Update: DOC Easter Vigil

While working on something else I found a liturgy for Easter Vigil in Chalice Worship (A worship manual for the Christian Church Disciples of Christ).

It follows very closely with what I found at the Catholic liturgy this past weekend. There is the liturgy of light, word, baptism, and Eucharist.

I will be examining it, and pray for me - perhaps even celebrating it in the next Easter season when I am serving a church.

How exciting.

My First Easter Vigil

This past Eastern Triduum I had the opportunity to attend my first Easter Vigil. It was remarkably beautiful.

The evening began with the service of light, unfortunately I wasn't able to find a candle. The Christ candle processed down the center aisle and those closest to it lit their candles from it and passed it along to the fellow worshipers. By the time the Christ candle made it to the front of the worship space the entire sanctuary was full of light. It was a sign of Christ in and spread throughout the world.

Next came the liturgy of the word. It began with creation, then told the exodus story, the prophets and finally the story of Jesus' resurrection. It was a retelling and even a reliving of all salvation history. In particular I remember the Exodus reading. Someone from the church sung it and the congregation responded. It was like being part of a divine opera.

Fifteen people were baptized that night. There was one infant with her mother, two children and eleven others. As each person received the waters of baptism the entire congregation burst into song singing "Blessed be God!" I could feel the Body of Christ get larger with the reception of each new member. Following the baptisms were confirmations on those newly baptized and those not yet confirmed.

The evening concluded with a celebration of the Eucharist. With the retelling of our salvation history and the reception of new Christians, the community gathered for the climax of the evening in Eucharist.

It was a beautiful. The choir led worship wonderfully, but they did not sing to us; it was a community event. The telling of our history was done so well and vividly.

I wonder why Protestant Christians so readily adopted the Christmas Vigil (Christmas Eve service) but not the Easter Vigil. I feel like I have been missing something significant all these years.

The empty sacrament

I went to my church's regional (like a diocese or synod) gathering. There were several worship opportunities throughout the event in which communion was served. (We celebrate communion in every worship service)

There was no clear mark which signified an entrance into holy time - that worship was not set apart from our everyday lives. The worship leader just began to sing a song while everyone else continued their conversations. A sermon was given and someone came forward to introduce communion.

They emphasized how all are welcome, with no precondition. Neither sin, creed, nor status of baptism were reasons to separate one from the communion table. That it is a table of hospitality.

As the elements were passed I took and ate. I normally cross myself (as I learned from the Catholics) after I partake in order to mark the holy moment. But, I could not bring myself to do it this time because it felt so very profane. Not profane in the sense that it was irreverent or unholy, but simply ordinary. By the introduction to communion and a stress on symbolism, it was clear that this meal was only bread and juice. It tasted empty.

Do not misunderstand me. I believe communion is for all, invited by Christ. But it is not an ordinary meal like we eat in order to sustain our physical bodies. It is a spiritual food which nourishes the souls of those already united with Christ. It is certainly not a meal which one can approach on one's own terms - for it is Christ's table, not ours.

Emptier still.
Saturday morning we worshiped again. This time the communion elements included pretzels and gold fish crackers. I cannot recall the justification for this practice at this time because I remember feeling so empty at the thought.

Granted, nearly all Christians in this tradition believe communion to be symbolic only. But what happens when you tamper with the symbol? When I approached the communion plate and saw the pretzels and gold-fish crackers I did not think of Christ's last meal, but rather a children's party. For that is what those elements symbolize.

I did not partake. I had to leave the worship service at that point because I was so angry and I took a walk until lunch.

The church said "look how hip, cool, and open WE are that we can do this." I believe Christ was overshadowed by this novelty. It is a feat in mental acrobatics when we attempt to force a new symbol to mean what the bread and wine once meant.

Symbol or not, let us not profane (make ordinary) the Table of the Lord.

How can I share communion with my wife?

The biggest spiritual hindrance to our marriage is that we are not able to share communion at the same table. My wife is Roman Catholic and I am not.

I have approached our pastor and asked to receive and was told that if I want to commune with my wife I would have to become Roman Catholic.

So that means, even though we are united in the sacrament of matrimony and we both have faith in Jesus, we cannot share that faith together at the table - the source and summit of our spiritual lives.

A proposed solution:

I could take some bread from the communion table at my Protestant Church with me to mass. And then my wife could take her communion at Catholic Church back to the pew with her, and then both her and I could communion together.

Or maybe I could just eat the "bread" as she goes forward. As far as the Roman Catholic Church is concerned, I'm just having a snack. While of course, I do understand the bread to be the essence of Christ and is thus communion for me.


What do you think?
What do you think? Good idea, bad idea, got a better idea? What are some theological implications of this solution? What are the theological implications of a husband and wife who do/can not share the Eucharist?

Sin and liturgy

From here on out I will be writing from the perspective of my own Christian tradition. The diversity of Protestant Christianity is simply too great to make statements like "Protests do x, and they believe y."

Even within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), my own tradition, there is great diversity. I will be writing from my experience and reflection. If your experience differs from my own feel free to comment or send me an email.

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Near the beginning of the Roman Catholic liturgy is the Penitential Rite. Here worshipers admit that they are sinners and ask for forgiveness before entering into worship.

I have attended about a dozen different Disciples congregations and found them all to have a unique liturgy. One thing they all have in common, however, is that they do not have anything which resembles a Penitential Rite.

It is rare for me to hear much mention of sin in the liturgy of a Disciples Church. This is not to say that we don't take sin seriously, but it is largely a personal matter. I have seen sin wrestled with outside the context of worship such as in the Sunday School classes, at church camp, in Bible studies, and occasionally in sermons. I wonder out loud here: Why isn't sin acknowledged in the liturgy itself?

The Disciples of Christ Church does not recognize the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) either. So if we don't have confession and we don't confront sin in the liturgy how do we respond to the sin we find in our lives? The simple answer is...we don't.

When sin is not addressed in worship or sacrament we are left with a few possible responses.

1. I have a blank check to sin because of Jesus Christ:

No matter what I do, sins past and future are redeemed by the power of the cross. I don't need to worry myself too much with my own sin because Christ paid that price for me. I will try to be a good person, but its no big deal if I mess up.

or...

2. Sin is completely my personal responsibility to deal with:

I must repent and pray to God directly when I realize my own sin. I'm pretty sure he will forgive me if I pray for it. I have to do this in the privacy of my own home (or head) because surely my Christian brothers and sisters are not as great of sinners as I am. How embarrassing to confess to them that I am not a good enough Christian.

or...

3. Disciples congregations need to deal with sin in liturgy and sacrament:

Sin is not a personal matter and must be dealt with communally. Our expression of Christian community is in the congregation. I am a sinner and so is the man and woman on either side of me as we gather to worship. When we do not acknowledge our failures within worship we deceive ourselves and lie to God. We must come before God in our worship with repentance.

It's not about me.

Someone gave me a very humbling comment to my last post. You can read it here.

In the Protestant Church, worship often feels very much like a show which is preformed for the congregation. Church members feel justified to complain to the preacher if a sermon was not to their liking, or to the music director if they didn't choose enough hymns/praise choruses.

In the Protestant Church, we often judge the quality of worship based on our emotions following the service. Did the music speak to me? Did the sermon inspire me? Did I get a good feeling out of the worship?

This is so backward. Worship is all about God, focused on him and his word. By secondary benefit we are fulfilled by our worship of him. Worshiping God completes us, but this is not our primary concern.

That is one more thing I love about the Catholic Church - is her proper focus in worship. Even as I have been contemplating entering into full communion I still need to constantly refocus. I am not entering the church for any comfort I might find. I enter because I believe it is what God desires of me.

So, I need to rethink my previous post. So long as I am concerned with my own feelings during the mass, my focus is not where it should be. I will worship God on his terms, not mine.

Protestant Worship Revisited

For the first time in a very long time, I sat in the congregation of a Protestant church (of my own tradition). I began to ponder several things during my time in worship.

First, I want to spell out some of my presuppositions concerning worship. Not in any particular order:

• We (the congregation) are the actors; God is the audience.
• It is the duty of the Christian assembly to worship God. Participation is required. This is not an "spectator sport."
• Music is worship.
• The liturgy should be built upon scripture.
• All churches have a liturgy. It is possible that it is not written out, or that it changes from week to week, but the liturgy does exist.
  

Here are some of my observations as I revisited Protestant worship. These are made in light of my long acquaintance with the Roman Catholic liturgy.

1) Audience/Performer. There was no silence to begin the worship. Nearly all members of the assembly were talking with one another, catching up on one another's lives. The music began to signal that worship was about to begin. The members of the congregation continued to converse until a minister rose to give a statement of welcome.

I found myself a bit uncomfortable with the level of informality given to the act of worship. It felt very much more like a lodge meeting rather than a performance for the pleasure of our Lord.

Suppose you were a member in an orchestra just prior to a performance. The orchestra doesn't spend this time socializing. They are ensuring that their instruments are in tune. They wouldn't dream of disrupting the audience as they prepare for the show.

In line with my presuppositions I believe that we need to prepare for worship. Get our "instruments in tune" as it were - examine our conscience, focus on God, pray for his help, and give thanks for his intercession.

We must not lose our focus in worship, and we certainly don't want God to feel left out at a performance meant for him in the first place!

1b) Special music. The congregation clapped following the special music. For those of you who might not be familiar with the term "special music," it refers to music that is performed by an individual, small group, or choir during the worship service. Generally the congregation is not invited to participate.

This can be done very well - as a gift given by the individual, group, or choir to God on behalf of the congregation. Unfortunately this distinction is sometimes lost and the congregation treats the act as if it were for a performance to be enjoyed by the congregation. Let us be careful to point out that we can clap along with God in thanksgiving to the performer - much like a choir might clap for a soloist in a performance.

1c) This distinction appeared to be completely lost in the congregation I was attending. A speaker, making an announcement about an upcoming event referred to the congregation as "the audience."

Language plays a very important role in everything we do. The words we use in conjunction with the physical actions we use during worship says a lot about who we are as the people of God. It also says a great deal about our view of God, Christ and the Church.

2) Communion. The children's message was quite good. The teacher mentioned all of the good things given to children in church, snacks as one example. But, she said, we must also give at church. The main message was that God expects us to use our gifts to build his church. A nice and neat message.

Later in the service another member of the church stood to give a prayer prior to communion. She was attempting to be relevant to the service, and recalled the children's message in her introduction to communion. She referred to the bread and wine of communion as God's snack for us!

The intimate meal shared with Jesus and his closest companions, the night before his death was a mere snack? The bread and wine which Jesus calls "my body" and "my blood" is just a casual snack to be enjoyed?

Again, language is powerful. I imagine the statement was simply not very carefully thought out. But why not? Why is it so difficult for many congregational Protestants to seriously consider the words they use to describe what is going on as we worship?

2b) The process of communion. Communion came from a common loaf and was offered to everyone in the congregation. It was divided among several plates, along with a separate plate with tiny cups of grape juice (the wine). These plates were passed through the congregation. I imagine the rationale behind this is "the priesthood of all believers" found in 1 peter 2:9. Understanding that all Christians are priests, all Christians necessarily are able to offer communion to one another in the congregation.

What if there are non-believers in congregation, however? Then that non-believer must handle the elements, and a believer would receive the body of Christ from a non-Christian. There is something unsettling about that.

Also, it does not really provide the option not to receive. There are reasons even for baptized Christians not to receive the Eucharist - for reasons I will address in another post. Going about communion in this way makes the act expected, and without an examination of conscience.


There was a lot of good which I saw in the worship. There was a great concern for the community, members were encouraged to share their personal prayer requests with one another in the context of worship. No one left after the communion service, and there was plenty of food and fellowship after the service.

Perhaps I may be called to help Protestant churches realize the importance of language and actions within the context of worship.