The Song and the Sacrament

This will be a long post, but it begins with the Star Wars Last Supper. I therefore make no apology. Finally, after a couple of weeks of boring definitions and historical lectures, we get to the exciting divisive stuff that splits churches and starts wars. Yay! If you promise to try not to get bloodthirsty, I will begin with an observation. A couple of elements of corporate worship, it seems, have at least partially had their identities swapped within the past century. They are the song and the sacrament. Since one of the purposes of these essays is to give us a shared understanding of worship under which we can unite as a body, and since this topic is particularly divisive, I am going to attempt to tread lightly in my examination of this phenomenon. For those of you who know me, this is no small task, so please read with a forgiving spirit if I do offend. If you believe I have not taken a hard enough stance on an issue, perhaps you are right. But let us remember: "Unity in the essentials, liberty in the nonessentials."

1.) Traditionally a song has been a tool whereby the body of Christ might better align her sentiment with her intellect. The major purpose behind singing in corporate worship has been to identify one's self with accurate theology and appropriate sentiment. That is, to make sure we're thinking the right things about our feelings and that we're feeling the right things about our thinkings. It's a shalom thing.

Jonathan Edwards said, "True Religion, in great part, consists in holy affections." It reminds me of Robinson's famous plea that God would, "tune my heart to sing thy grace." (Almost as though there were wrong ways to sing about God's grace. Hm...) The song is often played with the minor 6 chord played in the 9th measure, around the time we sing "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it," giving us that pathos of longing to accompany the ethos of our depravity. Music has the uncanny ability to connect the realities of the intellect to the realities of the heart when used well. We return to the major cadence in the next part of the verse when we come to "Here's my heart, Lord take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above," and we are resolved both in the truth of the words sung and the spirit with which they are given. Music has been given special dominion over this phenomenon of unity. It joins the heart, soul, mind, and strength of a man as we see him cry out in his desperation to the God who alone can save him, encouraged by melody and harmony to express with everything he has in his person this deep declaration.

Very powerful stuff.

2.) Traditionally, a sacrament has been a means of grace whereby the body of Christ might receive the real presence of Christ through the senses. The Roman church recognizes seven sacraments, and the majority of the protestant church only two. There is not only this difference, but also what is meant by "means of grace," "receive," and "real presence of Christ" varies quite completely between denominations. Put your pitchforks away. We're not going to go there. First, I'd like to submit to the reader that I will only be focusing on one sacrament in particular here, for it is the common denominator and that's what we're going for here.

The traditional understanding of Holy Communion, (or Mass, or the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist), is that something unique happens when we come together in remembrance of Him, breaking the bread and taking the cup as He did, that happens at no other earthly time. For hundreds of years, this act was the centerpiece of each and every worship service. In fact, the Roman Catholic church still refers to the entire service by the name of the sacrament: Mass. You'll remember that the four main elements of the corporate worship of Yahweh since the Levitical law (never revoked or expired, only fulfilled!) were the Gathering, the Proclamation of the Word, the Sacrifice, and the Sending Forth. The sacrificial piece was preeminent, for it was what made the people right before God and enabled their relationship. Jesus' fulfillment of the sacrificial requirement was not an annulment of the debt but a complete payment of said debt. The church rightly saw that we did not therefore remove the time of sacrifice from the order of worship, but rather we celebrated it all the more. Jesus commanded his church: "Do this in remembrance of Me." One must believe that in remembering him, we are not merely reminiscing about the good old days, but we are instead honoring the God-man for who He truly is and what He really did.

NOW, I think it only fair to point out the following things:

1.) The musical piece of today's worship service, is often itself called "worship." Hauntingly reminiscent of the sentiment that gave the ancient worship services the name "Mass." We've changed the name of the service to exclude the sacrament and we've changed the name of the song to elevate it to the centerpiece status once held by the Eucharist. Reformers may defend the switch, claiming that the sacrament had been raised to the point of idolatry. Perhaps, but the solution is not to lower it to the point of our sacrelidge. "The music IS worship" is the agreement now, whereas it was once said that "worship IS Mass." Communion has not been removed completely from the picture, however. It does have a recurring role quarterly (perhaps until the contractual obligations have been fulfilled and we can finally kill off the culturally irrelevant character one and for all). Instead of partaking in Holy Communion to remember, now we're merely doing it so as not to forget.

2.) When we gather in "worship," it is often said (if the music was good), that God was in our midst. We even feel like we've gotten an extra special boost from God and now we can make it a bit farther than we could have on our own. What we have effectively said is that this partaking in the musical acts has been "a means of grace whereby the body of Christ has received the real presence of Christ through the senses."

3.) When we hear that someone has visited a local church for the first time, the question asked is often, "So, did you like the worship there?" This question would not have even made sense to people who thought of worship as a duty and a need instead of as a consumer product. They also would not have understood that you were referring to the music and atmosphere.

What has happened? I feel dirty, as though I've taken part in staging the coup against Caesar Eucharist, and he's looking down at me, saying, "Et tu, musician?" My craft was designed to play the supporting role in a high drama where the starring role belongs to the craft that remembers Christ and His supremacy. I repent my part in this egocentric mutiny where our consumer mentality is paramount in our worship, and I pray that we as the Church will truly seek to respond to God’s divine progressive revelation appropriately.

Proposition Eight(y-sixed)

Proposition 8 was voted down by the vast majority of Californians on Tuesday, nullifying the judicial precedent allowing same-sex marriage in that state. When asked to comment, actor Sean Penn stated, "Bigotry has happened here." I can't help thinking that if the reverse decision had been handed down by the people, Penn might have said, "Democracy has happened here."

The Obamanation of Desolation?

Since I've been asked, I will share the few thoughts I have about President-elect Barack Obama.

1.) Scripture is clear about a few things regarding rulers in general, and these are a.) they are placed in power by God Himself and He is sovereign over their doings, b.) we are to respect and pray for them, and c.) we are to be grateful for a government at all, for even a bad government is usually better than none at all.

2.) I am wary of his extremely leftist ideals. Barack Obama is bar-none the most liberal senator in America, and although I am not the most conservative citizen in America, I do lean more to the right of center, and he therefore makes me nervous.

3.) I am pleased to have a black president. I'm not sure what people in your experience find offensive, but just to give you a bit of background on my language, I do not as a habit use the term African-American. I should also point out that I believe it would be silly and devisive to label myself European-American. Both are backwards-looking and ulitmately useless in the fight for unity. We are a very diverse country in respect to origins, and if we start specifying by origin, we're going to be counter-productive. I understand the need for pride, but let it be in something more transcendant than historical locations. That being said, I will not belittle the plight of blacks in America. They've had a very hard go of it, and I'm pleased to see one less thing that divides us. We will always be seperated by our skin color, but let that be as far as it goes: let it be as superficial and meaningless a division as hair color. We are all God's people, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.

4.) Senator Obama seems to me to be the kind of person people can rally around. It might be a good thing to be a truly united country. That being said, it could also be a truly terrible thing to be a country united under the wrong banner. To me, I can see this going one of two ways in the next four to eight years: a.) His extremely socialist ideals (along with the new Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate) will lead the majority of our nation toward unity on the left side of things. This would be (in my mind) terrible, but God is good. Or b.) Obama will lead in office as he did in his campaign, saying nothing and doing less. "Hope for Change" was his slogan, but I am acutely aware that "hope" is not a strategy and "change" is not a destination. If he unites the nation under warm fuzzy feelings, that might be a bit more innocuous, and I could live with that. I'd rather be among idiots than villains.

5.) I did not vote for Mr. Obama and I do not trust him, but do trust the sovereign LORD, and I will therefore pray that God will guide Mr. Obama, (and that Mr. Obama will seek the LORD's counsel, as he claims to know Him), and I will respect him and his leadership until God apponts a new man. "Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God." - Psalm 20:7

Temple and Tabernacle

Here I hope to cover a large amount of progressive revelation in a small amount of space. Forgive me when I do not include your favorite nuance of corporate worship. We’ve said already that worship is the creature’s appropriate holistic response to the Creators divine and progressive revelation. It’s a relationship initiated by God. Abraham was charged with responding to God in a specific, concrete, personal way. We also mentioned that as God reveals more of Himself and His desires, we have more and more to be responsible for responding to. It’s like a parent-child relationship. As the child grows, the parent reveals more about being an adult, and this places more responsibility upon the child. We as a people of God have grown, and He has gradually shown more and more to us.

Sometimes the revelation is given as realities that are binding for all people, such as the curse placed upon humanity through Adam and Eve, or the covenant God made with Noah. Sometimes the revelation is given in great chunks that are only meant for certain people, such as the Levitical and kosher laws, meant for a certain group of people for a certain time. Sometimes the revelation is given in situations of individual conviction, such as when God told a particular King or prophet to respond to Him in a personally specific way.

Since God is unchanging and holy, His revelations cannot contradict one another. They only pull back the veil further to reveal more of the same: a God who seeks perfect community with a people who have sinned against Him. However, God Himself can fulfill some demands. This essay is meant to show that God has revealed certain parameters and elements that are integral to the assembly of His people, and that to consider any of them obsolete without His fulfillment, or outdated and irrelevant is an inappropriate response to Him (sin). We must ask ourselves what is essential according to His revelation for our corporate meeting times, and what in our current worship is idolatrous.

When Yahweh set aside a people for Himself, He revealed to them His wishes for their corporate response to Him. They were to establish a special place (He did not leave “special” any space for liberal interpretation) where He would dwell, and they would gather as one body, recount His revelation to them, offer sacrifices for their sin, and be sent out to live in harmony with God and one another. Four very specific areas to be accounted for, all of which are still demanded of us. Many will argue with me on this point, but I believe they will be wrong. I am not advocating temple worship for Christians… but then, I am. Remember that God’s revelation is progressive, and that none of it is ever revoked or expired, only continued or fulfilled. If this is true, then we should look at each of these four aspects of corporate worship and label them either continued or fulfilled.

Let’s begin with the place where God’s people gather as one body and He dwells with them. Jesus said that the earthly temple would be destroyed, and that God would dwell with them wherever they gathered in His name. This fulfills the need for the temple. Jesus pulls back the veil and reveals that God’s people are His dwelling place when they are righteous. The temple was not revoked and did not expire. The need for the temple was fulfilled when the assembly of the saints was established. It’s not that we no longer need to gather together in His name and presence, it’s that we no longer need the protection of the temple because we have His righteousness imputed upon us. He tabernacles in our praises.

The recounting of God’s revelation has not been fulfilled. In fact, it has grown as God has revealed Himself more through general and special means, and those leading should be intentional to represent it faithfully and completely. This point is not controversial, nor was the first. But the final two may be a bit more convicting.

Next was the sacrifice. When the Israelites came to the assembly, they brought personal sacrifices and they accepted their share in a corporate sacrifice. Christ’s death once and for all fulfilled the need for blood in sacrifice, but it did not fulfill the need for our participation in sacrificial worship. We still come to the dwelling place of God with hearts heavy from individual and corporate sin, and we offer our lives as living sacrifices made worthy by Christ’s ultimate dying sacrifice. We also gather as one body at the place of sacrifice and on Days of Atonement, we offer the completed work of Christ in ritual remembrance.

Finally, we are sent forth, having been changed by an encounter with the Living God (whether we feel like we did or not), charged to live in peace with God and man. God certainly has not fulfilled that requirement for us. We have got to actively pursue right relationship in order to appropriately respond to God’s revelation. Christ’s sacrifice does not fulfill our obligation to do this; it only atones for us when we fail to do so.

I still have not mentioned sermons or music. Fear not.

Hasbro has no Monopoly on Ignorance

Hasbro has released a new version of Monopoly that replaces cash money with debit cards. That's good, because we'd hate for our kids to have to incorporate intelligence into their fun. It's not like they're going to have to inherit our economy and then have no tools with which to survive because they figure there will always be someone (or thing) else to keep up with those sorts of things. The next edition will feature a google toolbar so they can look up big words like "mortgage" and "income tax," and will also include a bailout option for players who don't want to go to jail even though they mishandled their money to the point of criminal negligence. Also included will be a game-appointed attorney (of course, at no cost to the player) who will negotiate passing "GO" and the collection of the $200 even if the player is found guilty. I'm going to go read a book and cry a little.