Thanks and Liturgy

“Religious service is essentially a work of praise, of giving glory to God. Though it is communal work, and in a sense it helps to create community, it is derived from the primordial action of the individual human being, and action more basic to us—when we are authentically ourselves—than even eating or drinking or sleeping; namely, giving thanks. For prior to everything else we do, and whether or not we think of ourselves as ‘religious,’ we exist, and liturgy begins by acknowledging that fact with gratitude.”
Stratford Caldecott, Beauty for Truth's Sake

The Glory of the Psalms

Of how many heroic characters have these old temple songs been the inspiration! Jewish saints and patriots chanted them in the synagogue and on the battlefield; apostles and evangelists sung them among perils of the wilderness, as they traversed the rugged paths of Syria and Galatia, and Macedonia; martyrs in Rome softly hummed them when the lions near at hand were crouching for their prey; in German forests, in Highland Glen, Lutherans and Covenanters breathed their lives out through their cadences; in every land penitent souls have found in them words to tell the story of their sorrow, and victorious souls the voices of their triumph; mothers watching their babes by night have cheered the vigil by singing them, mourners walking in lonely ways have been lighted by the great hopes that shine through them; and pilgrims going down into the valley of the shadow of death have found in their firm assurances a strong staff to lean upon.
—H.T. Hanna

Quote on Prayer and the Psalms

“If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible and especially the Psalms, therefore, we must not ask first what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ. We must ask how we can understand the Psalms and God’s Word, and then we shall be able to pray them. It does not depend, therefore, on whether the Psalms express adequately that which we feel at a given moment in our heart. If we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray. If we were dependent entirely on ourselves, we would probably pray only the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. But God wants it otherwise. The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

Pentecost 2009

One of my favorite hymns for Pentecost is "Come Down, O Love Divine" by Bi­an­co of Si­ena (?-1434) (Di­scen­di, Amor san­to). What a stately and sincere exploration of the indwelling work of the Spirit.


Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with Thine own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn, til earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.

In Defense of Lent

Here's a link to my article about a protestant view of Lent. It was published in the most recent King's Meadow newsletter. To sign up for the free email newsletter, click here.

Review on Reformation21

My review of The Incarnation in the Gospels is now available on the Reformation21 website.

Advent Carol

This morning at Parish we will sing the following Advent carol by John Morrison written in 1781. I set the text to the English Folk Tune Kingsfold. It's a wonderful reminder of the prophecy of Isaiah and the hope that we have in the incarnation of Christ and is thus a perfect text to sing on this First Sunday of Advent.

To us a Child of hope is born,
To us a Son is giv’n,
Him shall the tribes of earth obey,
Him all the hosts of Heav’n.

His Name shall be the Prince of Peace,
Forevermore adored,
The Wonderful, the Counselor,
The great and mighty Lord.

His pow’r, increasing, still shall spread,
His reign no end shall know,
Justice shall guard His throne above,
And peace abound below.

To us a Child of hope is born,
To us a Son is giv’n,
The Wonderful, the Counselor,
The mighty Lord of Heav’n.

Psalm of Thanksgiving

This is our Psalm of the Month at Parish for November. We are singing it to a new melody by Henry Owen. Happy Thanksgiving for His steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 111

O give the Lord whole-hearted praise,
To Him thanksgiving I will bring;
With all His people I will raise
My voice and of His glory sing.
His saints delight to search and trace
His mighty works and wondrous ways;
Majestic glory, boundless grace,
And righteousness His work displays.

The wondrous works that God has wrought
His people ever keep in mind;
His works with grace and mercy fraught,
Revealing that the Lord is kind.
God’s promise shall forever stand,
He cares for those who trust His Word;
Upon His saints His mighty hand
The wealth of nations has conferred.

His works are true and just indeed,
His precepts are forever sure;
In truth and righteousness decreed,
They shall forevermore endure.
From Him His saints’ redemption came;
His cov’nant sure no change can know;
Let all revere His holy Name
In Heav’n above and earth below

In reverence and godly fear
Man finds the gate to wisdom’s ways;
The wise His holy Name revere;
Through endless ages sound His praise.

More Luther Quotes

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.

For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.

I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.

Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

Peace if possible, truth at all costs.

To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.

If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today! (Possibly not Luther, but too good not to include)

Worship Notes: Corporate Confession

Robert G. Rayburn Quote
"One of the serious weaknesses of our modern lives in the fact that we have failed to make clear the inflexible holiness of our God. It is true that he is the God of all grace, that he is infinite in his kindness and mercy towards us, but he is also a God of manifest righteousness who cannot look upon sin. Entirely too many ministers give the impression that all we must do is rest in the lovingkindness of God, knowing that he will always supply the healing and strength that are needed. The Christian life is not as simple as that. The believer must honestly and reverently deal with sin in his life continually day by day. Before we presume to worship God, we must remember the clear teaching of the Word of God, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps. 66:18). Until we have truly and sincerely confessed our sin before the Lord, our worship will not be acceptable in his sight."

Music for Good Friday

One of the hymns we'll be singing at our Good Friday service, is this wonderful text by Isaac Watts newly set by Henry Owen.

Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain

Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.
But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb, Takes all our sins away;

A sacrifice of nobler name And richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand On that dear head of Thine,

While, like a penitent, I stand, And there confess my sin.
My soul looks back to see The burdens Thou didst bear

When hanging on the cursèd tree, And hopes her guilt was there.

Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain

Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.
Believing, we rejoice To see the curse remove;

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, And sing His bleeding love.

Text: Isaac Watts, 1709; Music: Henry Owen, 2008.
© 2008 Greyfriars Press, Used by Permission.

Advent Carol

The choir at Parish Presbyterian sang this text as part of our Lessons and Carols service on December 9.

When Jordan hushed his waters still,
And silence slept on Zion’s hill;
When Salem’s shepherds through the night
Watched o’er their flocks by starry light,
Hark! From the midnight hills around,
A voice, of more than mortal sound,
In distant hallelujahs stole,
Wild murmuring o’er the raptured soul.

The swift to ev’ry startled eye,
New beams of glory gild the sky;
Heav’n bursts her azure gates,
to pour Her spirits to the midnight hour.
On wheels of light, on wings of flame,
The glorious hosts to Zion came;
High heav’n with songs of triumph rung,
While thus they smote their harps and sung:

O Zion! Lift thy raptured eye:
The long-expected hour is nigh;
The joys of nature rise again;
The Prince of Salem comes to reign.
See Mercy, from her golden urn,
Pours a rich stream on them that mourn;
Behold, she binds, with tender care,
The bleeding bosom of Despair.

He comes to cheer the trembling heart,
Bid Satan and his host depart;
Again the Daystar gilds the gloom,
Again the bowers of Eden bloom.
O Zion! Lift thy raptured eye:
The long-expected hour is nigh;
The joys of nature rise again;
The Prince of Salem comes to reign.

Text: Thomas Campbell, 1777-1844

The Return of Chant

Pope Benedict is moving the Vatican, and by extension the whole of the Catholic Church, back towards Gregorian chant. As for his reasons, I appreciate his understanding of the power of music, the inherent morality in music itself, and the need for an ecclesiastical aesthetic. However, turning back the clock is not the answer. Re-connecting to the past heritage of the Church is something that both Protestants and Catholics should embrace, but, in addition, we ought to be about the business of continuing to create from a historically informed position. Hopefully this move will at least spark some discussion in the Church at large about suitability and spirituality when it comes to musical composition for the Church.

The Gospel Flow of Worship

The word liturgy means “the work of the people.” As such, all worship services are liturgical if they include any congregational participation. The issue is not whether a service is liturgical or not; the issue is what organizes and informs the liturgy and on what basis.

The order of worship that we employ at Parish Pres consciously seeks to accomplish several aims. As you’ve probably noticed, each section of the bulletin begins with God and His initiation. It is God who calls His people to worship, it is God who speaks to us through His Word, it is God who calls us to repentance and reconciliation, it is God who beckons us to His table, and it is God who sends us out equipped for the calling He has placed on us. It’s all about Him!

It is God who calls us, but as His people we respond with praise, attentive hearts, confession, joy, and thanksgiving. This pattern of call and response is one of the reasons we utilize Scripture-based responsive readings in worship. God calls us through His Word, and we literally respond with His words.

This pattern of worship moves the congregation from an exaltation of the nature of God, instruction from His Word, an understanding of His law and our inability to keep it, confession of sin and the need for a Redeemer, a restoration into the fellowship of God and other believers, a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and a sending forth into the world as His representative. Thus, the worship service itself echoes the Gospel—God calls unbelievers to Himself, reveals Himself through His Word, repentance follows with an invitation to the Marriage Feast culminating with God sending forth the believer into the world. This is the flow of the gospel; this is the flow of worship.

Traditions of Pentecost

The word “Pentecost” comes from the Greek meaning “fiftieth” and refers to the days following Easter. The term Whitsun, or Whitsuntide, is applied to the week following Pentecost and derives from the older spelling of “wit” referring to the gift of wisdom from the coming of the Holy Spirit. The color red is most often associated with Pentecost to represent the fire of the Holy Spirit. The Monday after Pentecost used to be a traditional holiday throughout the world. Some of the other traditions of Pentecost are as follows:

France: Musicians played trumpets in the Church service to remind the congregants of the sound of the mighty wind that accompanied the descent of the Holy Spirit.

England: Whitsun Ales, or festivals, were held which included horse races and presentation of Whitsun plays. This weekend remains a favorite time for brass band competitions.

Italy: To commemorate the tongues of fire, rose petals were scattered from the ceiling of churches.

Poland: People decorate their houses with green branches for the “Green Holiday” to represent to gift of new life in the Spirit. The blessing of crops was also associated with the festivities.

Ukraine: The Church celebrates “Green Sunday” by decorating the church and the door of people’s homes with tree branches. Clergy and congregants wear green as a reminder of the gift of life in the Spirit and the literal birthday of the Church as 3000 people were baptized into the Church on the first Pentecost.

In Defense of Written Prayers

The Puritans were adamantly opposed to the prayers in the English Prayer book—not that the prayers were heretical, but because they feared the rote manner of the prayers. They feared that prayer would become mechanical, without thought, repetitious, and without meaning if congregations recited the same prayers again and again.

Ironically, this appropriate fear of the Puritans is manifest in the opposite direction in the modern evangelical church. It is the extemporaneous prayers of our time that are mechanical, without thought, repetitious, and consequently, without meaning. How many time have you heard, “Dear Lord, we just come before, Lord, to thank you, Lord, for your bounteous favor. And Lord, we beseech you…” (“Bounteous” and “beseech” are good “prayer words”—words that show up in prayers but rarely in common speech)

How often do you ask the blessing for food using 90% of the same words?

We fall into patterns whether they be written or spoken, but promiscuous change for the sake of change is not the answer. The “holy ruts” of Proverbs 3 are not of themselves bad things. It is the unthinking repetition that makes prayers mechanical.

In our age, the written, thoughtful prayers of past centuries provide a tonic to shake us from our complacency and to challenge our own thinking about prayer, sin, forgiveness, the work of the cross, and the nature and character of Almighty God. This is not the ultimate solution, but could be part of the process of increasing our understanding of the nature of prayer.

Tradition without thought is dead orthodoxy, but the infusion of life that comes from knowledge, understanding, and wisdom through the work of the Spirit, makes ancient and modern traditions an opportunity for spiritual maturity.

The other lesson is that we need to be careful before we import the doctrines of a tradition without understanding the theological context of those ideas. Otherwise, we may find ourselves opposing the very things we say we uphold.

Worship Notes 13 April 2007

Liturgy is a deliberate attempt to portray the Gospel in the very order in which we worship. Worship starts with God’s initiated call to enter into His presence followed by a recognition of who He is—not what He’s done for us or what we think about Him, but rather the nature and character of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. This recognition is continued by instruction in His Word through the singing of Scripture, the reading of the Word, and instruction through the preaching of the Word. With a further understanding of who God is and the efficacious proclamation of the Gospel, God then calls us to repentance and to be reconciled through the blood of Christ shed in our place. We further rejoice with Him in a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the Lord’s Table before God sends His people out into the world for His glory.

Easter Hymns

There are more Easter carols than there are Christmas carols--we just don't know very many of them. John of Damascus (675-749) wrote this Easter hymn, and John Mason Neale translated it from the Greek in 1862:

The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory.

Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal of resurrection light;
And listening to His accents, may hear, so calm and plain,
His own “All hail!” and, hearing, may raise the victor strain.

Now let the heavens be joyful! Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy that hath no end.

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted

Following are the lyrics to Thomas Kelly's hymn based on Isaiah 53. He wrote the following in 1804:

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

Worship Notes: Good Friday Service

From the early days of her worship, the Church utilized the Passion story either sung or recited from scripture. These passages formed an important element of their Holy Week observances.

In the fourth century, a Spanish nun named Egeria took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. One of the foremost elements in her travel journal was the liturgy and worship observed in Jerusalem. “Her account of the services held during Holy Week includes the earliest surviving reference to the chanting of the Passion story.” Sometime at the end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo made a reference to this same tradition, and by the middle of the fifth century, Pope Leo the Great codified the use of the Passion narrative during Holy Week. According to his directives, the Passion story from St. Matthew’s gospel should be chanted in the services for Palm Sunday and Wednesday of Holy Week and the Passion narrative from St. John’s gospel should be utilized on Good Friday.

Subsequent changes over the next five hundred years included the addition of the Passion according to St. Luke on Wednesday and the St. Mark Passion story on Tuesday of Holy Week. The height of musical settings of the Passion occurred during the 18th century with Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion.

Our service at Parish Pres next week continues the great tradition of the Church. We will gather on Good Friday in order to contemplate the death of Christ, mourn for our sins, and seek forgiveness in preparation for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. The service includes the reading of the Passion story from the book of John as well as congregational hymns, responses, choral music, and communion.