The Discerning Reception of Ecclesiastical Tradition. . . Part 5 1/2
 
The discussion over at reformedcatholicism.com about the The Council of Nicea and the Posture of Our Prayers is a pretty good test case for Luther’s claim that everybody must pick and choose from church tradition.
I really don’t want to summarize the debate since you can read it yourself.  But I would point out that Kevin’s claim that kneeling in worship compromises catholicity simply because we are violating Canon 20 of the Council of Nicea seems pretty extreme to me.  
And the claim is repeatedly made that not following that Canon means that we are “picking and choosing” from received tradition, and that such selectivity is inherently anti-catholic.  
I’ve said a lot already in the comments section of that post that I don’t want to repeat.  But I do think that Mike Farley’s points need to be taken more seriously, especially his rather simple observation that the Bible commands or at least commends kneeling.  
One may reflect upon the purpose of Nicea’s canon 20 – was it written to promote unity or to address the need to maintain a triumphal liturgy by guarding against overly penitential postures on the celebration of the Day of Resurrection?  But however one answers these questions, it seems quite wrong to me is to elevate this peripheral canon into a mark of catholicity.  
There may have been good reasons for promulgating it in the 4th century.  I take these canon’s to be pastoral wisdom about specific issues facing the church at that time. I’m inclined to cut them some slack.  But what I don’t think we can do is transform any or all of these canons into infallible marks of catholicity.  In other words, just becomes a church kneels at some point in their service does not mean that they are behaving in a sectarian manner.  
Kevin did ask this question, which I haven’t answered yet:
  1. I would love to hear more about your rationale in how you go about being selective and deciding what goes where in the covenant renewal model–including things like posture (which I’m happy to grant is not of central importance though much ink was certainly spilled on it in your book).
I don’t think that too much was said about this issue in my book.  But since he asks about the rationale for kneeling, here are a few comments.  Mike Farley laid out the biblical case pretty nicely in his comments.  Beyond that, however, the logic for when to kneel and stand is pretty simple.
We kneel to confession our sins at the beginning of the service.  God then lifts our head up and causes us to stand before him in the absolution.  Kneeling before God at the beginning of the service expresses our utter dependence upon God for grace to stand in his presence.  Of course, we walk into the assembly standing and singing, but the Lord’s first act of service is to forgive us our sins and grant us a proper “standing” in Christ as his people.  From then on we confidently stand to pray and praise the Lord.
Here are a few paragraphs from pages 29-30:
  1. Certainly there are numerous passages that exhort us to “Praise the Lord” and to “worship” him.  I would caution the reader, however, that in many cases the word “worship” has not served us very well.  It is not the most faithful translation of words used to designate “bowing down” or “prostrating oneself” (e.g. Psalm 95:6).  For example, when we are called to “prostrate” ourselves before God, this does not exactly correspond with the way we use the word “worship” in modern culture.  First, most Protestant Christians in America do not worship God by falling down on their knees or faces.  More telling, however, is the fact that falling down before God means allowing oneself to be lifted up by him (Dan. 8:17-18).  It is to give one’s self over to the Lord’s service.  In effect, falling down before God puts us in the position to be served by God.  Much more, therefore, is often going on in these passages than merely ascribing “worth” or “praise” to God.
  2. Often the giving of praise or glorifying of God is set over against the worshiper’s expectation of receiving anything from God in church.  I will carefully examine the one-sidedness of “worship as praise” in Chapter Five, but let me say here that not only is the super-spiritual-sounding assertion that “we just gather together to give praise to God taking no interest in what we might get from him” unbiblical, it may also easily slip into doxological hubris.  Reformed pastors and theologians are particularly vulnerable to this distortion of the purpose of worship.  The slogan “we gather for worship to give not to get” has become something of a Reformed shibboleth.  We love to beat charismatics and others over the head with it.  It makes us feel superior.  As if we don’t go to church because we need anything!  We Reformed Christians go to church to give God glory and honor, not to get anything from him.  As I hope to show, this kind of thinking is extremely dangerous.  
  3. For us, as creatures of God, there can be no such thing as “disinterested praise.”  We simply cannot love or praise God for who he is apart from what he has given us or what we continue to receive from him.  We are not his equals.  The notion that pure love and worship of God can only be given when it is unmixed with all thoughts of what we receive, has no biblical grounding.  To be sure, it sounds very spiritual and pious.  It even comes across as self-denial.  “We just want to praise you for who you are, God.  We love you and praise you, O God, not for what we get from you, but just for who you are.”  In fact, however, there is no such worship in the Bible for the simple fact that we cannot approach God as disinterested, self-sufficient beings.  We are created beings.  Dependent creatures.  Beings who must continually receive both our life and redemption from God.  
  4. Our “worship” of God, for this reason, necessarily involves our passive reception of his gifts as well as our active thanksgiving and petitions.  We cannot pretend that we do not depend upon him.  We will always be receivers and petitioners before God.  Our receptive posture is as ineradicable as our nature as dependent creatures.  We put ourselves in a position to be served by him.  Recognizing this is true spirituality.  Opening oneself up to the need for God’s service is the first movement in our “worship,” indeed, the presupposition of all corporate worship.  It is faith’s posture before our all-sufficient, beneficent Lord.  Praise follows after this and alone can never be the exclusive purpose for our gathering together on the Lord’s Day.
But perhaps the oddest thing about this whole discussion is that we do not kneel in our service at Providence.  I wish we could, but we don’t have kneelers (yet).
GO TO PART 6
 
Kneeling & Standing
Thursday, March 2, 2006