For What it’s Worth…

My copy of Ancient-Future Time was given to me by Lyndon Sulzberger, Rector of Christ Church, North Adelaide.  I think  Lyndon was politely trying to suggest my education in matters such as the ecclesiastical calendar is somewhat lacking!

Robert E. Webber (who died in 2007) was Emeritus Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and seems to have been motivated in his writing by the conviction that contemporary Evangelicalism is impoverished due to its insufficient rooting in early Christian traditions.  Indeed, it was this conviction that led him to take part in issuing “The Chicago Call” in 1977 stating that evangelicals had lost touch with church’s liturgical roots.  Here he seeks to take Christian spirituality back to its origins in Jewish spirituality which he feels will enrich the life of the modern Christian; “For the Jew to commemorate the past is not merely to recall it as a past event but to commemorate it in such a way that it gives the present new meaning.”  The book is therefore a call to what Webber calls “Christian-year” spirituality, where God’s saving action is presented to us time and time again through the practices of the Christian year celebrated by the church in its first centuries; in Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost.  The discussion of each of these historical events concludes with a prayer from one of the Church Fathers or the Book of Common Prayer.

I was a little nervous about this book for three main reasons:
1) I automatically hesitate at the idea of finding inspiration for worship in ancient Jewish festivals which have been fulfilled in Christ.
2) “Spirituality” has become so broad in its meaning that it rarely means anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ or living in response to his atoning death for us.
3) Being a proud child of the Reformation, taking lessons in worship from the days when the decrees of the popes ruled the church isn’t without its challenges!

However, let there be no mistake about Webber’s clear statements of the gospel and his perception of what passes for “spirituality” in the modern marketplace – “The source of spirituality does not lie in us.  We cannot generate, create, or attain spirituality … Everything that ever needed to be done to make us acceptable to God has been done in Jesus.”

I was challenged by his assertion that the ascension of Christ features prominently in God’s plan of salvation, but figures poorly in the life of the church.  We need only to read the letter to the Hebrews to see the importance of Jesus’ entry into the Most Holy Place and the significance of having a man stand in heaven for us.  Probably the reasons for which the early church took a day to celebrate the ascension are worth at least passing mention in 21st Century Australian churches!  But I think that the most helpful outcome of reading Ancient-Future Time for someone like me, firmly entrenched in Australian Evangelical Anglicanism, is just its explanation of the theology, history and motivation of Christian practices with which I am generally unfamiliar.

Some other observations in brief:

• Webber rightly points out that the practices of the Christian year are not an end in themselves, but an instrument by which we may be shaped by God’s saving actions in Christ.
• Christian-year spirituality can teach excellent biblical theology as the Jewish celebrations are seen through the lens of their fulfilment in Christ.
• While Webber deliberately seeks to allay the fears of his Protestant readers at some points, there is still a degree of Roman Catholic practice which is presented somewhat uncritically in the book (such as in the discussion of The Veneration of the Cross).
• I couldn’t agree with every statement Webber made about the presence of God in the corporate gathering of his people.  I don’t think we can “touch him” through what happens on a Sunday.

I think this book’s appeal will be due to the increasing desire for symbols and rites which mark points of transition in our lives and the church’s desire to tap into this.  We used to celebrate the end of a student’s school career at the close of year 12.  Then we moved to honouring children at the end of primary school.  Now we see certificates handed out and presentations held at the end of year 4!  21 was once the big birthday celebration, then eighteen, now 16th birthdays are being celebrated by hundreds of guests in hired venues with professional bands.  There is a strong degree to which form and ritual at significant milestones are valued by those disappointed by the sameness of western materialistic existence.  The challenge for those in the church who seek to capitalise on this desire for form and symbol is to ensure they don’t promote an outward form to the exclusion of the message of the gospel.

Ancient-Future Time is worth reading if you want to understand why good, godly Christians do Sundays different from you!

Moore Books AU$23.95

Amazon US$18.00