This last week was a pivotal time for me. Reading and listening to the perspectives of NT Wright, Don Williams and Dan Wilt I was struck by something unexpected. For myself, and I'd say most of the people I know, the time-foci of our lives has been the present, with a dabbling interest in the future. Meaning, we were simply more concerned with the "here-and-now" than the historical. By "historical", I mean the heritage of our faith, and most importantly, the church from ancient times until now. But here is what I discovered- that the Body of Christ is knit together, not just over denominations, cultures and location, but is bound together over generations and millennium.
It began as I listened to NT Wright in the conversation with Dan Wilt on the "Reclaiming Worship" CD(1). NT Wright began to talk about how we shouldn't be so western-culture proud of our individualism. He especially pointed out that we think of it as somehow constraining to utilize the tools handed down to us by the ancients. He mentioned practices and prayers that have come from some of the powerful forefathers in the church. As he talked about this, I was drawn back to the things that Don Williams had said about the cross(2).
I realized that over the 2,000 years of church history, so many people have spoken so clearly about the prominence of the cross. But my "Christian" learning has been limited to what I have gathered really in my generation, and maybe one or two before me. NT Wright continued on with his teaching and I was suddenly undone. He was talking directly to me- I was the one who was not holding and attending to the wisdom that God had given down through the ages- wisdom meant for me, though sent hundreds of years before.
A few hours later, all of those things were mulling around in my brain. And then, I had a personal epiphany. God spoke to me what seemed very clearly- "you are breaking my communion". I thought instantly of Paul's instructions to the Corinthian church on how they were breaking the Lord's supper by not waiting for one another. Reading Paul's words makes things clear:
When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!(3)
On reading that, God spoke to me and said, "By not considering what I have taught another part of the Body of Christ, you are eating the bread of God's word not as a communion remembrance, but as fast food." Then I felt him say even more clearly, "My Body is bigger than the people who follow me and live on earth today. My church is beyond your space and time."
I finally got it- we are part of the Body of Christ, not just here and now, but from ancient times and to those millennium yet to come. What God did hundreds of years ago was not only meant for them, it was meant for me. What I do today is not only for me and those around me, it is for the hundreds of generations to come. By not engaging with the great heritage God has handed down to the ancients in the Christian journey, my acts of worship were beginning to break God's intention of a church that held to the proper taking of the sacrament of communion.
Both in the actual act of communion and in all acts of worship, I must begin to "wait for my brother and sister", and not "go ahead" without first considering that God's church is a community that includes the prayers, practices and wisdom of the ancients. Likewise, will my creative acts of worship be self-serving epitaphs to declare our "unique" worship for our generation? Or will I endeavor to leave something that is just as encouraging to the generations that will come as it is for the present community and people around me?
A couple weeks ago, I was drawn to add the hymn Be Thou My Vision to a worship set in our Sunday morning service. I was unsure of the significance at the time, but it moved me profoundly in the doing of it. As I ponder this last week's learning, I realize it was God's stirring for me to consider that hymn and engage with the whole body of Christ in worship. Finally, as this all came pouring down on to my heart and mind, the book of Hebrews began to resonate with me. Consider what the writer of Hebrews said,
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for"(4).
Then, for an entire chapter, we see details of lives spent engaging and following God. Some did great, some had struggles- but all continued on the trek, seeking something that lay beyond their time/space. They knew they were following the God of heaven and earth for their own lives, but they also understood it at another level- that we are all part of God's community- across space and time. As it says later in that same chapter,
"These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."(5)
This says it so clearly- God has bound us all together in Christ, so that our expression of Jesus will be made perfect over both time and space. What is amazing about this, is that God uses this as the foundational starting point for explaining how we now go on to live our lives in a manner which pleases Him:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.(6)
What God is saying is so much more clear now- sharing in the heritage of God's church across the time/space continuum means we will even have the encouragement of those who have gone before us as we face life's challenges. Somehow, borrowing from the lives of the ancients, we can even more easily lay down sin! Perhaps those ancient prayers, practices and wisdom are God's tools for today (and tomorrow) as we run our race towards Jesus.
(1) Wilt and Wright, Reclaiming Worship. Audio CD. Vineyard Music USA
(2) Don Williams, The Cross and Resurrection, The Language of Sacrifice, How Songs Teach Us. iTunes video E*b course content. Vineyard Music USA
(3)Bible, New International Version (International Bible Society, 1973, 1978, 1984), 1 Corinthians 11:20-22
(4)Ibid, Hebrews 11:1-2
(5)Ibid, Hebrews 11:39-40
(6)Ibid, Hebrews 12:1-3
"Final Project for: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University , Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt "