The executive committee of the Alliance decided to make worship a major emphasis of the general council. It felt, however, that the subject should not become primarily a matter of discussion. Rather, considerable time should be set aside for the celebration of worship.

A worship committee was named. It prepared a worship book for the general council and gave detailed attention to the daily celebration of worship at the general council.

Obviously, in the course of this preparatory work, many discussions took place on the meaning, the purpose and the future direction of worship in the Reformed family.

In order to initiate a discussion on the meaning and the adequate forms of worship in the Reformed family, the committee decided to summarize its thinking in a brief paper and to share it with the participants in the general council. The first part seeks to identify seven aspects of Reformed worship which in the eyes of the committee are of particular importance and which it would like to submit to the judgement of a wider circle. In the second part these aspects are further developed in a series of short articles written by individual members of the worship committee.

It is the hope of the committee that questions of worship will be widely discussed in Reformed churches in the coming years. It appeals to all participants in the general council to give their response to this working paper .

The seven theses

1. God's word and the role of preaching

Reformed churches are considered to be "churches of the word". Preaching plays a central role in worship. Therefore, when worship is to be prepared for an assembly of Reformed churches, the general expectation is that every worship will be an occasion for delivering a sermon.

Do we not need to reach a deeper understanding of the term "God's word"? When God communicates through the "word", this means that God is revealed. But the word spans a variety of ways to communicate. The nature of worship is betrayed if it is reduced to exclusively verbal communication.

2. The role of the community in worship

The central role of preaching tends to make the community passive: worship becomes primarily an act of listening. But isn't worship an occasion to respond collectively to the good news of forgiveness? If it is true that the church is to be defined as the "priesthood of believers", this must find expression also in worship. In the last analysis, the congregation is the subject of worship. Its active participation is essential - not only through singing but in many other ways.

3. The celebration of the Lord's supper

In many Reformed churches, the Lord's supper is celebrated only a few times a year. This is not biblical and is in contradiction with the intentions of the Reformers. The worship committee felt that the celebration of the Lord's supper should have a prominent place at the general council - opening worship, Sunday worship and closing worship.

Do we not have to review the present practice with regard to the celebration of the Lord's supper? Should its celebration not be more frequent?

4. Worship as movement

Reformed churches tend to consider worship as an occasion to be confronted with the word of God. The congregation gathers to expose itself to the word as preached and to respond to its challenge collectively and individually. The liturgy fulfils the purpose of providing the framework for the act of proclamation.

But is worship not rather to be understood as movement, in motion? The congregation comes together and moves forward together through various stages - adoration, praise, repentance, listening to the scriptures, listening to the proclamation, confessing together the faith, intercession, praising God together through the celebration of the Lord's supper, benediction and going out into the world. Each of these elements has its own value. The act of proclamation remains central. But the understanding of worship as a movement provides the opportunity of varied participation by the congregation.

5. With heart, mind and hands

An adequate understanding of the "word" leads to giving room in worship to nonverbal elements The gospel can be both communicated and responded through nonverbal means.

Can the meaning of the gospel not be proclaimed through symbolic acts?
Do we not have to give a more significant role in worship to corporeal expression, dance, drama, etc.?
Do we attach enough importance to moments of silence in worship?

6. The role of singing

The tradition of singing is very rich in the Reformed tradition. There is today considerable creativity in producing new hymns. It is important to share these gifts with one another.

If worship is to be understood as movement, short liturgical responses should be more often used. They give the congregation the opportunity of participating more fully in the movement of the liturgy.

7. Intercession

In preparation of the general council we have prepared an intercession booklet. It contains a list of all Reformed churches and invites the churches to offer intercessions for one another. The publication of this booklet corresponds to the conviction that intercession is to be regarded as an integral part of worship.

What is Reformed about Reformed worship?

Alain Blancy

Worship was not the central issue in the Reformation but was influenced by it

Worship was not the central issue in the Reformation but as the expression and celebration of faith was influenced by it. For the Reformation, the crucial factor is salvation, not to the way it is exhibited, but to the principle lying behind it.

Reformed worship then came to reflect basic principles governing faith and life, and was one way in which these were demonstrated. Reformation catechisms pick upthe ancient tryptych of the creed, the Lord's prayer and the decalogue, to which can be added teaching on the sacraments. This means that worship tended to be strongly pedagogical. Preaching the gospel would tend to take the place of celebration of the eucharistic mystery. While the Mass was censured as a work of merit to reconcile God to us and was replaced by the divine gift of salvation through grace offered to faith alone, thus radically reversing the direction of the relationship - from God to humanity rather than from humanity to God - the question was in effect made more complicated by another measurement between the sacramental realism of worship, which had its own value, and the effectiveness of preaching which brings fruits of repentance, conversion, faith and salvation.

When we look again at the great principles of the Reformation it is possible to illustrate this special feature of Reformed worship.

Sola gratia et sola fide

Reformed worship was to widen the scope given to the gospel proclamation of salvation as the free justification of the sinner, where the effect of divine grace is manifested in the response of human faith.

Sola scriptura

This human word, distinct from the word of God as the logos, the son incarnate in Jesus Christ, is based on the apostolic and prophetic witness of the two testaments. It seeks to be the viva vox, the transmitter of that word which alone is the first and the last and alone is efficacious and living.

Solus Christus

This direction narrows the gap between word and sacrament, since the sacrament is simply another form of the word, another mode of discourse with the same reference: Christ manifested in the Spirit. The Spirit-centred Christology which is expressed by worship provides a criterion for the lordship of Christ over the church and the world. This lordship is exercised indirectly through the historical character of him "who is" as one "who was" and "who is to come", the glorified incarnate one whose eschatological parousia is still to come. But it is directly exercised by the Spirit, sent by him, and acting in his name in space and time where the church is to be found.

Soli Deo gloria

Ultimately the purpose of worship and of the church lies in all that is meaningful only for creation and redemption, the glory of God: to give thanks and glory to him, not only for and through his works but for and through his own life, which is thus sanctified. The "sanctification of the name", which is dear to the Jews, may also sum up the meaning and purpose of Christian worship, which is to glorify God.

To sum up, Reformed worship is trinitarian praise to the thrice-holy God, to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. It thus connects up with the great classical Christian tradition but brings to it its own special signature, which is that of a church and form of worship faithful to the principle, reformata semper reformanda.

Politics in worship

Seong-Won Park

To attempt an ostensibly apolitical liturgy in a world essentially political is absurd

Following the exodus, Israel acquired a distinctive historical consciousness together with a new set of rites. The people of Israel celebrated and enacted this unforgettable event in rituals. Their rites became the cultic objectification of history and historico-political reactivators. This process suggests that worship is a depository of history objectified in religious expression. All liturgical worship could thus be turned into the cultic objectification of history as well as historico-political reactivators.

For people who recognize that they dwell in history which implies politics, the historico-political dimension relating them to God is very important. It was from such a context that the people of Israel came to know Yahweh, their God. It is in fact a political history of Israel which began with the exodus - a historical event that became a chief political paradigm playing a decisive role in the formation of Israel's spirituality.

The Korean church has a particular experience of this kind. On April 22 1973, an Easter service was celebrated early in the morning in an open air theatre on top of Namsan mountain near the centre of Seoul. It was an Easter celebration only after President Park had declared martial law, suspended the constitution, dissolved the national assembly and proclaimed himself "president for life", not allowing any kind of dissent. This was their prayer: "Oh God, have mercy on foolish rulers!" And their resurrection message was, "Resurrection of democracy is the liberation of the people." The Easter worship and its sermon was not celebration and exhortation lifting hearts of worshipers up to the unknowable heavens. Rather it was a worship which translated the resurrection faith into efforts to bring about justice and freedom in their own history. It made concrete the remote resurrection faith in their political life. Here the Christian faith intersects with politics.

Insofar as the biblical God, the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the witness of the church are historical, Christian liturgy cannot float above history without running the risk of becoming at the least vapid, at the most alienating. Seen from this perspective, liturgy may not bypass the demands of a society. Liturgy must take into account historico-political problems against which many people are struggling and for which they are suffering and dying. Liturgy needs to be a faithful echo of these struggles and of God's grace of being with the people in their struggle. No liturgy will be authentic, faithful and relevant which bypasses the suffering and aspirations of people in their historico-political situation.

The interests of contemporary humanity are progressively and increasingly consciously becoming political. To attempt an ostensibly apolitical liturgy in a world essentially political is absurd. But many of us have so supernaturalized, spiritualized, depoliticized and historicized liturgy that it can no longer be a depository of history or a cultic objectification of history. Liturgy needs to stir people. This suggests that liturgy appears to be a kind of cultic isogenesis of history and politics. Liturgy, therefore, should be prepared to encompass the people's struggle for justice, freedom and peace as experienced everyday in Korea, the Philippines, South Africa, Armenia, the Soviet Union and in many other places in the world.

History and culture are part of each other. Culture is the framework into which history is integrated and from which liturgy is extracted. Culture itself runs the whole gamut of life, from what is apprehended by the senses, to dreams, spirits, and magic power. For instance, with African liturgy that is deeply rooted in the African people's sociobiography and culture, their stories may become the subject of the liturgy; the beating of drums may become the heartbeat of the African spirit shared by Christians in search of their destiny in God, and no longer be considered an abominable superstition used merely to conjure up evil spirits and placate them, and hence something to be banned from Christian churches...

Celebrating the Lord's supper: liturgy as a sign of unity

Charles Odier

"Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the same loaf" (1 Cor 10.17)

Reformed churches were the first to declare "eucharistic hospitality". Already in 1954 at Princeton the WARC general council affirmed:

The church has received the sacrament of holy communion from Christ and he communicates himself in it to the believer. The table of the Lord is his, not ours. We believe that we dare not refuse the sacrament to any baptized person who loves and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour.

Reformed theologians were among the pioneers of the ecumenical dialogue and they made a decisive contribution to convergence of which Christian churches have recently reached agreement (Groupe des Dombes, BEM, etc.). Unfortunately, liturgical practice in our Reformed parishes has not always followed suit and our way of celebrating holy communion sometimes contradicts the theological or liturgical agreements reached by our own Reformed representatives. In some circumstances our eucharistic celebrations wound the conscience and faith of our brothers and sisters of other Christian confessions.

It is for this reason that in preparation for this 22nd WARC general council at Seoul, a worship committee has set to work to create a liturgy of the holy communion that agrees with our Reformed inheritance, but at the same time incorporates ecumenical points on which there is convergence among Christian churches of different confessions. This excerpt offers a commentary on the order of worship to accompany celebration of holy communion along the lines we are suggesting.

1. Preparation for the Lord's supper

When we celebrate the Lord's supper we recall that Jesus celebrated it with his disciples on the occasion of the Jewish festival of Passover (cf. Lk 22.7ff). In making use of a prayer of blessing which belongs to the tradition of Jewish prayers, we follow the example of Jesus himself (Lk 22.17, 19).

2. Dialogue between pastor and congregation

An antiphon indicates that the Lord's supper is celebrated together by the faithful and the pastor who speaks in the name of the congregation. The greeting in dialogue acknowledges the Lord's presence with the congregation and the person who speaks for it. It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who presides at the meal and invites us to give thanks to God.

3. Preface - sanctus

The preface is a prayer of blessing giving glory to God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and making the Lord's supper a genuine "eucharist" (act of thanksgiving). The text of the preface can and must be related to the liturgical season and the biblical passage for the day. This prayer culminates in a response (the sanctus), sung by the congregation associated with all the people of God on earth as in heaven. It recalls the cosmic dimension of the church. The words are those of angels, quoted by the prophet Isaiah: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." (Is 6.3).

4. Institution

The institution is the narrative of the first holy communion as recorded in the Bible (Mt 26.26-29; Mk 14.22-26; Lk 22.15-20; 1 Cor 11.23-25 ). This narrative constitutes the core of the liturgy because it represents the institution of the sacrament, based on the word of God. (The Reformers retained only two sacraments, baptism and holy communion, for these are the only ones explicitly based on the word of God.) For the Roman Catholic Church the words of institution pronounced by the priest consecrate the elements. But from the Reformed standpoint it is more correct to consider that it is the liturgy as a whole, including the actual eating of the bread and drinking the cup, which makes Christ really present for us. For this reason the text is to be read in Reformed churches with all the expected solemnity, but normally not accompanying it with gestures which could suggest that the unique act of Christ is being renewed.

5. Memorial or anamnesis

The anamnesis puts into words the re-presentation of the whole work of salvation accomplished by Christ and made present through the sacraments. We stress the term "re-presentation" for it is the only way to overcome the cleavage between Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians. For several Reformed churches, in fact, the Lord's supper was no more than just a recollection of something that happened in the past. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church makes the point that at each mass it renews the sacrifice of Christ, thus denying the final efficacy of the sacrifice made once for all by Christ on the cross. The anamnesis is much more than a recollection but much less than a sacrifice renewed. Properly understood it respects the efficacy of the unique sacrifice of Jesus Christ but at the same time re-presents - makes present for us - the work of salvation accomplished by Christ for us.

6. Invocation of the Holy Spirit

The epiclesis is our prayer to the Holy Spirit to enable us to communicate with the real presence of Christ, signified by the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ. At the same time it is the offering of ourselves to the service of God under the guidance of his Spirit. The invocation of the Holy Spirit is essential to the sacrament, for it alone enables us to recognize and welcome God's initiative in holy communion, and it prevents us from falling into ritualism which would restrict the presence of Christ just to "substances" of bread and wine.

7 .Intercession

If the prayer of intercession has not already been made after the sermon it can be appropriately placed after the epiclesis, praying for the church universal and more particularly for those of our brothers and sisters prevented from participating in holy communion. The context should be free and suited to the circumstances and needs of the community.

8. Our Father - the peace of Christ

In fellowship with the universal church the congregation unites in the Lord's prayer. In agreement with an old tradition of the church, several Reformed congregations have adopted the custom of exchanging a sign of peace before approaching the Lord's table (cf. Mt 5.23). It is also possible to say the Lord's prayer together, clasping each other's hands as a sign of peace.

9. The fraction or breaking of the bread - Agnus Dei

Before the communion proper the celebrant breaks the bread and raises the cup, saying words similar to those shown above. This "fraction" is not a consecration and there is no occasion to make it more important than the contents of the rest of the liturgy.

10. Invitation

We may enrich the traditional invitation to the Lord's table by a moment of silent reflection which allows us to reconsider that it really is the Lord's table and that it is he himself who is inviting us.

11. Communion

Reformed churches have very varied customs relating to the distribution of the Lord's supper. We should like just to suggest here that members themselves come forward to the table (in groups when the congregation is small or in line when it is a big one); that preference be given to bread which is broken and to the common cup; that the celebrants should distribute the bread saying: "(this is) the body of Christ"; and that they pass the cup saying "(this is) the life of Christ" and that the communicants answer simply by saying "Amen".

12. Thanksgiving

After the communion the celebrant may say a short prayer thanking God for the gift of his presence and renewing our commitment to serve him.

The form of the liturgy suggested above is the fullest. Many Reformed churches, of course, are in the habit of celebrating holy communion with a simplified liturgy. We respect the diversity, which is one of the riches of our confession. Nevertheless, we should like to encourage the Reformed churches to revise and enrich their celebration of holy communion with the "oikoumene" in mind. Without denying anything in our biblical tradition and our Reformed spirituality, may we devote ourselves to the liturgical service of our Lord, to allow him to receive at this table all Christians (men, women and children) who confess him as God and Saviour.

Gestures and movement in worship

Thérèse Perrelet

Are not Christ's deeds and gestures symbolic pictures, left to us to meditate upon with our hearts and souls rather than with our overdeveloped but often blind and sterile intellect?

It really needs the daring of a balancing act to talk about communicating through a language of gestures and symbols in the context of a reflection on Reformed worship: The Reformation of the sixteenth century has indeed determined the rupture with a long tradition of processions, dances and other forms of symbolic representations in churches.

Yet this daring springs from listening humbly to the word and looking at the life of Jesus Christ himself. Are not Christ's deeds and gestures symbolic pictures, left to us to meditate upon with our hearts and souls rather than with our overdeveloped but often blind and sterile intellect?

But on the one hand Paul's concern for spiritual purity has often been badly distorted and transformed by the church into contempt for physical experience, the body being regarded as completely the same as dross.

On the other hand, the Reformation, privileging the "word", refused every representation as well as every human tradition. Hence the total rejection from Reformed worship of any corporeal mode of expression, at least in Europe.

Besides - as the history of church councils already testifies - the church has always been divided between approval and suspicion (justifiably, in the light of various excesses or wrong turnings) with regard to certain physical ways of communicating, however simple and spontaneous they might have been. Demonstrations of joy such as popular carols were soon forbidden in churches and, after the mediaeval mystery plays, the allegorical ballets were finally also condemned.

Nevertheless, this attitude of the church vies with the many biblical references to dancing, symbolic gestures and corporeal reality. We will mention only some of them: Ps 87.7; 149.3; Jn 12.3, Rom 12.1,4,5 etc... Texts which of course do not justify every mode of communication in worship; it is necessary to do things thoughtfully and decently, and we have to come back constantly to the image of a tightrope walker to gauge whether we worship God or entertain each other.

That being so, we are creatures with "nefesh", an essence synthesizing our body/mind/spirit, not disembodied souls housed in flesh; and God revealed his love, his glory and his plan to us in bodily form, making a human body the temple of his Spirit.

Then if it is right to offer God our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12.1) in our everyday life, why should we not learn to praise him with our whole being in festivals in his honour? Is not worship the supreme focus for spiritual expression?

Before we ever say anything, our inner promptings are always initially recognized in attitudes and gestures: the face and the hands talk - God understands without words! And we, different as we are, would perhaps find understanding and unity as singers and dancers alike saying, "All my springs are in you." (Psalm 87.7).

Nonverbal expression

Gilles Warnery

I would say that those champions and defenders of verbal communication and those accusers who oppose nonverbal communication are so...Protestant that they can hardly manage even in a small way to be...Christian!

For the whole theology of the incarnation is at the basis of all nonverbal communication. The "Word" became "flesh"!

Such communication is of many shapes and sizes. It consists of

suitable silence
signs
symbols
body language
of an individual or a group of "actors" (movements, dances, mimes, etc.) in theatrical and liturgical games and of music, pictures, smells, garments, colours, etc.

The nonverbal in worship has to be act/action! Often this nonverbal element says more than verbal communication; it lets us see and think and...do things!

Forms of worship which leave room for nothing except

groundless speech
the intellect
the grey matter
words that do not touch the human heart -

They do not speak!

Our churches of the word in the west no longer speak to us because they speak too much! (they babble on); they send you to sleep, they anaesthetize.

We know very well: monotony stultifies...intellectualism desiccates...inertia depresses.

Professor Georges Crespy says: "Life must come into worship for worship to come into life."

Otherwise, our forms of worship are the opposite of what Jesus was!

Now faith, both in the individual and in the community...is lived out...is shared...is celebrated...manifests itself!

Hence worship becomes a festival! a happening!

Christ did not say "Say this in memory of me..." but "Do this in memory of me!"

Try to imagine the new breath that would run through our churches, our forms of worship, our assemblies, if we really became enthusiasts (in the etymological sense): full of God and of the life God gives us.

Reformed brothers and sisters, do not forget that

human beings talk because ...they feel, hear, see, touch, taste, love and suffer!
gestures are words incarnate
speech - discourse - is essentially a cerebral activity. But there can be discourse apart from any formal statement in words: there are tears, smiles, looks, handshakes, etc.

When we celebrate through the body, the body starts to celebrate!

The disciples at Emmaus recognized Jesus by a gesture: yet he had been speaking to them on the road for a long time and the disciples had not understood anything and had not recognized him.

Our fervent prayer for this Seoul assembly and for the future of our Reformed churches, through the modest efforts at nonverbal communication in our morning worship especially, is for prayer in words and acts:

Your will be done

"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10.31)

Music in the Reformed tradition

The Reformed tradition knows a rich store of hymns. Normally, they are poems to be sung. Some of them are inspired by Psalms or other biblical texts. As a "church of the word", the Reformed church claims music as a background for texts from the Bible or an accompaniment to prayers, either before or after. Usually, music has a serving function over and against words.

In our collection for the general council we included some examples of traditional Reformed hymns. But we were concerned to expand the variety of songs in Seoul to feature hymns which are sung by member churches today. By this endeavour we intend to encourage an exchange of musical materials among member churches. You will find, therefore, pre-Reformation hymns, psalms of the Reformation period and modern songs side by side. They originate from Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America and Europe. They stand for the fact that the Reformed family lives and sings its witness in manifold cultures and languages.

Some delegates may be astounded to see what we call "liturgical elements". Such pieces are short, can quickly be learnt by heart and often just consist of a call: Amen! Hallelujah! Lord, have mercy! They help to participate in the movement of the worship not only intellectually but also emotionally. In particular they help to celebrate the eucharist in all the fullness of its meaning (preface, anamnesis, invocation of the Holy Spirit, invitation, thanksgiving, sending). Last but not least, they lead into an attitude of adoration and meditation in the presence of God, where words themselves can disturb the experience of worship.

A singing group will support the general council as it sings. For some churches such a support may be a natural part of their experience at home. Others may feel stimulated to enrich their worship life at home with music, so that it becomes more and more a feast which embraces all human senses.

In any case, we hope the collection in the worship book will encourage joyful singing and motivate many congregations to join in the singing of their sisters and brothers around the world.