Old and Hart on the church year

Having recently read Darryl G. Hart's Recovering Mother Kirk (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), I pulled off my shelf Hughes Oliphant Old's excellent Worship that Is Reformed According to Scripture (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1984), which I seem to have read a dozen or so years ago. Hart teaches at Westminster Seminary's California branch, while Old teaches at Princeton Seminary. Both sound similar themes in their books, expressing a concern for recovering the full integrity of Reformed worship, including something I've always favoured: a weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper.

Among other things, both are sceptical about the value of the church year, fearing that it will detract from sabbath observance. They also cast doubt on the use of particularly the visual arts in worship, on the grounds that this violates the second commandment. Writes Old:

If God has commanded us not to worship him by creating images of our own art and imagination it is because he wants us to be his image. Worship is the workshop where we are transformed into his image. When we are thus transformed into his image, we then reflect his glory. It is then through the ministry of praise and prayer, the ministry of word and sacrament that we are transformed to offer that spiritual worship which the Apostle Paul tells us is acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1-2).

While much of the current struggle over contemporary worship revolves around style, Old and Hart are correct to note that any effort to renew worship must focus on the substance of worship itself. The historic liturgies of the churches of the Reformation reflect an integrity that has often been lost in the battle over style. Worship, according to Old, must embrace the ministry of praise, the ministry of the word, the ministry of prayer, the sacraments, and alms-giving. Hart points to the Genevan order of worship, which includes the following essential components:

     Invocation

     Confession of sins

     Prayer for pardon

     Singing of a psalm

     Prayer for illumination

     Scripture lesson(s)

     Sermon

     Collection of offerings

     Prayers of intercession

     Apostles' Creed

     Words of institution of the Lord's Supper

     Instruction and exhortation

     Reception of the elements

     Prayer of thanksgiving (e.g., Psalm 103 or 113)

     Benediction

Given that I've occasionally worshipped in a church that had so many songs followed by a sermon with only a single brief prayer in the entire service, it is definitely in order to emphasize that liturgical integrity is not simply a matter of opinion. There are definite biblical patterns that must be followed.

However, I would not agree with them on the church year, which is entirely compatible with an emphasis on ordinary sunday worship. The traditional seasons of the church calendar -- Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost -- rehearse the history of redemption over the course of a year. In that respect, they are not much different from catechism preaching, which is to take place during the afternoon service in the Reformed churches. Moreover, our Jewish forebears followed a similar liturgical calendar marked by significant feasts celebrating God's mighty acts of redemption. Celebration of Passover or Purim or Hannukah has never obscured the sabbath for observant Jews. It seems ironic that Reformed Christians, who are more aware than other believers of their Hebraic roots, would repudiate a pattern that finds clear precedent in the Old Covenant.

I am inclined to believe that there is something very nearly structural, even creational, in the human need to mark such occasions on an annual basis. Every religion has these. Yes, Christmas and Easter, for example, are subject to considerable deformations in the larger culture. But reforming means precisely that: to reform, not to abolish entirely.