA definition of the liturgy: “The liturgy is making present in word, symbol andsacrament of the paschal mystery of Christ so that through its celebration the men andwomen of today make a saving encounter with God.”88The Study of Liturgy, eds. Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold, SJ, Paul Bradshaw(London: SPCK, 1992), p. 17.- 11 -
The centrality of the gospel seen in The church calendarThe KyrieGloria, Creed and Eucharistic Prayer: Jesus given the longest descriptionThe Memorial Acclamation:Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come againAgnus DeiThe readings and sermonResult: The church becomes a gospel-shaped community3. It reveals God as both loving and holyRom 3:21-26: What God did in Christ reveals the justice of God.In Scripture, God‟s goodness and holiness are juxtaposed: Deut 7:9-11 Deut 10:16-22 Rom 11:22In the liturgy, Confession: “Almighty God, our heavenly Father” (ASB) Collect for purity4. It shows the end of worship to be the creation of the churchLiturgy forms our corporate identity as seen in The “we” of corporate prayer and songsRare exceptions: Two occurrences of “I” in the Roman Missal Prayer of confession Before reception of eucharistic bread and wineThe eucharistic celebrationThe importance of active participationGood liturgy could suffer from bad practice. But practice could occur in “contemporary”services too.Active participation is a demanding exercise. Worshippers should be like good actorswho “indwell” the script of a drama.Promises of the “convergence” movements- 12 -
Liturgical worship in a theological communityAccording to Orthodox theology, dogmatic theology is simply a commentary on theliturgy. The faith of the church is embodied in the normative liturgy.If this is the case, liturgical worship plays a vital role in theological education: Lessons learned in the classroom are enhanced in the chapel The truth enacted in chapel equips us to engage in further theological reflection- 13 -
VI. Liturgy as PracticeA theologically sound liturgy must be soundly implemented. How?Active participation is based on the fact that the liturgy is as much the work of the Spiritas it is the work of the people. Both the Spirit and the people are simultaneously at work:SynergySynergy must be understood in relation to the Eastern concept of human freedom as partof the imago Dei. Freedom is an ontological reality, “the essence of the originalrelationship of love between Creator and creatures (Nikos Nissiotis).Synergy is humans acting freely as humans in response to God‟s initiative in Christ.Respons-ibility is an essential part of human nature before and after the Fall.The liturgy is the work of the Spirit in and through the work of the people of God.The nature of active participationDrawn largely from two post-Vatican II documents: Redemptionis Sacramentusm (RS )and Sacramentum Caritatis (SC)There are a number of important principles to foster active participation which theseDocuments highlight:Flexibility, variety, and creativityThe liturgy is more than a set of words to be recited; it is a drama to be acted outinvolving cognition and imagination.A deep sense of aweThe Eucharist itself, properly understood and well celebrated, would instill a sense ofawe.Other forms of spiritual exercisesLiturgy of the Hours and personal daily devotions are important preparation of activeparticipation.Personal responsibility and attitude“an inner disposition fostered by recollection and silence .” (SC §55)Public and private confession of sin (cf. Ps 24:2, 4)Involvement in the missio DeiProper understandingLiturgical education in the catehumenate is most vital (SC §64)In RCIA the whole initiation process is linked closely to the liturgy.- 14 -
Celebrating the liturgy wellThis is the responsibility of the celebrant: “the best catechesis on theEucharist is theEucharist itself, celebrated well” (SC §64)Personal active participation does not mean that one engages the liturgy for the purposeof one‟s own benefit.The liturgy is not my work alone but the work of the whole people of God. In goodliturgical engagement one so indwells the script that it acts itself through us: an “activepassivity,” not necessarily found in “activism.”It is very similar to contemplative prayer.Beware of a mindless routine. We must be open to the coming of the Holy Spirit “beyondhistory” (Zizioulas). This is why there is a place for a limited number of prayers to theHoly Spirit.ConclusionActive participation based on the doctrine of synergy.Good liturgy integrates the sacramental, evangelical and charismatic dimensions ofworship.The liturgy helps to structure our personal devotions and helps us overcomeindividualism.- 15 -
VII. The Liturgy as the Means and End of MissionIf worship is the response of the church to the work of the triune God which is essentiallymissional, then the liturgy is an enactment of the missio Dei.The ultimate end of mission is not getting people saved but communion with the triuneGod.The church and the mission of GodThe modern church experiences a deep disconnect between worship and mission. It seesworship as a practical arrangement and lacks a theology of worship to link it to mission.Nissiotis: The church witnesses to the Trinitarian event at worship; there is not dichotomybetween a doxological witness and prophetic witness.Worship defines the mission of GodThe NT sets mission in its liturgical contextRom 1:9: “I render to God spiritual service in proclaiming the Gospel of his Son.”Rom 15:15-16: I have written to you boldly because of the grace given me by Godto be a minister (leitourgos) of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service(hierourgõn) of the gospel of God, so that the offering (prosphora) of the gentilesmay be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”Eph 1: 6, 12, 14: Salvation of sinners has to do with the glory of God: “to the praiseof His glory”Eph 2:10: we are God‟s work of art. Mission is about building the church into God‟smasterpiece. The building up (edification) is what we do at worship.Eph 3:8-11: Paul proclaims the mystery of Christ revealed through the church. Themystery is first proclaimed vertically in the liturgy and then horizontally in the world.The liturgy includes concerns for the world (“The Great Litany” in Orthodoxy)Worship shapes the rest of lifeZizioulas: life is colored by the “Eucharistic ethos” which grows out of the SundayEucharist.The Sunday Eucharistic event shapes mission: we see the missional God coming to usto bring us back to communion through Jesus Christ in the Spirit.- 16 -
Mission leads us back to communion with GodWe call sinners in to offer them up to God as “living sacrifices”The issue of “missional ecclesiology”The “sending out” is completed in the “return” to communion.Yves Congar: “The whole liturgy expresses a movement of God towards us andof us towards God. This movement passes from the Father through the Son in theSpirit and returns in the Spirit through the Son to the glory of the Father, whotakes us, as his children, into communion with him” (I Believe in the Holy Spirit, I:104).Missional ecclesiology is not complete without ecclesiological mission.Mission per se does not define the essence of the church, but communion.C. S. Lewis: “Aim at heaven and you will have earth thrown in; aim at earth, andyou‟ll get neither.”- 17 -
VIII. The Liturgy as a “Perpetual Pentecost”The Paradoxes of the LiturgyThe liturgy is full of paradoxes. These paradoxes reflect the paradoxical glory of Christ:his cruciform glory which the glorious church images.Sunday: the 1st and 8th day, a juxtaposition of the old and the newEucharist enacts the paradox of the “already” and “not yet”Christian existence is marked by this eschatological tension enacted in the Eucharist (G.Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology)The church both remembers (anamnesis; “Memorial Acclamation”) and anticipatesthe Eschaton: calling on the Holy Spirit to “come!” (epiclesis)The liturgy expresses both warning and hope.The Paradoxes of the SpiritThe coming of the Spirit to the church is itself a paradox: his coming is made possible byJesus‟ “departure” through the cross, resurrection and ascension (Dominum etVivificantem)The key to maintaining this eschatological tension is the liturgy where the churchacknowledges her epicletic existence. She constantly calls upon the Spirit to come, andwhenever the Spirit comes he brings a new Pentecost (Nissiotis).Pentecost is the liturgy of the word; it culminates in the Eucharist: word leading toEucharist, mission leading to communion.Each coming of the Spirit is a fresh encounter.The Spirit‟s paradoxical relationship with the ChurchHe is in the church and also coming from “beyond”; there is both permanence andnewness.Spirit of truth makes the truth both historical and charismaticChurch experiences a continuing transfigurationBaptism: the first step in the process of transfigurationEucharist: the church undergoes on-going transformation by feeding on spiritualfood and drinkNewness of the Spirit is not novelty but the newness of the “old, old story”Spirit reveals the “not yet” of Christ: church is shaped Christologically andconditioned pneumatologically- 18 -
The Pentecostal contribution to the church as “perpetual Pentecost”:Where in the liturgy is the Spirit‟s work acknowledged? How high an expectation dowe have for the Spirit to work in our liturgical assembly?Liturgical SpiritualityThe task of liturgical spirituality is to ensure that the paradoxes of the liturgy areproperly juxtaposed and keep alive.Avoiding two enemies of worship:1. TraditionalismCanonizing one particular period of history leaves no room for the Spirit to leadthe church forward2. NoveltyReliance of passing fads cuts the church from its permanent foundationHow do we maintain the paradoxes of the liturgy?1. Need to give more room for the Spirit to move freely in the regular liturgy (notjust occasional, special meetings): prayer for healing2. Communion as a “converting ordinance” (Wesley)3. Pentecost corresponds to the Liturgy of the Word. More attention needs to begiven to proclamation of the gospel rather than motivational talks4. The whole liturgy is epicletic, not just at a certain point in the Eucharist. There areother places in the liturgy where the work of the Spirit is actualized: the “altarministry”; tactile expressions 2010 by Simon Chan. All rights reserved.- 19 -
Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies Worship Seminar Notes, June 2010 Dr. Simon Chan I. The Glorious Church The Church as the Revelation of the Glory of Christ The Glory of Christ: Power and Cross John 2:11: "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.
