One of the things htat really fires me up in when people write thing that make me think. In light of that I want to introduce you to Dr. Kevin Bauder. Dr. Bauder is the President of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, and he is quickly becomming one of my favorite writers. Case in point is the following article I hope you are caused to think as I was...
Posted by Kevin T. Bauder on his weblog http://nossobrii.blogspot.com
May churches observe special days or seasons such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost? Does the Rule of Prescription permit such observances?
This is a different question than asking whether these observances should be made obligatory. We must not make anything obligatory that Scripture itself does not (either directly or in principle). The obligatory observances of the New Testament church are two in number: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. To require any others is to presume upon the Lord’s authority.
The church does, however, have the obligation to teach all the whole counsel of God, the whole truth of God’s character, His dealings with humanity, and His expectations of His saints. Part of this includes the great events of salvation history, and particularly the events surrounding the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, and the inauguration of His church. It also includes the spiritual exercises: prayer, fasting, study, memorization, silence, witness, and so forth.
Every responsible ministry will find ways to teach all of these. Each of these is a fit topic of public instruction. The problem is that no church can find a way to address them all at once. We cannot imagine a church service that covers the whole scope of salvation history and the full exercise of the life of faith. So we pick and choose. In one service we emphasize one thing, and in another service we emphasize a different thing.
Some aspects of salvation history and the life of faith are so important that we will want to return to them regularly. Planning and scheduling a focus on these apects will help to keep us from neglecting them. It is proper for a church to schedule regular services devoted to prayer, for example.
The most important aspects of the Christian faith may well be made the focus of special days or even seasons. Why would it be wrong to set aside a season of the year for fasting, self-examination, and contrition? Why would it be immoral during one season to focus upon the incarnation of our Lord, and during another to dwell upon his passion? Why would it be subversive to celebrate, not only the “week-iversary” of the resurrection on each Lord’s Day, but the anniversary of His resurrection at Easter?
The right use of these seasons will embellish and not detract from the focus upon these events and exercises throughout the rest of the year. Christmas should not be the only time that we celebrate the incarnation, but it can become the lens that keeps the incarnation in our minds throughout the year. Lent should not be our only fast, but it may become a fast that informs all of our other fasts.
None of this authorizes us to make these observances obligatory, to bind them as burdens upon our brethren. Nor does this mean that we are permitted to import the bric-a-brac of the world or the festoonments of sacerdotalism into these observances. To celebrate Christmas does not mean that we should put up a Christmas tree in church. To observe Lent does not permit us to seek priestly absolution from our sins.
I think we can go one step further. While this rests upon shakier ground, I think it might also be permissible to take time occasionally to expound God’s dealings with His church and His saints throughout the ages. It does no dishonor to God, Scripture, or truth to spend a service discussing the issues and accomplishments of people like Spurgeon, Edwards, Williams, Luther, Wycklif, Hus, Patrick, Nicholas, Athanasius, or Irenaeus. Such “saint’s days” can be observed occasionally, not to venerate the saint, but to glorify God for His care of His church.
In short, even a devoted advocate of the Rule of Prescription can find justification for the observance of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Lent, Advent, Thanksgiving, Reformation Day, and a host of others. These days are not a problem in themselves, though they may be abused. But so may baptism and communion.
Kevin T. Bauder said in response to David:Of course, the whole point of my argument is that the observance of (some) holidays is perfectly consistent with the Rule of Prescription. This is one effort to get back to that discussion and to answer one of the serious questions that you raised about it. As you have noted, this conversation about the Rule of Prescription is rather a slow-motion affair. But we’ll discuss each aspect in good time.
As for trees and other decorations, my concerns there are not so much related to the Rule of Prescription as they are to the Principle of Distraction. I’m basing this upon my own observation, and not upon strictly biblical teaching, which means that I’m not going to be terribly upset with a church that does otherwise (my own church does). But it seems to me that by mixing the two Christmases (the theological holiday and the cultural holiday) we run the risk of diluting the theological content and distracting people from the main point. This becomes more and more the case as we see the trappings of the cultural holiday isolated from the theological content throughout our civilization.
I think I would rather save the accouterments of the cultural celebration for cultural settings, while maintaining the theological content in stark form. Where there is genuine overlap (for instance, in the true history of St. Nicholas), then we may be able to maintain some of the cultural accompaniments—perhaps sometimes in modified form.
I also question whether anything in church should be done purely for the sake of decoration. Given a choice, I would prefer a worship environment in which each element is included for its communicative power. Of course, all of this introduces new subject matter that I don’t have time to pursue now. Eventually this will come up again.
Good Stuff!
I Remain,
Pastor Steve
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