1st in a series of ancient liturgies: A Eucharistic rite of the 2nd & 3rd centuries
Adapted from the “Apostolic traditions” of Hippolytus of Rome
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The goal of our exploration of these ancient liturgies during the early months of 2014, is to acquire sufficient knowledge and experience to create our own 21st century Eucharist to be used (celebrated) later in the year. Experiencing these early liturgies and understanding the influences that shaped them, will give us a sense of what we may use in crafting our own Eucharist.
We will take most of the year to prepare. The clergy will act as guides and resources, but will not participate in the making of the congregation’s liturgy.
So, have you ever thought the service was too long or too short? Have you ever thought that it was too complex and hard to understand? Have you ever wished for different imagery in expressing Christian truths? Have you ever wished for it to be different in some way or another? Well, now’s your chance to help make it what you would wish for.
There will be a “facilitator” for this effort and right today you can start making notes and asking questions to sharpen your understanding of liturgy that you can make.
To begin, it might be helpful if each of you attending here today would take and save the leaflets produced for these ancient liturgies. They will contain a great deal of information that will be useful for you later as you make your own influence on the 21st century liturgy that we will produce.
For example, it’s helpful to know that RITUAL is written. It is words and language. So, when we talk about the text of a service we’re talking about ritual. CEREMONIAL is action . . . it’s what we do before, after, and while we’re talking. We’ll see lots of examples of both in the ancient services.
The word LITURGY comes from the Greek, and means public service or public works (like the guys who fix our streets). It’s the public work of the gathered church, which takes the raw materials of ritual and ceremonial to accomplish the purpose of praising God and bringing human beings into the divine life.
So, it’s NOT a personal tete a tete with God, but a major public work.
From the beginning (although Christian beginnings are only dimly seen) the “shape” of the eucharist has been WORD and MEAL. The “Word” portion of scripture readings, teaching, and prayer was early adapted from what was familiar to those Jewish followers of Christ. It was the synagogue service in which they had grown up. The “Meal”, as we will see later today, was a meal together that seems to have split into two meals – one a more formal remembrance of the victory of Jesus, and the other an informal, social meal shared by early believers exalted by that victory. They may have started together, but over time found that the two meals were somehow inappropriate together. Perhaps the feelings aroused in each were too different.
In our modern times, the formal meal, our Liturgy of the Table, has the same shape it has always had: take, bless, break, and give.
The other meal (the informal one) we call “coffee hour”. Each meal was accompanied by various rites and ceremonies, which have been changed and altered this way and that, throughout history.
Now, looking at today’s 2nd century eucharist, we should remember that there were no books, no fixed texts, no vestments, no church calendar, and few ceremonial actions.
Congregations were small and normally met in houses. They would meet in secret. After all, they were breaking the law. Folks would gather and visit among themselves until the readings began. The Liturgy of the Word reflected the synagogue services of the time and there would be readings from the Old Testament books (sometimes whole looks would be read), psalms, and Christian writings, which might include many that never made it into the New Testament.
After the readings a sermon would follow.
Today, we will use the scheduled lections for the Third
Sunday of Epiphany from Year A, NRSV, revised Common Lectionary.
This liturgy will be simple, intimate, informal, relaxed, somewhat brief, and will have no music (which came later in the church’s history).
PDF format worship document that is print ready - Click here
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Print instructions:
Click above and print front and back. Fold in half into booklet.
page 1 is pages 12 and 1 of worship booklet
page 2 is pages 2 and 11
page 3 is pages 10 and 3
page 4 is pages 4 and 9
page 5 is pages 8 and 5
page 6 is pages 6 and 7
Come, Let us worship the Lord!
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