Theology Thursday: Do you proclaim the gospel on Sundays?

How do our church meetings proclaim the gospel story? Of course we want all our words to point to Christ. But what about the shape of the gathering, the liturgy? If the famous dictum, ‘the medium is the message,’ carries any truth then we would do well to reflect not only on the words spoken, but also the structures and shapes to our times together.

Below we have an excerpt from Graham O’Brien’s article in the most recent edition of Churchman. He argues that the structure and content of our times together ought to be seen, and therefore harnessed, as a powerful tool for discipleship in the worshipping community. With Christmas rapidly approaching, we might also consider what elements we include in our carol services and Christingles, and how they serve our evangelism.

O’Brien writes:

Worship is the goal of the Christian life, and indeed of life itself, which means that our worship—both corporately and individually—has the highest priority in the life and mission of the Church. A central ethos within an Anglican context is a desire for corporate worship to have a strong biblical basis that proclaims the story of God’s saving acts, where the gathering of the local Christian community is an intentional event that empowers our life of worship. The challenge then is how to construct worship that deepens its biblical focus, thereby building up the spiritual life of the congregation?

For some, especially within the evangelical tradition, the emphasis goes on the readings and the sermon to provide the biblical focus. However, the whole act of corporate worship is in itself the central act of biblical theology in the life of the Church that conveys the biblical message. Central to this, is the ancient pattern of Word and Table that communicates the biblical narrative of God’s saving acts and encourages all to make the story of God their story. Therefore, recognising the importance of structure in corporate worship is important as we seek to deepen our relationship with God and recapture the role of corporate worship in evangelism.

And in conclusion:

As the primary means of biblical theology in the life of the Church, corporate worship involves remembering God’s acts of salvation through recitation and re-enactment, as well as anticipating the final establishment of God’s kingdom when Jesus returns. The pattern of Word and Sacrament, established in the ancient church and recaptured in the Reformation provides the proper means for deep worship today, where both mind and heart are engaged in the remembering of God’s story, the body of Christ is built up (edified), and the gospel is promoted. Therefore all the components of worship fit together as an act of public praise, where through Word and Sacrament, ‘God’s vision for the world is proclaimed and enacted.’

The article contains much food for thought, so do get hold of this edition of Churchman to read the full text.

O'Brien, Graham J., More than the Sum of the Parts: Worship as Biblical Theology, Churchman 128/3 (2014): 247–257