Christianity in the 21st century seems intent on setting itself apart from the previous 20 centuries of the church’s worship. There seems to be an unhelpful idea that the church’s practice for generations has somehow not been founded on the Scriptures.
Gather with some groups of Christians today and you will not sing a song written before 1980; not pray in corporate unity; not affirm belief in common in historical terms. Even actions such as participating in the Lord’s Supper are left to other times and places.
Of course there are other groups of Christians who seem blissfully unaware that the 20th century happened at all.
The Reformed tradition, of which Presbyterianism is a part, contends that we are ‘reformed and always reforming’. Underlying that assertion is a preparedness to evaluate what we do in worship in subjection to the Scriptures. Unfortunately the principle has also given rise to two extremes: one in which the ‘reformed’ side of the equation dominates, so that the orthodox practice of one era is defended as the only orthodox practice for any era; and another in which the ‘always reforming’ segment dominates and nothing is ever settled or established in practice and worship.
Hughes Oliphant Old has a commanding knowledge of the Scriptures and church history. In Worship: Reformed According to Scripture he provides a survey of worship as it has been a part of the lives of God’s people in Scripture and history.
In doing so he demonstrates the place that Baptism; the Lord’s Day; Singing; Preaching; Prayer; the Lord’s Supper; Daily Prayer; and Alms have had in corporate Chrisitian gathering. Part Bible study, part church history, always very readable.
In Worship we are able to see the how the Christian faith has been nourished by these practices and how their authority is grounded in the teaching and practice related in the Bible.
Old gives special attention to the impact that the Reformation had on the place and practice of these elements of worship. His survey continues on to show how they have fared in more contemporary church life. His treatment is irenic and while giving attention to both positive and negative examples of historical practice.
The concern behind the work is, that separated from the rich practice of all these elements, Reformed and Presbyterian churches will become spiritually impoverished. Prayers will become shorter and less defined. The reading of Scripture will lack continuity and substance. Music will be more important, but that which is sung less so. The sacraments will diminish. Whatever grows out of such practice will struggle to maintain continuity to our past and also struggle to have anything concrete to hand over to the future.
For this reason Worship: Reformed According To Scripture points us to some elements of eternal value that need to be engaged and expressed in continuity with the past so they can be handed on to the future.
A quote:
“A tradition that gets radically changed every generation is not really a tradition. For tradition to be tradition, it must have a considerable amount of permanence and changelessness. Tradition can become tradition only when it passed from one generation to another. That is what the Latin tradere means, “to hand over’, from one hand to another , from one generation to another.”
The book is available in used condition from Amazon.
The ISBN is 0804232520
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