Preface and Introduction
Series Preface
I will remember the works of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will reflect on all You have done and ponder Your mighty deeds.
The heart must be first cast into the mould of the gospel, before it can perform a worship required by the gospel … Restoration to a spiritual life must precede any act of spiritual worship. As no work can be good, so no worship can be spiritual, till we are created in Christ.
This book is part of a series called A Table in the Wilderness: Ecclesial Liturgies for Christian Pilgrims. In this series, we offer resources that help facilitate the corporate worship of Christian churches. By design, these resources are meant to engage the Christian community in communal spiritual formation. While each resource has its own unique shape, the collection of liturgies as a whole aims for consistency in its core characteristics. In this way, each community guide is marked by scriptural, theological, communal, and formational components. As tools for the church, the guides are scripted to facilitate God’s people through community gatherings, festal celebrations, special services, or holy seasons.
The Bible describes the church as a pilgrim people —“strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13; cf. 1 Peter 2:11). Upon belief in Christ and repentance from sin, Christians commence a journey of faith in which they progress toward an eternal homeland, traversing this transitory life on earth with an eye on everlasting life in the world to come. As “fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19), the Christian community belongs to a “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). The journey of faith is a communal endeavor. The ancient Israelites were outfitted with hymns (Psalm 120–134) to support them in their pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem. Similarly, Christian worship equips the church for her journey to the eternal city of Zion.
Liturgy—ordered corporate worship for collective spiritual growth—serves the formation and witness of the church. Inasmuch as the church is to do the work of evangelism , the church herself is an evangelistic witness through the gathered life and worship of God’s people (cf. Acts 2:42–47). The corporate recital of kerygmatic and creedal truth is both an act of collective confession and a profession of public witness (cf. 1 Timothy 3:14–16). The godly ethic of the church resounds evangelistically as the people of God adorn the gospel message with lives of good works (cf. Titus 2:1–14). Retelling biblical stories and rehearsing the larger scriptural metanarrative is a means for the church to remember the substance of her faith and to reenact this truth to the watching world (cf. Psalm 78:1–72).
As the church occupies her missional trenches , she must be furnished with doxological armor. This is the humble aim of this series. The collective worship of the church—be it gathered together in one locale or dispersed as a diaspora people—is the vital foundation for the church to grow into maturity and sustain her missional witness. This approach to worship connects us with the people of God in the past, present, and future. Celebrating God’s redemptive work, the church realizes her participation in the community of faith, which is at once local , global , and heavenly. As we sojourn in the wilderness of this world—with its sufferings, hardships, and tribulations—our corporate worship makes us ever aware of God’s mighty deeds and reliable words. In this way, Christian liturgy for the church recalls God’s work of redemption, strengthens us in our faith pilgrimage, and discloses visions of our glorious future.
Introduction
Introduction
You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Yes, God turns our fasts into feasts, and we are glad in the midst of our sorrow; we can praise and bless his name for all that he does.
Overview
God’s pilgrim people sojourn in faith with a festal shout: “Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence. They rejoice in Your name all day long, and in Your righteousness they exult” (Psalm 89:15–16). This liturgy series encourages festal joy throughout the year as we mark holy days that recount God’s work of redemption in Christ. Although exiles on earth, God’s people are citizens of heaven. Strangers in the world, the church is God’s covenant community. Since God has pledged his faithfulness to his people, the church’s creed is a faithful map for her pilgrimage. To rehearse this creed throughout the year helps believers keep pace with unfolding time while being rooted in inalterable truths of gospel belief. To mark each season of the year in a way that recounts the gospel story helps to train godliness, teach truth, cultivate affections, and tether God’s people to the faith. God’s people build their stamina as they recount the wonders of God (Psalm 73:28; 118:17). The faith journey requires endurance, steadfastness, and longsuffering. This liturgical series serves as a guide to help believers and churches— Christian exiles—rehearse the gospel story year by year with a bold and joyous festal shout.
By the Design: An Overview of Festal Celebration
Each book is divided into four parts—four movements that guide you along a theological and spiritual journey throughout the festal season. The opening “Commemoration” locates this holy season in the context of the local Christian community (in your local church and in your household). The “Readings” section reinforces your connection with the historical church—the rich heritage of Christians who have faithfully gone before us. The daily “Meditations” portion attempts to muse on biblical texts, theological themes, and spiritual realities that penetrate to the heart. The final “Feast” is a way for the community of faith to celebrate the conclusion of this holy season and the anticipation of the next one. The feast gathering reminds us of our union with the celestial church—our solidarity with the heavenly gathering of saints who are even now worshiping in the presence of Christ. We look forward to our reunion with them on the feast of the last day.
Let Us Remember: The Importance of Community Memory
The first section of each book is a community liturgy that commences the festal season. At this time, the community of faith gathers to mark the time of the year—to publicly acknowledge a focused time of corporate reflection on a particular gospel theme. God’s people—the covenant community bound to God in faith— have long been understood as pilgrims, exiles, and strangers on the earth (Leviticus 25:23; John 17:14; Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 2:11– 12). To endure a pilgrimage well, the community of travelers needs to maintain a solid self-understanding, a deep solidarity with one another, and an overall sense of the final destination. The opening seasonal liturgy helps to locate gospel reflection in a community context so that God’s pilgrim people can traverse this world in faithful devotion. The communal nature of seasonal celebrations builds a collective memory within God’s people that makes them resilient in the faith across culture and generations (cf. Exodus 12:14, 24).
Across the Ages: A Rationale for Collected Readings
We are not the first believers to live out our faith in this world. In our daily Christian walk, we are surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1; cf. 11:1–40). We are beneficiaries of the faith of our fathers—the devoted lives, rich testimonies, and penetrating teachings from the saints who have gone before us. Their inspiring examples and insightful writings assist us to live out our ancient faith—“the faith entrusted once for all to the saints” (Jude 3)—in our contemporary world. A clear vision of “the days of old” (Psalm 78:2; 119:52; 143:5; Isaiah 48:3, 5; 51:9; Jeremiah 30:20; 46:26; Lamentations 5:21) helps God’s pilgrim people embrace the faith in these “last days” (Acts 2:17; 2 Timothy 3:1–9; Hebrews 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3).
Toward this end, the second movement of each book offers a series of readings: biblical passages, theological excerpts, lyrical poetry, classic hymns, catechetical selections, and historic prayers. The spine of the whole work is made up of core scriptural texts, providing a solid theology of the incarnation. They occupy pride of place among all other readings. Nevertheless, these other extra-biblical readings offer important texts to connect you with the ancient faith. Our rootedness in the unchanging truth of God across the ages strengthens us in our pilgrimage as we tread the paths others have trodden in bygone ages. Their unique perspectives on timeless gospel truth prove helpful to the myopia and blindness of every contemporary age. Like markings on a path, we read the Bible with the saints to keep us on the path of truth and righteousness.
In Your Word I Delight: The Texture of Sacred Meditation
Theology is foundational to Christian living, especially Christian living as a gospel citizen in earthly exile. We live out our faith as pilgrims in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11–12). To plumb the depths of biblical doctrine is to establish believers and churches in the Christian faith as they journey in their faith pilgrimage. But genuine spiritual growth requires the rich treasures of doctrinal truth to go deep in a person: to penetrate the heart, to renew the mind, to stir holy appetites, and to permeate the spirit.
Festal seasons of the year—high and holy days that retell the Christ story—are fitting moments to reacquaint ourselves with basic truths as well as to explore the untrodden paths of Scripture to nourish us on the journey of faith. Festal seasons provide annual moments to deepen our delight in gospel truth (Psalm 19:7–14; 119:14, 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174). Perhaps we have grown familiar with well-known biblical texts or kept our distance from other, more challenging, portions of the Bible. In either case, the sacred seasons throughout the year provide an opportunity to revisit the simple and substantive foundations of our faith. We study familiar texts with new eyes, spotting inspired nuances, theological subtleties, and textual intricacies that prove to be rich fare for Christian living. We explore unfamiliar texts, trekking into new territory guided by the same confession of gospel creed. In both ways, the Scripture is a guide for the exilic life of faith (Psalm 119:19, 54), helping to expand our capacity for faithful exilic living through an ever-deepening (and ever-ascending) grasp of God’s word.
Therefore, the third section of each book offers devotional musings—reflective meditations—on key scriptural texts related to the particular season of the year. Composed in a registry like an ancient homily, these meditations are meant to elevate affections, transport hearts, and raise spirits Godward. Written from the perspective of a character within the text, believers and churches read these ancient biblical passages addressed to their present situation (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:6–13; 1 Peter 1:10–12).
Around the Table: In Defense of Feasts
The fourth movement of each book outlines a feast liturgy. By design, the festal meal is symbolic, sensory, communal, confessional, liturgical, and participatory. The Bible does not prescribe this meal. For Christians, only one meal—that of Communion, the Lord’s Supper—is a commanded ordinance. This meal alone, we are obligated to practice on a regular basis. Nevertheless, feasts and community meals provide a rich and visible context for faith formation. Festal meals are symbolically and scripturally scripted to highlight major redemptive themes contained in the Bible. Through feasts, we can recount and reenact the gospel storyline.
As Christians, we feast as pilgrims in terrestrial exile. Christians who remain on earth know that “here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Exiles and strangers on the earth, believers are “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). The Christian life is a sojourn of faith, traveling “to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem … to myriads of angels in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22–23). Like God’s gracious provision for Israel in the wilderness beyond the Red Sea (Exodus 15:22–17:7; Numbers 11:1–35), so God sustains and strengthens his people for their wilderness journey during their earthly lives.
The pilgrimage of faith is a life of table fellowship. As a peculiar people, Christians adopt unique practices to nourish their faith. Food, feast, and table fellowship are not only common occurrences in the biblical record, but they are a main thematic spine upon which the redemptive metanarrative runs. In regard to Christians, the shared life of the believing community is rooted in faith-filled table fellowship. Whether one looks at the biblical panorama or the essential teachings of the faith, one will find the meal at a central place.
When God created the world, he provided food for his creation (Genesis 1:29–30). Tragically, sin entered the world through a defiant meal of disobedience and unbridled appetites (Genesis 3:1–7). When God liberated Israel from Egyptian slavery, he inaugurated their life of freedom with a meal (Exodus 12:43–50; 13:3–16). God established his covenant relationship with his people around a meal (Exodus 24:1–11). Inscribed in the Law, God commanded the Israelite community to celebrate its covenantal life with God and each other through seasonal festal celebrations (Leviticus 23:1–44). Exemplifying a ministry of grace and compassion, Jesus feasted with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10–11). Before his crucifixion, Jesus celebrated a final meal with his disciples (Mark 14:12–25) and instituted this meal as a regular practice for subsequent generations of believers (1 Corinthians 11:17–34). The early Christians gathered around meals (Acts 2:42–47; 20:7–12). Around the table, Christians have remedied some of our greatest conflicts (Romans 14:1–15:7; 1 Corinthians 8:1–13; Galatians 2:11–14) and enjoyed some of our deepest bonds (1 Corinthians 10:23–33).
With longing and expectation, we look forward to a marriage feast in which God’s people will be brought in union with Christ (Revelation 19:6–10). Foreshadowed by the fruit of the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:1–33; Joshua 5:10–12), Christians look forward to a joyous feast that will usher in the culmination and consummation of God’s promises. In anticipation of this last feast, Christians look to the future with longing such that all feasts in our transitory life—be it individual or corporate, family or ecclesial, ordinary or festal—remind us of the future feast God will prepare as announced in Isaiah 25:6–8:
On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will prepare a banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine. On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the Lord has spoken.
While we look forward to eschatological feast, we are much more like those who have experienced God’s gracious provision—a divinely supplied feast—in the wilderness: Israel in her desert exodus (Exodus 15:22–17:7), David in escape from Saul (1 Samuel 21:1–9), Elijah in flight from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1–8), or Jesus in spiritual battle with Satan (Matthew 4:1–11). In this way, the present feast is a feast for Christian pilgrims, simultaneously enduring harsh realities of the present life and embracing the certain hope of the life to come. That is, this is a feast for those in the wilderness of the Christian life, looking for the glorious city to come!
Help on the Way: Using This Liturgy Resource
This resource can also be used by individuals, families, or churches. In fact, it is best used when in all three spheres concurrently. The community liturgies help set seasonal reflection in the context of the church. Scripture passages, sacred meditations, classic songs, and lyrical poetry can be enjoyed in the context of the family. The entirety of the book, including many of the excerpts from church history, offers readings that can be well-absorbed by personal reflection and slow reading.
This resource can serve across the generations. While many readings will prove to be nourishing fare for seasoned believers, many other readings can be used for those young in age or new to the faith. A cross-section of content in each book will show a mixture of deep and accessible alongside each other. While a clear and accurate presentation of biblical truth is an overarching goal, many selections have been chosen to challenge our thinking. Therefore, many readings will require prolonged thought and extended contemplation. In compiling and writing this resource, there was intentional thought given to well-balanced and well-rounded content across a variety of genres, Christian traditions, and epochs of church history. Therefore, feel the freedom to select portions of the readings that best suit your church, family, and personal stage of faith development.
A Note on Quotations and Citations
The effort to comb through ancient sources and rare material is intentional: to give believers and churches exposure to the breadth and depth of Christian thinking across the ages. No better time than the festal seasons to reinforce our interconnectedness with the people of God—past and present, on earth and in heaven, and across the globe. Curation of content across ages and cultures is fraught with challenges of translation and accessibility to modern audiences. The choice to do this was a decision to connect the church to its spiritual, devotional, and theological heritage. Archaic texts can speak powerfully (and prophetically) to modern audiences, but they need to be accessible. We understand that reading ancient texts is difficult, forcing readers to process a text slowly. Consequently, this liturgical resource is meant to be read contemplatively—ingested with spiritual reflection, repeated readings, and a prayerful spirit. Perhaps the “strangeness” of some of these texts will give you fresh eyes to celebrate the festal season anew.
Still, we have applied some basic conventions to help with the overall readability of this series: updating archaic wording, modernizing language, harmonizing spelling, and simplifying sentence structure. Normally, an ellipsis designates a break in the sequence of an original quotation. We have opted to remove ellipses to make passages more readable. These slight editing adjustments were implemented to smooth out the reading experience in a way that maintained the integrity and intent of the selected excerpts. If one wants to pursue original quotations, look to the endnotes for sources.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, this series seeks to offer ecclesial liturgies for Christian pilgrims. As believers in Christ, we are all on our journey to the celestial city—the promised paradise of a new heaven and new earth where we will celebrate God’s redemption with an eternal feast and an unending sound of joy. During our earthly pilgrimage, we heed the instruction of Psalm 35:18: “I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.” May each season of the year be filled with rich reflection and festal shouts that bear witness of Christ to the surrounding world!