renewal

The Modern Charismatic Renewal

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The charismatic movement of the twentieth century has made an impact on nearly every denomination and has given rise to a number of new churches and fellowships. This discussion traces these developments and emphasizes the influence of the charismatic movement in contemporary worship.

The “charismatic renewal” of the late twentieth century is one of several movements in the history of the church emphasizing the power of God and the manifestation of miraculous and revelatory gifts of the Spirit, especially tongues and prophecy. Earlier charismatic movements included Montanism in second-century Phrygia, the Irvingite movement of nineteenth-century Britain, and the worldwide Pentecostal movement in the early twentieth century.

The charismatic renewal probably received its name at the fourth international convention of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI) held in Minneapolis on June 25–29, 1956, where one or more of the invited speakers used this term to describe the movement of which they were a part. During these meetings, David J. DuPlessis advocated a decidedly ecumenical emphasis—an innovation to many of its participants (C. E. Sonmore, Beyond Pentecost [1992], 10–17).

Prior to this time, perhaps partly due to some of the efforts of DuPlessis, there had already been some Pentecostal activity among members of traditional churches. For example, the Christian cell movement of the late 1940s and early 1950s emphasized charismatic gifts, healing, and “body ministry” among Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, and others. “Cells” of Christians met together in many parts of the United States for fellowship, prayer, and the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit. One of the leaders of this movement, Samuel Shoemaker, Rector of Calvary House Church in New York City, published Faith at Work, a periodical which enjoyed a fairly wide circulation and which laid important groundwork for the later efforts of the FGBMFI and similar organizations.

In the 1960s, the charismatic movement began to find increasing acceptance within the traditional churches and sometimes came to be called “NeoPentecostalism.” Developments in the Roman Catholic church were typical of what happened in many Protestant denominations. In 1966, several Catholic lay faculty members at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh came together for prayer and discussion about the vitality of their lives as Christians and met some friends of theirs, Steve Clark and Ralph Martin, who introduced them to The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson. At the same time Ralph Keifer, a theology instructor at Duquesne, happened to read They Speak With Other Tongues by John Sherrill. Through William Lewis, vicar of St. John’s Student Parish in East Lansing, Michigan, these Duquesne professors met Betty Schomaker, an Episcopalian who brought them to a prayer meeting at the home of Florence Dodge, a Presbyterian, where, on January 13, 1967, Ralph Keifer spoke in tongues. The following week, two other Duquesne faculty members were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and by February, four of them had received the pentecostal experience. In mid-February, about thirty students and faculty spent a weekend retreat in prayer, and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. This “Duquesne weekend” was seminal for the subsequent spread of the charismatic gifts among Catholics. As a result of prolonged discussions between Ralph Keifer and Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan, nine people from the University of Notre Dame came together in an apartment in South Bend on March 5, 1967, to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The following week, at a subsequent meeting, many of these persons received the gift of tongues. Meetings of this kind continued to multiply, and the movement quickly spread to Catholic student groups at Iowa State, Holy Cross, and Michigan State University, where Ralph Martin and Stephen Clark started a prayer group after visiting Duquesne. In May of 1969, the first Catholic Charismatic Conference was held at Notre Dame and attended by 450 people. After six years of growth, the annual Notre Dame conference met at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, with close to 20,000 people in attendance. Similar growth was experienced among Protestant charismatic groups during this time.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the charismatic movement was described by observers as a prayer movement. The central purpose of the charismatic prayer meeting was considered to be worship. One of its distinctive features was spontaneity; there was no prescribed agenda, and anyone could contribute. Kilian McDonnell provided an eyewitness account of a charismatic prayer meeting. It started with a hymn, followed by a Scripture reading; then there was silence while people meditated and prayed silently. After about five minutes someone prayed aloud, using as a basis the text which had just been read. This was followed by more silence, broken with short prayers by various members for the gift of praise, for strength, and for sensitivity to the needs of others. Someone with a guitar started singing a hymn, and the other members began to join in. A young businessman then gave a testimony of how God had enabled him to come to understand and help a difficult co-worker at his office since the time of the previous meeting. Two others gave testimonies, then there was silence for several minutes. An older man then asked for prayers for a domestic problem. He knelt in the middle of the room and the others gathered around, laying hands upon him. One of them spoke in tongues for about half a minute, while others quietly prayed in English. After three minutes he rose, and everyone sat down again as before. A young girl read a psalm, then there was silence. Someone then suggested that they break for coffee.

After twenty minutes, the meeting resumed, and the guitar player sang a hymn that he had written. Then there was extended silence until a man who had been there a few times previously suggested that the group pray for him that he might be baptized in the Holy Spirit. He knelt in the center, and the others gathered around, placing hands on his head and shoulders. He did not at that time speak in tongues. After three or four minutes he rose and everyone returned to his or her place. Somebody began to recite the Lord’s Prayer, and everybody else joined in. Then the members of the group began to tell of special prayer concerns. One man had an appointment for a job interview, another had housing problems, and another needed guidance for his life’s direction. There was a pause, then a member prophesied about God’s mercy. After another silence, someone began singing in tongues, and three or four joined in. The singing was followed by silence and the recitation of a psalm by the group. The entire meeting lasted about two and a half hours, which was “very modest by classical and neo-Pentecostal standards” (Kilian McDonnell, Catholic Pentecostalism: Problems in Evaluation [1970], 25–27).

The Latter Rain revival of the late 1940s and early 1950s was a major source of the charismatic renewal. One of its distinctive forms of worship, the “heavenly choir,” first became manifest at meetings held in Edmonton, Alberta, in October of 1948, attended by members of several Pentecostal denominations, including the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. The “heavenly choir” was a spontaneous form of congregational choral worship, metaphorically described by James Watt as “a mighty organ, with great swelling chords, and solo parts weaving in and out, yet with perfect harmony.” According to George Warnock, “from that day forth scriptural song became part and parcel of ministry that came when the body came together” (R. M. Riss, A Survey of 20th-Century Revival Movements in North America [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988], 116).

Worship within the Latter Rain movement was later described by Bill Hamon as “praise flowing up and down like rhythmic waves of gentle ocean breezes and then rising to a crescendo of melodious praises.… In the 1950s, the praise service would flow continuously from thirty minutes to three hours. Most Charismatics of the 1960s and 1970s came into the Latter Rain type of worship” (The Eternal Church [Point Washington, Fla.: Christian International, 1981], 257–258). Hamon also has observed of the Latter Rain movement that “worship in these churches would continue with uplifted hands for about twenty minutes, then subside to a melodious murmur. Several prophecies would come forth, then worship would go on for another twenty or thirty minutes. Then the cycle would continue with more prophecies and more worship” (Prophets and the Prophetic Movement [1990], 116).

Many of the Scripture songs and praise choruses that later gained wide currency among charismatics were originally products of the Latter Rain movement and were written by such people as Phyllis Spiers (who was associated with Sharon Bible School in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and later with Elim Bible Institute in upstate New York), Rita Kelligan (also of Elim), and many others. Because these people felt that their music was born of the Spirit of God, they were not particularly interested in obtaining credit for these works through copyright registration. As a result, there were several cases in which music that originated with them was attributed to others.

In 1954, praise in the dance was introduced at a Latter Rain conference at Crescent Beach, British Columbia. During a time of worship, a woman prophesied, “The King is coming, the King is coming—go ye out to meet Him with dances and rejoicing.” She began taking ferns out of a flower basket, waving them in the air and laying them down as if before the Lord, praising the Lord in the dance. “Within a short time, most of the Latter Rain churches on the West Coast were praising God in the dance” (Hamon [1981], 260).

Various forms of dance have become an important part of charismatic worship, particularly in Kenya, Chile, Australia, Britain, and the United States. The liturgical dance movement was well known within Anglicanism prior to the advent of the charismatic renewal, and many charismatics have embraced it wholeheartedly. The Christian Dance Fellowship of Australia has had a tremendous worldwide influence, incorporating pageantry into worship. In an article on dance as a part of the charismatic movement, Nell Challingsworth described one occasion at which the colors for the dancers’ robes were taken from the stained glass windows, using ruby, gold, purple, sapphire, and emerald (D. Martin and P. Mullen, eds., Strange Gifts?: A Guide to Charismatic Renewal [Oxford: Blackwell, 1984], 126).

With respect to the worship of the charismatic movement in general, D. L. Alford has written that “freedom in worship, joyful singing, both vocal and physical expressions of praise, the instrumental accompaniment of singing, and acceptance of a wide variety of music styles are all characteristic of this renewal,” and that “it is not unusual to find Charismatic worshipers singing, shouting, clapping hands, leaping, and even dancing before the Lord as they offer him sincere praise and thanksgiving.” He observes that charismatic worship has several important characteristics, including (1) emphasis upon the singing of psalms and Scripture songs; (2) reliance upon music for praise and worship in church, at conferences and festivals, in small groups, and in private; (3) use of musical instruments; (4) emphasis upon congregational singing with the use of praise leaders; (5) use of dance and pageantry, both spontaneous and choreographed; (6) use of drama and pantomime; and (7) emphasis upon the prophetic role of, or anointing upon, the musicians (S. M. Burgess and G. M. McGee, eds., Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements [Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library, 1988], 693–694). Bob Sorge observes that “to move prophetically in worship is to move with an awareness of the desire and leading of the Holy Spirit moment by moment, to discern the direction of the Spirit, and to lead God’s people to a fuller participation of that” (Exploring Worship: Practical Guide to Praise and Worship [Son-Rise, 1987], 125). Other characteristics of charismatic worship include the uplifting of hands, the linking of arms, the freedom for all participants to contribute, especially in the functioning of prophetic gifts and in acts of healing, and the use of music, art, and color as sacramental signs. There is a fresh emphasis upon meaning in worship and recognition that Scripture should be read with great emphasis and care, that actions should not be perfunctory, and that words should correspond with actions (Martin and Mullen, 109).

By 1974, some liturgists began to discern an urgent need to incorporate some of the charismatic distinctives into the liturgy. Certain important characteristics of charismatic worship therefore soon came to be incorporated into the worship of both Catholics and Protestants. For example, on Pentecost Monday in 1975, the first charismatic Mass was conducted at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome with Cardinal Leon Josef Suenens as celebrant, where “young American Charismatic leaders from Ann Arbor, Michigan, delivered prophecies from the high altar of the basilica. Joyful and anointed singing filled the church” (Vinson Synan, In the Latter Days: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Twentieth Century [Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Books, 1984], 116). Prior to this time, Josephine Massyngberde Ford had written that speaking and singing in tongues were already in use at pentecostal Catholic Eucharists during the synaxis or preparatory section of the Mass, and after the reception of Holy Communion (M. P. Hamilton, ed., The Charismatic Movement [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975], 117).

Charismatic Anglicans have made extensive use of Rite A in the Alternative Service Book in order to celebrate an extended Eucharist. Within certain parts of this rite provided by the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England, it is possible to include many of the elements from charismatic prayer meetings and to create inspiring celebrations, such as that which took place at the first International Anglican Charismatic Conference in 1978 at Canterbury Cathedral, where the Archbishop of Cape Town and thirty Anglican bishops presided (Martin and Mullen, 89).

A British Anglican, John Gunstone, has written that “one place where the Charismatic Renewal is having a wide influence is in the worship of parish churches. The renewal has, through its prayer meetings, introduced Anglicans to forms of praising, praying, singing, and sharing which most of them had never experienced before.… The popular, Scripture-based choruses, which have been the voice of the Charismatic Renewal in worship, are heard everywhere, and there is more relaxed freedom in the conduct of worship nowadays. Evangelicals have discovered the liturgical dance and Catholic Anglicans the personal testimony” (Martin and Mullen, 87–89).

Another important element of the charismatic renewal (and those whom it has touched) has been the public praise movement, which advocates marches for Jesus. Two of the primary exponents of public praise are Graham Kendrick in Britain and John Dawson in the United States. One of the earliest expressions of this type of worship took place in 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand, where there was a “march for righteousness” under the leadership of Rob Wheeler and Peter Morrow (both of the Latter Rain tradition), Anglican bishops, and pastors of most of the churches of that city.

The “praise and worship” movement which swept through many traditional churches in the 1980s and 1990s had its roots in the charismatic movement and its antecedents. Most praise and worship songs were originally sung among charismatics. At the outset of the charismatic movement, one of the first distributors of music tapes of this genre was Maranatha! Music of Laguna Hills, California.

According to Harry Boonstra (“With Reservations: A Review of Three Influential Books on the Praise and Worship Movement,” Reformed Worship 20 [1991], 36–37), three of the most influential books of the movement were written by Graham Kendrick (Learning to Worship [Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1985]), Jack W. Hayford (Worship His Majesty [Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987]), and Judson Cornwall (Let Us Worship [Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1983]), who had been an almost ubiquitous guest speaker on praise and worship at charismatic conferences for several decades.

In North America, the widespread influence of the praise and worship movement among traditional churches may have been precipitated by the International Worship Symposium (IWS), founded by Barry and Steve Griffing in 1978 at Shiloh Christian Fellowship in Oakland, California, a “revival” church heavily influenced by the Latter Rain Movement of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1978, its founders invited a number of music ministers to come together on an informal basis for a mutual exchange of their knowledge and experience. About 120 came to share new music with one another, discuss problem-solving, and trade observations. This session became a yearly event. In 1979, 90 of them met in Findlay, Ohio, at Hope Temple pastored by Moses Vegh, where, spontaneously, an entire symphony orchestra came together, playing extemporaneously under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The 1980 symposium met at George Rohrig’s church in Santa Ana, California. Larry Dempsey, who grew up in this church, became an IWS director at this time. In earlier years, Dempsey had been an organist for A. A. Allen and for R. W. Schaumbach.

In 1981, about 450 people came together for the IWS at Shady Grove Church in Grand Prairie, Texas. By 1982, IWS attendance, this time at Zion Evangelistic Temple in Clawson, Michigan, had risen to 850 daytime registrants, with 2,000 attending evening meetings. The son of Zion’s pastor, Leonard Gardner, was Dan Gardner, music minister of the church. He became one of the directors of the IWS from this time until 1984 and has written many of the songs of the praise and worship movement.

In 1982 and 1983, some of the important pastors of the revival fellowship of churches wanted to make the IWS a symposium for Latter Rain “restoration orthodoxy.” However, the younger music leaders of these churches felt that IWS meetings should not be restricted in this way, since they were commissioned to bring the worship of that tradition to the broader church, and since their particular emphases would have an impact upon all of the church through that medium. This disagreement came to a head at the 1983 symposium at Living Waters Church in Pasadena, California, where there were over 1,000 registered delegates. The pastor, Ione Glaeser, defended the young IWS directors and withstood the pastors, some of whom objected to the use of dance in worship, instrumental song, extemporaneous song, and the idea of a corporate prophetic anointing. Opponents of the broader approach also feared that the involvement of large numbers of people would lead to compromises, opening the door to the commercialization of what had been freely given by God.

The “word of faith” movement became involved in IWS after Dan Armstrutz, the worship leader of Grace Fellowship in Texas, insisted that both Bob Yandia, his pastor, and Machan Dellovan, the head of the vocal department at Oral Roberts University, accompany him to the IWS symposium in 1983. This event opened the way for meetings of the symposium at the University the following year. Here, these meetings became far more than small fellowship gatherings, and the level of scholarship in the teaching sessions increased considerably.

Members of traditional churches first came to the IWS in large numbers in 1985 at Duquesne University, then the following year in Washington, D.C., where there were 2,300 registered delegates and 4,000 attending every evening. These meetings may have helped to inspire Gerrit Gustafson and others to form Integrity Hosanna! Music, which almost immediately becomes one of the most important sources for praise and worship choruses.

As is often the case with folk music, it is difficult to determine the names of the original composers of the Scripture choruses and praise songs that have recently come into widespread use. Some of them were composed during previous revivals, including that of the late 1940s of which the Latter Rain was a part. Other choruses originated with people such as Beverly Glenn, but later came to be attributed to others. Some additionally known composers of praise and worship songs include Donna Adkins, Bruce Ballinger, LaMar Boschman, David Butterbaugh, Shirley Carpenter, Kay Chance, Margaret Clarksen, Tommy Coombs, Andrae Crouch, Bob Cull, Kirk Dearman, Larry Dempsey, Chuck Fromm, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Dan Gardner, Less Gerrett, Bob Gillman, Debbye Graafsma, Gerrit Gustafson, Jack Hayford, Kent Henry, Naida Hern, Anne Herring, Roy Hicks, Jr., Kurt Kaiser, Graham Kendrick, Laurie Klein, Karen Lafferty, Bob McGee, Audrey Meier, Pauline Mills, Don Moen, Dave Moody, Martin Nystrom, Michael O’Shields, Twila Paris, Randy Rothwell, Pete Sanchez, Jr., John Sellers, Henry Smith, Leonard Smith, Michael W. Smith, Timothy Dudley Smith, Leona Von Brethorst, Brian Wren, and Kathy Zuziak. While this list is far from exhaustive, most, if not all praise and worship composers attribute the origin of its music not to themselves, but to the creative work of God himself.

Modern Protestant Liturgical Renewal

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Liturgical renewal among the ecumenical churches of mainline Protestantism has brought about a widespread consensus in worship style. In the spirit of the Reformation, not only the Scriptures but also the sacraments are being restored to a central position in worship. Protestant congregations are coming to a new appreciation of the importance of symbol and ceremony that allows all members to participate in the act of worship.

To describe the diverse worship practices of the many and varied Reformation churches is almost beyond possibility. Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, Congregationalists, Pentecostals, the Society of Friends, and Baptists are only some of the multiplicity of denominations and sects that were spawned by the Reformation and by various revivals and splits since. An acknowledgment of diversity, then, is perhaps the first thing that has to be said about these churches before proceeding to talk about liturgical reform. The possibility of such diversity appears to have been a fundamental characteristic of the Reformation challenge to the authority of the Roman Catholic church in the sixteenth century.

A preliminary look at liturgical reform in the twentieth century, however, reveals a movement, not toward greater diversity, but rather toward ecumenical convergence in liturgy. This is seen in such achievements as the World Council of Churches’ document on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, with its accompanying consensus eucharistic service, the Lima liturgy. The convergence extends to almost all areas of liturgy, including the Eucharist, Christian initiation, calendar and lectionary, daily prayer, and other services such as ordination, marriage, the funeral, and a wide range of pastoral liturgies. A new generation of services has been emerging among the churches in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s that have in common a reform of worship in all these areas.

This convergence is far from being only a Protestant phenomenon. Much of its impetus has come from the liturgical movement in the Roman Catholic church earlier in this century that bore remarkable fruit in the Second Vatican Council. The reform also reaches out to embrace with new appreciation the worship of the Orthodox churches. And now new sources of challenge and renewal beyond the traditions of the West are emerging globally from newer churches in Asia and Africa. There is also increasing knowledge and appreciation of worship in other religions which were at one time dismissed as heathen. Furthermore, new voices calling for reform are emerging nearer at hand from the poor, the oppressed, and the generally disregarded ones in our midst, including women, native peoples, the physically challenged, and others.

The picture is exceedingly vast and difficult to comprehend. But we have still been looking only at the movement of ecumenical convergence that is happening primarily among those churches which are usually characterized as being more “liturgical” or “mainstream.” Other churches, which have identified themselves as “evangelical,” “fundamentalist,” or “charismatic,” have not participated as yet to any great extent in the ecumenical convergence. They indeed would probably regard their freedom for diversity to be truer to the Protestant ethos than is the movement of convergence.

The convergence in the mainstream churches, however, is not simply a recovery of a pre-Reformation uniformity. It is rather a movement toward unity that can embrace difference and indeed encourages new and creative responses in the liturgy through the charismatic and artistic gifts of the people. This openness is clearly indicated in the rubrics of many of the new service books. They ask their users not merely to follow a prescribed liturgy but to use the contents of the books—the prayers, responses, symbolic actions—as resources and samples to assist and guide the people’s own work and initiatives in the liturgy.

This recovery of the people’s participation in the liturgy is profoundly in keeping with the Reformation insistence on the priesthood of all believers. The Reformers sought to render the liturgy accessible to all the people through such means as a translation of the liturgical texts into the vernacular and the encouragement of congregational singing of psalms, hymns, and canticles. The recovery of the notion of the whole people of God as celebrants in liturgy may indeed be one of the greatest contributions of the Reformation to the modern climate of liturgical renewal. This remains a goal even if history has also shown the Reformation to unleash factions that disrupt the unity of Christ’s body.

Convergence, then, is a primary characteristic of the current movements of liturgical reform among the churches, Reformed, Orthodox, and Catholic alike. We need to consider what is at the root of this convergence and whether there is anything in the legacy of the Reformation, despite the diversity it unleashed, that has contributed to it. The modern liturgical convergence, it can be argued, has its source in a recovery of the biblical basis for Christian prayer and praise. The biblical witness to the saving acts of God in covenant with the people of Israel and culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the source without equal of the Christian enactment of faith in the liturgy. Christians see all the events of their lives in the light of God’s illuminating Word, proclaimed and enacted in the liturgy. Our own stories, as is commonly said, belong in the larger context of the biblical story, and, together, these are celebrated week-by-week in the liturgy.

A unique place was given to the Scriptures as the primary authority for faith and worship in the Reformation principle of sola scriptura. The Scripture principle was enunciated by the Reformers in their conflict with the teaching authority of the Roman church with its claim of equality with the authority of Scripture. Whether that is a correct reading of the Catholic understanding of authority does not need to concern us here. Of continuing importance is the Reformers’ efforts to restore the Bible to the people and to reaffirm its authority for all matters of faith and life. But the Scripture principle did not ensure unity among the Reformation churches. Many of the churches differed in how they understood sola scriptura. Some, like the Puritans, maintained that worship ought to consist only of that which is directly authorized by the Scriptures. The consequence of the strict application of this criterion to worship was a drastic reduction of ceremonial practices and a focusing almost exclusively on the Scriptures read and preached and on prayer. Other churches of the Reformation, including those that followed Luther and Calvin most closely, regarded sola scriptura not as eliminating all other sources for liturgy, but rather placing Scripture in the position of being without equal beside all other sources. Both Luther and Calvin appealed often, for example, to the authority of the primitive churches and the church fathers. Their study of both the Scriptures and the early church led them to advocate a weekly celebration of the Eucharist with both bread and wine distributed among the people.

Whereas the Reformers are noted for their efforts to restore the Scriptures to the people, it is less known that they sought, albeit unsuccessfully, to do the same for the sacraments. Calvin’s efforts to establish the Eucharist every Sunday in Geneva, for example, were stymied by a ruling of the city magistrates, who favored the practice of four times a year that was already the rule in Zwingli’s church in Zurich. This rule has been, with some exceptions, the practice in most Reformation churches until the recent liturgical reform. Perhaps the failure of the Reformation to fully restore the sacraments has to be understood in relation to their application of the Scripture principle. Whether sola scriptura was applied strictly or more broadly, it served to cleanse the liturgy of what the Reformers regarded as human inventions and accretions. Only baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for example, of the seven sacraments designated by the church of the Middle Ages, had the required dominical institution for acceptance as sacraments in the Reformation churches.

In the Eucharist Luther also almost totally eliminated the Roman canon because of its unbiblical emphasis on sacrifice. According to his understanding, to make the Mass into a sacrifice that could be repeated was a denial of what God had done once-for-all in the sacrifice of Christ. The biblical notion of justification by faith in this once-for-all sacrifice of Christ became a criterion for rejecting any worship that became a pious work rather than a response in thanksgiving to God’s work of grace. The Reformers regarded much of the ceremonial practices and private acts of devotion in the Roman church as pious works designed to win God’s favor rather than to express joyful thanksgiving for that favor already bestowed. This Reformation insight into the biblical doctrine of grace has had immense significance for the modern understanding of the true motivation for prayer and worship.

The Reformers, however, did not recover, as have modern churches in their eucharistic renewal, the biblical understanding of bƒrakah, or blessing God, as an act of praise for God’s saving acts. The worship of the Reformation churches tended to retain the penitential note of medieval piety. To that they added a strong note of moral exhortation and didacticism, partly because of the emphasis on word as opposed to symbol and ritual. The Hebrew understanding of bƒrakah was missed by the Reformers largely because the Scriptures were not fully accessible to them in their attempts to reform the liturgy. Greater accessibility has come only with the development of the modern discipline of historical-critical study of the Scriptures. Paradoxically, this approach arose in large measure out of the empiricism and historicity of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment period with its rejection of metaphysics and faith as giving access to truth that is beyond ordinary human sense experience. Because the churches for long regarded the atheistic tendencies of the philosophy of the Enlightenment as antagonistic to religion and worship they tended also to reject the historical-critical study of the Scriptures. The acceptance of the value of this study for greater discernment of the truth of the Scriptures in many modern churches, both Reformation and Catholic, is a prime factor, I believe, in the present liturgical convergence.

Because Protestant scholars generally have been, until recently, in the vanguard of scriptural study, Catholics have regarded their work as one of the greatest contributions of the Reformation churches to liturgical reform. At the same time, the Reformation churches have been able to see more clearly the value of the great liturgical heritage of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, particularly as those churches have been rediscovering through critical study their roots in the churches of the first few centuries. Inquiring behind the circumstances of the beginning of Christendom in the establishment of Christianity as the favored religion of the Roman Empire is being seen by many Christians today as an important source for renewal. The Reformation churches have been quick to appropriate such historical discoveries as the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, among other early sources, for the structure and content of the eucharistic prayer. Early baptismal practices that were the sole rite of membership in the church, following an extensive catechumenate, combined with ample use of water, anointing with oil, and the laying on of hands with prayer for the Holy Spirit, are seen as essential in this era of the recovery of the ministry of the whole people of God. Discoveries pertaining to the liturgy of time, including the calendar and lectionary and the liturgy of the hours or daily prayer, are being acknowledged also as critical to living in a secular realm by the rhythm of the gospel.

This appropriation of liturgical practices by the Reformation churches has been made both possible and necessary because of a new appreciation of the nature and function of symbol and ritual. The modern study of language is revealing the dynamic nature of both words and symbols. Liturgy comprises both word-events and sign-acts. And both are means by which God can communicate and be present with human beings and human beings with God and one another. Liturgy that seeks to embrace the whole of reality, as revealed by a God who acts in incarnational ways, must be an embodied liturgy, appealing to all the senses of the body. Symbolic liturgy that includes sights as well as sounds, actions and gestures, the movements of procession and dance, and a renewed appreciation of the sacraments, opens up new possibilities for all to participate as they are able. For many Protestants, with their suspicion of ritual and symbol, the discovery by anthropologists that human beings are, by nature, ritual-making creatures has been an important one. It is through their rituals that human beings can come together in a community around the apprehension of a deeper reality. Symbols and rituals are means by which reality is communicated and people are enabled to participate.

Many of the earlier debates between Protestants and Roman Catholics concerning the mode of God’s presence in the sacraments are being superseded by a new language that speaks of God’s presence in the symbolic action of the liturgy. The discovery of the biblical notion of the eschatological nature of the gospel has provided a new understanding of God’s presence both within and beyond history. The words and symbols of the liturgy express both the “now” and the “not yet” of the reign of God that was proclaimed by Jesus and inaugurated in his ministry. Liturgy can be experienced as a foretaste of the future God has in store for the world. To participate in this anticipatory event is to commit oneself to working toward the justice, peace, and love to which God is beckoning the whole world.