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Showing posts with the label liturgy

The Real Presence & Paedocommunion: A Deeper Rift Between Reformed Churches

You're going back to Rome! Theological disagreements within the Reformed world, especially those of the last half century, often devolve into these sorts of accusations.  As controversialists like Doug Wilson and Peter Leithart began to break away from the larger conservative Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, it became clear that the rift was deeper than semantics and systematic minutiae.  Much like the Reformation four centuries before, the Table was a primary point of conflict.   What does it mean?  Who may partake?  What do we call it?    These questions, along with a few more, divided Reformed brethren as the physical elements of our religion reflected deeper conflicts.  Good men began to understand that the problem wasn't just in our logos, but in our pathos and ethos, as well. Paedocommunion (hereafter PC) has been one of the hottest points of contention.  PC has always been normal to me as I grew up with it.  I underst...

Why do you go to church on Sunday?

Why do you go to church on Sunday?  I would assume there are many reasons, but what is the primary reason that you get up on a cold, snowy Sunday morning and get your butt to church?  Further, why has the Church of Jesus Christ consistently gathered together on Sundays (among other days) for the last 2000 years? Throughout my 34 years of church attendance I would have proffered a variety of answers to that question.  As a child I'm sure I went to church because I had to, to see my cousins (who happened to be my best friends), to get bread and wine (weekly communion for the win), etc.  As my faith matured in adulthood these reasons remained, hopefully deepening, but to them were added concepts like rest and theological training. As I moved into Anglicanism I was struck by the deliberate focus on worship .  Why do Christians gather on Sunday morning?  To worship God!  Are teaching and fellowship important?  Absolutely!  Are they aspects of wor...

The Shape of the Liturgy: A Book Review

Allow me to begin with a clarification.  I really don't want to be that guy.  We all hate that guy--the guy who reads some book and suddenly changes everything he believes; the guy who reads one big, fat book and suddenly knows more than anyone else who ever read books, earned degrees, or practiced pastoral ministry.   I hope and pray that I am not being that guy.   Nevertheless, The Shape of the Liturgy is one of those books.  It is one of those books that has the potential to inspire a Copernican Revolution is one's theological universe.  This book, if one is determined enough to dig in and mine through the tedious details and footnotes, will expose the reader to historical facts, theological concepts, and liturgical practices of which the vast majority of modern Christians, Protestants especially, are completely unaware.  The author , an Anglican monk, opens up a world, strange and compelling, which most Christians don't know exists....