Conclusion

6

The Life of Faith

Christianity as a Living Reality

In earlier chapters of this work we explored Christianity from several perspectives, focusing particularly on its teachings and history. Although this is valuable in helping readers to gain a sense of what Christianity is all about, this approach has one major disadvantage. It may create the unhelpful and deeply misleading impression that Christianity is simply a set of ideas. While Christianity is indeed based on a set of core beliefs, these have a significant effect on the personal lives and values of individual Christians, on the way in which Christian communities behave and worship, and on the cultures in which Christianity has secured a presence.

The final two chapters of this work aim to explore Christian life in the modern world. What is Christianity like as a lived and experienced reality, rather than simply as a set of ideas, or an historical influence? In what ways does Christianity impact on culture? These chapters will be particularly helpful for those who are not Christians, yet want to have at least a basic understanding of Christianity as a major presence and influence in modern global culture.

The aim of these two final chapters is to provide a broad overview of the Christian life, not to explore it in detail. There are many detailed studies available dealing with each topic covered here, and these will provide you with much fuller accounts of the rich diversity of modern Christian faith and life, while at the same time identifying the common themes, beliefs, and attitudes that hold the movement together.

Gateways to Exploring the Life of Faith

Since Christianity is a way of life, not simply a set of ideas, it can be encountered in many different manners. We shall briefly note five of these gateways or points of access to Christianity.

Texts Most religions – though not all – have some texts that they regard as having special significance. In the case of Christianity, the most important such text is known as “the Bible.” In most parts of the world – though not in some more repressive Islamic countries – the Bible can be bought openly in public bookstores. It is regularly read in church services and private devotions. Many parts of it have been set to music. One of the best known of these is the oratorio The Messiah by George Frederick Handel (1685–1759), which consists of a musical setting of a series of biblical passages dealing with the coming of Christ.

Services For many, the Christian faith is encountered by attending church services. For those who are not themselves Christians, this experience is most likely to take the form of attending the weddings or funerals of Christian friends or relatives. The text of these services – often referred to as the “liturgy” – gives some important indications of the core beliefs and values of Christianity, often supplemented through sermons or homilies.

Buildings Whether you attend a church as a tourist or as a worshipper, its physical structure itself can act as a portal to an understanding of Christianity. Older Christian churches – such as the great cathedrals of medieval Europe – were often designed to communicate aspects of the Christian faith to a largely illiterate culture. Many cathedrals are cross-shaped, to remind believers of the central place of the cross in Christian life, thought, and worship. A baptismal font was often placed near the main door of the church, to symbolize the idea that baptism was the means by which entry to the church took place. Stained glass windows acted as windows into the mysteries of faith. The walls of churches were often painted with scenes from the gospels, to remind worshippers of the basic events on which their faith was based. To put it succinctly: church buildings embody Christian belief. In these chapters we shall explore some of the ways in which church buildings can be “read” in this way.

Music The Christian emphasis on the public worship of God led to a new interest in developing music to accompany it. The vast range of music designed to accompany worship ranges from the simplicity of monastic plainsong to the complex musical structures of Verdi’s Requiem or Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and to the vibrancy and informality of modern worship songs, especially within evangelical and Pentecostal traditions. A huge range of Christian texts have been set to music. These are regularly performed, both as part of Christian worship and as a celebration of human cultural activity in general. Once more, music can act as a portal to the core values and ideas of Christianity.

Art From the outset, Christians realized the importance of the visual arts in communicating and sustaining their faith. Sculpture and paintings were both used to depict key scenes from the gospels. Some of the best-known images in history are inspired by these themes – for example, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam and Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. The crucifixion was of special artistic importance, on account of its central place in Christian thought and devotion. The use of icons within Orthodox Christianity is one of the most familiar ways in which images play a role in Christian devotion.

In these two concluding chapters we shall explore what Christianity is like as a lived faith, picking up on some of these gateways. We shall begin by considering the life of the church – the institution to which Christians belong. Although there are considerable differences between individual Christian denominations, most of the material that follows is applicable to them all.

Christian Communities: The Life of the Church

At the heart of the Christian life is a worshipping community. Those who are encountering Christianity from the outside are most likely to experience it through various forms of worship. That worship takes an incredible variety of styles – from the sumptuous, ornate, and elaborate worship of Russian Orthodoxy within a gilded cathedral to the informal, guitar-led worship of Latin American Pentecostalism inside a makeshift church building.

The Christian services that are most likely to be experienced by those who are not themselves Christians are weddings, funerals, and versions of the great Christmas Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. For this reason, we shall begin with them and offer a greater amount of explanation and comment than usual, in order to allow these services to become “gateways” to Christianity.

Christian weddings

The basic structure of a Christian wedding is very simple. The “liturgy” – the term used to refer to the text of a religious service – consists of the bride’s and groom’s consent to marriage in the sight of human witnesses and of God – an act in which they ask for God’s blessing on their union. The basic structure of the service is shaped partly by theological considerations shared by all Christians and partly by legal and cultural factors, which are specific to a given locality. Christianity has long been adept at intermingling its own distinctive ideas with the prevailing cultural norms.

Alongside specifically Christian ideas, you will therefore find customs that originate from elsewhere – such as the placement of a ring (or rings) on the fourth finger, which has no specifically Christian significance and is widely held to represent an older Roman tradition taken over by Christianity: that of the Roman annulus pronubis (“premarital ring”) given by the man to the woman at the betrothal ceremony. The custom of blessing the wedding ring and of placing it on the bride’s finger is thought to date from the eleventh century.

The Christian marriage service emphasizes that marriage is a voluntary commitment of two individuals and that this is part of God’s ordinance of for the creation. Often a passage from the book of Genesis is read to make this point: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone’” (Genesis 2: 18). Humanity was created for fellowship – people’s fellowship among themselves, and also with God. Many Christian marriage liturgies make reference to Jesus Christ’s attending a wedding at Cana in Galilee (John 2). For an example of such a liturgy, we may turn to the Episcopal Church of Scotland’s marriage service of 2007, which interweaves these ideas into the ceremony:

Figure 6.1 A Russian Orthodox wedding at the Church of the Transfiguration, St. Petersburg.

Source: © Robert Harding Picture Library Ltd/Alamy.

We have come together in the presence of God, to witness the marriage of N. and N., to ask his blessing on them, and to share their joy. Our Lord Jesus Christ was himself a guest at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and through his Spirit he is with us now.

The Scriptures teach us that marriage is a gift of God in Creation and a means of his grace, a holy mystery in which man and woman become one flesh. It is God’s purpose that, as husband and wife give themselves to each other in love throughout their lives, they shall be united in that love as Christ is united with his Church.

This brief excerpt from the marriage service makes reference to the Christian belief that there is a deeper, spiritual significance to marriage. For Christians, the union of a man and a woman in marriage symbolizes the spiritual union between a believer and Jesus Christ. Christian spiritual writers often speak of the “spiritual marriage” between Jesus of Nazareth and the believer. Martin Luther, for example, speaks of faith as the “wedding ring” that unites Christ and the believer, pointing to both the personal relationship that exists between the two parties and their mutual exchange of goods. For Luther, Christ receives the sin and the guilt of the believer and bestows upon the believer his righteousness and the gift of eternal life.

Christian funerals

The central themes of a Christian funeral service are the proclamation of the hope of resurrection, the celebration of the life of the deceased, and the entrustment of the person who has died to God’s tender care. “Christians celebrate the funeral rites to offer worship, praise, and thanksgiving to God for the gift of life which has been returned to God, the author of life and the hope of the just.”

In the traditional English funeral service set out in the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the hope of resurrection is sustained throughout. Little reference is made to the identity or achievement of the deceased; the emphasis falls largely on affirming hope in the resurrection. In fact the dead person is never named in the liturgy but referred to simply as “our brother” or “our sister.” The service opens with the priest meeting the funeral party at the churchyard gate and speaking some words from John’s gospel (John 15: 25–26) in which the theme of the Christian hope is clearly set out:

I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

The service then proceeds with the reading of 1 Corinthians 15, a chapter in which Paul stresses the importance of the resurrection and the difference it makes (or ought to make) to Christians. This reading includes the following words:

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Finally, as the corpse is lowered into the grave, the priest speaks these words. Again, note the theme of hope.

Forasmuch as it has pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The theme of hope in resurrection is often emphasized through appropriate symbols. For example, in the Catholic rite, the coffin or casket is met at the entrance to the church and sprinkled with holy water as a reminder of the believer’s baptism, which is seen as affirming that the believer has passed from death to life (Romans 6: 1–4). Family members then place a pall over the casket, and may place Christian symbols – such as a cross or Bible – upon it as a sign of the Christian hope in resurrection.

Alongside these fundamental themes, a number of ancillary ones often develop. For example, consider the following directions (or “liturgical norms”), set out by the Catholic archdiocese of Vancouver. Note the emphasis on the equality of believers, in death and in life.

The casket remains closed during the funeral rite and should be covered with a pall in remembrance of the baptismal garment – a sign of the Christian dignity of the person entering in Christ a new life beyond this life. The pall may be ornamented with Christian symbols. In addition to its liturgical significance, the pall serves very practical purposes: it avoids ostentation, prevents embarrassment of the poor and emphasizes the Christian’s equality before God.

The “pall” is a simple cloth that covers the coffin or casket. Here it is interpreted as a reminder of baptism.

The same custom is used outside the Catholic tradition. For example, the First United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas offers a bereaved family the use of a pall at its funeral services, for the following reason:

First Church has a white funeral pall with a gold antique satin cross covering the full length and width, symbolic of God’s power to cover sin with forgiveness, fear with hope and death with life. This pall is available to you and is appropriate in place of casket flowers.

The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols

One of the most familiar Christian services takes place at Christmas in Cambridge, England, and is broadcast across the world, on television and radio. So what is this service? How did it originate? And what does it tell us about Christianity?

The Victorian period saw the institutionalization of Christmas as a national religious festival in England. The practice of having Christmas trees was introduced by Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, from his native Germany. Christmas cards were circulated with the help of the newly established national postal service, and extensive use was made of a device invented by the novelist Anthony Trollope – the postal box. The Victorian period witnessed an explosion in the writing of Christmas carols. Some of the best-known carols – including “In the Bleak Midwinter” and “Once in Royal David’s City” – date from this hugely influential and formative period in English history.

As Christmas grew into an increasingly important festival in the later nineteenth century, it became painfully clear that no adequate provision for its public celebration had been made by the English national church. As the celebration of Christmas became more and more prominent in the national consciousness, the demand grew for a special church service for this time of year, which should incorporate both the increasingly popular Christmas carols and the biblical readings. The Book of Common Prayer did not include any special services for the season of Christmas; in this it reflected the fact that Christmas was not seen as a festival of particular importance in the seventeenth century. The growing popular importance of this festival created demands for a special service designed to mark the occasion.

One such service was devised for Christmas Eve in 1880 by Edward White Benson (1829–1896), while bishop of the diocese of Truro, in the southwest of England. The format was both simple and elegant. The service consisted of nine carols and nine lessons to be read by various officials of the church in ascending order, beginning with a chorister and ending with the bishop himself. Benson went on to become archbishop of Canterbury; the service was adopted, in a new format, by King’s College, Cambridge.

The origins of the distinctive Cambridge format are to be traced to Christmas Eve 1918, the first Christmas celebration after the trauma and devastation of the Great War. Eric Milner-White had just been appointed chaplain and dean of King’s College, Cambridge, having served as an army chaplain during the war. He was acutely aware of the need to make worship more relevant and attractive to a hardened and skeptical postwar generation, and he realized that the Christmas story could be used as a showcase for Christian worship. Exploiting the long-established choral tradition of King’s College, Milner-White developed the format of the Nine Lessons and Carols which has become so influential and well known.

The basic structure of the service has remained unchanged since 1919. The backbone consists of nine Christmas carols, sung by the entire congregation, and nine biblical readings, taken from the King James version of the Bible. These are interspersed with choral items that reflect Christmas themes. The opening Bidding Prayer sets the scene for the public reading of the Christmas “tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child”; the closing Collect summarizes the significance of the great themes that have been reaffirmed in reading and in praise throughout the service. The opening prayer makes clear what Christmas is all about, from a Christian perspective.

Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmas Eve our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels: in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and with the shepherds and the wise men adore the Child lying in his Mother’s arms. Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and in company with the whole Church let us make this chapel, dedicated to his pure and lowly Mother, glad with our carols of praise.

The fundamental theme of the service is simple: Christ is the long-promised savior of the world, God incarnate, who has entered into our world as one of us in order to redeem it.

Thus far we have considered three Christian services that people outside the Christian community are likely to encounter. But what about the staple diet of Christians themselves? What do churches do on Sundays, week by week? In what follows we shall look at some basic themes of regular Christian worship.

Christian Worship

There are clear indications of an emerging style of worship within the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles records that the first Christians met regularly and “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2: 42). In addition to the “breaking of the bread,” the New Testament also highlights the importance of baptism as a sign of personal commitment to Jesus and of entrance into the Christian community. The importance of singing and thanksgiving can be seen from a number of passages: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5: 19–20). The styles of Christian worship that are encountered in Christian churches today can all be traced back, in different ways, to the New Testament.

Christian worship is particularly associated with one day of the week – Sunday. It is clear that Christians regarded the first day of the week as being of special importance, as it was the day on which Jesus of Nazareth rose again from the dead. Jewish worship was particularly associated with the seventh day of the week (the sabbath, or Saturday), but the first Christians did not retain this traditional Jewish observance.

Sunday was also seen as the first day of God’s new creation, and therefore it was the day appropriate for all major public Christian worship. Justin Martyr, writing around AD 165, is an important witness to this tradition:

On the day which is called Sunday, all who live in the cities or in the countryside gather together in one place. And the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, so long as there is time. Then, when the reader has finished, the president delivers a discourse in which he encourages and invites the people to follow the examples of virtue which these provide. Then we all stand up together and offer some prayers. And when we have finished these prayers, bread and wine mixed with water are presented. The president then offers prayers and a thanksgiving, according to his ability, and the people indicate their assent by saying “Amen.” The elements for which thanks has been given are then distributed and received by all present, and are taken to those who are not present by the deacons.

Worship plays an important part in sustaining Christian life. Especially within the Greek Orthodox tradition, the public worship of the church represents one’s drawing close to the threshold of heaven itself and peering through its portals, to catch a glimpse of the worship of heavenly places. The Orthodox liturgy celebrates the notion of being caught up in the worship of heaven and the awesome sense of mystery that is evoked by the act of peering beyond the bounds of human vision.

A biblical text that has played no small part in shaping this immense respect for mystery in worship may be mentioned here. The sixth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah relates the call of the prophet, portraying him as undergoing a liminal experience as he enters the “holy of holies”:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the lord of hosts!”
(Isaiah 6: 1–5)

The central insight that many theologians gleaned from this passage is that human beings are simply not capable of beholding the worship of heaven itself; it must be accommodated to their capacity by being reflected through created things – such as the created order, the sacramental bread and wine, or the liturgy itself.

To share in worship is thus to stand in a holy place (Exodus 3: 5) – a place in which humanity, strictly speaking, has no right to be. Whenever the divine liturgy is celebrated on earth, the boundaries between heaven and earth are removed and earthly worshippers join in the eternal heavenly liturgy chanted by the angels. During these moments of earthly adoration worshippers have the opportunity of being mystically transported to the threshold of heaven. Being in a holy place and about to participate in holy things, on the one hand they become aware of their finitude and sinfulness, and on the other they gain a refreshing glimpse of the glory of God – precisely the pattern of reflection set out in Isaiah’s vision.

The association between worship and heaven is often enhanced musically. Just as Gothic churches embodied a sense of the spaciousness of heaven, allowing and encouraging their congregations to visualize the worship of heaven, so the judicious use of music has widely been held to bring about a corresponding effect. It is difficult to make this point purely verbally, without listening to the music itself. However, to listen to the Vespers (1915) of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) or to the motet “Assumpta est Maria” and to the mass based on it, Missa “Assumpta est Maria,” both by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594), is to gain something of an appreciation of how the vision of heaven can be mediated musically through worship.

The idea of liminality – that is, of being on the threshold of the sacred and peering into the forbidden heavenly realms – is represented visually in the structure of Orthodox churches, especially through the way in which the sanctuary and the altar are set apart from the people, which carries a deep sense of the awesomeness of the mystery of God. In their treatises on worship, Chrysostom and other Greek patristic writers repeatedly draw attention to the liturgical importance of this sense of the sacred. The altar is the “terrifying table”; the bread and the wine are “the terrifying sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ which worshippers must approach with fear and trembling.” For the Orthodox, there is an especially close link between the eucharist – the sacrament celebrated with and through bread and wine – and the experience of the worship of heaven.

All generalizations are dangerous and must be treated with a degree of caution. However, they are also useful to those who are trying to gain understanding of an exceptionally complicated matter. What follows is a listing of the various elements that will be encountered in Christian worship. The types of Christian worship vary considerably, and not all of the elements to be discussed below will be found in all types of worship. However, the list is useful as a starting point for exploring modern worship. But the reader who is approaching Christianity from the outside must be warned that to simply read about Christian worship is of very limited value; worship is something that demands to be experienced. You are strongly recommended to supplement your reading with involvement in the worshipping life of a local Christian church and gain an appreciation of its structures, rhythms, and appeal.

Prayer

Prayer is an integral element in all forms of Christian worship. It takes a variety of forms. A distinction is made between the private prayers of individuals and the public prayer of the church. Prayer can also take the form of thanksgiving, in which thanks are offered to God for blessings that have been received, whether by individuals or by the church as a whole. Perhaps the most important is petitionary prayer, in which the congregation, or individuals in that congregation, make specific requests of God. This type of prayer can be illustrated from the teaching of Jesus, who compared the former to human requests.

Praise

The Christian Bible regularly exhorts believers to praise God. This kind of activity has become incorporated into Christian worship from the earliest of times. In contemporary Christianity it is especially associated with hymns and worship songs. These are set to various forms of music, often with the cultural preferences of congregations in mind.

Many classic hymns date from the eighteenth century and come from the pen of writers such as Isaac Watts (“When I survey the wondrous cross”) or John and Charles Wesley. Given the importance of hymns to Christian life and thought, we shall consider one hymn writer in a little detail: John Newton (1725–1807), author of one of the church’s most famous hymns, “Amazing Grace.”

John Newton was the main author of the Olney Hymns, a remarkable collection of songs of praise, many of which are still widely used today. He was converted after spending some time in the slave trade. He was ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1764 and served in the village of Olney. In 1779 he published the collection of hymns for which he is best known. In his preface to this work, Newton explained his main objective in writing these hymns: to “promote the faith and comfort of sincere Christians.” The most famous of these hymns celebrates the theme of amazing grace.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

The public reading of the Bible

The public reading of the Bible is an integral element of Christian worship. Many churches use a structured program of Bible readings (often referred to as a “lectionary”), which aims to ensure that the Bible is read in its totality throughout the course of the regular worship of the church. Others allow individual ministers to determine what biblical passages shall be read at any given time. The principle, however, remains the same. Part of Christian worship is the hearing and responding to the word of God. Sometimes that response may take the form of believing certain doctrines; at others, it may involve the recognition of the need to behave in certain ways, to do certain things.

In the early church, priority was given to the reading of a passage from the gospels. This was seen as a public declaration of the words and deeds of Jesus Christ. Many churches adopted the practice of standing in order to hear the gospel reading, as a way of demonstrating that the good news of Jesus Christ was central to the life and worship of the church as a whole and of its individual members. This practice gradually developed into having two or three readings, typically arranged sequentially, as a reading from the Old Testament; a reading from one of the New Testament letters; and a reading from one of the gospels. In many churches the public reading of Scripture is followed by the explanation or application of the read passage through a sermon. We shall explore this in what follows.

Preaching

Many Christian services include an address. This is sometimes referred to as a “homily” – a short, biblically based talk, which aims to provide the congregation with food for thought about how to live out the Christian faith in the world. Others use the term “sermon,” which comes from the Latin sermo (“speech”), to refer to a more extensive exploration, statement, or application of the Christian faith. This often takes the form of exegesis (“interpretation” – literally, “drawing out”) of a biblical passage – for example, the passage chosen or set for the day – of a biblical theme, or of an article of the creed. Collections of sermons have been in circulation from an early stage of Christianity.

Styles of sermon vary considerably, some preachers seeing the sermon as primarily catechetical (that is, aimed at teaching the congregation more about their faith), others as exhortatory (that is, aimed at encouraging its audience to lead better lives as Christians or to take to heart some basic Christian teaching or principle).

Although preaching is a regular part of the worship in many Christian traditions, it was given an especially important role at the time of the Reformation. The new emphasis on the relevance of the Bible, and particularly the Reformation’s emphasis on the “priesthood of all believers,” gave purpose to the task of creating a biblically literate laity. The preoccupation with Bible-based preaching, displayed by writers such as John Calvin, reflects these concerns.

Some services of the word focus on the recitation or singing of biblical passages; but a sermon is another high point of the event. Eucharist, in contrast, includes both a “ministry of the word” and a “ministry of the sacrament,” in which the sermon and the sacrament are seen as playing distinct though complementary roles. We shall consider the role of sacraments in Christian life later on in this chapter (pp. 231–236).

The reciting of the creeds

Many more formal Christian services or worship involve reciting aloud one of the creeds – usually the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed. These creeds are intended to remind believers of the basic themes of their faith and hence to enable them to avoid false teachings. The recitation of the creeds also establishes a strong sense of “belonging,” in that it affirms the basic continuity between the Christian communities of today and those of the classic period.

The creeds are statements of faith that are common to all Christians, whether Protestant, Orthodox, or Catholic. They are regarded as possessing a universal significance for all Christians, which transcends the particular importance of individual statements of faith of certain historic churches. Thus, for example, Anglicans might regard the Thirty-Nine Articles as having considerable weight in defining their specifically Anglican beliefs, just as Presbyterians might feel similarly about the Westminster Confession. But these two documents would never be incorporated into the public worship of these churches, because they are seen to lack the universal authority of the creeds.

So why do Christians recite these creeds? Partly, it is to allow individual believers to absorb their internal logic and their basic themes, which may thus become the framework for an understanding of the main points of faith. Yet there is also a sense of identity that comes into play. To recite these specific words is to connect up with the church of the past by using the same words that previous generations of Christians have used to express their faith. The recitation of the creeds is an act of solidarity with the Christian past as much as an act of pedagogy. It creates a sense of having a place in the greater scheme of things, of being part of something of deep historical and spiritual significance.

The Sacraments

In general terms, as we noted earlier (pp. 112–117), a sacrament may be thought of as an external rite or sign that in some way conveys or represents to believers the grace of God. A minimalist definition might say that a sacrament is an external physical sign of an interior spiritual grace. The New Testament does not actually make use of the specific term “sacrament.” Instead we find the Greek word musterion (which is probably best translated as “mystery”), used there to refer to the saving work of God in general. In the Greek text this word is never applied to what would now be regarded as a sacrament (for example, baptism). However, it is clear from what we know of the history of the early church that a connection was made at an early stage between the “mystery” of God’s saving work in Christ and the “sacraments” of baptism and the eucharist. We shall now explore each of these connections.

Most Christians, irrespective of their background, regard the sacraments as important signs of God’s grace and presence. Although the descriptions “sacrament” or “sacramental mystery” are widely accepted within Christianity, some Protestants prefer to use the term “ordinance.” For Luther, sacraments were promises with signs attached – signs intended to reassure us of the reality and trustworthiness of those promises. The bread and wine of the eucharist, or the water of baptism, are visible and tangible signs of the spiritual reality that lies behind them. The bread and wine point to the richness of the life that the gospel offers, and the water points to the cleansing it brings.

This aspect of the role of sacraments in spirituality is brought out clearly in the famous hymn “Adoro te devote,” traditionally ascribed to Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274). We shall cite three verses from this work and note the general line of its argument.

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore

Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more;

See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart

Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

O thou our reminder of Christ crucified.

Living bread the life of us for whom he died,

Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,

There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.

Jesus whom I look at shrouded here below,

I beseech thee send me, what I thirst for so;

Some day to gaze on thee, face to face in light

And be blessed forever, with thy glory’s sight.

The initial idea is that the sacrament offers a means of discerning the presence of God, even though that presence takes the form of “bare shadows” rather than reality. Yet, even though the sacrament is only a sign of the greater reality to which it points, it nevertheless possesses the ability to focus the worshippers’ thoughts on God. More specifically, the sacrament reminds us of the saving death of Christ and of the benefits that it brings to humanity. It also serves to uplift the mind and make it think of its future contemplation of the face of God in heaven. The sacrament thus serves as an important visible and tangible reminder of the Christian hope, and also as a reminder of the pain and suffering of the cross.

The sixteenth-century Protestant theologian John Calvin emphasized the way in which sacraments are to be seen as God’s accommodation to human weakness. Human beings need reassurance as to God’s presence and commitment. Baptism confirms the promise that that the sins of believers are washed away, just as the Lord’s Supper confirms the promise that those who believe in Christ enjoy the benefits of his death and resurrection. For Calvin, the Holy Spirit strengthens the faith of the believers through the human senses of sight, touch, and taste. Sacraments are external signs by means of which God confirms and seals “his promises of goodness toward us, in order to sustain the weakness of our faith.”

Baptism

The noun “baptism” comes from the Greek verb baptizein, meaning “to wash” or “to cleanse.” In the New Testament the word refers initially to the baptism offered by John the Baptist in the Jordan River as a sign of repentance. Jesus himself was baptized by John. For Christians, the necessity of baptism is partly grounded in the command given by the risen Christ to his disciples to baptize people everywhere in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28: 17–20). In the New Testament baptism is clearly understood as both a condition for and a sign of membership of the Christian community.

The Acts of the Apostles records Peter ending an early sermon with the following words, addressed to those who wanted to know what to do if they were to be saved: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2: 38). In the writings of Paul, baptism is affirmed as a practice and interpreted theologically, both in terms of dying and rising with Christ (Romans 6: 1–4), and in terms of “being clothed with Christ.” “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3: 26–27).

Figure 6.2 Christian baptism by total immersion in the Indian Ocean in the island of Zanzibar.

Source: © World Religions Photo Library/Alamy.

Although the New Testament seems to indicate that baptism was administered to adults, it was not long before young children were being baptized as well. Paul treats baptism as a spiritual counterpart to circumcision (Colossians 2: 11–12), suggesting that the parallel may extend to the application of baptism to infants. The early church saw a clear link between baptism under the New Covenant and circumcision under the Old Covenant. There are hints of this idea in the New Testament itself. The early church argued that, just as circumcision was a covenantal sign that demonstrated that someone belonged to the people of Israel, so baptism was a sign of belonging to the covenant community of the church. Since Israel circumcised infant boys, why should the church not baptize infants?

More generally, there seems to have been a pastoral need for Christian parents to celebrate the birth of a child within a believing household. Infant baptism may well have had its origins partly in a response to this concern. However, it must be stressed that there is genuine uncertainty concerning both the historical origins and the social or theological causes of the practice.

It is nevertheless clear that the practice of infant baptism was widespread by the end of the second century. In the second century Origen treats infant baptism as a universal practice, which he justifies on the basis of a universal human need for the grace of Christ. A similar argument would later be deployed by Augustine: since Christ is the savior of all, it follows that all – including infants – require redemption, which baptism confers, at least in part. Opposition to the practice can be found in the writings of Tertullian, who argued that the baptism of children should be deferred until such time as they “know Christ.”

The practice of infant baptism – in, for example, the Catholic church – leads to the process of Christian initiation having at least two phases. First, the person is baptized as an infant. The infant has no faith, but relies upon the faith of the church and the commitment of the parents to bring him or her up within a Christian environment and to teach and embody the Christian faith in the home. The second phase is confirmation, where the child is able to affirm the Christian faith in his or her own right. Within the Catholic tradition baptism is carried out by a local priest, whereas confirmation is carried out by the bishop, as a representative of the whole church. However, the Orthodox church has always insisted on the continuity between baptism and confirmation and thus tends to allow the same priest to baptize and confirm a given person. In the eastern church confirmation is known as “chrismation,” on account of its use of oil to anoint the candidate.

The eucharist

The origins of the Christian practice of using bread and wine in public worship go back directly to Jesus of Nazareth. It is clear from the New Testament’s testimonial that Jesus expected his church to continue to use bread and wine in remembrance of him. Not only did this recall the Last Supper, at which Jesus broke bread and drank wine with his disciples before his betrayal, but breaking the bread and pouring the wine were symbols of his flesh being broken and of blood being poured out on the cross.

The eucharist has strong associations with the Jewish Passover meal, not least in its commemoration of an act of divine deliverance. According to John’s gospel, John the Baptist declared that Jesus Christ is “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29). The image of the lamb of God immediately calls to mind the great Passover celebrations of Israel, which in turn recalled God’s faithfulness in delivering his people from captivity in Egypt (Exodus 12). A passover lamb would be slain, as a reminder of God’s continuing care for his people and commitment to them in conditions of adversity and suffering. To think of Jesus as this lamb of God is to see him as linked with God’s great actions of deliverance, including the liberation of his people from their bondage to sin and to the fear of death.

It is clear that Christians obeyed this explicit command of Jesus from the earliest of times. The Acts of the Apostles reports that the disciples were “breaking bread” within weeks of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians explicitly refers to the practice in the most solemn of terms, making it clear that Paul is passing on something of the utmost importance to his readers. Justin Martyr, writing around AD 165, indicates that the normal practice had been to read and expound the Bible, which was followed by giving thanks and distributing the bread and the wine. Note that the wine in question was always mixed with water. The reason for this custom is unclear; it may have been a practical measure designed to avoid the dehydration of those who received the wine. Theological explanations soon developed, making room for the idea that the mingling of the wine and water symbolized the mingling of Jesus Christ and his people.

Figure 6.3 The Last Supper celebrated and commemorated in the eucharist; according to Jacopo da Ponte Bassano (c. 1510–1592).

Source: Cameraphoto/AKG Images.

This fundamental pattern has passed into modern Christian practice in a wide variety of forms. One major difference between Christians should, however, be noted at this point. As a general rule, Catholics have taught that only priests are permitted to receive both the bread and the wine at communion; Protestant churches permit laypeople too to receive them. The origins of and reasons for the Catholic denial of wine to the laity remain uncertain; the custom may have resulted from a practical desire to avoid spillage. Although the Second Vatican Council clearly wished to encourage the laity to receive the wine as well as the bread, such an initiative still remains the exception rather than the rule. In the Orthodox church both the priests and the congregation are permitted to receive wine too, although in some traditions communion is received from a spoon that contains only the bread, sprinkled with a few drops of wine (but in other traditions the spoon contains only the wine to be swallowed – the bread is administered separately). The more general western custom is to handle the bread directly to the communicant.

There are four main ways of referring to the eucharist:

The mass This term derives from the Latin word missa, which really just designates a service of some sort. As the main service of the western church in the classic period was the breaking of the bread, the term came to refer to this one service in particular. “Mass” is now especially associated with the Catholic tradition.

Eucharist This noun derives from the Greek verb eucharizein (“to render thanks”), and designates any thanksgiving. The theme of thanksgiving is an important element in the breaking of the bread, which makes the corresponding term entirely appropriate for the service in question. The term “eucharist” is particularly associated with the Greek Orthodox tradition but has found acceptance beyond it. The Orthodox church uses two main forms of eucharistic liturgy: the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the liturgy of St. Basil the Great. These are similar in many respects.

Holy Communion The phrase “holy communion” points to the idea of “fellowship” or “sharing.” It highlights the bond of fellowship between Jesus and the church, and also between individual Christians. The phrase is used in Protestant circles, particularly in churches tracing their origins back to the English Reformation.

Lord’s Supper This phrase picks up the theme of breaking the bread in memory of the Last Supper. To share in the Lord’s Supper is to recall, with thanks, all that Jesus achieved for believers though his death on the cross. Again, the expression is used in Protestant circles, particularly in churches tracing their origins back to the English Reformation. The formula is sometimes abbreviated or simplified to “supper.”

Rhythms and Seasons: The Christian Year

From the earliest of times, Christians developed ways of structuring time that reflected fundamental Christian beliefs and the historical events on which they were grounded. This structuring of time appears to have arisen for a number of reasons. The fact that Christianity was grounded in historical events immediately established the basics of a structuring of the year. Good Friday and Easter Day, for example, were located at quite specific positions in the annual calendar. Pentecost and Ascension were easily added to this annual structure. The partition of the Christian year thus reflected some landmark events – events of fundamental importance to Christianity.

The structuring of the year also had an important educational role. It allowed the church to focus its attention on certain themes at certain times of the year. Although the great themes of the Christian faith were taught and preached at all times, the structure of the Christian year allowed for certain ideas or themes to be emphasized at appropriate points. Thus Pentecost marked an obvious time to celebrate the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Good Friday was a particularly appropriate time to reflect on the meaning of Christ’s death. Easter Day allowed the theme of the resurrection to be developed and applied to Christian living.

Yet a third reason must also be noted. The New Testament speaks of “redeeming the time” (Ephesians 5: 16). Time does not simply mark the existence of Christians; it offers them an arena within which they may grow and develop. To structure time is thus seen as a means of encouraging spiritual growth – a means that allows the passing of time to reinforce some basic Christian ideas and to deepen their impact on the Christian mind, imagination, and heart. The structuring of the Christian day, week, or year is thus a means of enhancing its potential to remind, recall, and represent some fundamental themes of faith.

One of the most obvious developments in the Christian structuring of time was the setting aside of Sunday – the first day of the week – as the day on which the resurrection of Christ would be celebrated. The letters of Paul clearly presuppose that Christians were meeting for worship on Sunday, in breach of the Jewish tradition of observing the sabbath (Saturday) as a day of rest. In 321, following his conversion to Christianity, the Roman Emperor Constantine formally declared that Sunday should be the official imperial day of rest.

Sunday was thus seen by Christian writers as a “space” that God set aside, in his goodness, to allow for physical rest and spiritual refreshment. One of the writers who stress this point is Susanna Wesley (1669–1742), the mother of John and Charles Wesley, who was persuaded of the importance of creating space for God in the middle of a busy life. For Susanna, Sunday was a space that had been created by God for exactly this purpose and was meant to be used joyfully and profitably.

It is also known that early Christian communities set aside Wednesdays and Fridays as fast days. The reason for the selection of these particular days is not clear; a later explanation suggested that Wednesday was thus observed because it was the day on which Christ was betrayed, and Friday the day on which he was crucified. The practice of eating fish (rather than meat) on Friday, still widely encountered in Catholic circles, reflects this early development.

Perhaps the most important aspect of structuring the time concerns the Christian year, to which we now turn. As we have emphasized, Christianity is not just a set of ideas; it is a way of life. Part of that life is a richly structured cyclical pattern in which various aspects of the Christian faith are singled out for particular attention during the course of a year. The two such festivals that are most familiar outside Christian circles are Christmas and Easter, celebrating the birth and the resurrection of Jesus respectively. This section will focus on the major festivals of the Christian year, explaining their religious basis and noting some of the customs that have come to be attached to them in various parts of the Christian world.

There are major variations within the Christian world concerning how the major religious festivals are marked and celebrated. In general terms, evangelical and charismatic Christians tend to attach relatively little value to such festivals, whereas Catholic and Orthodox Christians tend to place considerably greater emphasis upon them. Indeed the importance attached by Christians to festivals such as Advent and Lent is generally a useful indication of the type of Christianity they have adopted.

Festivals tend to fall into a number of different categories. A major distinction is drawn between fixed and movable feasts. A fixed feast is a festival that takes place on the same date each year. Thus, in the western church, Christmas Day is invariably celebrated on December 25. Other feasts are determined with reference to events whose dates vary from year to year. For example, the date of Easter is determined in relation to the full moon and could fall at any point between March 21 and April 25. A series of other festivals is dependent on the date of Easter, as follows:

Ash Wednesday, which falls 40 week days before Easter Day;

Maundy Thursday, which is the Thursday before Easter Day;

Good Friday, which is the Friday before Easter Day;

Ascension Day, which is the fortieth day after Easter Day (and thus always falls on a Thursday);

Pentecost, which is the fiftieth day after Easter Day (and thus always falls on a Sunday);

Trinity Sunday, which is the Sunday following Pentecost.

Other festivals focus on individual saints, some of which have particular regional or professional associations. Examples of these associations include:

St. David, patron saint of Wales, whose feast is observed on March 1;

St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, whose feast is observed on March 17;

St. Cecilia, patron saint of church music, whose feast is observed on November 22;

St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, whose feast is celebrated in some parts of the church on July 25.

In each case, the association of a saint with a particular profession is usually linked with events in that saint’s life. Other saints have developed associations that have no apparent connection with the original life story and figure of the saint in question. For example, St. Valentine is thought to have been a Roman Christian who was martyred at Rome in the third century. His feast day, which is celebrated on February 14, now has strong associations with romance in some western societies.

In addition to festivals, two periods are often observed as times of fasting or penitence: Advent and Lent. While many Christians no longer observe the tradition of fasting that was once associated with these periods, particularly during the Middle Ages, some continue to regard them as being of importance as times of personal reflection or penitence.

The Orthodox church follows a liturgical year that is broadly divided into three parts, focusing on Easter. These three parts are the triōdion, the pentēkostarion, and the oktōēchos. The triōdion is the 10 weeks prior to Easter, which can be seen as a preparation for this great festival. The pentēkostarion is the entire Easter period, which is understood to embrace the period between Easter and the Sunday after Pentecost (in the western church, this final date is often celebrated as “Trinity Sunday”). The oktōēchos is the remainder of the year.

In what follows we shall explore the highlights of the western Christian year, which have a major impact on the way in which many Christian churches worship and pray, and which often percolate into society as a whole. In each case, the foundation of the festival or season will be noted, together with some of the customs that have come to be associated with it. The order in which the festivals will be discussed is chronological rather than alphabetical. The western Christian year opens with the time of Advent, to which we now turn.

Advent

The term “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” It refers to the period immediately before Christmas, during which Christians recall the background to the coming of Jesus. Traditionally, four Sundays are set apart in order to prepare us for the full appreciation of Christmas, of which the first is referred to as Advent Sunday and the last as the Fourth Sunday in Advent. This period of four Sundays is often observed by making “advent crowns,” which consist of four candles in a wooden or metal frame. A candle is then lit for each of the four Sundays in Advent. Some churches use purple clerical clothing during this period, as a symbol of the need for penitence (a custom that also applies to Lent, which also has a penitential character).

Strictly speaking, Advent is intended to make us focus on the relationship of two “advents” or “comings” of Jesus: his first coming, in humility, during his time on earth (which is especially associated with Christmas); and his second coming, in glory, as judge, which will take place at the end of time.

Christmas

Christmas is a fixed or immovable feast, always celebrated on December 25. Some Orthodox Christians in Central and Eastern Europe and other parts of the world (such as the United States) celebrate Christmas on January 7. Why this difference? The answer lies in the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, introduced over an extended period of time. It replaced the older Julian calendar, which failed to accurately reflect the length of the year in terms of the earth’s orbit around the sun. It was, however, necessary to lose 10 days to make up for the accumulated inaccuracies of the Julian calendar. December 25 on the Gregorian calendar is January 7 on the Julian calendar. The phrase “old calendarists” is sometimes used to refer to those who retain the Julian calendar for liturgical purposes – such as the celebration of Christmas.

It must be stressed that this has never been understood to mean that Christians believe that Jesus was born on December 25. This date was chosen for the celebration of the birth of Jesus irrespective of when that birth actually happened. It is likely that the date was chosen at Rome, some time in the fourth century, to provide a Christian alternative to a local pagan festival. The date of the festival is actually something of an irrelevance, despite the association with the imagery of winter and snow found in many Christian writings from the northern hemisphere.

The central theme of Christmas is the birth of Jesus, which is often commemorated in special carol services. Of these, the one that is widely regarded as the most famous is the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols associated with King’s College, Cambridge. The nine lessons (that is, readings from the Bible) are designed to trace the steady progress of God’s work of redemption in the world, beginning with the call of Israel and culminating in the coming of Jesus Christ. This pattern of service is now used throughout the Christian world and is familiar to many non-Christians. We considered it in some detail earlier in this chapter (pp. 226).

Many customs have come to be associated with Christmas; the more famous among them have their origins in the nineteenth century. “Santa Claus” is an American corruption of the Dutch name “Saint Nicolas,” the patron saint of children. This saint was celebrated on December 6 with gifts made to children. Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (later renamed “New York”) brought this custom to the New World, where it was firmly established and came to be merged into the festival of Christmas itself. The practice of bringing a Christmas tree into houses and of decorating it had its origins in Germany and was brought to England in the 1840s by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. The origins of this custom in Germany go back to the dawn of Christian history, when missionaries were confronted with pagan beliefs concerning tree-gods.

Epiphany

The unusual name of this festival owes its form to its ancestor, the Greek word epiphaneia, which literally means “manifestation,” “apparition,” or “making known.” The festival takes place on January 6. In the eastern church the festival is specifically linked to the baptism of Jesus. In the western church, however, it is linked with the visit of the “wise men” or “Magi” to the infant Jesus. The festival is understood to mark the beginning of the long process by which the identity and significance of Jesus was “made known” to the world. The visit of the Magi (described in Matthew 2: 1–11) is here seen as an anticipation of the recognition and worship that would subsequently be associated with the ministry of Jesus in Galilee and Judaea, which culminated in the resurrection.

Epiphany is celebrated in various ways throughout the Christian world. In France it is marked by eating la galette des rois (“the kings’ cake”), made of puff pastry layers filled with a dense center of frangipane. In Italy Epiphany is marked by la Befana – a woman who brings gifts to children, by analogy with Santa Claus. The traditional Spanish celebration of Epiphany (known as el Día de los Reyes, “the Day of the Kings”) involves both cakes and gifts. The roscón de los reyes (“sweet bread of the kings”) is a rich fruit bread, often containing a figure of the infant Christ. Traditionally, on the eve of this feast, children would leave out shoes that would be filled with gifts overnight. In both Spain and Italy, the custom of receiving gifts at Epiphany has now been supplemented by that of receiving gifts on Christmas day too.

Lent

The period of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which falls in the seventh week before Easter. The expression “Ash Wednesday” needs explanation. The Old Testament occasionally refers to putting ashes on one’s face or clothing as a symbol of repentance or remorse (e.g., Esther 4: 1; Jeremiah 6: 26). Lent is a period of repentance; the wearing of ashes was therefore seen as a proper external sign of an inward attitude of remorse or repentance. In earlier periods in the history of the church, particularly during the Middle Ages, the first day of Lent was therefore marked by the wearing of ashes: both the clergy and ordinary people would wear ashes on their heads. In more recent years, these ashes are made by burning the palm crosses handed out on Palm Sunday during the previous Lent. The theme of repentance is also symbolized in some churches through the purple clerical dress, which is imposed during this season.

Lent is widely regarded as a time of preparation for Easter, and in the past it was associated with a period of fasting. Lent represents the period of 40 days spent by Jesus in the wilderness before the beginning of his public ministry in Galilee. Just as Jesus fasted for 40 days, so his followers were encouraged to do the same thing; thus a period of 40 days of fasting before Easter emerged. Its origins seem to go back to the fourth century. In earlier periods, a shorter period of fasting was recommended (two or three days). The precise nature of the “fasting” varied from one location and time to another. In general, the western church has understood “fasting” primarily in terms of a reduced intake of food and of a diet where fish replaces meat. But the point of emphasis in Lent has generally been devotional reading or attendance at church rather than fasting.

An issue that needs to be noted at this point concerns the length of Lent. The period intervening between Ash Wednesday and Easter Day has actually 46 days. How does it relate to the 40 days of fasting? The answer lies in the tradition, established at a very early stage in the development of Christianity, that every Sunday was to be regarded as a celebration of the resurrection of Christ. For this reason, fasting was forbidden on Sundays. The period of 46 days thus consists of 40 days of fasting plus the six Sundays that fall between Ash Wednesday and Easter Day.

One of the most interesting customs linked with Lent concerns the day before Lent begins. As noted above, Lent begins on a Wednesday. The previous day was therefore the last day before this official period of fasting began. In England this day was called “Shrove Tuesday,” although it is now more widely known as “Pancake Tuesday.” The origins of the name lie in the practice of clearing out larders immediately before Lent. The simplest way of using up the accumulation of eggs, flour, milk, and other ingredients was to make pancakes. The same day is referred to as “Mardi Gras” in some European countries and their colonies and is marked by major carnivals, such as that now associated with Rio de Janiero in Brazil.

Holy Week

The final week of Lent, generally known as “Holy Week,” begins with Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) and ends on the day before Easter Day. It is a time often set aside for reflection on the suffering and death of Christ – a period sometimes referred to as “Passiontide.” One of the devotional aids that have become considerably important in Catholicism is that of the “Stations of the Cross.” (A “station” here means “a pausing point.”) This aid consists of 14 representations of different aspects of Christ’s last day on earth – Good Friday, which we shall consider in more detail shortly. The 14 stations are as follows:

Christ’s condemnation by Pontius Pilate;

Christ receiving the cross;

Christ’s first fall under the weight of the cross;

Christ’s meeting with his mother, Mary;

the carrying of the cross by a passerby, Simon of Cyrene;

the wiping of Christ’s face by Veronica. The name “Veronica” does not occur in the gospels, but it is found in early apocryphal writings such as The Acts of Pilate. This text relates that Veronica was the woman whom Jesus cured of a blood ailment (Matthew 9: 20–22), and that she came to his trial before Pilate to claim his innocence;

Christ’s second fall under the weight of the cross;

Christ’s exhortation to the women of Jerusalem;

Christ’s third fall under the weight of the cross;

the stripping of Christ’s garments;

the crucifixion of Christ;

the death of Christ;

the presentation of Christ’s body to Mary;

the burial of Christ.

Many churches have 14 panels illustrating each of these stations built into their walls. Others use removable panels, which are displayed at this time of the year. Worshippers are encouraged to walk round the church, pausing at each station for contemplation, reflection, and prayer.

Holy Week includes four days of particular importance. These are:

Palm Sunday;

Maundy Thursday;

Good Friday;

Holy Saturday.

(Note that Easter Day – which is always a Sunday – follows immediately after Holy Saturday. However, Easter Day is seen as lying outside the season of Lent and marks the end of the period of fasting.)

Palm Sunday is the Sunday immediately before Easter. On this day the church commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, during which the crowds threw palm fronds into his path (see Matthew 21: 1–11). This day, which marks the beginning of Holy Week, is now widely marked by the distribution of crosses made from palm fronds to congregations.

Maundy Thursday focuses on one of the final acts concerning Jesus to be related in John’s gospel: his washing of the disciples’ feet (John 13: 1–15). The ceremony of the “washing of the feet” of members of the congregation came to be an important part of the liturgy of the medieval church, symbolizing the humility of the clergy, in obedience to the example of Christ. The unusual term “Maundy” is related to this medieval practice. In the Middle Ages church services were held in Latin. The opening words of a typical service on this day are based on the words of Jesus recorded in John 13: 34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” In Latin, the opening phrase of this sentence is mandatum novum do vobis. The English word “Maundy” is a corruption of the Latin word mandatum (“command”).

In England, the “Maundy ceremony” originally involved the monarch’s affirmation of humility by washing the feet of a small number of his or her subjects. This has now been replaced by the ceremony of the “Maundy Money,” in which the monarch distributes specially minted coins to a representative group of older people at cathedrals throughout England.

Good Friday is marked as the day on which Jesus died on the cross. It is the most solemn day in the Christian year and is widely marked by the removal of all decorations from churches. In Lutheran churches the day was marked by the reading of the passion narrative in a gospel, a practice that lies behind the “passions” composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Both the St. Matthew Passion and the St. John Passion have their origins in this observance of Good Friday. The practice of observing a period of three hours’ devotion, from 12.00 to 3.00 p.m. on Good Friday, has its origins in the eighteenth century. Jesus’ three hours on the cross often take the form of an extended meditation on his seven last words from the cross, with periods of silence, prayer, or hymn singing.

The events of Good Friday are also marked dramatically in various ways throughout the world. Perhaps the best known of these is the enactment of the passion and death of Christ, which takes place every 10 years in the little Upper Bavarian village of Oberammergau. As a way of expressing their gratitude to God for delivering them from the plague in 1633, the villagers undertook to act out the passion and death of Christ every decade. The event, which lasts six hours and involves about 700 people, is now a major tourist attraction. In the Philippines, the only Asian nation in which Christianity is the dominant religion, Good Friday is marked with particular fervor. In villages and towns throughout the nation, the crucifixion of Christ is re-enacted by young men who are willing to be nailed to crosses briefly as a sign of their commitment to the Christian faith.

Holy Saturday is the final day of Lent, immediately before Easter Day. Especially in the eastern Orthodox churches, the day is marked by the Paschal Vigil – a late evening service, which leads directly into the following Easter Day, making extensive use of the imagery of light and darkness.

Figure 6.4 Queen Elizabeth II hands out Maundy Money during the Royal Maundy Service held at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral in 2004. The purses containing the coins were handed to 78 men and 78 women, the number selected to mark the Queen’s 78th year.

Source: Phil Noble/PA Archives/Press Association Images.

Easter

Easter Day marks the resurrection of Jesus and is widely regarded as the most important festival of the Christian year. Its religious significance is fundamental. In the first place, the festival affirms the identity of Jesus as the risen savior and Lord. In the Orthodox tradition, this point is often made through icons or pictures in churches, which show a triumphant and risen Christ (often referred to as Christos pantocrator, “Christ the all-powerful”) as ruler over the universe as a result of his being raised from the dead. In the second place, the festival affirms the Christian hope – that is, the fundamental belief that Christians will be raised from the dead, and hence need fear death no more. Both these themes dominate Easter hymns and liturgies. A good example is provided by an early eighteenth-century collection of hymns known as the Lyra Davidica.

Similar themes are found in the poems of the Christian tradition. The words of the English poet George Herbert (1593–1633) illustrate this point well. For Herbert, Easter is about the believer’s hope of rising with Christ:

Rise, heart, thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise

Without delays,

Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise

With him mayst rise.

In the Greek Orthodox church, the following traditional Easter greeting is widely used, and has become familiar in other Christian traditions during the present century: Christos anestē (“Christ is risen”); answer: Alethōs anestē (“he is risen indeed,” or “he really is risen”).

Box 6.1 Dates of Easter Sunday, 2015–2025

2015

April 5

2016

March 27

2017

April 16

2018

April 1

2019

April 21

2020

April 12

2021

April 4

2022

April 17

2023

April 9

2024

March 31

2025

April 20

Once the date of Easter Day is established, the dates of all other related festivals can be established. Palm Sunday occurs one week before Easter Day. Good Friday is two days before Easter. Pentecost occurs seven weeks after Easter Day, and Trinity Sunday eight weeks after Easter Day. Thus in the year 2000, the dates of these four festivals were as follows:

Palm Sunday

April 16

Good Friday

April 21

Easter Day

April 23

Pentecost

June 11

Trinity Sunday

June 18

Easter is marked in a wide variety of ways throughout the Christian world. In Catholic and Orthodox churches, particular emphasis is often placed on the importance of the symbolism of light and darkness. In the ancient church, baptisms took place on Easter Day, as a way of showing that the believers had passed from darkness to light, from death to life. The custom of giving Easter eggs, widespread in western culture, seems to go back to the idea of an egg as a symbol of new life, pointing to the new life brought by the Christian gospel.

The liturgy and hymns of the Christian church are a particularly powerful witness to the importance of the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Paschal troparion or troparion of Easter in the Byzantine liturgy sets out clearly the significance of the Easter event for the world:

Christ is risen from the dead!

Dying, he conquered death!

To the dead, he has given life!

Ascension

Ascension Day, which always falls on a Thursday, can be seen as completing the sequence of events celebrated at Easter. The feast recalls the final ascension of Christ after he has been raised from the dead and has recommissioned the disciples. Theologically, ascension marks the end of the period of appearances of the risen Christ to his disciples. These appearances, which are recorded in some detail in the gospels and hinted at in the letters of the New Testament, began immediately after the resurrection. The theme of “exaltation” is important at this point, in that Jesus is understood to have been exalted to the right hand of God.

Pentecost

Pentecost is the feast on which the church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, which led to the dramatic expansion of the church in its formative period. The Holy Spirit is of major importance to Christian thought and life. In recent times, the rise of the charismatic movement within the worldwide church has created an increased awareness of the particular role of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost falls on the fiftieth day after Easter. In the account of the death and resurrection of Jesus set out by Luke in his gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, there is a continuous sequence of events leading from the resurrection to the giving of the spirit. After the resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples on a number of occasions, to promise them the gift of the Holy Spirit. This act is described as “the gift the Father promised” and is clearly linked with the theme of empowerment for evangelism and mission.

John’s gospel refers to Jesus’ promise of the gift of the spirit after he had been taken from his disciples. The basic theme is that the spirit is given to the disciples after Jesus is no longer present with them physically, in order to remind them of his words and works. Note that the spirit is referred to in John’s gospel as the “Counsellor.” The Greek word paraklētos could also be translated as “comforter” or “advocate.”

The specific event commemorated at Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is described in the Acts of the Apostles. Luke relates how the disciples had gathered together, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke’s description of the event focuses on its impact: the disciples were empowered to preach the gospel and to break down the barriers of language separating them and their audiences. Theologically, the coming of the spirit thus occupies a significant role in the scheme of salvation: it can be seen as a reversal of the “tower of Babel” (Genesis 11: 1–32).

Pentecost is a major feast in the Christian year. In many Christian traditions, it is seen as second in importance only to Easter itself. Pentecost is sometimes referred to in older English writings as “Whitsun” (literally, “white Sunday”), on account of the tradition that the clergy was wearing white robes on this occasion.

Trinity

The final major feast of the Christian year is Trinity Sunday, which follows immediately after Pentecost. This festival completes the Easter sequence of events by celebrating the distinctively Christian doctrine of the Trinity, in which God is understood to be revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (pp. 74–78). It is placed immediately after Pentecost, which celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit. The early church did not regard the doctrine of the Trinity as marking the occasion of a church festival. The Orthodox Christian year, for example, does not include any direct equivalent of this festival (see p. 236). Trinity first became a feast of major importance in the Middle Ages, and it was eventually given official sanction by John XXII in 1334. Trinity Sunday is the last major festival in the Christian year. The remainder of the year is reckoned in terms of “Sundays after Trinity,” until the cycle resumes again on Advent Sunday.

The Structuring of Time: The Monastic Day

While there is no doubt that the Christian year represents one of the most important ways of structuring time, another one should also be noted – namely the one developed in monasteries. Monasticism can be seen, in part, as a reaction against the secularization of the church that resulted from the conversion of Constantine. Monasteries were partly established in order to allow for constant prayer, which was becoming problematic for Christians who chose to remain active in the world. Increasingly, monasticism appeared as an ideal in which the goal of continuous prayer was pursued with a dedication that was impossible outside a monastic context.

This emphasis upon constant prayer led to the restructuring of the day. The pattern that gradually emerged was one of seven times of prayer during the day and one during the night. These times of prayer were given the name “offices,” from the Latin term officium, meaning “an obligation” or “duty.” The biblical basis for this pattern was found in the Psalter. For example, Psalm 119: 64 commends prayer at seven points during the day, and many of the psalms refer to prayer during the night. The evolution of the monastic day can be seen as the gradual institutionalization of this pattern of seven day-time offices and a nocturnal one.

The practice of night-time prayer seems strange, possibly even inhumane, to modern readers used to sleeping in eight-hour blocks. It is important to note that human sleep patterns seem to have changed as a result of the introduction of artificial light. In older times, when human life was governed by the rising and setting of the sun, people often slept in shorter blocks of time, which are sometimes referred to as “first sleep” and “second sleep.” In between these shorter periods of sleep, they tended to eat or pray. The monastic prayer cycle fits in neatly with this older pattern of sleep.

The precise evolution of this pattern of monastic offices is not completely understood. The following factors seem to have been involved.

There was already a widespread trend within ordinary church life to pray corporately in the early morning and evening. These offices came to be referred to as Mattins and Vespers (from the Latin terms for “morning” and “evening”). The monasteries appear to have incorporated this regular pattern of prayer into their own more rigorous structures. These two times of prayer were often referred to as “the principal offices.”

A second major factor was the structure of the classical Roman working day. This led to prayer being specified for the third, sixth, and ninth hours (that is, 9.00 a.m., noon, and 3.00 p.m.). These times of prayer were designated as “terce,” “sext,” and “none” respectively (from the Latin words for “third,” “sixth,” and “ninth”).

Two additional offices were specified. Compline (from the Latin term for “completion” or “ending”) was, in effect, the final time of prayer before retiring to bed. Prime (from the Latin word for “first”) was an early morning form of prayer, apparently introduced by Cassian, who was concerned that monks might otherwise go back to bed after the night office and sleep through until 9.00 in the morning.

There appears to have been considerable variation as to the time of the night office, which reflected local patterns of worship and understandings of personal discipline. If the day is divided into eight periods of three hours, it might be expected that the night office would be set for 3.00 a.m.; however, there appears to have been some variation on this matter.

The basic point to be made here is that the monastic day was systematically structured into segments, which included prayer and the reading of Scripture, particularly the Psalms. Psalms 148, 149, and 150 were used with particular frequency. The pattern of daily offices was seen as an important framework for the development of personal and corporate spirituality, offering monks the opportunity to achieve the ideal of continual prayer and at the same time saturating them with biblical passages. The internalization of Scripture, so important an aspect of monastic spirituality, is partly grounded in the rich use of the Bible in the monastic offices, as well as in the emphasis, within some monastic traditions, on personal devotion on the part of individual monks in their cells.

Some aspects of this structuring of the day remain important outside the monastic tradition. An excellent example is provided by the tradition of evangelical Quiet Time, a daily period set aside for private reading of the Bible, meditation, and prayer. For many evangelicals, the early morning provides an ideal opportunity to begin the day with the reading of Scripture. Although the pressures of modern life have undermined this practice somewhat, the basic principle remains unaltered. Many study aids have emerged to encourage and assist the practice of Quiet Time, typically by assigning a passage to each day and by offering brief devotional comments and reflections on the passage as an aid to prayer. Similarly, the Lutheran writer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) stressed the positive value of setting aside a daily period for personal Bible study and meditation. In his Life Together (1938), Bonhoeffer set out the importance of “being alone with the Word,” allowing it to challenge and inspire its readers.

The Structuring of Space: Pilgrimage and the Christian Life

It is not merely time that is given a new meaning or structure by the Christian faith. The same is true of locations. For many Christians, their faith gives them a new sense of the importance of certain places. Noting the importance of places associated with the Old Testament, the scholar Walter Brueggeman offered the following description of “place,” which is helpful for understanding the phenomenon of pilgrimage:

Place is space which has historical meanings, where some things have happened which are now remembered and which provide continuity and identity across generations. Place is space in which important words have been spoken which have established identity, defined vocation, and envisioned destiny.

Many Christian traditions ascribe particular spiritual significance to holy places or to the process of traveling to them. Once more, it is necessary to note that this is not a uniform tendency within Christianity. While we should immediately concede the dangers of generalization, it seems that Protestantism has generally been more critical than affirmative of the notion of a “holy place.” In the present section we shall explore some aspects of this notion and the significance of such places for spirituality.

Old Testament writers clearly regarded the city of Jerusalem as a holy place. Jerusalem and its temple were seen as the central focus of the religion of Israel. God was understood to have chosen Jerusalem as a dwelling place; the city and its temple were thus set apart as possessing a religious significance denied to other locations in Israel. Earlier in Israel’s history, sites such as Shiloh and Mizpah were regarded as being of special religious importance. It was at these sites that shrines were established during the period of the conquest of Canaan.

Nevertheless, the temple erected at Jerusalem came to be seen as possessing supreme significance. Some Old Testament passages spoke of Jerusalem or its temple as the “dwelling place” of God. As a result, Jerusalem gradually assumed a special role in Israel’s hopes for the future. It was from Jerusalem that the knowledge of God was to spread to all nations (Isaiah 2: 2–4; Micah 4: 1–3). It was by worshipping God in Jerusalem that the nations of the world would find their true unity (Isaiah 19: 23; Zechariah 8: 3). The modern Jewish Passover ends by expressing the hope that, in the next year, this feast will be celebrated in Jerusalem.

It is therefore clear that Jerusalem came to play a special role in Judaism. Given that the central events upon which the Christian faith is founded – supremely, the death and resurrection of Jesus – took place in Jerusalem, it might be expected that the New Testament should take over this Old Testament understanding of the special place of the city. This, however, proves not to be the case. The special, sacred status of Jerusalem within the Old Testament is not endorsed by the New Testament, which affirms the historical but not the theological importance of this city. The theme of the “new Jerusalem” is certainly found, as a statement of the Christian hope (see Hebrews 12: 22; Revelation 21: 2). Yet this statement is not seen as legitimizing any present spiritual significance of the city of Jerusalem.

The significance of Jerusalem is not discussed in any detail by Christian writers of the first three centuries. This is in itself an indication that this theme was not felt to be of major importance. Two very different views emerged in the fourth century. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–339) argued that the spirituality of the New Testament was not concerned with physical entities (such as the “land of Israel” or the “city of Jerusalem”), but with spiritual matters, of which these physical entities were at best convenient physical symbols. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 320–386), in contrast, was quite clear that Jerusalem remained a “holy city.” It is, of course, entirely possible that ecclesiastical politics entered into this debate. Cyril was anxious to maintain the prestige of his own city; Eusebius was interested in promoting the claims of Rome as the new city to be granted special divine favor.

An important document dating from this period, which illustrates the spiritual importance of pilgrimage, is the “Peregrinatio Egeriae” (“The Pilgrimage of Egeria”). This document, discovered in 1884 and probably dating from somewhere between 381 and 384, is in effect the personal journal of a woman visiting the Holy Land and recording everything she observes. Although the text is often read for its first-hand testimony concerning liturgical practices in the Holy Land at this date, it is also an important witness to the benefits that such pilgrimages were understood to bring.

In the course of Christian history, a number of sites have emerged as having potential spiritual importance. These include the following:

Jerusalem, the scene of the Last Supper, betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus;

Rome, widely believed to be the site of the martyrdom and burial of both St. Peter and St. Paul;

Canterbury, the site of the martyrdom of Thomas à Becket in 1170. The bawdy escapades subsequently accompanying pilgrimages to Canterbury were set out by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales;

Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, the traditional burial place of St. James the Apostle;

Lourdes in southern France, the site of a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1858, which has become associated with reports of healings.

Figure 6.5 Santiago de Compostela, the center of a major pilgrimage route in northern Spain.

Source: Andrea Jemolo/AKG Images.

What role do pilgrimages to such sites play in Christian spirituality? Clearly, the answer to such questions will be complex and nuanced, given the considerable variation within Christianity concerning issues of theology. For example, Protestants generally no not accept any kind of “theology of sacred places” and would not give Mary any particular place of honor. Pilgrimages to Lourdes therefore do not feature prominently in Protestant spirituality.

In general, the following factors help toward an understanding and an appreciation of a spirituality of pilgrimage.

The act of making a pilgrimage involves at least a degree of commitment and hardship. This makes a pilgrimage an act of self-denial or personal discipline, the virtues of which would be widely accepted. The degree of hardship can be enhanced in various ways: for example, medieval penitents were in the habit of placing small stones inside their shoes to make the journey more painful.

The pilgrimage offers an opportunity to reflect on the life and teaching of the person associated with the pilgrimage site. For example, a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela offers an opportunity to read about St. James, just as a pilgrimage to Rome can be the focus for reflection on the life and teaching of both St. Peter and St. Paul.

The notion of “pilgrimage” helps reinforce the Christian idea that believers are “strangers and pilgrims on earth” (Hebrews 11: 13), whose true home is a city in heaven (Philippians 3: 20). The idea of passing through life en route to the heavenly city, rather than making oneself at home in the world, is clearly embodied in the act of pilgrimage.

For some, the sites of pilgrimage are themselves endued with some spiritual quality, which can be experienced by those who travel there.

As was noted earlier, Protestants generally regard the notion of “pilgrimage” with suspicion. However, it is important to appreciate that the notion is present, although in a slightly redirected manner, within many Protestant spiritualities. Many Protestants find it helpful to make journeys to the Holy Land or to sites of relevance to the New Testament – for example, the seven churches of Asia (mentioned in the book of Revelation) or the churches established by or written to by St. Paul. These journeys are seen, however, primarily as bringing a new depth to Bible study, in that biblical passages take on a new personal significance once the reader has visited the site in question. Visiting religious sites is thus seen as an aid to more effective Bible study.

The image of “pilgrimage” gained new importance through the Second Vatican Council’s use of it as a model of the church. The idea of a “pilgrim church” is a helpful counterbalance to a strongly institutional conception of the church, associated with buildings and power structures. It offers a minimalist ecclesiology, focusing on the theme of journeying through the world on one’s way to the new Jerusalem.

Conclusion

In this chapter we have looked at some features of the Christian life. We have already seen how Christianity impacts on culture – for example, in customs and traditions associated with holy days such as Easter or Christmas. But what of the wider impact of Christianity? In the next chapter we shall look at the impact of the Christian faith on culture in general, including the arts and sciences.

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Conclusion

Conclusion

6 The Life of FaithChristianity as a Living Reality

Gateways to Exploring the Life of Faith

Christian Communities: The Life of the Church

Christian weddings

Christian funerals

The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols

Christian Worship

Prayer

Praise

The public reading of the Bible

Preaching

The reciting of the creeds

The Sacraments

Baptism

The eucharist

Rhythms and Seasons: The Christian Year

Advent

Christmas

Epiphany

Lent

Holy Week

Easter

Box 6.1 Dates of Easter Sunday, 2015–2025

Ascension

Pentecost

Trinity

The Structuring of Time: The Monastic Day

The Structuring of Space: Pilgrimage and the Christian Life

Conclusion

6

The Life of Faith

Christianity as a Living Reality