Sola Scriptura
For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not
even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must
we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who
tell thee these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the
proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this
salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on
demonstration of the Holy Scriptures. Cyril,
bishop of Jerusalem
When the Word is
Preached God is Heard
It is certain that if we come to church we shall not hear only a
mortal man speaking but we shall feel (even by His secret power), that God is
speaking to our souls, that He is the teacher. He so touches us that the human
voice enters us and so profits us that we are refreshed and nourished by it.
God calls us to Him as if we had His mouth open and we saw Him there in person.
John Calvin
Learning to Speak
Bible
Speaking Bible does not come naturally; it is a foreign
language. We have to learn to name the world Christianly, and we do this
chiefly in worship. Worship is language class…But we do not learn foreign
languages by listening to someone talk about the language. Teaching is
essential, but so is drill, repetition, dry rote. Worship is training in godly
habits, habits of speech as well as godly habits of conduct. If biblical
language is to become the idiom of the Church’s speech, Christians must not
only listen to but also say and sing and recite the Scriptures in worship. Many evangelicals object to repetition in
worship because they consider it “dry rote.” Jesus did, of course, warn against
“vain repetition,” but repetition itself is unavoidable, and Christian worship
needs a great deal more dry rote.
That is precisely what we need in order to learn a new and alien language.
This perspective underscores the
wisdom of the tradition of structured liturgy, with fixed ordinary [order of
service] of spoken and sung Scripture.
Traditional liturgies with their “boring” and “hidebound” recitation of
the Psalms, creeds, and rote prayers, drill converts in their new
language. Worshipers are made part of
the culture of the Church, and, more importantly, that culture is made part of
the worshiper. Peter Leithart
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