A MHP Interview with Simon Chan, author of Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshiping Community (HT: Sherman)
OK! I’m getting the book … for now this sounds good: “If the church is extrinsic to God, then its worship is equally extrinsic, a matter of taste and of fulfilling some pragmatic end like evangelism. If the church is essentially a sociological reality, then worship is largely to achieve certain social ends. But if the church is a spiritual reality, linked in some intrinsic way to the life of the Trinity—and this link can only make sense if the church is related to God’s eternal purpose—then worship is also a spiritual activity intrinsic to the very being of the church. If the action of the triune God brings forth the church, then worship is simply the response of the church to the work of the Trinity.
… evangelicals tend to understand the gospel story as ending with the resurrection and fail to see that the gospel of Jesus is also about Pentecost (which includes the church) and his return. This whole story is part of the Scripture.
… A church whose drawing point is the polished sermon of the preacher is likely to draw people of a certain intellectual level. Whereas a good liturgical service with its sights and sounds, tactile and visual elements, rational and imaginative dimensions, fixed (“ordinaries”) and variable components (“propers”) will have something for all classes of people from all walks of life.”
My vision of our great Church (Ht: Maggi)
I sent this to my Bishop .. he replied positively: “…the best things happen in parishes. Important bishops may stack up the air-miles travelling to important meetings, but it’s really in parishes* that the Church does its stuff: the assembly at the school; communion in the home for the elderly; going for a walk with the woman whose husband has left her; the funeral visits; the youth-club disco; fund-raising for the local homelessness charity; the bloke out walking his dog and stopping to tell you how long he has waited for his operation.
God flits in and out of the conversation. Then it all comes together on a Sunday morning, as the word is preached and the bread is broken. For a real treat, it all has to be topped off with the choir singing Howells’s Coll. Reg. at evensong. None of this is theological rocket science, but it’s what we do best. Act local, think cosmic.”
Some theses on heresy
wow! “A mere recitation of confessions of Jesus Christ does not preserve theology from becoming heretical, but makes it all the more heretical. The mere recitation of confessions is christological superstition.”
Disappointment with the Church
There’s more than meets the title in this book review!
Is Christianity Irredeemably Sexist?
This is not merely about women’s ordination or being in leadership!
Salvation and Spiritual Formation
Interesting …
A Grace Party
We need more of these!
