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Tag Archive 'Liturgy'

Jun 22 2009

4th Post: A Brief, Brief, Brief History of Western Christian Worship

Published by Rich under Creative, Theology

For all intents and purposes I have decided to post a very, very brief history of worship in the Western church in order to place our discussion into context. I am no expert (yet), so this seeks to server the purpose of merely setting a basis for our conversations on Worship in the current church.

Worship is most often defined as giving glory and honor to God, and stands as the central act of the Christian faith.The majority of Christian worship is based in the liturgy, a pattern or layout for Christian worship services, which dates back to the early church. This liturgy and the prayers and texts within also follow a progression defined by the Christian Church Calendar, also known as the Liturgical Year. In the early church, worship consisted of prayers and texts, as Christianity was still making its initial spread at this point, many cultures mixed in their own traditions and cultural influences. Around 215 C.E. a church order arose called The Apostolic Tradition, usually attributed to Roman Priest Hippolytus, that prescribed the texts for prayers, ordinations, baptisms,and the Eucharist which eventually gave birth to the Liturgy (White 43). This compounded by the Institutionalization of Christianity following the reign of Constantine I (306-337 C.E.) as well as it being made the offical religion of the empire in 380 C.E.

Vatican Midnight Christmas Mass

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the word Liturgy was synonymous with the Celebration of the Eucharist, which is also referred to as Holy Communion, the commemoration of the Last Supper. Traditionally, liturgy consists of prayer, hymns, scripture reading, and sacramental worship through communion. This is a blog post, so Wiki says: ” …liturgy is a communal response to the sacred through activity reflecting praise, thanksgiving, supplication, or repentance. Ritualization may be associated with life events such as birth, coming of age, marriage, and death. It thus forms the basis for establishing a relationship with a divine agency, as well as with other participants in the liturgy. Methods of dress, preparation of food, application of cosmetics or other hygienic practices are all considered liturgical activities. Repetitive formal rites, in some ways similar to liturgies, are natural and common in all human activities such as organized sports venues.”

During the Middle Ages, worship was mainly shaped by the Monastic tradition. During this vast expanse of time, roughly 600-1600 C.E., life was rather tumultuous. Life was frequently cut short due to civil turmoil, such as the crusades, Norse invasions, plagues, and other warring factions. Monks basically created a safe haven for the documents, writings, traditions, and beer recipes of the Christian faith. The life of the Monk was to worship and most liturgical changes came from the monastic tradition during this time period. Monks also made great contributions to the universities, worship music (chant), and were also responsible for establishing heavy theological decisions many of which concerned sacramental theology (White 76-79). Unfortunately, and you may not have suspected this because nobody does, these theological decisions led way to things like Spanish Inquisition.

During the Reformation period (1500-1700) Protestantism arose and Christianity spread on a global scale due to colonization, commerce, developing urban areas, and most importantly, the printing press. Enter The Book of Common Prayer! During this time, preaching was elevated to the prominent focus of the worship service. Polyphony exploded this time and skilled composers began writing 4-part harmony since the end of the twelfth century. Martin Luther exalted music and referred to it as one of God’s greatest gifts (White 137). During this time, composers established much of the basis for the entirety of what we know as western music to this day. Much of the mass proper was also established during this time (White).

Since the enlightenment and up to present day has seen the onset of Denominationalism. There are currently 27,647 Protestant divisions recognized by the IRS for tax-exempt purposes in just the United States alone. Though the fundamentals are in place in most cases, there some very distinct differences concerning style, content, and expression. Regular corporate worship is also complemented by other forms of worship, such as individual meditation, prayer and bible study, small group prayer groups and bible studies, and formal ceremonies on special occasions, including weddings, funerals, baptisms, etc. With this also came a movement away from liturgical worship order and with this came variations in style. With the rise of the charismatic movement in the 1960’s came the fusion of popular culture and modern worship within the church; one might even say the fusion of the secular and the sacred to create more culturally digestible musical based worship experience.

Over the course of this discussion we will be exploring what all of this means, how it applies to our current worship traditions, preferences and experiences, and more importantly where christian worship is headed the future. (The Great Emergence?) It is our hope to grow to a greater understanding of Jesus’ words saying that “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).