Monday, January 28, 2008

"lex orandi, lex credenti"

"The Law of Prayer is the Law of Belief" This phrase was a common idea used in the early church to signify the importance of the form and content of worship in the formative influence of Christian belief. One can witness the importance of this principal in the very fact that the canon was shaped by the question of, "What texts are allowed to be read in the Christian assembly?" It was in the assembly that the creeds were used as a unifying confessional of a diverse community. One would be able to attend a Christian assembly and leave saturated with confessions of faith, scripture readings (O.T, Psalmody, and a reading from the apostolic writings), baptismal formulas, prayers, and Eucharistic liturgies. The faith of these communities was shaped by their liturgy. With this in mind I come to the crux of this post and that is Christian unity. How does one take this principal of 'lex orandi, lex credendi' and apply it to the idea of Christian unity? This principal lays out the foundation for one being caught up in the narrative story of God's actions in human history in the worship. I believe that it is no coincidence that Paul uses the rites of baptism and the Lord's table as a means to Christian unity.

Paul states in Galatians 3: 26-29 "For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one [man] in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise." Similarly Paul reiterates in 1 Corinthians 12: 13 "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit." Paul lays out in these passages the very fact that our unity is tied up in our baptism. This confession of unity is tied to our beginnings in the Church and should remind us where we came from. No badge of ethnic Judaism (such as circumcision) mattered anymore. We forget how explosive this passage would have been to a church that was rocked by ethnic, racial, and gender differences. People that were once considered unclean or unfit for fellowship were now considered fellow children of God and heirs to the promise made to Abraham. I think the irony is found in the fact that Paul uses a baptismal formula to make this point about unity.

Next, Paul states in I Corinthians 10 :16-17
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we are all partake of the one bread."
It should be no surprise that Paul once again uses a rite of the Church to make a point about Christian unity. In the very act of the Eucharist Paul makes the point that we should be reminded of our oneness in Christ. On each first day of the week Christians gather all over the world and commune with Christ at His table and in this fact we are mystically united one with another. In the non-canonical Didache (a document from the late 1st century that gives practical instructions on things such as baptism and the Eucharist) the writer of this document states the following concerning the Lord's Supper:
And concerning the broken bread:

We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which You madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever..

The writer of this ancient document saw how the broken bread of the Eucharist is a symbol of our Christian unity in much the same way that the apostle Paul stated in I Corinthians.

I believe that the first step toward unity among all Christians is for all of us to reflect on what makes us simply Christian. We must also realize that God will not leave us where He found us but will continue to work in our lives and make us more and more into His image as we grow. What can we learn from these passages concerning baptism and the Eucharist? Can we find room for each other at the Lord's Table? Can we remember the pledge we all made to Christ in our baptism and remember our common origin and now, thank God, our common destination? Would the principalities and powers of this present age take Christians more serious if they saw the Body of Christ unified and ready to allow God to work through us as His conduit in the world? Maybe we should all consider the phrase 'lex orandi, lex credenti' as we strive to become part of God's narrative of salvation for this world.

Friday, January 4, 2008

It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness


I have always been puzzled when I read the story of Jesus receiving the baptism of John the Baptist. I would read in the Gospels that John's baptism was connected to the forgiveness of sins and Matthew tells us that people would confess their sins at baptism. Why would Jesus come to John the Baptist to submit to a baptism for the forgiveness of sins when Christ had no sin to receive forgiveness for? In reading the exchange between Jesus and John the Baptist we get clues to the answer. In Matthew 3:13-15 we read:
"Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him."
In this passage we observe the same shock in John the Baptist that we have in the thought of Jesus receiving baptism.
I believe the answer is found in the phrase, 'to fulfill all righteousness' and especially the answer is found in the future cross and resurrection of Jesus.
First of all, the term righteousness can be understood as submitting to the will of God or by observing God's will. Many Jews in the 1st century would have understood righteousness as allowing themselves to take on the yoke of the Torah. We see Christ perfectly subject Himself to God's yoke His entire ministry, and we see the toughness of that yoke in the Garden of Gethsemane. At that time Christ answers God's call to finish the work of redemption by going to the cross. I believe that we should read Jesus' baptism with the cross in mind. We can see that Jesus is going into baptism with a mind to connect Himself with man's condition. He would actively take the sin of man to the cross as a propitiation for us. At His baptism he 'identifies' with man and his malady by 'fulfilling all righteousness'. It is the righteousness of God that sent Christ to save mankind, and it is the eternal plan that had Jesus redeem us by the cross.
Finally, I believe that this view of Jesus' baptism changes our outlook of our own baptism. Because Jesus 'identified' with man in His baptism we now crucify our old man and allow ourselves to buried with Christ in baptism. We are identified with Christ in the most extreme way possible. We have become crucified with Christ or what Paul calls 'obeying the gospel' in 2 Thessalonians.
We see the connection with baptism and our identifying with Christ in Paul when he draws the analogy of the children of Israel and Moses in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 when he states,
"
For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea"
Paul uses similar language of Christian baptism in Galatians 3:27when he states, "All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

Christ in His baptism took another step on his steadfast mission of going to the cross and part of that mission was to identify with man's pitiful condition. When we submit to His baptism we should always remember the solemnity of identifying with our crucified Savior. When we come out of that watery grave let us remember the Risen Christ that conquered death and has opened up life to us. Let us keep the words of Paul fresh on our minds when we renew our baptismal vows daily when he states in Galatians 2:20 that, "
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me"

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Hearts Burning


I find it fascinating that the discourse of the risen Christ with the men on the road to Emmaus ends with the men giving an account of the encounter to the other disciples by letting them know that they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread.
Before the men on the road recount this story we see that Jesus opened up the Scriptures to them and because of this their hearts were burning. It is at this time that they share in the 'breaking of bread' with Jesus. In Luke 24: 30-31 we see Jesus follow the same order of events that he did in the Last Supper with the offertory (He took bread), the blessing (gave thanks), the fracture (broke it), and the communion (began to give it to them).
We see this same formula play out with Luke in his later volume of Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 2 we see in verse 42 that the followers of Christ 'devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the breaking of bread'.
I think this formula is important to Christians today in two different ways.

First of all, it shows the all importance of the ministry of the word to a community of believers. Reading of Scripture along with the proper teaching office of a minister of God's word is critical. We see Jesus explain the Scripture to the apostles in Luke 24 and he 'opened' up the meaning to the men. We also see the authoritative teaching office of the apostles in Acts 2:42 when we are informed that the new community of believers devoted themselves to apostolic teaching.

Lastly, these passages shine forth the importance of the Lord's Table. Imagine a group of believers that assemble on a Sunday morning with their hearts burning from His word, and that same group comes before His table in communion. What would that communion look like? I propose it would have the elements of the offertory, blessing, fracture, and communion. Not mentioned explicitly in the passages was the Cup, but that would be assumed from the institution passages of the Lord's Supper found in the Gospels and I Corinthians. Also, I believe that passage lays out the importance of koinonia fellowship with Christians. A group of believers that assemble together with their hearts on fire for Christ, communing together at his Table, and then empassioned to go out and become agents of His Kingdom on earth. To me that is exciting stuff!