Baptism and Ministry: Liturgical Studies One (Liturgical Studies (Church Publishing)) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0898692415 ISBN 13: 9780898692419

Verlag: Church Publishing, 2000

Inhaltsangabe

A collection of essays issued under the direction of the Standing Liturgical Commission (SLC) on baptism and ministry. Topics addressed are welcoming new ministers, reaffirmation of ordination vows, confirmation/reception, and baptismal ministry.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ruth A. Meyers is Dean of Academic Affairs and Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She served as chair of The Episcopal Churchs Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music through the conclusion of the 2012–2015 triennium and teaches throughout the Anglican Communion. She lives outside Berkeley CA.

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BAPTISM AND MINISTRY

LITURGICAL STUDIES, ONE

By Ruth A. Meyers

Church Publishing Incorporated

Copyright © 1994 Church Pension Fund
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-89869-241-9

Contents

Contributors
Preface Frank T. Griswold
Introduction Ruth A. Meyers
Decoding the Obvious: Reflections on Baptismal Ministry in the Episcopal 
Church William Seth Adams
Celebrating Baptismal Ministry at the Welcoming of New Ministers Stephen 
M. Kelsey
The Reaffirmation of Ordination Vows Michael W. Hopkins
To Confirm or To Receive? Daniel B. Stevick
Appendix: Rites of Initiation Charles P. Price

CHAPTER 1

Decoding the Obvious:Reflections on Baptismal Ministry inthe Episcopal Church

The Reverend William Seth Adams

I. Stating the Problem

The Episcopal Church is reawakening to the importance of Christian initiation.The texts in The Book of Common Prayer and The Book of Occasional Services arethe best signs and continuing sources of this reawakening. Clearly, the ritesfor baptism and the series of rites associated with the catechumenate, combinedwith the Prayer Book's directive regarding the public nature of initiation, thenaming of baptismal days and the heightened place given the Easter Vigil in ourritual life all work to enhance and invigorate the church's baptismal practice.

In addition to these texts and rubrical norms, there are meetings, conferencesand books which augment and interpret the liturgical texts, teaching andencouraging the church in its initiation practices. Among these are DanielStevick's Baptismal Moments; Baptismal Meanings (1987), The Baptismal Mysteryand the Catechumenate, edited by Michael Merriman (1989), and the 1991 revisededition of A. Theodore Eastman's The Baptizing Community (1982). Further, ingroups like the Associated Parishes and the Association of Diocesan Liturgy andMusic Commissions, the Episcopal Church has people of deep concern and insightoffering their gifts in pointed and programmatic forms to any and allinterested.

From these and many other quarters, both within and without the EpiscopalChurch, efforts mount to empower the rites which make Christians, to give a trueplace to the complex ritual act which bestows forgiveness of sins and raises tonewness of life, which seals by the Spirit of God and makes one Christ's ownforever. In the face of all this, one must first of all cheer about this turn ofevents, and having cheered, as surely I do, then work to assist the enterprise.

It appears that the assistance I can offer is of a peculiar sort. That is, whatI find myself able to do is to identify impediments to the process. In fact, Ifind myself convinced that the real and effectual power of Christian initiationin the Episcopal Church faces dismal prospects for true and faithful "success."This is so on two grounds, namely, spatial evidence and ritual evidence. What Iintend to do in the following remarks is to examine this physical evidence withan eye to "decoding the obvious."

In a way, what I am suggesting is that what we claim about the importance ofinitiation is not supported by the physical, observable evidence. This failureto support discredits our claims. And if evangelism is to be central to the workwe are about, then surely this rite of conversion and incorporation needs to behealthy and to tell the truth to those drawn into the fellowship of Christ.

II. Spatial Evidence

The central ritual metaphor underneath all the rites in the Prayer Book is anencounter, an encounter between the gathered community and God. This encounteris acted out and experienced in the church's public liturgy around threeliturgical centers within a common liturgical space. The three centers are theplace for Baptism, the place for the Liturgy of the Word, and the place for theLiturgy at the Altar/Table.

The ecclesiology of the Prayer Book sees the church as a community.Liturgically speaking, the work of this community is distributed among theseveral members and enacted in the gathering. The clear supposition is that thecommunity will all gather in the same room, rather than in several rooms, as inolder architectural styles. (At its most extravagant, a Gothic building hadthree rooms—one for the baptized, one for the choir [clergy] and one for theordained presider.)

In addition, because the liturgical work is distributed in a functional ratherthan hierarchical fashion, there is no need for the space to be hierarchicallyordered, though clearly one must be sensitive to the needs of hearing andseeing. This way of viewing the space requires that we abandon the older names(nave, chancel, sanctuary) and search for new ones. Interestingly enough, so faras I can tell, the search has yet to yield a really usable vocabulary.

In addition to a single room, this view of the church requires a configurationthat in a tangible way sets forth testimony to "gathering around." This leads tothe abandonment of the linear, rectangular building (the one modeled on the bus)in favor of some configuration several-sided around the central focus. Thisnotion tends to create a room that is wider than it is deep. A circularconfiguration has attracted some, though under most circumstances I would argueagainst the circle on both practical and theological grounds.

If a single chamber is most congruent with the intent of the Prayer Book, theinterrelationship of the liturgical centers within that space is our nextconcern. In Marion Hatchett's Occasional Paper, "Architectural Implications ofThe Book of Common Prayer," he says that the three liturgical centers—the placefor Baptism, the place for Liturgy of the Word and the place for the Liturgy atthe Altar/Table—"should have approximately equal dignity and prominence."

My own way of expressing this is to view the liturgical space as if it were anecosystem, an interactive community of organisms within an environment. This wayof understanding the existence and organization of space puts theinterrelationship of these centers on equal footing with their own particularand individual integrity. A sound ecosystem is dependent on mutual necessity andreciprocity. Consequently, as a metaphor for the character of a liturgicalspace, an ecosystem establishes balance as a central characteristic.

The ambo and altar/table constitute two of the three liturgical centers whichpopulate our liturgical environment. The baptismal space is the third, and theprincipal concern of this essay.

Surely there is no subject in liturgical studies more warmly or richly treatedin our time than baptismal rites and theology. Human concern for identity,membership and initiation coupled with ever greater curiosity about the activityof God's Holy Spirit have brought out of us more and more powerful convictionsabout this rite of burial, birth and bathing.

"Holy Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Bodythe Church. The bond which God establishes in Baptism is indissoluble." Soreads the Prayer Book. Although debates still arise throughout the church as towhat confirmation is, the importance and centrality of the water rite are not indispute. Consequently, and in principle at least, there is also no debate aboutthe importance of the ritual object which must bear the symbolic weight of ourinitiation theology. The rubrics imagine a...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Church Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2000
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0898692415
• ISBN 13: 9780898692419
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 120
• Herausgeber: Meyers Ruth A.
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar