1. Encounter and community
2. Remembrance and celebration
3. Foundation and design
4. Christological tone
5. Pneumatological moments
6. Liturgy and life awareness
7. Liturgy and service
8. Liturgy and expectation

In the previous chapter we presented a historical exploration of the liturgical field. Longitudinal cross-sections were made, and some theological observations were provided. This time we will drill down some more. A number of theological foundational facts will be discussed. As a result, the congregational meetings in the worship services will receive more attention and weight. The “essence” of liturgy will receive our attention.

The following theological aspects are discussed here:

1. Encounter and community⤒🔗

An Encounter By Coming Together←↰⤒🔗

The distinctive feature of the worship service is that it can be characterized as the coming together of God with his people, of Christ with his congregation, and vice versa. In discussing the name for this encounter (see Chapter 1.1), it has already been pointed out that the name “ecclesia” (meeting/convocation) is constitutive in how the Bible speaks about this as the basic premise of the worship service.

Lines From the Old Testament←↰⤒🔗

Already in the Old Testament we read a lot about it. In the days of Enosh, people began to gather together to call on the Name of the Lord as a deliberate and communal encounter with God (Gen. 4:26). This was emulated by the families where people continued to fear God, despite the spiritual decay of their days. The fathers will have taken the lead in these meetings. Among Israel, the people whom God chose from the nations to reveal his covenant, this meeting together is within the framework of a joint encounter of openly serving God. There will be a special place for the meetings of God with his people: the tabernacle, and later, the temple. Certain persons, namely a high priest, priests, and Levites, perform the ceremonial services in these assemblies, services in which the entire community should participate (see Ex. 12:16; 25:40; 27:21, Num. 10:3; 28:18; Lev. 23:2, 21, 24, 27, 35f).Thus, a “holy convocation” took place in which the miracle of the atonement had a central place. Through the sacrifice, the sins of the people were atoned for, and in them God revealed the riches of his mercy, Psalm 65:2-5. When God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle and within it an ark, he said, “And you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel” (Ex. 25:21, 22).

The congregation of Israel came together to be taught about this blessing of God’s atonement, to be instructed by his words, to share in God’s blessings and to get to know God’s friendly face, so that he might be feared. Everything is focused on this meeting and communion with the Lord God. No wonder then that the “hallelujahs” are heard frequently in the temple. The synagogue service too is characterized by the biblical data as a meeting and community.

Lines From the New Testament←↰⤒🔗

Under the Old Testament dispensation everything was still under the shadows of the true reality of God’s dealings with men. Yet the people met together, and God accepted the sacrifice of his people, he forgave sins and called to his service, because only with him can real life be found.

Under the new dispensation all of this continues, although there is a fundamental change. P. Brunner goes too far when he portrays a radical break between the coming together under the Old Testament and the New Testament (1954 I, 104f), because in spite of the changes and different dimensions, the continuity is preserved. However, the altar, the symbolic sacrifice and the priesthood in the order of Levi and Aaron, these all fall away. The ministry of service, the task (the office) of the believers now comes to full deployment. No longer is everything prescribed in detail. The congregation, called together by the Lord God through the ministers or the leaders for communion with God and each other, may itself seek the proper format for a communal service of God — under the direction of those who have been given the charismata (gifts of grace) in union with its Head. Such meetings prove to belong to the essential life of the church. The indication “ecclesia” also clearly points to this meeting for mutual encounter and fellowship with the Lord God and with each other (see: P. op den Velde 1957, 15-19).

Essential Elements←↰⤒🔗

So we can say that the worship service is about the manifestation of the covenant relationship between God and his people. Constitutive for this is the meeting of the covenant partners, the exchange of each other’s thoughts, the maintenance and the development of the community. God wants this. It is a convocation on the basis of the atonement in Jesus Christ. God comes to his people in favour and wants to give his love, grace, peace, etc. to his people, wrapped so-to-speak in the promises of his Word. He wants his people to entrust themselves to him, that they will accept his promises and gifts, and that they take ownership of these.

In this the work of the Holy Spirit is fully included. The Spirit takes care of the service of reconciliation and ensures that there are structures for this ministry. He guarantees the proclamation of reconciliation to those who hear and celebrate Christ’s gospel. In his strength he opens up our lives for this purpose, so that it can result in a meeting of peace between God and the members of the covenant.

This meeting takes place in public, so that we can speak of the public manifestation of it. It is not merely a personal worship or adoration by a group of people, but this is where the congregation of Christ is gathered together as a church. It is at the same time a structured community guided by office bearers, that means, under the loving and orderly direction of the offices given by Christ to the congregation to build up his body (see, i.a., Eph. 4:1-16).

We are dealing here with the meeting of the congregation with her God, as a bridegroom and bride, as husband and wife, who love to meet and hear each other and to be in each other's company. The congregation longs for this encounter and may dedicate its heart to its Creator, to the God of the Covenant, to their Redeemer. They may indulge in his favour, to let him teach and lead them.

There are also other encounters within the congregation. It certainly happens in other contexts of congregational life as well, but in the worship service the central focus lies in the meeting and communion with each other. There the congregation is gathered under the one gospel, before the face of the only God, to confess their common faith and to make use of the same table at the covenant meal (see A.C. Barnard 1981, 391v, 405-422).

The Dialogical Character ←↰⤒🔗

We also want to point out here the dialogical character of the church service. Because it is here that the exercise of communion as saints is given a concrete manifestation in the dialogue, i.e., the conversation between God and his people. That is one of the clearest reflections of the biblical data. The priority of this is entirely from God. He desires and starts this conversation. He also determines the conditions for this. In this conversation he proclaims everything that he has in his heart: “the perfect counsel of God for the sake of our salvation”! “This does not mean that God is always doing the talking and that the person will then respond immediately. No, the entire service is structured by listening and responding. God speaks and the congregation responds; or the congregation speaks and God answers.” (A.C. Barnard 1988, 263).

This is how the service wants to achieve a climax, where God expresses his deepest feelings toward his congregation and the congregation delivers its highest adoration to him in spoken words and by singing, in acts of surrender and devotion. It is a conversation with our God and our Saviour, present in Word, Spirit and signs. The office bearer(s) have their own function in this, alternately to be the mouth of God (toward the church), then again the mouth of the church (its representative) to God. The elders ensure that this meeting can in fact take place, and they remove any obstacles. The deacons are also involved in the concrete implementation and design of this dialogue.

2. Remembrance and celebration ←⤒🔗

The meeting of God and his church wants to realize and manifest itself in its own forms for the entire scope of the worship service. One of those manifestations is the commemoration, the remembrance of the deeds and words of the Lord through all centuries, and especially in the focus of all times in Jesus Christ, our Saviour. This remembrance can take a festive form in thanking and celebrating. It is precisely on the feasts, the days of remembrance of the great deeds of God in history, that the congregation comes together before God’s face in thanking, singing and praising him!

Essential←↰⤒🔗

This remembrance is one of the most essential elements of Israel’s religion. Among the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, people knew at most the remembrance of the deeds of their kings. In Greek and Roman historical records it is always about remembering the deeds of specific people. It is quite a different scenario with Israel. There the people are called to remember the deeds of their God: see Deuteronomy 7:17f, 8:2f; Joshua 4:21f; Leviticus 23:24f, and many of the Psalms. The concern is to keep in mind who God is and what he did in the history of Israel. That history is therefore a record of his revelation and therefore it is his history of salvation. Remembrance of it must always be a stimulation to walk in God’s ways. To remember the acts of the Lord means: to allow God to determine and control all your deeds; to take action for him. One must pay attention to what the Lord has revealed in his acts about himself: his might, ​​his love and loyalty, his kindness and justice. This offers comfort in the present and opens the way to the future. Because the God of the words and actions of that time is still the same God today. He is always present in this way. He wants to be trusted and served, also in the here and now.

We see the same line of thought in the New Testament. Peter proclaims the great acts of the Lord at Pentecost, see Acts 2:24f. In Paul’s preaching, the resurrection of Jesus Christ occupies a very important place. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul argues that it is through Christ’s resurrection that believing makes sense. The congregation may know that serving the Lord is not in vain, and that they may continue in this service (vv.14, 58). Remembering is also central to the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19; see 1 Cor. 11: 24f). In this connection a parallel with the Jewish Passover is unmistakable. At the institution of the sacrament Jesus has taken over the idea of God’s redemptive actions in the Exodus from Egypt. At the sacrament we remember the act of salvation of God in Christ. This should be connected to the fact that the congregation proclaims the death of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:26). All of this does not have a Hellenistic but an Old Testament background. It is remembering Christ in his suffering and death, resurrection and rule (see 2 Tim. 2: 8) in such a way that it fills us with wonder, joy and faith. It serves the purpose that we surrender to Christ and seek our salvation in him. It is a remembrance in communion with him and with each other (see B.J. Oosterhoff 1969, 7-28, J. P. Versteeg 1980, 58-60, G. N. Lammens 1968, 74f, 338f).

In the liturgy, this remembering of God’s words and actions in the past may occur with the intention that in the present we live our lives based on them. From God’s side this remembrance comes to us in the form of proclamation, as a sign and seal, and from

the side of the congregation this may be reacted to in our singing about it, in our trust in it, and in the shaping of our daily life before God’s face, according to his commandments. In remembrance, the celebrating believer becomes involved in the mystery of redemption, which is of fundamental importance for an ethically responsible life (R. Boon 1973, 29-56, E. H. van Olst 1983, 26f).

Festive←↰⤒🔗

The commemoration may result, among other things, in celebrating and keeping memorial days as festive occasions.

The Old Testament speaks of celebrating the Passover (Ex. 12:14, Num. 28:29); of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23: 39f) where it speaks of “the feasts to the LORD” (v. 2), accompanied by “holy convocations” with sacrifices and meals. In Zechariah 14:9-16f it is said that the LORD will be king over the whole earth, and all the nations who will come out against Jerusalem will be struck with his plague. But those who are left of all the nations will come each year to bow down before the LORD of hosts and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

In this celebration it is all about the feasts in Israel that are held at set times and in which the saving acts of God are commemorated. We can name the Sabbath, on which God’s work of creation and the liberation from Egypt are celebrated. The latter is also central in the Passover festival. The Feast of Pentecost brings into remembrance God’s good care about life and our livelihood when the first-fruits of the new harvest are taken to the temple. This celebration also honours God’s covenant and legislation on Mt. Sinai. The Feast of Tabernacles remembers in a symbolic way that Israel did not live in permanent houses, but dwelled in tents in the desert on their way to the good land.

Thus the festivals can be regarded as memorial stones in time and as celebrations of God’s power of creation and his loyalty to it, God’s covenant love and blessings, God’s redemption and victories. This celebration goes hand in hand with sacrifice, with the singing about God’s greatness, care and faithfulness in history, with symbolization in gestures, clothing and ornamentation. Note that celebration is always a commandment for the community of the Jews. The celebration is set in a plural imperative: “You shall...”

In the New Testament, remembrance takes concrete form in celebrating the meeting with God and each other on “the Lord’s Day” as a day of joyful remembrance of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The remembrance of all God’s promises and acts of redemption is given shape each time we celebrate baptism and the supper, with signs of water, bread and wine. We also sing and play in God’s presence. In these celebrations, greeting and blessing have their own festive function. Both grace and beauty are united in remembering and celebrating God’s words and deeds.

3. Foundation and design←⤒🔗

In the foregoing we saw that the liturgy is about the encounter, the worship service, as the meeting of God with his people in the Lord Jesus Christ under the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Several elements are constitutive for this coming together in worship.

Determination of the Content←↰⤒🔗

In the Old Testament God had prescribed that his Torah would be taught, that sacrifices were to be made, that prayers would be offered, that there would be singing, and that one would receive greetings and blessings. He determined which services the priests, including the high priest and the Levites, had to perform. For these meetings and actions, the Lord God had prescribed everything to his covenant people of Israel, almost to the last detail, such as the bells on the high priestly garment, the times for and the composition of the various sacrifices, the days of the feasts, the place, arrangement and set-up of the location of the tent of meeting, etc. This was part of the nature of his dealing with and being served by Israel. The Lord God determined all of this as a caring Father who wanted to teach his immature children the proper way to serve him and who wanted to protect them from any self-invented worship. That is to say, that in every case the basic elements and in most cases also the corresponding designs are given by God to his people Israel. 

This will now be different for those called from the peoples under the New Covenant. Now the glory of his service is greater (2 Cor. 3). Now God treats his children as sons (Gal. 4:11; Heb. 12:7) That is why in the New Testament we find only the basic elements for the meeting and not the detailed, all-encompassing form and provisions of the Lord Christ for his fellowship and its leaders. 

First of all, there are the basic elements. These the Lord has explicitly indicated and commanded. Thus we read in the New Testament, especially in Acts 2, that the Word of God must be read, preached and passed on; that the sacraments of baptism and supper should be administered; that there must be prayers, in all variations that prayer has in the Bible such as imploring, confessing, praising, thanking and worshiping—both in speech as well as in song; and that there is a communal exercise of love and supervision, care and sympathy, mercy and assistance. One could call these things the fixed elements of the liturgy (see esp. Acts 2:41-47). 

Principles Defining the Format←↰⤒🔗

In addition to the basic elements mentioned, no direct instructions have been passed on to us in connection with the worship services. For example, we have not been told at what location, in what kind of building and in what specific layout of such a building the meetings should take place; on which days and exact times we must meet; in which languages ​​and in what order the service should be held; how we must start and end; whether we have to sit, stand or kneel in church services; how the ministers and churchgoers are to be dressed; in which way the Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated and how baptism should be administered, etc. All these aspects the Lord Christ has entrusted to the freedom, empowerment and responsibility of his congregation. They are considered capable to determine in mutual consultation how the coming together with God and with each other can be ordered in the best and most fitting way, as it corresponds to God’s honour and will. The Lord Christ entrusts his bridal congregation, chosen from the various peoples of the world, to create the richest content and to seek the most fitting order, as a joyful and intriguing occupation before him in mutual deliberation (T. Brienen 1990, 443f). 

It is all about responsible care, creativity, feeling for decorum and an experienced life in gratitude. It is about insight, diligence and love, creativity and inventiveness to find together the most beautiful and richest shapes and expressions in our meeting to build up the church (C. Trimp 1983, 57). 

We must keep in mind that our formations and determinations of order are of relative value, something for which we should not condemn or judge each other. 

It turns out that all sorts of variations are both possible and legitimate in terms of the forms and orders of service. In the churches of the Reformation there has always been a variety of forms. One is not obliged to keep the one form as the only permissible or possible type. That would lead to legalism in the liturgy. In this respect, for example, Calvin speaks clearly about freedom in liturgical matters (T. Brienen 1987, 155f). 

In the old baptism form, for example, different manners of baptisms are mentioned: immersion, sprinkling, watering. For the Lord’s Supper we know of various formats as well: sitting, standing, walking, kneeling or celebrating the sacrament-en-masse are known (W.F. Dankbaar, 1986).

Thus there are fixed basic or foundational elements, that are explicitly prescribed to us by the Lord in his Word, as well as the elements and formations where he has entrusted to us that we may provide the most appropriate and adequate forms for it. This design is constantly subject to revision, change and renewal. It depends on, and takes into account, the time and the cultural-historical situation of the congregation, and where it is located (J.A. Laubscher 1987, 340f). It also inculcates the growth in faith, knowledge, readiness and skill in serving each other and takes into account the mutual needs in the congregation. Liturgy cannot come about properly and develop itself without due attention to the spiritual building up of the church.

Christological tone ←⤒🔗

Grounded in Christ's Work of Reconciliation←↰⤒🔗

The coming together of God and his congregation rests in the central meaning of the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. This redemption is the support and foundation of the meeting and the practice of communion between the holy God and us sinful people. The covenant relationship rests in the reconciliation through the blood of Jesus. It is a coming together of the eternal God through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. In the worship services Christ is the bridge that connects us with God, the bridge over the abyss of separation from him. In Christ the sinner can and may approach the holy God and appear before him. In this blessed disposition the Lord God always addresses himself to his church. It is in this context that his Word sounds forth, and here where he seals the gospel through the sacraments. He extends his loving and saving hand to us when he meets with his people. Paul describes this as follows in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Manifested in the Ministry of Reconciliation←↰⤒🔗

In the Scripture passage quoted above, all the gracious mystery of the encounter with God is unfolded. God comes to us in the ministry of atonement. This manifests itself in the ministry of reconciliation, which is given in the word of reconciliation, in the admonition, and in the demand to be reconciled with God so that we may be righteous beforehim. The worship service is governed by this tension, or at least it should control it. It is a meeting together in the Name of Christ. He, his person and his work, his presence (Matt. 18:20; 28:20), sets the tone of the liturgy. God extends his hand to us in atonement through Word and sign (preaching and sacramental ministry as the service of reconciliation). He extends peace with the intention that as we listen, pray and sing, and as we confess our guilt and faith, that we take hold of God’s hand. God’s merciful coming to us in Christ Jesus calls us through the “ministry of reconciliation” to our faithful acceptance and recognition of him.

Accounted for in the Reformation←↰⤒🔗

The Reformers have characterized the liturgy in this manner. Dr.Vajta summarizes Luther's view of the church service in this one sentence: “Christus ist Gottes Dienst an uns, und er ist auch unser Gottesdicnst im Glauben/Christ is God’s ministry to us, and in faith he is also our worship” (1952, 351). Calvin's view of the liturgy can also be described as: “God’s condescending saving action through Christ in Word and sacrament with the church and its members, whereby he gives us all his heart and all his love in this gathering, and why he expects from his congregation and its members a faithful acceptance and response, and through his present Holy Spirit, according to his promises, he enables us in the forms of prayer and song, confession of guilt and faith and praise and in the elaboration of this in daily life” (see Brienen 1987, 237).

In this light, the view of Dr. A. Kuyper is to be rejected. He states that the church service is based on the “reconciliation of the church” (1911, 24). The coming of God under the sprinkling of the blood of Christ supposes that “the members of the church are incorporated in him, united in him as our Head, justified in him, being reconciled in him, sanctified in him” ​​(25). Kuyper connects God’s coming to his church in his desire for reconciliation to the congregation having been reconciled (internally). Here all appeals to accept the reconciliation of God falls away; the faithful response to be reconciled and to share in this reconciliation, disappears; here the appropriating, participating work of the Spirit is taken out of the church service.

5. Pneumatological moments ←⤒🔗

The Presence of the Spirit←↰⤒🔗

We have seen that the Holy Spirit is also connected to the worship service, to the gathering and the liturgy. Someone even wrote that the Holy Spirit is the lifeblood of the worship service (A.C. Barnard 1981, 477) and rightly so. For this is where the meeting of God with his congregation takes place, in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. The Father answers the prayer of the Saviour and sends the Spirit of truth, the other Helper and Comforter, to those who belong to him and to be with them. “He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you...He will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 14:16f, 25f, 16:7-15). When the resurrected Lord appears among his disciples on the evening of his resurrection day, the first day of the week, he breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” (John 20:19-23).

And on Pentecost, the feast of the harvest, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the congregation of the disciples of the Lord Jesus, so that they are all filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The church service is always a meeting in the presence and under the directing and working of the Spirit.

J.Veenhof (1975, 14f) has pointed out that after his ascension into heaven Jesus continues his activity on earth by the Spirit. The Paraklete (= Comforter) is the presence of Jesus when he is absent. In his presence the Spirit makes the congregation the bearer of the testimony of Christ, to pass this on both internally and externally (30). “He leads the community of his disciples of all times and places in such a way that they learn the Word of Christ again and again, in relation to the constantly changing situations in which they find themselves” (24) and “the directing of the Spirit, which lies behind the realization of Scripture, wants to be pursued with the use that people make of this Scripture. The book of the Spirit can only be understood by the help of this Spirit in its actual intention” (26).

The Work of the Spirit←↰⤒🔗

In this gathering with the presence of the Spirit, the Word is thus proclaimed. He takes care of that. On Pentecost, at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the gospel is proclaimed by Peter and the others.

But also the singing, rejoicing and thanking in the worship services is under the direction of the Spirit. When Paul calls upon the Ephesian congregation to be filled with the Spirit, it immediately follows: “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:18f, see Col. 3:16f).

The Holy Spirit also equips the office bearers for their work in the meetings of the congregation. This applies to their guidance, to their proclamation, and their leading in the prayers and songs in these meetings.

J.P. Versteeg (1976, 27f) has shown that, according to the New Testament, all work of office bearers can only properly be done in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit works through their offices (see Rom.15:18f). The office belongs to the charismata, the gifts of the Spirit to the church, for the service of the church. The official work remains fully human work, but the Spirit makes use of it. Therein lies also the authority and the working of all ministry. That applies to preaching, to supervising, etc. This demands from the office bearers, especially in the service of the Spirit, a sense of responsibility and accountability, and to search for the best methods and the optimum application in their tasks, because the Spirit does not exclude them but rather he involves them in his renewing and sanctifying work.

Our worship service is found in the force field of the Spirit. Through the faithful preaching of the gospel, people are led to faith, to intimate contact with Christ and the Father. The Spirit makes us aware of sins.

He, in the full salvation of Jesus, teaches us to believe the Lord. He makes alive and renews. He gives joy to the hearts and perspective to the congregation as Christ’s bride. The Holy Spirit works in us to pray, to confess, to believe, to worship and also to anticipate in hope as we gather before the face of God the Father and before the throne of Jesus the Lamb.

6. Liturgy and life awareness ←↰⤒🔗

There is a clear relationship between liturgy and our awareness of life. The Bible, after all, takes into account the time in which the hearers are living, and what that time entails for them and what it demands of them. God’s saving action therefore has its own form in each time period. This is also the case with the life of the church and its meetings together.

The awareness of life is the realization that we have about our own lives and life in general. It is a matter of “life awareness” to be more or less aware of the situation in which one finds himself, the time in which one lives and the insight into the requirements and needs that these bring with them in order to be able to continue to survive. Life awareness gives insight in proper living, and this again is based on life experience and knowledge. Insight into the nature of the specific juncture of time in which people find themselves, and knowing what is necessary to find their way in these, is connected with someone’s philosophy of life (H.S. Haasse et al. 1964, 4f).

The time in which we are living now is characterized by radical and rapid successions of changes in almost all areas of social and cultural life. That is why it is a time of changing life awareness, also in the field of religious experience.

People have attempted to analyze this change. S. Krikke (1976, l lf) points to the radical and widespread religious doubt among the people today. No faith remains unharmed. As a result of a process of desacralization, every pretense of absoluteness has become powerless. No single way or truth ​​remains intact. In line with the philosophical theology of W. Weischedel, Krikke further enumerates: asking radical questions, open skepticism and nihilism. The mystery of existence and history is considered as ultimately incomprehensible. Disappearance of mythical consciousness has led to unbelieving faithlessness. The modern man, who has fallen away from the old faith, can no longer entrust himself to holy histories and sacred acts. He cannot accomplish anything anymore with a personal God, with Christ as God and man, with the testimony of the resurrection and faith in God. The human being now regulates his life autonomously. There is also a great awareness of existential anxiety among people. In fact, man has fallen into a deep empty space (56, 131, 172). What he needs is a friendly community, support, consolation and shelter to be able to communicate his amazement and bewilderment, his restlessness and fear, his joy and his suffering to others in the hope that they will indeed share it. According toKrikke, this requires a liturgy of a warm, yet empty space, of a mythically unfilled mystery of a community of friends (see T. Brienen 1978, 9-12).

Indeed, the liturgy must take into account this changing awareness of the life of modern man. For God does want, with his Spirit and Word, to have a complete encounter with this modern man as he is and as he feels, and bring him to salvation and make him learn to live in this salvation. But that is something quite different than that modern man should be served hand and foot in the worship services. That does not serve him anything; instead he is even more absorbed in his so-called empty space, even if one wants to bring in some little bit of warmth. It is precisely in the mercy of the personal God and Father in Jesus Christ that the doubting and bewildered man and sinner of our age can find his essential salvation and security. We therefore do not offer any contextual liturgy, but in the church services we continue to follow God’s will with the most essential needs of modern man, who has lost his God and therefore wanders far from home in dark nights full of despair and bewilderment. Yet the good Shepherd wants to look for him and wants to bring this person home in his warm community and among his flock. This requires from the liturgy, from the celebrating congregation and of the liturgist who leads the service, that they themselves are living essentially from the salvation of Christ, and that they give shape to this in the worship services.

7. Liturgy and service ←⤒🔗

The Spirit teaches people to believe, by means of the Word proclaimed in the meetings. He connects the people to the Saviour, brings them back to a new life. Because he does so, there are impulses from that meeting for a Christian life throughout the week in all sectors of one’s existence. Therefore liturgy and service, Sundays and working days, all are on the same level.

The Bible speaks in very broad terms about serving God in the totality of our lives. In Romans 12:1 we are told that we should present our bodies (= our very existence in this world) as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship (compare Luke 1:74; Php 3:3; Heb. 9:14, 12:28; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9 etc.). Our entire life has to show the form, style and colour of a liturgy before God. There cannot be any dualism between liturgy in the church and diaconia, i.e., the serving of God and the neighbour, at work.

This means that the Sunday worship and celebration may not lead an isolated existence, but that they must be central to the force that radiates to our everyday life. The worship service must incite and give direction to the daily service of the Lord, according to his standards, as a blessing for society. Liturgy must be attuned to this. The actual worship of God only starts when we close the church door behind us and we go out into the world. Conversely, daily life with its shortages, obstacles, temptations, also with its looming questions and problems, urges us to a faithful attendance of the church services, which function as a transformation station where we are recharged from the main elements of salvation, that we can be used for all days, places, and duties in the service of our Lord. The liturgy is the place where we actually meet God each time and from where we are directed to continue walking before his face and to be blameless in this world (see Gen. 17:1; Matt.10:16).

After a detailed survey of the details of the Old and New Testament in the relationship between liturgy and ministry, L. Westland reaches the following conclusion: “The worship service and society are interrelated. In the service we do not flee from society to experience a heaven on earth in the confines of worship. With the worship service as our starting point we go out into the unruly reality of everyday life, with its complex problems and challenges, where our vocation is to sanctify life according to the will of God. That will remain fragmentary, but we keep on with it because we have been strengthened in worship, so that there will be a constant and recurring back-and-forth movement from worship to society and from society to worship.

In worship the vertical dimension of faith is strengthened and intensified. For worship offers a place of rest in the midst of the challenging and restless reality of society, where we lift our hearts upward into heaven. But in the meantime, the horizontal dimension of faith is also being strengthened. Maranatha, the Lord is coming. With that expectation we stand in the midst of our everyday practical reality. And so life in society gets a missionary and eschatological perspective. Yes, in the midst of society we testify of the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15)” (1985, 168v).

From a liturgical perspective, Sunday and working days are contextual. The liturgy of the church service needs to be continued in the liturgy of the family and in witnessing and serving at work.

8. Liturgy and expectation←⤒🔗

The earthly liturgy and services display signs of brokenness, provisionality and imperfection of this earthly life (see 1 Cor. 13:9f), but nevertheless they are an exercise and preparation for the heavenly liturgy and the future worship.

Based on Rev. 4:1-11 it can be stated that the earthly liturgy is a reality that may here and now be experienced in the hopeful focus on the coming glory in adoration before the throne of God (J.A. Laubscher 1987, 220v).

It remains a tremendous treasure to meet together with God and with each other. According to his promise something is happening here. The Spirit is at work, where Word and sign are speaking to us. People are made to discovered their sins, brought to the Lord Christ, strengthened and exercised in the faith, raised and instructed in God’s way, and placed in a biblical vision of the future. Hence the call: “Let us not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:25). For when “the day” comes, the day of Jesus’ return, the richest worship service will begin, the unrestrained, unrestricted meeting with God and with all his children and heirs in the highest glory, peace and joy in his new world.

In this way every worship service here on earth has an eschatological tension and is a foretaste of what is to come. In the New Jerusalem, with the pearly gates and golden streets, with God himself in her midst (Rev. 21:9f), our worship will come to its fullest expression. Based on that future our services here have unprecedented content and meaning. Our worship here and now constitutes the necessary, indispensable “finger exercises” to experience and participate in the full work there and then! (T. Brienen 1990, 452).