God’s Covenant
The nature of the relation which we have by grace with God will determine to a large measure our attitudes within common prayer and worship. If I come to worship as an equal partner then my attitude will reflect that mindset. If I come thinking that I am doing God a favor or showing special loyalty, my attitude will reflect that mindset. On the other hand, if I come in gratitude and humility, conscious of my sins and unworthiness but overwhelmed by God’s mercy to me in Jesus Christ, my mindset and attitude will be what they ought to be in the presence of the merciful and holy Lord.
Our covenant with God is not an agreement between two equals. It is totally one-sided because God alone establishes it and in doing so he sets the terms and conditions. This would seem dictatorial if the covenant were between two equal parties. But, God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, whom the angels serve and adore and who is infinitely above our being and our thought. We are finite, sinful, spiritually and morally diseased creatures. This is a covenant of grace and is established for our good and eternal welfare, that we may become his children and be restored to genuine knowing and loving of him for all eternity.
Collect for the seventh Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP):
Lord of all power and might, who art the
author and giver of all good things;
graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God alone is the author and giver
who can increase, nourish and keep his believing children
in his grace and covenant. The collect
for the first Sunday after Epiphany in the 1979 Prayer Book refers to the
covenant as being made by those who are baptized. Thus it promotes the tendency to treat human
beings, even infants, as negotiating, near-equal covenant partners with
God. We recognize that the covenant was
initiated by God unilaterally. But its
practical effect in human lives is two-sided.
First
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in
his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight.
Through Hosea 6:6, God said, “For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
The covenant is a relation which operates in both directions from God to man and from man to God. The human movement to the Father through Jesus Christ is always dependent upon his primary movement through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost to his children. Human knowing of God begins in personal and corporate prayer, but it is extended from prayer into the whole of life, for God calls his people to walk with him and to be aware everywhere and at all times of his presence with them. To be placed by God himself in a right relation with God through whom our sins are forgiven and the way to communion with God restored, is to be placed in the way of becoming righteous and just. To be justified by faith is to be in God’s covenant of grace and to be the recipient of his covenant mercy and faithfulness. God entered into personal contact with sinful human beings through the Incarnate Son and by the Holy Ghost. Only on the basis of his knowing them can they know him.
The New Testament provides a broad range of images to show the relation of God to those who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. God is the heavenly Father and believers are his adopted children, the brethren of Christ and joint-heirs with him of the Father’s kingdom. God the Son is the Lord and King and believers are his subjects and servants, who live to render him humble service. God the Son is the shepherd and believers are his sheep. God the Son is the Bridegroom who loves the Church and in response the Church is the Bride who likewise loves and obeys the Bridegroom. This image from holy matrimony points to a vital intimacy and indicates the deep spiritual union and communion of the members with Christ himself and because with him, therefore also with the Father, and with one another in Christ.
The knowledge of God which raises the believer up to God also simultaneously humbles him by the comparison of himself with God, as he is revealed in Jesus. Further, genuine self-knowledge, though it humbles the believer, also lifts him up through the necessity of approaching God to find comfort, forgiveness and solace through Christ Jesus. To elevate man without humbling him is to cause pride; and to humble him without exalting him is to bring misery without hope. Unless worshippers see their sin, guilt, and hopelessness, how can they see that in Jesus Christ alone is their salvation?
This knowing of God and self, inspired by the Holy Ghost, is in part intellectual, but it also is a knowing by the heart. By this knowledge of God the whole soul is penetrated, reformed, renewed, and ennobled so that it begins to want to know and to love what God himself commands and loves. To know God is to possess a lively faith, a firm hope, an ardent love, a filial fear and reverence, a total trust in him in times of trial and testing, and an entire submission to his gracious and perfect will. This form of knowing is taught and encouraged by the Common Prayer Tradition, but minimally present in the new types of public prayer used by Episcopalians and other contemporary denominations.
To know God is a knowing by the whole soul. It is to know God in and through the mind – to have right thoughts about him and to contemplate him through his self-unveiling in revelation. It is to know God in and through the heart; to direct one’s affections to him and trust him and his Word, to delight in him, love him, rejoice in his grace, and fear his holy name. It is to know God in and through the will – in obedience of faith in daily life. People vary a great deal. Some lead with their mind. Some lead with their heart. But all require a great deal of effort to get the will into the picture.
One of the great losses in modern worship, and thus in modern Christianity, is the inner sense and profound appreciation of the Glorious Majesty, the wonderful transcendence and greatness of the Lord our God. Some people think the old Christian doctrine of the Transcendence of the Lord our God is irrelevant. Modern people prefer a God with whom they can easily identify, be a part of, and negotiate with, as with a friend. When we understand we only exist by the creating and sustaining dynamic word of the Lord, we begin to realize that God, the Creator, must be transcendent to be immanent. He is the transcendent Creator, the infinite, eternal Majesty on high, glorious in holiness and perfect in purity, wholly beyond our thoughts and aspirations.
The Book of Proverbs teaches that the fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom but also the beginning of knowledge. There can be godly fear in the soul only when there are large views of God and small views of man. Filial fear is not fear of being judged and cast into hell, but it is the awe, reverence, humble trust, and profound sense of dependence of the child of God upon the holy Lord God of hosts. This godly fear is encouraged in the Common Prayer Tradition by repeatedly addressing God as “Almighty God” at the beginning of collects.
The will of God is the sanctification of mankind in Christ, and his command in both the Old and New Testaments is “Be ye holy for I am holy”. God shares his holiness with those who know him through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness (in Justification) and impartation of the indwelling Holy Ghost (In Sanctification). The Common Prayer Tradition faithfully sets forth this sharing, especially in the Order for Holy Communion – “that he may dwell in us and we in him.”
For more details, read “Worship without Dumbing-down” by The Rev. Dr. Peter Toon, M.A., D.Phil.
(Preservation Press of the Prayer Book Society of the USA 2005)