The Archliturgist

Hello, I am the Archliturgist. This blog is dedicated to Convergence Theology and Worship i.e. liturgical, evangelical, and chaismatic. In this blog we will discuss liturgy, sacraments, the Church, theology,and spiritual gifts, race and reconcilation and real life issues as they relate to a Post Modern world

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Location: Pasadena, CA, United States

I am originally from FL, went to Northern Seminary in Chicago, and I am now pursuing a PhD in Worhsip and Culture with an emphasis in Liturgy and the African American experience.

Friday, August 12, 2005

More on the Trinity

Yes, I know t hat this question was a general question. Sometimes when I am busy being a worship and spirituality consultant at a church, I do not want to talk about worship or spirituality when I come home; but alas it is like a fire shut up in my bones and so I must speak. My problem is that worship is not Trinitarian. I do not care if a church confesses a Trinitarian doctrine or not. Listen to how they pray. It is Jesus this and Jesus that as though Jesus is the only person in the Triune Godhead. Even when prayers are addressed to the Father, "Father is a name for Jesus. The Holy Spirit is reduced to the essence of Jesus's Presence and not a full hypostasis. Do not get me wrong I love Jesus. I believe he is the God-Man, but we fail to realize the implication of the Incarnation for our present situation when we fail to realize what Christ did for us. It was by his Incarnation that we now sit at the right hand of the Father! Heresy, you say. Not at all. Philippians 2: 5-11 breaks it down for us. Christ who was in the form of God (form meaning structure and substance; while we Westerners tend to pit structure against substance) took on the form of a slave i.e. fallen human nature so that when became obedient to death- the death of the Cross so that at his resurrection and ascension God gave him a name full of grace that at the name of Jesus everyknee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord. Therefore if I am joint heirs with Jesus and sit in heavenly places with him as Paul says in Romans and Ephesians with similar statements in Colossians, then as a son I am seated with Jesus by virtue of Baptism at the right hand of the Father. I am in the position of victory over sin, death, evil, etc. However, how many of us know that we ain't thinking about any of this in our daily lives because we are trying to survive. It is a process to posses your position. This is what working out one's salvation means. We are to press on to the upward calling in Christ because he has already grasped us, but in a fallen world it is hard to realize this. This is why it says in Ephesians that by one Spirit we have access to the Father through Christ. It is the Spirit who helps us in our infirmities and weaknesses and remind us who we are as sons so we cry out Abba in our time of need. Therefore Salvation and the process of Conversion is a Trinitarian event, should not our worship be the same? How in the name of heaven are we suppose to bring people to remember who they are when our worship does not reflect the reality in which we profess. The reality of who we are in Christ and what the Triune God has done for us must be re-enacted in our worship so that we can remember. Our Liturgy must be truly Divine, so that the Spirit can dare I say rapture us up into the heavenlies where He, the Father and the Son are worshipped and glorified One God forever. Yet how we pray and worship is what we believe. Unfortunately our evangelical worship has emphasized a Unitarian emphasis on the second Person of the Trinity (to quote Martin Marty) that this the only reality people have and it is distorted. In liturgical churches the Trinity is a formula, a relic from an ancient creed that is confessed by lived. In the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches, the Spirit is seen as an it, a gift, or a tongue, and yet Father and Son are seen as the Person like evangelical churches. My question is how in all churches and worship experiences invoke this Sacred Reality, and how can the Trinity become the Living God again in our worship where our lives are transformed and transfigured by the grace of the Spirit.

1 Comments:

Blogger John Lynch said...

Thanks for exposing my modalistic use of terms.

8:47 AM  

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