The essence of the faith of Reformed Christians is that of the universal Christian faith as formulated in the creeds (the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed and the Apostles' Creed), in the primitive tradition of the church fathers, in the first ecumenical councils. But in receiving this essence of the faith, the Reformed tradition underlines certain theological aspects which it regards as essential if the catholic faith is to be maintained in all its purity. First and foremost, the Reformed tradition always focuses on the element of thanksgiving to God alone in the confession of faith. In the confession of faith the Reformed tradition strongly emphaises that the only source of all good which we have received and continue to receive is God's grace alone which can be grasped only by the faith of a heart which has been transfigured by this grace. The Reformed tradition adheres very firmly to the unique testimony of Scripture; it is not denied that only in their ecumenical interpretation by the whole church throughout history can the Scriptures be truly understood; what is affirmed is that all interpretations in the tradition should and can always be questioned afresh by the contemporary reinterpretation of the word of God. The Reformed tradition affirms that the church is always in need of restoration and renewal by the Holy Spirit; that the church in its unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity is never achieved once and for all; that the church is in constant need of repentance and always referred back to the pattern of the apostolic church. Finally, the Reformed tradition insists that the church is primarily indeed the invisible church, the mystical body of Christ, all the members of which are known only to God. This concept of the invisible universal church permits the Reformed tradition a hospitable vision of Christian unity and of the dialogue between the church and the religions and with all human beings. In fact, the unity we do not yet see is already known to God and the Christians we do not yet recognize are already known to God.

Dominated as the Reformed tradition is by the affirmations soli Deo gloria, sola gratia, sola fides, it is obliged to place the worship of God at the very centre of its life and work. The Reformed church ought always to be a liturgical church par excellence, whose whole existence is inspired by the worship and service of the one Lord. The word of God and the sacraments of God's presence and saving work are at the very heart of Reformed worship.

Word and sacrament

It is by the Holy Spirit, working through the reading and proclamation of the word of God contained in Scripture and through the sacraments, that faith is awakened in human hearts and our sanctification accomplished.

When we read God's word or listen to its proclamation, God himself is heard speaking to us, calling us, directing us. It is God himself who acts in the sacraments in accord with the significance he himself has given to these acts of the church. Although God is at work universally and far beyond his word and sacrament, it is nevertheless here that we can be certain of hearing and encountering him.

In reading Holy Scripture and in the proclamation of God's word contained in Holy Scripture, we are permitted to hear God himself. Because the facts of the history of salvation are contained in Holy Scripture, because the words uttered by God, by Christ and his apostles, are contained in Holy Scripture, the reading of this text and the proclamation of its contents make the event of the word addressed by God to humanity a living reality. But this event produces no automatic effect. If it is to be heard as the word of God, the Holy Spirit must intervene to illuminate the minds and hearts of those who read Holy Scripture or listen to the church's proclamation. The letter of Scripture and the human word of the preacher need to be quickened by the Holy Spirit if they are to become God's word to the reader or hearer.

In the sacraments of his presence and his work, acts instituted in the church by Christ himself, God is present, but the action of the Holy Spirit is needed if God's work, signified in the sacrament, is to bear fruit in those who receive it. All the same, the sacrament directly reaches its recipients and beneficiaries without human mediation. We touch here on the difference between word and sacrament. The word of God is addressed to minds and hearts which need to be informed and instructed in order to understand it. The sacrament reaches human beings directly and accomplishes objectively what it signifies, though of course requiring the operation of the Holy Spirit acting upon human faith in order that it may bear its fruits. Those who are baptized become wholly the beneficiaries of the redemption accomplished by Christ, even if they are unaware of what is happening to them. (Does the church not baptize infants?) But only as the Holy Spirit bestows on them the gift of faith can they produce the fruits of their baptism in their lives. Those who receive Christ in the Lord's supper, in which he is really present, receive him totally, whatever be the measure of their faith or their understanding of the mystery being accomplished; but only by the work of the Holy Spirit quickening their faith will they be able to produce the fruits of this communion in their lives.

Eucharist

The role of the Holy Spirit in the Lord's supper is a primordial theme in the Reformed tradition as a whole. Calvin reminds us of the role of the Spirit in reference to Christ's presence. Speaking of our communion in the body and blood of Christ, he says:

"The bond of this connection is therefore the Spirit of Christ, with whom we are joined in unity, and is like a channel through which all that Christ himself is and has is conveyed to us. For if we see that the sun, shedding its beams upon the earth, casts its substance in some measure upon it in order to beget, nourish and give growth to its offspring - why should the radiance of Christ's Spirit be less in order to impart to us the communion of his flesh and blood?" (Inst. IV, 17, 12 McNeill & Battles, II, p.1373).

This relationship which according to the Reformed faith exists between the Spirit and the Lord's supper has often been seriously misunderstood. There is no intention of spiritualizing the real presence of Christ in his body and blood. The role of the spirit in the sacrament is noted simply in order to rule out any suggestion that the church possesses sacramental power and to affirm the church's total dependence on God's will and power in every sacrament and in the eucharist in particular. This affirmation of the church's entire dependence on the Holy Spirit is one of the key points in eucharistic doctrine in the Reformed tradition.

The second emphasis in eucharistic doctrine is on the character of the Lord's supper as a meal. The eucharist is not primarily a sacrifice but a meal of communion between the people of God and Christ, in the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine. The corollary of this is that the Reformed tradition will always be hesitant about any adoration of the consecrated elements in the eucharist. There has indeed sometimes been a certain carelessness in respect of the consecrated bread and wine in the Reformed tradition and this needs to be corrected. The Faith and Order document on the eucharist urges the churches to act consistently with their consecration of the bread and wine in the eucharist. That is well said. But churches which do not practise the reservation of the eucharistic elements are not urged to do so; the most that can be asked of them is that they should respect the custom in those churches which do practise it (see the Lutheran-Catholic document, "Repas du seigneur").

The third point to be emphasized in respect of the eucharist is its sacrificial aspect. Reformed theology has no difficulty whatever in affirming that the eucharist is an offering of praise and thanksgiving to the Father for all his marvellous works in creation and redemption. Progress has certainly been made in recent ecumenical discussions in efforts to understand the sacrificial character of the eucharist in terms of the idea of memorial as found in the Old and New Testaments. Fresh light has been thrown on this point by the Faith and Order consensus document. The eucharistic memorial has a twofold significance. It is first of all the sacrament of the sacrifice of the cross and of Christ's entire work of redemption, his living presence, operative and efficacious. But it is also an act of intercession in which the church offers Christ's unique sacrifice to the Father as its most urgent and effective prayer on behalf of the whole human family.

The final point is the real presence. In the course of the centuries the Reformed tradition has insufficiently insisted on a certitude which is to be found in the writings of Calvin, especially in his "Short Treatise on the Lord's supper" (1541). He leaves no room for dubiety as to the real presence of Christ in the eucharist. Calvin affirms: "The internal substance of the sacrament is joined with the visible signs; and as the bread is distributed by hand, so the body of Christ is communicated to us, so that we are made partakers of it... Jesus Christ gives us in the Supper the real substance of his body and his blood so that we may possess him fully, and, possessing him have part in all his blessings." (Calvin: Theological Treatises, ed. J.K.S. Reid, Vol. XXII of the Library of Christian Classics, SCM Press Ltd. London 1954, p.148). As if to forestall the charge of spiritualism, Calvin also says: "...it is not only a matter of being partakers of his Spirit; it is also necessary to partake of his humanity... It is not a bare figure, but joined to its reality and substance. It is therefore with good reason that the bread is also called body, since not only does it represent it to us, but also presents it to us" (ibid. pp.146f). The Reformed faith should find itself at home in the commentary on the Faith and Order document on the eucharist. Of the real presence, it has this to say:

"Christ fulfils in many ways his promise to be with his people always, even to the end of the world. But the mode of Christ's presence in the eucharist is unique. Over the bread and wine of the eucharist Jesus pronounced the words: "This is my body. This is my blood". What Christ said is the truth and is fulfilled every time the eucharist is celebrated. The church confesses the real, living and active presence of Christ in the eucharist. Many churches believe that by the very words of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine of the eucharist become the sacrament of the body and blood of the risen Christ, namely, of the living Christ present in all his fullness. Under the signs of bread and wine, the profound reality is the total being of Christ who comes to us to feed us and to transform our whole being. Other churches, while affirming the real presence of Christ in the eucharist, do not tie this presence to the signs of bread and wine in quite so definite a way. Although the real presence of Christ in the eucharist does not depend on the faith of individuals, all are agreed that faith is required for the discernment of the body and blood of Christ."

For the Reformed tradition, therefore, faith in the real presence of Christ is not in any doubt. There is, however, what may be described as a rejection of any philosophical kind of explanation. Reformed Christians prefer rather to affirm the mystery of this presence and at the same time its certitude, with no desire to seek to understand the manner in which Christ makes himself uniquely present during the celebration of the Lord's supper.

Liturgy

Reformed worship has often been condemned as being clerical (monopolized by the pastor), intellectual, austere and cold.

1. Calvin asserts that "to the preaching of his word, he (God) has conjoined the sacraments." (Geneva Catechism 1541, Q. 309). Later he adds: "In regard to the Supper, he ordered all to follow his example. Moreover, he performed the office of a minister in order to give it to others." (ibid. Q. 367). This simple answer to the Catechism shows that: in the Reformed tradition, the presidence of pastors at the Lord's supper is the sign of the invisible presidence of Christ, though this in no way excludes active participation by lay people in the various acts of worship. The Reformed tradition strongly emphasized the universal priesthood of all believers. But contrary to what has often been supposed, the Reformed tradition never identified this certainty of the universal priesthood with the other certainty that God provides ministers to edify the church as a royal and prophetic priesthood. In the Reformed tradition, the term "priest" (hiereus) has not normally been used of ministers of the word and sacrament. There are exceptions, of course, as for example when Calvin recognizes a sacramental dimension in ordination (Inst. IV, 19, 28, McNeill and Battles II, p.1479). The Reformed tradition clearly marks the difference between the Old Testament priest attached to the sacrificial system and the pastor of the New Covenant, who is a servant of word, sacrament and unity. A profoundly community character is inherent in the Reformed liturgy. The development of a genuinely liturgical community is meant to be encouraged by the dialogues, responses, the participation of a number of persons, both lay and clerical, in the various parts of worship (each in accordance with his or her own ministry). Everyone must exercise the charisma given to each individual; no one has any monopoly of the liturgy and there can certainly never be any clerical monopoly.

2. By rights the Reformed doctrine of the word and sacrament should have led the churches to a celebration of the complete Christian liturgy each week, every Sunday, a celebration embracing both the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the eucharist. The fact that the Sunday service does not always include the eucharist is an anomaly which the Reformed churches should no longer tolerate. In a period when we are suffering from inflation in language, it is vital that the church should be sober in its speech, that it should really only proclaim the essential word of God, that it should avoid long intellectual or moralizing discourses which weary people and are soon forgotten, without really building up the community. The frequent celebration of the eucharist will help Christians to practise contemplation and adoration.

3. Reformed worship should be hospitable to a more visual liturgy. Why has the auditive aspect been given such preeminence? Worship should not be concentrated so exclusively on our hearing of words and music, where the Reformed have so distinguished themselves, moreover. In an era in which the audiovisual dimensions of life and the role of symbols have acquired such importance, the elements focused on vision are just as important. Light, colours, objects, icons, vestments - all these are important, and the Reformed tradition should accept them without Puritanism. How can one still celebrate the eucharist, the Paschal mystery of Christ, otherwise than in white or joyful coloured garments.

4. The liturgy is a time of adoration but also of fellows. Those who live the liturgy by receiving the word of God and the body of Christ cannot but testify of brotherly and sisterly love. The liturgy is receptivity to the communion of brothers and sisters. The eucharist should be extended into the agape or at least into a time of exchange between Christians. The consecrated bread and wine should be taken to the sick and the infirm. If the Reformed liturgy is not eucharistic, communal, visual, joyous and fraternal, it is not a Christian liturgy.

(Translated from the French)