Reading the first three chapters of James White's "Introduction to Christian Worship" this last week has been a deluge of facts that gathered its waters into a reflective pool to help me see into this organic mirror of our history. Along with Dan Wilt's "Essentials in Worship History" and video teaching, I began to see a clearer image of the universal structures of time and space as they rise up out of history as two of the four pillars of language on which the Church has expressed its worship. The amount of content to consider in these topics is voluminous, and synopsizing it for a sound-bite article would be a trite effort. What ultimately is gained from this investigation is both encouragement and warning. Encouragement that our past efforts in both time and space have very real benefits to bestow on today's (and tomorrow's) church. Warning in that our recent Protestant history has sadly neglected much of our centuries of learning on these items by espousing a more "free" tradition that makes no use of the some of the best tools left for us by our forefathers in either of the language of space, but especially the language of time. To understand this, a brief run-through of the concepts is order.
In Christian worship, the language of time is simply using the marking of time as "...a means by which we relive for ourselves all the matters of salvation's history.(1)" Over the centuries Christians have employed the daily, weekly, yearly and lifetime calendars in various ways as "incremental acts of worship in time"(2). They made it a regular act of practicing worship to mark out the progression of time by devotional constants, that played as reminders of the journey- reminders to God's grace and of our need of it on the journey through this life. For example, daily times including the fixed hour prayer (IE. the "daily hours") gave Christians a refocusing clarity throughout their daily lives. Similarly, assigning special value to Sunday as the primary day to remember the Lord's resurrection became a powerful chronological landmark for Christians for literally thousands of years. As White states, "Sunday dominated all of the other days as the weekly anniversary of the resurrection."(3) This use of time alone cemented the primary act of Christendom (the resurrection) in the culture of the church and the world around it. Finally, Christian leaders eventually used the written form of a lectionary to help gain consistency for the ongoing teaching and instruction of local churches. Teaching, reading and worship by using a scheduled guidebook has only recently become widespread in usage amongst Protestant churches- much to the benefit of those congregations, as it has helped avoid the use of strong personal preferences when selecting content for use in regular gatherings.(4)
Likewise, as much as our worship has become solidified through its repetition in time, so our connection with Christ and His work has been grounded on the realism of God encountering man in real, physical space. Again, White reminds us that (unlike other religions) Christianity tells the story of God self-revealing in specific places- "God and humanity meeting at a place..."(5) Not only has the Church learned this through the example of the scriptural record, but has re-enacted it through architecture and liturgical art in the "worship space". This consideration has huge implications. If we seriously believe the two-fold directives of Jesus to love God and love one another (6), then the power of worship space is hugely impacting. Speaking of loving God in the worship space White says, "Liturgical art does not make God present, but it does bring God's presence to our consciousness"(7). And of the co-joining commission to love one another in the worship space, White summates "we cannot touch God, but each of us can touch others in God's name"(8).
The historical record has a testimony that will do us well to heed- that we should glean from the ancients their best practices of using the languages of time and space as worship for our Lord Jesus with our full heart, mind and strength.
"for: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University , Essentials Red Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt "
(1) Introduction to Christian Worship, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), Page 68
(2) Dan Wilt, The Worship Languages of Time And Space, iTunes video E*red course content. (New Brunswick, Canada: Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephens University, 2008)
(3) Introduction to Christian Worship, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), Page 53
(4) Ibid, Page 75
(5) Ibid, Page 82
(6) Bible, Luke 10:26-28
(7) Introduction to Christian Worship, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), Page 104
(8) Ibid, Page 85