Call for Editors & Writers

Although this site continues to get steady traffic, I find myself too busy in my family and my studies to develop it as it could be.  If anyone out there would like to contribute, either as a writer or an editor, let me know.  The original vision was for this site to be a resource, and the more heads involved, the merrier!  E-mail me at gsoderberg@nc.rr.com

Academic Mission Opportunity

I came across an exciting mission opportunity for academics.  This organization sends Christian teachers into other countries, finding positions for them in secular universities.  A quote on their home-page says it all: 

“The university is a clear-cut fulcrum with which to move the world. Change the university and you change the world,” declared Dr. Charles Malik, former president of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

Why We’re Here

A reader wrote in his observations on current liturgical events, and I decided to post part of it here, since it highlights many of the reasons this blog exists: 

“I am a convinced Protestant, though I was confirmed in a predominantly Anglo-Catholic communion (Anglican Province in America) last year. My hopes are to return to a more Reformed/Presbyterian liturgical communion sometime in the future, but for now I felt this was the best I could find. I joined the APA for a number of reasons, probably more than I can list here. There were no other liturgical churches in my area that I could join, mainly because most all of them are liberal. The ones that aren’t have caved in to incorporating contemporary worship styles and so aren’t truly liturgical anymore. The Reformed churches that would claim to be liturgical that I’ve been to generally don’t seem to understand what “liturgical” really is. I think that the Reformed churches that claim to be liturgical are often on track in general with some of the elements they include, such as weekly communion and the kneeling for the confession. But many elements don’t make sense to me. Why have lectionary readings when the pastor doesn’t preach from the lectionary texts? Why claim to be liturgical without a procession and recession, without a sung or chanted liturgy, or without orderly formal movement by those leading the service? As Jordan points out, those leading the service should move in military fashion, and at right angles. In a liturgical service, the ones leading the liturgy shouldn’t feel at liberty to ad hoc verbally in between the elements of the service, even if his ad hocing is very spiritual ad hocing. I’ve seen this happen way too often in those churches that claim to be liturgical. But this suggests to me that we really think everything going on is merely horizontal, and that we are forgetting that we are there to worship God. How can a service be liturgical if the pastor doesn’t wear a robe, and the seasonal colours aren’t displayed?

Church History Thesis

My MA thesis in Church History has just been posted on the web:  Ancient Discipline and Pristine Doctrine: Appeals to Antiquity in the Developing Reformation.  It does not deal with liturgy, as such, but examines confessional Protestant views toward church history.  Such a background is essential to understand how Protestant liturgies have developed and why.

Learning from the Past

The more I read from James Hastings Nichols, the more I like him.  An article from 1964, in which he critiques to a proposed “Service for the Lord’s Day” is insightful and points out some problems with how the Presbyterian church was pursing liturgical reform at that time.  Very relevant to our situation: Is the New “Service” Reformed?

The Not-So-Ancient Tradition

I’ve known a couple people who have entered the Roman or Eastern churches, looking for the “Apostolic Church,” or some such thing.  Like a good Protestant, I believe the Apostolic Church is the Church Universal (Catholic), which is founded on the teaching of the Apostles.  Of course, the question of just what that teaching is remains controversial, to say the least.  But, I’ve heard over and over again how becoming Orthodox leads you into the “unchanged tradition” of the church, or how the Roman church is “ancient” and all of that.  Perhaps this is more of an emphasis in Eastern Orthodoxy (I’ll post more on that later), but I was pleasantly surprised to find an esteemed Roman Catholic priest and scholar admitting that the Church has, well … changed!

“Easter Every Sunday”

Although I haven’t read Andrew Sandlin’s book by the same name , I’ve also heard this phrase as a reason to not celebrate the historic Church year.  Why make a big fuss over Easter when it’s Easter every Sunday?  Well, I recently found out that people who say such things are on the road to Eastern Orthodoxy.  As the inimitable Geoffrey Wainwright notes: “Eastern Orthodox Christians consider every Sunday a ‘little Easter,'” (The Oxford History of Christian Worship, 24).  So there …

Links

Although I’m not totally on board with their project (still rather old-fashioned in my liturgical and aesthetic tastes), Bruce Benedict and Redeemer Presbyterian have put together some helpful resources on being liturgical and contemporary: Cardiphonia.com.  I respect what they’re doing, and wish them will.

 A Lutheran tells us why your church should celebrate Trinity Sunday.

Calvin and the Cafe Church, by a New Zealand pastor, has some helpful insights.  Excerpt: “For Calvin, one of the consequences of a commitment to the priestly and mediatorial role of Christ in worship is a strongly Eucharistic theology.  This is often overlooked when we talk about the Reformed emphasis upon the Word, but for Calvin (and for Knox) the preaching of the Word should always be accompanied by the administration of the Lord’s Supper.  Christian worship is both kerygmatic and sacramental.  The Word should lead us to the Table.”

Presbyterian Books.com

A friend of the Institute has started a new resource: Presbyterianbooks.com.  Check it out!

Easter Meditation

Excerpt from an Easter Sermon by Gregory Nazianzen (bishop of the Eastern church in the late 300s):

“Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.  Let us become  God’s for His sake, since He for ours became Man.  He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich; He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin.  Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us.  But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours” (Oration I.5).