INTRODUCTION
The liturgy is a journey. We begin by gathering from our homes to one place, where we can worship God together. The minister invites us to enter the Lord?s house by faith, to ascend the heavenly Zion to worship Him. Recognizing that we are unfit to enter, we confess our sins and receive the Lord?s assurance of pardon. We arise and ascend by praise and prayer into the presence of God. As at Sinai, the mountaintop is a place of revelation. God speaks to us there, as He spoke to Moses. We are in the new covenant, so we can all with unveiled face receive the Word of the Lord and radiate His glory when we descend from the mountain. Having heard His life-giving word, we respond with thanksgiving, with offerings, with affirmations of our faith in God and our commitment to obey Him.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Like many traditional liturgies, the Trinity liturgy includes three Scripture readings. In the bulletin, the readings are laid out as follows:
GOD SPEAKS
(the people shall sit)
Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 31: 21-40
Reader The Word of the Lord
People Thanks be to God
(the people shall stand)
Psalm or Hymn Cantus # 115
(the people shall sit)
Epistle Lesson Romans 13: 1-14
Reader The Word of the Lord
People Thanks be to God.
(the people shall stand)
Psalm or Hymn Cantus # 228
(the people remain standing)
Gospel Lesson Matthew 21: 1-17
Reader The Gospel of our Lord.
People Glory be to You, Lord Christ.
Public reading and hearing of Scripture is well-grounded in Scripture. When Yahweh cut covenant with Israel at Sinai, part of the ceremony was a public reading of the Law (Exodus 24:7). Torah was not a secret code, reserved for a priestly class. It was public, known to all, and all were accountable to it (including the king, Deuteronomy 17). At the Feast of Booths in every Sabbatical year, the priests were to reenact the original Sinai proclamation, reading the law to the whole assembly of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:9-13). When Josiah led the people in renewing the covenant with Yahweh, he read Torah in the hearing of all the people (2 Kings 23:2).
In biblical times, of course, many believers were illiterate, and their only exposure to the Scriptures would have been through public readings. That is not the case today, and many modern Christians think of private reading as the preeminent way they are exposed to Scripture. I do not at all disparage private reading, but the Scripture emphasizes the importance and benefits of public reading. Christianity is a religion of Word and hearing; ?hear?Eis virtually equivalent to ?obey?Ethroughout the Scripture. And listening to someone is phenomenologically different from reading a book. When we listen, we are in a position of passivity, and cede authority to the reader. We can tune out someone reading, but often reading confronts us with things that we had not noticed in our own private reading. We need to receive the word through every gateway that we have ?Ethe eye, the ear, the mouth, the nostrils, touch. Liturgy receives the Word made audible, edible, tangible.
This has some implications for how we hear the word in public reading. I believe it is best to close your Bible and listen to the reader. You can check things later if you like. But when the Word is being read, you should not have your nose in the book.
Several specific points can be noted. First, why do we have three readings? Why not two? Why not only one? The reason is not merely adherence to tradition, though the tradition of the church is weighty on this and many other points. The reason ultimately has to do with biblical patterns and theology. In part, the pattern reflects the biblical view that the truth of testimony is established by the mouth of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28). Yahweh Himself operates on this principle, not only speaking to His people but confirming His promises by various testimonies and witnesses. In Deuteronomy 4:26, He calls on the dual witness of heaven and earth to reinforce His warning against Israel (cf. 31:28), and the book of the Law that is deposited in the tabernacle is a witness against Israel, should they turn from Yahweh (Deuteronomy 31:26). Jesus calls on a variety of witnesses to confirm the truth of what He says, including His own works and the Father?s commission (John 5). Hebrews says that God confirms His promises by ?two unchangeable things,?EHis promise and His confirming oath (Hebrews 6:18). When the Jews rejected the witness of Jesus, He send the Spirit as a second witness to convict and convince (John 16). This pattern is important in worship. God speaks His promise of pardon to us, but He does not leave us with only the witness of His word; He confirms that with the second witness of the Supper, which demonstrates visibly and ritually that He accepts us as His forgiven children. The use of multiple readings of Scripture functions the same way.
Scripture is in fact constructed as a ?double witness.?EGod promises (first witness) and then God fulfills (second witness). God speaks in the Old Testament, and then speaks again in the New. Law comes through Moses, grace and truth through Jesus. And so on. It is good for the Scripture readings in worship to reflect this pattern, and this is often how traditional lectionaries are arranged. The Old Testament reading speaks of a promise (often one related to the season of the church calendar), and the New Testament reading speaks of the fulfillment of that promise. Readings from Old and New thus help to instruct the congregation in the basic pattern for reading Scripture.
Second, at Trinity the readings are substantial, far longer than most traditional lectionary readings. And, the readings are sequential. That is, we read straight through a book without skipping portions. That again is different from most traditional lectionaries. There are practical drawbacks to having lengthy readings, especially in a church full of little children. But the benefits, to my mind, outweigh the difficulties. Scripture is God?s Word to us, and it makes little sense to me to include only a few verses of God?s life-giving word in a worship service. Reading sequentially through a book also has some disadvantages. It is more difficult to capture the typological connections between Old and New that are embedded in traditional lectionaries. But again the benefits appear to me to outweigh the costs. It is important to hear the Word, the whole Word, as much as possible. Lectionaries tend to give highlights. But we need all the Word of God, and need to get a sense of the flow of entire books and long passages of Scripture. At some point, Trinity may adopt a two-tier system: We might employ a traditional lectionary system between Advent and Pentecost, and go with sequential readings through Trinity season. At this point, the readings are selected to correspond roughly with the topic of the sermon. Currently, since I?m preaching through Kings, we are reading through parallel accounts in Chronicles.
Third, the reader at Trinity gives a brief summary of the passage he is reading prior to reading it. This helps the listener to get the gist of the reading and follow along more easily. It also helps to connect the reading to the rest of the day?s liturgy, and perhaps to make typological connections among the various readings.
Fourth, we respond to each reading with an expression of thanksgiving to God for His gift. In Scripture, the reading of God?s word is followed by an ?Amen?Eor by some statement that the hearers are committed to obey (Exodus 24:3, 7; Deuteronomy 27; Nehemiah 8:6). Our thanksgiving for the Word makes that same implicit commitment: If we thank God for His Word, we are surely also saying that we believe it and will obey it. But making that commitment in terms of a thanksgiving is a helpful reminder of our attitude toward God and His Word . When He speaks, we are not to simply set our jaws and obey; we are to obey in gratitude, joy, and gladness. Our obedience is to be entirely carried out under the heading of ?thanks be to God.?EThe response to the gospel is different, highlighting the fact that Jesus is worthy of all glory and honor and power and dominion because He is the Lamb who has been slain and raised from the dead. We also express our thanks and commitment to the Word read by singing a hymn or Psalm following each of the readings.
Fifth, posture. It is appropriate and biblical to stand for the reading of God?s Word. Standing is a military posture, a posture of attention, so we stand to hear our ?marching orders?Efrom the Lord of the church (cf. Nehemiah 8:5). At the same time, there are examples in Scripture of people sitting to hear God?s word taught. In the gospels people sometimes sit to hear the incarnate Word speak the Word (Luke 5:17; 8:35; 10:38-42). Disciples ?sit at the feet?Eof their masters, showing their subordination by their posture (cf. Acts 22:3). Further, sitting is the posture of kings, and we gather in worship as the royal priesthood of the Father.
Why sit for the Old Testament and Epistle lessons and stand for the gospel? This appears to give prominence to the gospels, as if it were the Word of God in some fuller sense than the rest of the Bible. This is certainly not the case; the whole Word of God is given to us for our training in righteousness. At the same time, the gospels record the climax of the whole history of God with the world, and particularly the story of God with Israel. The gospel tells about the supreme act of revelation and redemption, and thus does have a certain priority in Scripture. The Old Testament points toward Jesus, and hence to the gospels; and the epistles are simply the apostolic exposition of the meaning of what happened through Jesus, which is recorded in the gospels. We are Christians, followers of Jesus, not disciples of Moses, David, Jeremiah, or Paul. One way to symbolize that we are a Christocentric people is by highlighting the reading of the gospel accounts of the Christ.
Next week, we will begin by looking at the response to the Word, and the Eucharist.