Liturgy is the narrative of God's redemptive work, recalling his mighty acts of salvation from the beginning of creation to the consummation of history, with the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at the center of the drama. Liturgy is the enactment of God's truth and the realization of all his promises, up to and including the coming of his kingdom in its fullness. In the culmination of the liturgy, the eucharistic feast, is prefigured the culmination of history, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). Through the liturgy, God extends the invitation to all who worship from a pure heart, in spirit and in truth, to "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this" (Revelation 4:1).
These are thoughts which are ruminating in my mind as I observe what I hope is a period of positive transition in the American church. For several generations, American evangelicalism has been held captive by a shallow, escapist theology which elevates to confessional status the doctrinal innovations devised by nineteenth and early twentieth century dispensational theologians. British pastor Stephen Sizer has recently written two volumes critiquing, and pretty much discrediting, the predominantly American phenomenon of Christian Zionism. In Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon?, a largely academic tome, he traces the history of the movement back to the restorationist movement in England in the early nineteenth century to Edward Irving and the Albury Circle to John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren to C.I. Scofield and his Reference Bible. Zion's Christian Soldiers? is written for a more general audience and presents Sizer's case somewhat more succinctly.
While I have always been of the opinion that dispensationalism is wide of the mark of historic orthodoxy, reading Sizer has made me realize how boring it has become to refute all the "last days" goofiness of the aging "prophecy pundits" who continue to tell us that Armageddon is just around the corner. All but one or two of the major offenders Sizer takes to task are either dead or fast approaching their ninth decade. While the Left Behind craze of a few years ago demonstrated there is still a sizable market for authors who devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, the emerging generation of evangelicals seems not at all interested in taking up the cause of rebuilding the temple which Jesus made obsolete.
So, what has all of this to do with my initial thoughts about the liturgy? I would suggest that speculations about the "last days" and "end times" are most prevalent in churches where liturgy is minimized and worship is predominantly monological. Such speculations would be kept in check, however, in churches which follow ancient liturgical patterns, making worship itself a profoundly eschatological experience. It is to these liturgical churches that many in the emerging generation are being drawn. Escapist theology and apocalyptic speculation are simply not resonating with them. They long for something deeper, more substantive. In the narrative of God's redemptive work, the enactment of his truth, and the realization of all his promises, they are finding that for which they long.
Have a look at this blog post to see which Americans Sizer has been associated with in recent years (it's not pretty reading):
ReplyDeleteStephen Sizer and the American Far Right
This is what he's up to these days:
ReplyDeleteIsmail Patel, Stephen Sizer and fans
I would never have pegged him as an ultra-right winger with ties to al Aqsa. I did find it rather curious, however, that he seems to think Oral Roberts is still a major player in American evangelicalism.
ReplyDeleteDo Friends of Al Aqsa operate in the US do you know? Here they're pretty extreme, judging by their chief Ismail Patel.
ReplyDelete