Tag Archives: Worship

A Living Mosaic of Sacrifice

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My friend Joshua (www.trinitarianmission.com) first showed me this image on my front porch from his iPad. Joshua revealed to me the multiple layers of meaning in this mosaic.

Layer 1 – Acceptable Old Testament Sacrifices (from left to right): Abel offering his perfect lamb sacrifice to Yahweh (Lord God represented by the hand)(see Genesis 4:1-5), next the High Priest Melchizedek  offering his acceptable sacrifice of Bread and Wine to the Most High God (Genesis 14:17-20), next Abraham offering his son Isaac as an acceptable sacrifice to God (Genesis 21:1-19). All of these three scenes are positioned towards what is occurring in the designated space below the altar, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross… where we now have a place at the table.

Layer 2: The Self-Sacrificial Offering of Christ (from left to right): Christ offering himself as the Lamb of God to God the Father, next Christ the High Priest offering himself to the Church as bread and wine at the altar, next God the Father offering his Son.

Layer 3: The Worship Space: Hearing my friend explain these different layers of meaning to me was really cool and then I looked up where this mosaic is from. It is on a side wall of the 6th-century basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Italy. The mosaic is from the 7th century and is positioned above where the Eucharist is celebrated.

So imagine coming up to take Holy Communion and there before you is this huge mosaic depicting these multiple meanings of sacrifice. The mosaic transports the OT narrative and the passion of Christ to our present consciousness … defining the reality of the sacred space before us at the table of the Eucharist. The square space below the altar (in the mosaic) is our place at the table, where Christ has made room for us.

Epiphany In Worship

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The season of Epiphany, when the Church explicitly remembers how Jesus is revealed as God in the Gospels is now coming to a end.  In this season we have followed the Magi, remembered Christ’s baptism, and  witnessed the Kingdom of God. Yet before we look too far down the path of Epiphany, to the palms of Sunday and the ashes of Wednesday, let us consider Jesus’ revelation as God in Worship.

The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) all mention the account of Jesus teaching at the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. In the Luke account we find that  during this Sabbath worship service it was Jesus’ turn to read the scroll, which happened to have been from  the Prophet Isaiah. SO as was the custom, Jesus takes the scroll of Isaiah, stands up and gives the reading:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This verse is drawn from Isaiah 61:1-2 and 58:6. What was Jesus’ interpretation of these verses from the Prophet for those in attendance?  ”Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk4:21). There was amazement at the grace of his words and then the questions and challenges came, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” Jesus then begins to unpack his amplified interpretation of these verses from Isaiah in Luke 4:24-30 as the hearers with rage try to lay hands on him. To think that God would extend his grace and blessing outside of “clean & chosen” Israel to lepers, widows, the poor, and Gentiles!

The people of Nazareth missed Jesus as God in the reading and failed to glorify God, acknowledging him for who he is. Today I sometimes wonder if the church fails in this respect to acknowledge God for who he is in worship. Three benchmarks for worship as a response to God’s glory (that I have adapted from Simon Chan’s Liturgical Theology) are:

  1. Worship is not something we do for God - “Praise” does not bring down the glory of God. “Waiting” does not bring down the glory of God. “Playing Louder Music” does not bring down the glory of God. The glory of God is a self-giving gift and thus, everything we are and have to offer is a gift from God.
  2. Worship is its own end. In the pragmatic context in which we find ourselves in history, everything including worship has to have and end or purpose (mostly for us). What do you mean Jesus this reading is fulfilled in our hearing? Aren’t you Joseph’s boy? What’s in it for us? As William Willimon writes, “Worship loses is integrity when it is regarded instrumentally as a means of something else-even as a means of achieving the most noble of human purposes”
  3. Worship is a response to God’s total character. True worship must reflect the reality of who the triune God is. I agree with John Wesley’s observation of the verse that Jesus reads above, “The Spirit of Lord is upon me” as a reference to the Holy Trinity. Do we worship a triune God today in American Christianity?

Ephiphany, Week 5 – Beauty Reflections (Part II)

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“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.”Augustine of Hippo (Algeria/354-430).

Beautiful Theology

This is my second reflective post on beauty during the fifth week of Epiphany. In my last reflection on beauty, I focused on the beauty of a united Christian community. Today’s reflection on beauty focuses on theology. The goal is not to share a deep theological treatise on what is beautiful, but a reflection on the beauty OF theology.

I was blessed recently in a Sacramental theology class taught by a visiting professor, Dr. Bob Stamps. Dr. Stamps once said something that stuck with me, “Our theology needs to be as beautiful as it is correct.” This summer during my chaplain candidate tour, I engaged in a lot of theological discussions with chaplains of different denominations. Somewhere during the theological dialogues with these friends our theologies and our souls became more beautiful. Now, theologically I am Wesleyan and they are Reformed, but the dialogue sharpened us and made us more like Christ. Once we moved beyond the differing ‘theology’ and got focused on the ‘theos’ (gk. for God), we found our desire to be more like Christ greater than our desire to be more like a John Wesley or a John Piper. A beautiful theology should bring life (and not death) to a Christian friendship. I am not suggesting a relative understanding of truth, but a desire to know the embodiment of the truth (and the way and the life), Jesus Christ.

When you leave the place where you worship on Sundays, do find yourself humming to the theological message of the Pastor’s sermon? Or maybe when you are walking around at your school or work, do you find yourself quoting TULIP, systematic theology, or the ontological argument? No. You usually find yourself chanting a creed, singing the great hymns of the church, or perhaps belting that line from a contemporary worship song that touched your heart in a meaningful way.

Beautiful theology is theology that is sung. This is why the ‘worship leader’ is such a vital role in a church. As John David (JD) Walt, Asbury Theological Seminary, dean of the Chapel, said many times, “the worship leader is the practical theologian of the church.” Revelation 14:3 reminds us that before the eschatological throne of heaven we won’t be saying the right things, but singing a beautiful new song, “And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.”

Being able to sing your theology gives it wings more beautiful than angels.