Full Description
How might our worship recapture and reflect the enchanted world of God's nearness in Jesus Christ?
In this first volume in IVP Academic's Dynamics of Christian Worship series, John D. Rempel offers a vision for this kind of transformative worship. A theologian and minister in the Mennonite Church, Rempel considers the role of the sacraments and ritual within the Free Church tradition. While the Free Churches rightly sought to cleanse the church of the abuses of sacramentalism, in that process they also set aside some of the church's historic practices and the theology behind them, which ultimately impoverished their worship.
In response to this liturgically thin space, Rempel appeals to the incarnation of Christ, whose taking on of flesh can help us perceive the sacramental nature of our faith and worship. By embracing life-giving and peacemaking practices, the worship of not only the Free Church tradition but of the whole body of Christ might be transformed and become enchanted once again.
The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship—including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord's Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more—to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.
Contents
Foreword by Gordon T. Smith
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. An Enchanted World? Surrender to the Water
2. Embodiment, Language, and Sacrament
3. Ritual, Sacrament, and Spirit: Incarnating the Transcendent
4. The Sacramentality of Time
5. Baptism: The Art of Rising from the Dead
6. The Meal Jesus Gave Us: New Testament and Patristic Era
7. The Meal Jesus Gave Us: Middle Ages and Reformation
8. The Meal Jesus Gave Us: Anabaptism, Free Churches, and Peace Churches
9. The Meal of Covenant
10. Service of the Lord's Supper
Afterword
Appendix 1. An Order of Service for the Lord's Supper
Appendix 2. Liturgy for Footwashing and Agape Meal
Appendix 3. Emmaus Communion
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index
