The Spirit in Worship and Worship in the Spirit

Habtemicahel Kidane was born in 1953 in Eritrea. He received his Ph.D. in Oriental Liturgy from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1990 in a dissertation on the Liturgy of the Hours in the Ethiopian Orthodox Rite. Habtemichael’s major publications include: “L’Ufficio divino della Chiesa etiopica”, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 257 (Rome 1998).

His most recent publication includes: “Origin and Development of the Ge’ez divine liturgy” (in Tegregna, language widely spoken in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea), (Asmara 2005). From these two books arose the plane to prepare the “Bibliografia della Liturgia Ge’ez”, which is under press at Orientalia Christiana Analecta (Rome). He is the author of several articles and entries. He recently prepared an essay: “Origine ed evoluzione della “Liturgia Ge’ez”, presented at the first International Congress for the Society of Oriental Liturgy, held at the Eichstätt (Germany) under press at the Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grattaferrata. He contributes in several encyclopaedic dictionaries and participates in international symposia.

At the present he is preparing a book on the First part of the Divine Liturgy (Ùér’ata Qéddase) and Eucharistic prayers (Akwäteta Qwerban) of the Ethiopic-Eritrean Liturgical Tradition. Habtemichael at the present contributes to the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Hamburg. He is currently working with the Episcopal Committees for Liturgy of Eritrea and Ethiopia in preparing the Ethiopian Rite Missal for the use of the two Catholic Churches of Ge’ez Rite (Ethiopia and Eritrea).

James Steven is Tutor in Worship and Doctrine at Trinity College Bristol in the U.K. where he has taught since 2000. After a Natural Science degree in Cambridge he studied Theology in Durham (BA), was ordained in 1987 and completed a PhD at King’s College London whilst in parish and chaplaincy posts. His research thesis was published in 2002 as Worship in the Spirit: Charismatic Worship in the Church of England (Paternoster). He is membership secretary of the British Society of Liturgical Studies and member of the editorial board for the Grove Book worship series.

Bishop Tom Wright, a native of Northumberland, read Greats and Theology at Oxford and obtained his D. Phil for a thesis on St Paul and his D. D. for books on the New Testament and, in particular, Jesus in his historical context. He taught New Testament studies in Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities, and worked as a College Chaplain, before becoming Dean of Lichfield in 1994, Canon of Westminster in 2000 and Bishop of Durham in 2003. Dr Wright has written over 40 books and hundreds of articles at both scholarly and popular levels, and has broadcast frequently on radio and TV. He is married with four children and two grandchildren, and lists music, poetry, hill-walking and golf among his recreations.

Australian Darlene Zschech is acclaimed all over the world as a singer, songwriter, worship leader and speaker, most notably for spearheading the music that comes from Hillsong Church. Although she has achieved numerous gold albums and her songs are sung in many nations of the world, her success is not the result of pursuing stardom and fame—it stands as a testimony to her life’s passion to serve God and people with all her heart.

Paper Abstracts:

Dan Albrecht, Assemblies of God, California: In the Spirit – Transmuting Worship Patterns, Attitudes and Convictions Pentecostally.

The paper will explore and seek to understand worship in the Spirit from a Pentecostal perspective. A fourfold consideration will unfold within the presentation: (i) we will begin with a retrospective, an historical look at sources of Pentecostal worship, dynamic interplay and merging of streams from the traditions that flowed into the emerging Pentecostal movement, and the transmutation of the characteristics of these streams within the context of Pentecostal worship; (ii) second, the paper will identify rites or typical fundamental structures and patterns of ritual act(ion)s; (iii) we will then explore the sensibilities or embodied attitudes that orient and animate the Pentecostal ways of worship and at their best open Pentecostal worshippers to the Spirit’s Breath and direction; (iv) fourth, we seek to uncover the foundational convictions, presuppositions, and/or values that support and give rise to Pentecostal ways, spirituality and worship. Our paper will conclude with an inside out view of some insights from worshipping in the Spirit Pentecostally.

Teresa Berger, Yale University: Veni Creator Spiritus – The Elusive Real Presence of the Spirit in the Catholic Tradition

I begin my presentation with a tension, namely between the witness to the workings of the Holy Spirit in, for example, the ninth-century Veni Creator Spiritus, and the commonly held notion of the Western tradition as forgetful of the third person of the Holy Trinity. This tension will provide the guiding question I explore in my presentation. I will suggest that, in answering the question about the Spirit’s real presence and/or perceived absence in the Catholic tradition, much depends on what one allows to count as evidence. If, for example, the evidence comes to be narrowly confined to the question of a consecratory Spirit-epiclesis in the Eucharistic Prayer, then the Catholic tradition does seem forgetful of the Holy Spirit. [Such a focus is encouraged of course by comparison with the Eastern tradition, which makes the Latin counterpart look deficient on that point]. Likewise, if the crucial marker for the Spirit’s presence is located in the charism of speaking in tongues, most catholic liturgies will also seem lacking. If, however, one started with the Veni Creator Spiritus, or the Blessing over Baptismal Waters, or the twelfth-century liturgical exposition of Rupert von Deutz in order to chart the Spirit’s presence, then a quite different picture of the Catholic tradition emerges. This, in fact, is what I propose to develop in my presentation.

Paul Bradshaw, University of Notre Dame: The Rediscovery of the Holy Spirit in Modern Eucharistic Theology and Practice.

This paper traces the gradual growth of interest in the restoration of a form of epiclesis to the eucharistic rites of a number of Western churches during the course of the twentieth century. It seeks to establish why this was so in the light of the relatively low level of interest in pneumatology in general, and in the Holy Spirit’s role in worship in particular, in theological discourse for much of that time. It ends with a consideration of some more recent contributions to the nature of the Spirit’s relationship to the eucharist, and points to areas of unfinished business in that regard.

From ancient times, pneumatology and ecclesiology have always been seen as belonging together. This close connection is best captured in the identification of the liturgy, i.e., “the work of the people” as the work of the Spirit. But in what sense is the liturgy the work of the Spirit? This paper examines the question by first showing that within the Trinitarian economy the Holy Spirit bears a special relationship to the church which is reflected in the paradoxical nature of the liturgy. Second, the way to make sense of this paradox is the doctrine of synergy which culminates in the epiclesis. Synergy also calls for the “active participation” of worshippers.

African American Christians gathered for worship, share a variety of common beliefs and resulting ritual practices that are considered to be “empowered by the Spirit.” It cannot be assumed, however, that all worship gatherings can be perceived as a unified occurrence, transferable from one place to another in order for liturgical actions to be considered typically “valid,” “bone fide” or universally reflective of the evidence of Spirit-filled worship.

This presentation will begin with a clarification of commonalities that, under the power of the Holy Spirit, have empowered and helped connect worshipers within and beyond denominations across the centuries. This will be followed by some of the characteristics within worship traditions that are reminders of the divine gift of “differences” and the importance of “uniqueness” as bonds that hold communities together.

An overview of spirit-filled worship in African American denominations and separate African American congregations, initiated and shaped in the 18,th 19th and early 20th century worship in America, will follow. Theological perspectives of spirit, and Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost conceptualized initially within the context of African spirituality and continued in the American Diaspora, will be discussed and applied to liturgical actions in African American worship traditions. Ever-evolving ritual practices, especially prevalent in congregational songs, burst out of African American worshiping spaces and are propelled into the world. A brief examination of new musical forms created by local and global encounters, a return to worship to be reworked and sent-forth again into the world, attests to the spiritual metamorphosis that is initiated in the context of African American spirit-filled worship.

Jonathan Draper, South Africa: The Holy Spirit in the Worship of the Independent African Churches.

Holy Spirit is the fundamental concept in the life and worship of those African Independent Churches often called Zionist. It draws on an underlying holistic understanding of the nature and power of the numinous in African culture in a creative new indigenous expression of Christian faith. Drawing on both historical and field data this paper affirms the positive valuation given to these expressions in the work of recent scholars such as Allan Anderson, but also calls into question attempts to homogenize them with more traditional Pentecostalism. The overlap between angels, ancestors, spirits and Spirit is more significant and fluid than Anderson allows.

Peter Galadza, University of Ottawa: The Holy Spirit in Eastern Orthodox Worship: Credal Potential, Historical Enfleshments, and Modern Challenges

Eastern Orthodox worship is frequently described as strongly pneumatic - at least as compared with certain other Christian traditions. This paper will examine the veracity of this assertion by exploring key aspects of Byzantine liturgy, both historically and from the perspective of modern theology and practice. The categories: i) theology of worship, ii) theology from worship, iii) liturgical theology in the conventional sense, and iv) liturgical theology as understood by David Fagerberg will be employed to organize the analysis. The paper will also reflect on how Western modernity and post-modernity provide challenges and opportunities for Eastern Christians hoping to worship in spirit and truth.

 

Lutheran theology has always considered Word and Sacrament to be the tools by which “the Holy Spirit produces faith in those who hear the Gospel where and when it pleases God” (Augsburg Confession, Article V). Until quite recently, however, this theology has not been clearly expressed liturgically. This presentation will focus on the recovery, various formulations, locations, and theology of a Spirit-epiclesis in modern Lutheran baptismal and eucharistic liturgies.

In rabbinic tradition, God’s manifestation as Holy Spirit is a source of prophecy, not a participant in worship. That role applies better to the indwelling presence of God, the Shekhinah, or to God as present in the Jerusalem Temple, Hamaqom. The destruction of the Temple challenged both of these immanent aspects of God’s interaction with humanity. This paper explores the rabbinic understandings that God’s immanent presence continues in liturgical situations, both on the Temple Mount, in the gathered community, and in its place of gathering.

Simon Jones, Merton College, Oxford: Wombs of the Spirit: Incarnational pneumatology in the Syrian baptismal tradition.

This paper identifies the incarnational image of the womb as the principal symbolic focus for the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Syrian baptismal tradition and traces its use from the Odes of Solomon to the formation of the baptismal ordines.

Habte Kidane, Ethiopia: The Holy Spirit in the Ethiopian Orthodox Worship Tradition.

This paper deals with the “Holy Spirit in Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaüdo Church” (EOTC). This short study which delineates only the essentials, depends heavily on the huge liturgical literary of the same Church. In short this article offers a comprehensive view and a more fundamental on the Holy Spirit in the EOTC. To understand the place of the Holy Spirit in the EOTC’s liturgy is necessary to have a global vision of the liturgical literature of the same Church.

The literature on the Holy Spirit is rich, it can be said that there is a quite limited number of studies on this field. The liturgical literature can be divided into two groups: of indigenous production and of outside provenance, mainly from Egypt or through the Egyptian channel. The author tries to bring together, and to integrate into a coherent whole, all the major aspect that enhances the active role of the Holy Spirit in whole the EOTC’s liturgical life (Qeddase or Divine Liturgy, the Liturgy of the Hours and in the Sacramental life). Literature: This short study is an invitation to the scholars of the EOTC’s Liturgical tradition. The main sources are the following: 1. Ser?ata Qeddase (the first part of the Mass), 2. Akwätetä Qwerban (the anaphoras), 3. Deggwa: hymnary for the whole year (the Liturgy of the Hours), 4. the Sacraments, 6. Mälk?a Paraqliýos (effigy of the Holy Spirit), composed of five strophes, that praise the various parts of the body.

James Steven, Bristol UK: The Spirit in Charismatic Worship.

In the last quarter of the 20th Century the worship of many of the historic denominations has been influenced by the charismatic movement. After giving a brief review of the impact of the movement upon patterns of public worship the main aim of this paper is to explore how the Spirit is understood to be encountered in charismatic assembly. Special attention is paid to the ritual patterning of such encounters in the worshipping assembly where the primary function of the Spirit has become that of mediating God’s presence and power. By drawing upon theological, historical and cultural perspectives the paper concludes by offering an evaluation of this contemporary version of ‘worship in the Spirit’.

Darlene Zschech, Hillsong, Australia: The Spirit in Worship and the Making of Music in the Hillsong Churches.

With true worship being the response of the created, or humanity’s response to encountering the Devine, the Creator… Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then I would be foolish to declare anything other than the worshipping heart does bring a Spirit given response to the God of all. There is no human substitute for a life changed by grace, and then that same life given as a thankyou offering as described in Romans 12 – a life poured out as a spiritual act of worship.

We will look at 1 Cor 12 which says that no man can say wholeheartedly that Jesus is Lord, but by the Spirit of God… and if you look further into scriptures such as Amos 5, God has never been interested in worship that is not wholehearted, for presenting an offering that simply looks good, but is inherently decayed at its core.. God actually says sternly to get away with that noise..’bring me worship that results in changed lives’. Without the power of the Holy Spirit at work, truthful worship cannot permeate the fabric of the human condition.

I find it interesting that John 4, when Jesus sits with the infamous woman at the well, He starts to speak to her about living water, and also states clearly that God is Spirit, and those who worship Him MUST do so in Spirit and in Truth… Fuelled by revelation, and sustained by relationship. Not fuelled by church attendance and sustained by what you do for a living… Yes, the grand idea about worship is that it invites every man, woman and child, every nation, tribe and tongue to come together and join the heavenly anthem, in these lives of worship..WORTHSHIP.. for He alone is worthy of all honour, glory and praise. We will always fall short in the natural of bringing continual pure worship, but with the continuous help and presence of the Holy Spirit, we stand forgiven, whole and hungry to know Him more.