Confessional Reformed Theology in Regina, Saskatchewan

For any Canadians living in or around Regina looking for a Confessional Reformed church, go here!

Fellow Westminster Seminary California alum and co-laborer in the URCNA, Brian Cochran, is about to be installed as the pastor at Redeemer Reformation Church in Regina, Saskatchewan.  I wanted to give a little plug for their new website and put this congregation on the radar of our readership.

Blessings, Brian, as you begin your work up there in the frigid north!  I’ll be thinking of you from my home in sunny SoCal!  (I’m terrible, I know!)  It’s been over 10 years since I was in Regina (Dordt College choir tour) but from what I remember, it was a really nice town!

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Andrew

Classic Words on Classical Liturgies: A Guest Post By Danny Hyde

Charles W. Baird’s book, The Presbyterian Liturgies: Historical Sketches (Eugene: Wipf & Stock,reprinted  2006), is one of the classics of Reformed liturgical literature from the 19th century. Although surpassed by more recent works (e.g., Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church; Old, The Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship), it remains a valuable introductory survey for those interested in our liturgical heritage and practice. In this work, Baird surveys the liturgies of Geneva (following the now-defunct idea that Calvin was the source of all Reformed liturgy, when, in fact, Strasbourg is the fount of Reformed liturgical thought), France, Scotland, the English Puritans, the Netherlands, and Heidelberg.

The only weakness of the book, in my opinion, is that Baird did not give the entire liturgy of the churches he was surveying. Instead, he gave only select prayers that he thought were exemplars of our heritage.

One of the benefits of this volume, though, besides its narrative style of writing, is that it helps to cure the main problem of liturgy in Reformed churches—we have been led to think we are anti-liturgical, and that only Rome, Constantinople, Canterbury, and Wittenburg are liturgical. Baird travels back ad fontes and shows that we have always been a liturgical people, and that high Calvinist liturgy is not an oxymoron. It is only under the influence of Pietism, Puritanism, and Revivalism, that we have left our roots and become Baptist in our liturgics.

Of special note to those in the Dutch Reformed tradition (e.g., Reformed Church in America, Christian Reformed Church, United Reformed Churches, Canadian Reformed Churches, Free Reformed Churches, Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations), is how Baird traces the daily “Morning and Evening Prayers” to be used in family worship from Geneva, through the Netherlands, into Scotland, and into America. These treasures need to be recovered in our personal and family piety. They can be found, for example, in the Psalter Hymnal (Grand Rapids: Christian Reformed Church, 1959), 188–89.

Baird also reflects upon the Dutch Reformed in his day (mid-19th century) and says, “…of all the Calvinistic Churches represented in these United States, the Dutch Reformed denomination [RCA] alone has faithfully retained her ancient forms of worship” (207). One wonders if he would say the same today.

All seminarians, pastors, and laypeople in our churches ought to read Baird. For in so doing, our worship will be strengthened and our witness emboldened.

Danny Hyde
Oceanside, CA

Great Resources on the Church Calendar by Danny Hyde

Here at the Reformed Reader, we’re honored to have URCNA co-laborer and author, Danny Hyde, jump in and do some guest posting.  Just to put in a shameless plug for Danny, check out some of his books:

Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children (Danny’s outstanding defense of paedo-baptism)
With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession (An excellent historical, theological, and exegetical commentary on the Belgic Confession of Faith)
God With Us: Knowing the Mystery of Who Jesus Is (Danny on Christology)
The Good Confession: An Exploration of the Christian Faith (Danny’s workbook outlining the Reformed, that is to say the Biblical, faith!)
What to Expect in Reformed Worship: A Visitors Guide (This is self explanatory!)

I just wanted to give a word of introduction to Danny before posting his first contribution on some excellent resources on the church calendar.

Andrew

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For those of us in the historic Reformed tradition, we celebrate what our forefathers call “the evangelical feast days.” As we move closer to that time of the year in which we celebrate Christ’s work in his death (Good Friday), resurrection (Easter), ascension (Ascension Day), and pouring out of his Spirit (Pentecost), the average Reformed preacher does not have much to draw on in terms of available books. One such book, long out-of-print (although Wipf & Stock may reprint it in the near future), is Stages of Experience: The Year in the Church, trans. J. E. Anderson (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1962). Stages is a brief (104 pages) introduction to these high points of the church’s calendar, written as an ecumenical symposium, made up of Brother from the Taize ecumenical community in France, an Anglican, a Danish Lutheran, a Dominican, a Swiss Calvinst, and an Russian Orthodox theologian.

The first strength is the opening chapter, “The Year of Grace,” by the Taize brother, Francois Stoop. He gives an inspiring exposition of Ephesians 1:9–10 and 3:10ff., in which Paul pronounces God’s eternal mystery, executed by Christ, and made known to and through the Church. The mystery of Christ in his redeeming and restoring work is the Church’s gift to the world. Stoop also draws heavily on St. Irenaeus’ doctrine of recapitulation, found in Against Heresies.

The second strength is that the subsequent chapters each take up an the evangelical feast in order and give a theological explanation of the work of Christ. Of special note is the Danish Luthern K. E. Skydsgaard’s chapter on “Good Friday.” Two points stand out in this chapter. First, he opens with a section reminiscent of J. Gresham Machen on the historicity and objectivity of our faith in the death of Christ. Second, he dispels the notion that Good Friday, or any other day for that matter, is in any way a “holy day.” This was surprising as the typical caricature of Lutherans in opposition to the Reformed is that Lutherans celebrate special days as holy while we do not. In this chapter he also quotes question and answer 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism! The other chapter that stood out was the Reformed Jean-Jacques von Allmen’s chapter on “The Ascension.” In it von Allmen gives a four-fold explanation of the theology of the ascension in a succinct way.

There are three weak-points that I perceive, in this work, though. First, this book is way too short for such a vital and often misunderstood topic, especially for those of us in Reformed churches. Second, there is no historical survey of the development of these days from the ancient church and through the Medieval period, let alone in the Protestant Reformation. A book such as this still needs to be written. Third, as with all compilation books, unfortunately I did not benefit much from the Catholic and Orthodox chapters on Easter and Pentecost, respectively. Despite this I would highly recommend this book as an introductory resource for theology of the major themes of the feast days upon which we celebrate Christ and his accomplished salvation.

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Danny Hyde
Oceanside, CA

Herman Bavinck on “the Communion of the Saints”

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to contribute to the blog over here.  Thanks to Shane for his hard work in keeping new and interesting “Reformed Readings” coming our way for the past couple of months.  Hopefully I’ll be able to dive in with some sporatic posts here and there!

In doing some sermon prep for tomorrow, I came across a great couple of quotes by Herman Bavinck. Bavinck notes that the Reformed churches have rooted the communion of the saints in objective criteria – such as church office, Word, and sacrament.  To make the essence of the communion of the saints the subjective fellowship “often leaves so much to be desired” (Reformed Dogmatics, IV:289).  Nevertheless, Bavinck doesn’t thereby embrace a sort of overly objective – which might be read as cold and rationalistic – view of the church.  He notes on translating the term ekklesia:

In the word “church” the meaning of the New Testament word ekklesia has been obscured.  In certain periods the sense that “church” is the name for “the people of God” has almost totally eroded. . . . This is also the reason why ekklesia is often translated in the Dutch (and German) language by gemeente (Gemeinde) instead of kerk (Kirche).  As with the English word “community,” this communicates more effectively the church as a fellowship of believers, a communion of saints.

Reformed Dogmatics, IV: 297

Thus we find in Bavinck a very warm and organic view that roots the church in the objective categories of Biblical church office (think Church discipline here too), the faithful preaching of the Gospel, and the proper administration of the means of grace, but also sees the church as a family of believers – brothers and sisters who are growing together in love as they grow up into Christ their head.  In light of that, he writes the following regarding the use of gifts for the edification of one another:

Some [gifts] clearly bear a supernatural character or are given only at the time of or after a person’s conversion; others tend to be more like natural gifts that have been heightened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.  The former were more prominent in the early days of the church; the latter are more characteristic of the church in its normal historical development.  But whatever these gifts may be, they all serve the good of the church.  Whatever benefits God bestows on the community of saints, they in turn should share with one another.  The Holy Spirit does not distribute the charismata to the members of the church for their own benefit but for the benefit of others.  They must not be buried or neglected but used “readily and cheerfully for the benefit and enrichment of the other members”; they serve for the upbuilding of the church (1 Cor. 14:12; Eph. 4:12) and are subordinate to love, which is the most excellent gift.  This love, after all, surpasses the universal love of one’s neighbor; it is love for the brothers and sisters, the members of the household of faith.  Jesus calls this love a new commandment (John 13:34-35; 15:12; 17:26).  The reason is that love in Israel was not purely spiritual in character but intertwined with blood ties, and the love he now brings about among his disciples for the first time is completely pure, unmixed with other things, and free from earthly attachments.  The members of Jesus’s church are mutually brothers and sisters (Matt. 12:48; 18:15; 23:8; 25:40; 28:10; John 15:14-15; 20:17; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:11; and so forth).  They are children of one family.  God is their Father (Eph. 4:6).  Christ is their eldest brother (Rom. 8:29).  The Jerusalem that is above is their mother (Gal. 4:26).  And in that light they must serve each other with all their spiritual and natural gifts.  The church is a fellowship or communion of saints.

Reformed Dogmatics, IV:299-300

I don’t have a lot of (read: enough!) time these days to spend reading Bavinck, but when I do I am greatly edified and am reminded of just how academic and pastoral was this giant of Reformed dogmatics!

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Andrew
Upland, CA

The Church Order: Aren’t these just “man made” rules?

Nelson Kloosterman, in his chapter entitled “Office Bearers and Church Government” (in the book Called to Serve: Essays For Elders and Deacons), tackles the matter of an authoritative church order that is used in a church committed to sola scriptura. Though many Christian traditions speak disparagingly of church orders – as though they were simply a collection of churchly opinions that take away from fresh, scripture centered church practice – Kloosterman helpfully points out that “insofar as [the church order's] regulations faithfully reflect the Bible’s teaching and principles, and since they have been adopted by the churches together, the regulations of the Church Order have authority in the church” (pg. 170).

Regarding the authoritative character of the church order, Kloosterman deserves quoting at length:

Speaking of regulations encoded in the Church Order, it’s been said, “They hang on a sky hook… they’re pulled out of thin air… they’re man-made rules.” People often wonder what gives the Church Order its authority to regulate the life and activities of the church.

We may be tempted to answer: the church grants these regulations their authority. Some see the Church Order much like a contract, and view the common agreement as churches to live together voluntarily as being the source of the authority of the Church Order. This would mean, in effect, that the Church Order is as binding as the last majority vote, and that it functions as a corporation charter or a political treaty: the rules are sound, wise, and good until we decide otherwise!

A better answer can be give if we recall the Belgic Confession, Article 30, where we confess: “We believe that this true Church must be governed by that spiritual polity which our Lord has taught us in His Word; namely, that there must be . . .” office bearers chosen and appointed to govern Christ’s church. Then in Article 32, we confess that “we reject all human inventions, and all laws which man would introduce into the worship of God, thereby to bind and compel the conscience in any manner whatever. Therefore we admit only of that which tends to nourish and preserve concord and unity, and to keep all men in obedience to God. . .”

By acknowledging Christ as the only Head of his church, we confess that supreme authority in the church lies not in a set of rules or a book of order. It belongs to Jesus Christ himself. Christ has delegated his governing authority to office bearers in the church, so that our submission as church members to their leading constitutes obedience to Jesus Christ himself! Government by men, no matter how well-intentioned, can degenerate into either legalistic or arbitrary authority. Therefore, we must always keep in mind the Christ-centered aim, and source of church government.

The character of the Church Order, then, is that it provides the regulations that, on the basis of God’s Word and in agreement with the church’s Confessions, are needed for the sake of good order in the church.

(pgs. 179-180)

Kloosterman has some real gems in this chapter. What is key is that we not be tempted to think that adherence to a Church Order is somehow a man-centered practice. Though we believe that Christ rules his church via real men, we also believe it is no one less than Christ himself that is governing the church through these men.

This is a very worthwhile chapter as part of a very helpful collection of essays!

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Andrew