Evangelical Is Not Enough: Ritual and Ceremony
It has taken some time to get back to the second half of the Thomas Howard’s Evangelical Is Not Enough. The posts on the first half of the book raised some good discussion here and it is my hope that the second half will be no different.
Chapter Six of the book begins to address prayer that takes the form of a fixed rite. He begins by defining the word liturgy which can best be described as “the work of the people”. Howard makes the point that the Christian liturgy is not designed to be a general thanksgiving, but is very unique in the same way that our lives are unique. One then encounters these very powerful words that describe what we are doing when we participate in Christian worship:
This divine love is such that not only does God give Himself to us and for us but, unimaginably, takes us into this very mystery of self-giving and makes us one with His Son, calling us the very Body of this Son who offers Himself to the Father for the life of the world.
Howard reminds us in this statement that our very reason for being Christians is to participate in the life of Christ and “to be broken and given” for others. This is a very deep way of praying when we enter into worship of this sort. It means we place our whole selves on the altar each week as an oblation to God. One of the key things to note is that we follow the pattern of Jesus in this being a voluntary act. No one forces the self-sacrifcial life that marks the life of a Christian. Like our Savior, we are to enter into death freely.
Another argument against this type of ritual that one often hears spoken is the emptiness of doing the same thing again and again. Howard points to the words of C. S. Lewis in this case who shares that every Christmas meal the same food is brought out, but everyone recognizes the special nature of the same food each year. One might also look in the modern sense to some of our sporting events. Here in Knoxville there is a great love for the Tennessee Vols. Each football season the same people gather with the same rituals of tailgating, making their way to the stadium, watching a game that is essentially the same each time, with the same rules, playing the same teams year after year. But to the one who understands what is going on at a game, and for one who sees this as important, the fact that the same things are repeated is not a negative, but rather a positive for those who are participating. How much more does this apply to worship?
Lastly, Howard touches upon the disdain among many modern Christians for outward signs seen in the Liturgical based Churches, such as the sign of the cross, bowing, etc. Here he makes two observations that I find useful. First is that bowing in itself should present us with no problem if our intent is to bow to the one true God. It is only when we are bowing to false gods that we run into a problem. Then he comes back to the problem noted in earlier posts on this book, that being a less than full understanding of the Incarnation. He notes,
The only difficulty with that sparse and practical approach is that it treats us as though we were disembodied intellects.
We are indeed people who are created by God to have bodies, minds and souls that are not able to be separated any more than one can separate the three persons of the Trinity. They are one and distinct at the same time. In the same way that faith engages our mind and soul, it should too engage our bodies. It is a way of learning how to be a Christian in the full sense of the word. Howard states,
By bowing with our heads as well as our hearts, we testify to the restored seamlessness of outer and inner.
This is exactly what we mean when we say we are sacramental people. In Christ, God came to redeem the world, the entirety of creation. Our worship should never fail to proclaim this to others.
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