Anglican Worship: Where Does It Say In the Bible to Do That?
As an Anglican priest, parishioners often ask me where the Bible commands certain Anglican worship practices. The assumption is that we should only do what the Bible expressly commands us to do.
The thinking goes: If the Bible doesn’t say to burn candles, then we shouldn’t burn candles. If the Bible doesn’t tell us to wear vestments (ceremonial robes), then we shouldn’t do so. If the Bible doesn’t say to read scripture aloud every Sunday, then we shouldn’t do so.
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The Regulative Principle
This way of thinking is what we technically deem the “regulative principle.”It is the idea that one of the reasons we have the Bible is that it can “regulate” all of our worship.
The problem with the regulative principle is that Scripture does not contain many places directly telling us how to worship. However, we know from the Old Testament that God takes great interest in how we worship him. The normative principle dictates that we should retain the worshipping traditions our spiritual ancestors passed down to us. Our respect for them, their faith, and their wisdom obligates us to do so. They “passed down” our Christian faith to us. We learn there that beauty and symbol, and learning are all part of worship. The Christian mimics Christ; he does not copy the Jewish pattern of worship, which is only an example. Even though their worship informs ours, we are the Church in a new covenant.
Apostolic Freedom from Basic Instructions
When we turn to the New Testament, we find some very basic instructions. Read scripture out loud (ironically, many churches that believe in the regulative principle disobey this clear command). Pray together for the Church, for the leaders of the world, for the needs of the world, and give thanks. Sing hymns and spiritual songs. Collect offerings. Preach and teach, receive the bread and wine of the communion table, as well as baptize.
However, the entire New Testament doesn’t give us detailed instructions. It just isn’t something that anyone was doing in writing at that time. Later, the early church was growing and spreading. It needed to figure out how to worship, leading to the Didache, a first-century manual for worship. The Bible itself isn’t a manual with detailed instructions for worship. If we tried only to do what is in the Bible, we’d miss out.
Don’t Miss Out!
We should not miss out on the beautiful wisdom of the rites and practices passed down to us from our fathers in the faith. Paul himself hit on this when he wrote to the Thessalonians; he says,
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
2 Thessalonians 2:15
There are spoken traditions that have been passed on for 2000 years. Additionally, there is the written canonical tradition of holy scripture, inspired and authoritative. Scripture is the final authority, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lesser authorities. The tradition of worship is just such an important and reverent, but lesser authority.
The Normative Principle
The regulative principle doesn’t work if you want to honor and retain the tradition. Instead, you need the normative principle. The normative principle is the idea that we should retain the worshipping traditions that have been passed down to us from our spiritual ancestors. We are obligated to do so out of respect for them, their faith, and their wisdom. Our Christian faith has been “passed down” to us. Not only the doctrines, but also the practices.
However, does that mean that we should do everything that has ever been done in the Christian worshipping tradition? That’s when the normative principle comes to our rescue. Simply, the normative principle is the idea that we should retain traditions that have a long history and wide use. They should not be forbidden or contradicted by holy scripture. Anglicans love this principle. We do what the tradition passes on; we will honor it, and we will see it as an authority. Nevertheless, we will always see it as under scripture. Scripture can override it.
Enter Patrimony
The only thing we Anglicans add to the normative principle is the idea of patrimony. This means there are various families of tradition that all connect back to the early church. However, each has a “patrimony” or a way of doing things. The Anglican patrimony is the tradition of worship that came from England. This began mysteriously even before Pope Gregory sent Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize in the sixth century. Augustine used a processional cross, carried through the city, to do the first act of Anglican evangelism by worship. That initiated the Anglican way. Our patrimony grew in England and was then reformed during the Reformation period. It ultimately retained the basic catholic structure, but infused it with Reformational truths from scripture. It then spread across the world and developed into an international tradition.
The Reformation redirected our attention back to the purpose of much of the ritual of our worship. Consequently, we shed many forms and practices that did not conform to holy scripture. Anglicans came to see that worship forms us as believers in Jesus. It turns our hearts toward God and our fellow humans. It is a set of practices and a cycle of time that surrounds and shapes us around the gospel.
The Liturgical Movement
The Christian world in the West in the past century, Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant, experienced something called the Liturgical Movement. For the most part, this started out as a liturgy nerd fest, with scholars, archaeologists, liturgists, and clergy working on trying to discover how the early, united Church worshipped. This all spilled over into Vatican II and affected most of the churches in the world. In our case, as Anglicans, it led to international English versions of the liturgy that are reflective of the Anglican heritage, but also incorporate a more ancient approach.
What’s the Core Tradition of Christian Worship?
You can start with Pliny the Younger, a Roman ruler, who wrote in the 1st century that Christians gathered, sang hymns, worshipped Christ as a god, and pledged to do good to others. You can also look to early church writings such as the Didache and the writings of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Hippolytus. You’ll see a lot of variety, and you’ll see some things that we’re glad we don’t do today. You’ll see a pattern of vesture, Sunday eucharist, light, processions, bowing, kneeling (lots of arguments about kneeling), chanting, and a cycle of time (a calendar) that is developing right away. There is no hint at all for almost 1500 years that the Bible had to command something for it to be done. The assumption was that a tradition was being discerned and passed along.
You will also enjoy reading the diary of the third-century nun Egeria. She travelled to Jerusalem, and journaled everything she saw the Christians there doing in worship. Processional crosses, reading of the gospel, gathering for the Eucharist. Reading the Bible aloud, lighting candles, and blessing the people.
No one would claim that Anglicans worship in the exact way the early church did. Even the early church didn’t worship in the same way in different locations around the Roman world. However, the outline and basic ritual of our worship reflect how most Christians, in most places, have worshipped. We love that.
Why Do We Do That?
Anglicans believe that we are trying to worship the way the early church did, as well as how the churches of the Middle Ages worshipped, and the churches around the world today. We don’t just patch together traditions here and there based on a whim. We use our Anglican patrimony to guide us. Thus, we practice Christian worship in the Anglican way, subject to holy scripture as the ultimate authority.
Worship is Not An Exact Science
No church knows exactly how to structure worship. There is no perfect, exact way. Jesus showed us this when he taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer. He said not to try to be heard for your many vain repetitions. In other words, there is no magic formula of words (or ritual) that will open up God’s heart to us. It’s already wide open. He loves us. Our worship is about entering into his presence through Christ, not about finding hidden keys or perfect rituals to get into it.
We love our brothers and sisters in the Baptist, non-denominational, and Presbyterian worlds, and other worlds, too. Anglicans join hands with our fellow Protestants in our shared desire to uphold scripture. We merely think a bit differently about how scripture grounds and informs our worship. Additionally, we think differently about the place of tradition in our process of discernment.
We love our Roman Catholic and Orthodox friends too. We have a related but different patrimony, and we value the insights of the Reformation in informing our sense of catholic worship. What it all boils down to is seeking to obey scripture, honor our past, and worship him in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
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