ECEN/LITURGY/STAVANGER
THE THEOLOGY OF CREATION IN LITURGIES OF THE CHRISTIAN
CHURCHES.
Louisa Poole Convenor ECEN Theology working Group.
The Theology Working Group at Stavanger took three possible lines of discussion for future work in the group :
Members are encouraged to add to the following sections sections
1. Ideas about Liturgy from the various traditions
2. Creation themes in the Liturgies of different churches 3. Some ideas about world Views of the origin of the world that relate to theology and liturgy.
1. LITURGY FROM VARIOUS TRADITIONS
« One recognises right liturgy by the fact that it liberates us from
ordinary, every day activity and returns to us once more the depths and
the heights, the silence and the song. One recognises right liturgy in that it
has a cosmic, not just a group character. It sings with the angels. It is
silent with the expectant depths of the universe. And that is how it
redeems the earth ».
(Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, « A New Song for the Lord, Faith in Christ
and the Liturgy Today » Herder, New York 1996 p.127).
« Liturgy presupposes…that the heavens have been opened ; only if this
is the case is there liturgy at all. If the heavens are not opened then
whatever liturgy was is reduced to role playing and, in the end, to trivial
pursuit of congregational self-fulfilment in which nothing really happens.
The decisive factor therefore is the decisiveness of christology. Liturgy is
God’s work or it does not exist at all ». (ibid. p133)
« The priest, the assembly (die Gemeinde), the single individuals are all
celebrant insofar as they are united with Christ and insofar as they
represent him in the communion of head and body. In every liturgical
celebration the whole Church – heaven and earth, God and humans)
Is involved, not just theologically but in a wholly real mannera » p135
(Regarding the reforms of the Second Vatican Council) « In the face of
modern individualism and the moralism connected with it, the dimension
of mystery was supposed to reappear, that is, the cosmic character of
liturgy that embraces heaven and earth. In its participation in the paschal
mystery of Christ, liturgy transcends the boundaries of places and times
in order to gather into the hour of Christ what is anticipated in the liturgy
and hance opens history to its goal » (ibid).
2. CREATION THEMES IN THE LITURGIES OF
DIFFERENT CHURCHES
THE CATHOLIC TRADITION
‘The Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord : by the word of the Lord
the heavens are made, Alleluia’
(Introit for the 4th Sunday of Easter, Roman Missal)
The Eucharistic Prayers, The « Canons » of the Mass
Pascal Roux has analysed the main prayers of the Roman Missal and emphasizes that the praise of God the Creator is an essential element
in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist, as follows
‘As we look at the eucharistic prayers of the Roman missal – without
forgetting the liturgy of the word which precedes the eucharist – we
immediately realise that the praise of God the Creator is present in all
eucharistic prayers.
The degree of presence varies, of course, from one prayer to the other.
The reference to creation is rather discrete in the oldest canon attributed
to Saint Hippolyte (PEII) but much more developed in the fourth
autorised prayer, canon IV. It is true that this prayer is rarely used in the
parishes because it is felt to be too long. This neglect has perhaps
contributed to reduce the sense of gratitude for God’s blessings among
Catholic Christians and provoked the question of the place of Creation in
worship.
But let us consider this prayer in more detail. It is theologically very rich.
This prayer has a special preface. The term ‘preface’ is used in the
meaning of ‘beginning’ rather than of ‘introduction’ as in normal
publications. It starts with an invitation by the priest to the congregation
to praise and give glory to God. The first part is a fully developed act of
praise addressed to God to thank him for the Creation of the universe.
.
Father in heaven,
it is right that we should give you thanks and glory :
You alone are God living and true.
Through all eternity you live in unapproachable light.
These opening words of the prayer of praise lead to a very simple
reflection. Praise is given to God the Father for what he is from the
beginning without even mentioning the world which he created. This
exclusive concentration of the act of praise on God echoes the great
tradition of the Jewish blessings, the berakot.
Bless the Lord, o my soul,
o Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty
and are clothed with light as with a garment (Psalm 104,1-2).
To praise God in such a way has become difficult for secularised people
inclined to doubt the existence of God. This difficulty may be one of the
reasons why this prayer is so rarely used in congregational worship. But
it is a source of rejoicing for all who worship with a simple and pure heart
and don’t attach ultimate significance to the riches of this world. The
prayer also presupposes a strong faith in the eternal Trinity, a doctrine
which raises difficulties for a good number of Christians but which is
capable of strengthening our fragile faith and leading it to the great
mystery of God’s love.
The prayer then continues by referring to God’s Creation along the lines
of the Nicean Creed:
Source of life and goodness you have created all things
to fill your creatures with every blessing
and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light.
The prayer expresses the essential truth: God has created the world and
called it into existence for our sake but at the same time for the sake of
the whole creation. Compared to the teaching of the Greek philosophers,
the prayer offers a revolutionary perspective. Plato or Aristotle held
different views.
Human beings have not been created in isolation and the fulfillment of
their existence is linked with the wellbeing of the other creatures. What
the Christian tradition has to say is diametrically opposed to the hedonist
mentality which is indifferent to the environment of animals and plants.
God’s love seeks the fulfillment of all creatures. God’s blessings are
upon all beings – animals, plants, minerals and seas. But his love is
directed in a special way to human beings :
God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them (Genesis 1,27)
Male and female – i.e. human beings were created as a living
relationship, two beings called to fecundity, a living cell corresponding in
some way to the communion of love between the Father and the Son in
the power of the Holy Spirit.
With this vision we are far from contemporary pessimism which, blinded
by the power of evil in the world, no longer believes in God’s goodness,
the source of life. This spirit of negation is no longer capable of praising
God. It rather accuses the divine power for having created a world full of
darkness and suffering. But placing our confidence on God’s goodness
heals us from the sadness generated by the excessive anthropocentrism as
well as from the temptation to reduce human life to the level of animals.
A softer version of this mentality of non-thankfulness is the inclination to
claim rather than to thank. Strengthened by the Spirit it has received on
the day of Pentecost the Church is made free to turn to God in immense
gratitude for the gift of life and to join the eternal praise of the
Countless hosts of angels stand before you to do your will:
they look upon your splendour
and praise you, night and day.
United with them
and in the name of every creature under heaven
we too praise your glory as we say …
and the congregation affirms :
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest
The acclamation is inspired by the grandiose vision of the prophet Isaiah,
chapter 6. The addition ‘Blessed be the name of the one who comes in the
name of the Lord’ is drawn from Psalm 118,26 but points already to the
New Testament. It refers to Jesus solemn entry into Jerusalem. The
phrase is followed by the praise of the mystery of salvation. It starts by
recalling again the creation of human beings :
Father we acknowledge your greatness:
all your actions show your wisdom and love,
you formed man in your own likeness
and set him over the whole world
to serve you, his creator,
and to rule over all creatures.
Human responsibility towards creation is again clearly affirmed. To obey
God means for human beings to rule in a spirit of service and humility. It
does not in any way mean arbitrary and brutal domination. All things are
entrusted to humankind and Jesus asks us to be “perfect as the heavenly
Father is perfect (Matthew 5,48)”. “For he makes his sun rise on the evil
and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5,45).”
Those who keep this prayer in their heart and soul can no longer destroy
the resources of our planet because they are filled with a sense of
humility in face of the task they have been given by the Creator. They
know that they have to “ govern the world with reverence and justice and
offer their judgments with a righteous soul because they will be guided by
the Wisdom who share God’s throne (Wisdom 9,4).”
It is therefore inappropriate to claim that these prayers are the expression of a anthropocentric self­understanding which led to today’s ecological crisis. The prayer of praise then recalls God’s first covenants, the incarnation of
Christ and the redemption of humanity and the whole world. After the
invocation of the Holy Spirit with a view to the consecration of the
elements the words of institution are read, and they are followed by the
memorial of the paschal mystery and offering of the Body and the Blood
of Christ. This brings us to the heart of the eucharistic prayer, of the
‘Lord’s supper’ and the ‘breaking of the Bread’. The celebration brings
into the present Christ’s sacrifice and makes it actual for all participants.
The formula often used in religious instruction ‘repeating the sacrifice on
the Cross’ is strictly speaking inadequate – for Christ died and rose from
the dead once for all. Jesus, the firstborn of all Creation, offers himself to
the Father to liberate the whole of Creation fallen under the power of the
evil or Satan. He frees Creation and re-creates it though the blood of New
Covenant with a view to the resurrection at the end of all times.
Another invocation asking for the gift of the Spirit with a view to sharing
communion followed by a long prayer of intercession, closes with the
great final acclamation or doxology
Through him, with him, in him
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honour is yours,
almighty Father, for ever and ever. Amen
The movement of this prayer of praise and consecration reflects the eternal design of love of the divine Trinity for the world and human beings fallen into sin. It only makes sense on the assumption that God wanted this world to exist and created it so that human beings will receive divine life and the whole of creation be associated to this transformation. Forgetting the praise of the Creator and exclusively recalling the sacrifice of Christ would be an absurdity. It would mean to loose sight of the great design of God’s love whose unity, immensity and wonderful power is witnessed to and proclaimed by the Bible. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world
that we should be holy and blameless before him (Ephesians 1,3­4) Contemplating the whole of God’s Design
The beauty of the eucharistic mystery becomes evident through the contemplation of the whole of God’s design. It begins with God’s act of Creation but can only be fully understood through the contemplation of the coming of the Son in the flesh and of the Holy Spirit who gathers and sanctifies us. All is summed up by the glorification of the Father by the Son in the
Spirit, but
“the glory of God is the life of man
and the life of man is the vision of God (Saint Ireneus)”
Again and again St Ireneus expresses his admiration for God’s wisdom
and the indivisibility of his design as Creator and Redeemer.
“If God’s revelation through creation gives life to every living being on
earth, how much more must God’s manifestation through the Word give
life to those who see God.” 
Does this re­discovery have any implications for the Sunday mass ? Is there a convergence between the concern for the environment and the worship of the Church. ? How is the praise of God’s Creation related to the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays ? Catholic Christians have been stimulated to ask such questions by the activities of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and ecumenically by the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN).
The praise of God the Creator is an essential element in the liturgical
celebration of the Eucharist.
As we look at the eucharistic prayers of the Roman missal – without
forgetting the liturgy of the word which precedes the eucharist – we
Saint Ireneus : Treaty against heresies,IV, 20,7
immediately realise that the praise of God the Creator is present in all
eucharistic prayers.
to The degree of presence varies, of course, from one prayer to the other.
The reference creation is rather discrete in the oldest canon attributed to
Saint Hippolyte (PEII) but much more developed in the fourth autorised
prayer, canon IV. It is true that this prayer is rarely used in the parishes
because it is felt to be too long. This neglect has perhaps contributed to
reduce the sense of gratitude for God’s blessings among Catholic
Christians and provoked the question of the place of Creation in worship.
But let us consider this prayer in more detail. It is theologically very rich.
This prayer has a special preface. The term ‘preface’ is used in the
meaning of ‘beginning’ rather than of ‘introduction’ as in normal
publications. It starts with an invitation by the priest to the congregation
to praise and give glory to God. The first part is a fully developed act of
praise addressed to God to thank him for the Creation of the universe.
.
Father in heaven,
it is right that we should give you thanks and glory :
You alone are God living and true.
Through all eternity you live in unapproachable light.
These opening words of the prayer of praise lead to a very simple
reflection. Praise is given to God the Father for what he is from the
beginning without even mentioning the world which he created. This
exclusive concentration of the act of praise on God echoes the great
tradition of the Jewish blessings, the berakot.
Bless the Lord, o my soul,
o Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty
and are clothed with light as with a garment (Psalm 104,1-2).
To praise God in such a way has become difficult for secularised people
inclined to doubt the existence of God. This difficulty may be one of the
reasons why this prayer is so rarely used in congregational worship. But
it is a source of rejoicing for all who worship with a simple and pure heart
and don’t attach ultimate significance to the riches of this world. The
prayer also presupposes a strong faith in the eternal Trinity, a doctrine
which raises difficulties for a good number of Christians but which is
capable of strengthening our fragile faith and leading it to the great
mystery of God’s love.
The prayer then continues by referring to God’s Creation along the lines
of the Nicean Creed:
Source of life and goodness you have created all things
to fill your creatures with every blessing
and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light.
The prayer expresses the essential truth: God has created the world and
called it into existence for our sake but at the same time for the sake of
the whole creation. Compared to the teaching of the Greek philosophers,
the prayer offers a revolutionary perspective. Plato or Aristotle held
different views.
(Pascal Roux , in “The Eucharist and Creation” Ed. Lukas Fischer,
Geneva 2006)
Other Traditional Prayers of the Roman Liturgy
THE EXULTET, « Let Everything and Everyone Rejoice ».
The liturgical introduction describes this hymn as a proclamation of the
paschal mystery that is at the heart of the Easter Liturgy., when all levels
of Creation are illumined by the Light of Christ.
It calls upon the angels to rejoice with the earth « made radiant by
splendour (of the victory of Christ) and enlightened with the splendour of
the Eternal King »
It calls upon the Earth too « Rejoice O Earth , in shining splendour... »
Moreover, the symbolism of darkness giving way to light is not merely
spoken but has been enacted in the Liturgy ; the dark church gives way to
the single candle, Christ which is then spread through the whole
community present. We see this is a scattering of darkness over the whole
world.
The whole of salvation history as told in this Hymn, is seen to have its
exposition in the contemplation of the essential importance in the
scheme of salvation of the daily work of the bee, i.e. and production of
the wax, that forms the candle (Christ) bringing light to the world.
TE DEUM
Te Deum Laudamus, We Praise You O God
This is a hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving for occasions of solemn joy
and rejoicing, a triumphal expression of the Great Chain of Being. It
expresses joy in the beauty and glory of God’s creation in all it’s
dimensions as it praises and adores God its creator. Nothing is said
directly of the breaches in the great design of God’s activity, but the work
of the Holy Spirit is seen as restoring the broken bonds of creation.
Te Deum
We praise you O God
we acclaim you as the Most High.
Everlasting God
all the world turns towards you its creator.
All the angels sing your praise
the hosts of heaven and all the angelic powers
all the cherubim and seraphim
call out to you in unending praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy
is the most high God of angel hosts!
The heavens and earth are filled
with your majesty and glory.
The glorious band of those who proclaimed your word
the noble company of those who spoke in your name
The white-robed assembly of those who shed their blood for you
all sing your praise.
And to the ends of the earth
we your holy people proclaim our faith in you:
God most high whose majesty is boundless
Incarnate Word who is born in us,
Holy Spirit our advocate
restoring the damaged bonds of creation.
Jesus our Wisdom, fill us with your glory!
When you became one of us to save us
you were graciously born of Mary.
You overcame the power of death
opening heaven to all who believe in you.
Resplendent with the glory of God
you will come as you promised to gather us to yourself.
You saved us by shedding your blood for us.
Come, we implore you, to help us.
Grant us with all your friends
a place in your eternal glory.
Translation by Jacqueline Field-Bibb, AD 2005
3. SOME GENERAL COMMENTS ON WORLD VIEWS
AND AFFECT THEOLOGIES
Basic Questions :
The verse, which is said or sung the celebrant enters at the opening of the
liturgy of the Mass, bears the form of many antiphons and prayers used
throughout the Sunday Liturgy. They are characterised by an expression
of the balance between ‘the world’ and ‘the heavens’. They use a variety
of expressions to make a distinction, sometimes more poetic than real. In
differenciating the two realms, they emphasise that the creative power of
God is at work in both.
This leaves us with the intriguing questions ; what is the difference, if
any, between the way God exercises creative and continuing power in
relation to ‘earth’ and ‘heaven’ ? Are the two spheres of God’s presence
and activity necessarily radically different and how might we characterise
the difference ? Most urgently for us who believe as the foundational
article of faith and so expressed in all the major Creeds, is that God
revealed in both. How then does Christian teaching and practice express
the links between ‘earth’ and ‘heaven’? Incarnational theology is
concerned with expressing this mystery through the ages. Christology is
the story of how the christian church has grappled with this mystery
throughout the its history, to elucidate how the role of Christ as member
God-as-Trinity creates and redeems creation.
Liturgy is the action that brings the two « worlds » together. It allows to
formally hear Christ in our midst, by re-enacting and making representing the work of Christ and the story of salvation. Traditional
textsof Sacred Scripture bear the history of the Christian community and
link us to the earliest communities and Hebrew ancestors, and the
traditions of the ages. The Word as Logos of God is expressed inthe lived
tradition of the gathered community, in proclaiming and hearing the
sacred scripture, in the experience and tradition of the Church, in the
gathered people who are the Body of Christ. In this mystery of God’s
activity and power that is presented in the Liturgy, the main response to
this mystery is expressed by the Liturgical enactment of the Event of
Christ can be seen to be Adoration/Worship, Thanksgiving and Petition.
Prayers of Adoration, praise, thanksgiving and petition are in keeping
with the cycle of the liturgical year, of the Church and the world. One
way of looking at the prayers of the Liturgy is to see in them a search for
symbolic and metaphorical language to bring to life for us the continuing
mystery of the modes of God’s presence.
The living context effects liturgical expression and experience.
The context of Liturgy in different ages effects how we form and perform
the sacred liturgy in our day. It is ligitimate therefore to ask how people in
the past made sense of their world because the traditions that we receive
and use today were formed in another time and in another historical
context. We can learn and see some of the tools that the makers of
liturgy have used in confronting the task of shaping a fitting liturgy for
their time.
Making sense of the world.
« For Peoples, generally, their story of the universe and the human
role in the universe is their primary source of intelligibility and value.
Only through this story of how the universe came to be in the
beginning and how it came to be as it is, does a person come to
appreciate the meaning of life or to derive the psychic energy needed
to deal effectively with those crises moments that occur in the life of
the individual and in the life of society. Such a story is the basis of
ritual initiations throughout the world. It communicates the most
sacred of mysteries. So in our western Christian tradition the story of
creation and the sequence of historical events leading from that
moment to the existing human situation is recounted in the Easter
Vigil ceremonies, the central moment in the yearl religious ritual. »
(Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth, p.xi, 1986)
Hypotheses of Creation : Making sense of the world.
The Classic formulations derive from the Biblical accounts of
creation and the doctrines of Incarnation and Transcendence.
Pictures or stories of the universe that show the perennial interest and
need to engage with the story of origins of our world , have existed
through the millenia, in western thought and literature, some of which
are :
a) Maimonides who gives us the « Torah of Nature » as well as of
Scripture, as a place for God’s presence.
b) the Gnostics had elements of pantheism acording to Augustine (City
of God Bk4, Ch 12/13).
c) Pantheism expresses the universe, nature, and God all as equivalents.
God is found only in nature and not outside it.
d) Cosmotheists, see God as created by man and as possibly the end state
of human evolution.
e) In the 20th century Carl Jung’s absolutisation of the idea of
« collective unconscious », and Emile Durkheim’s « collective
consciousness » are moving in the same direction.
f) Some see creation as a ‘ladder of ascent’, where the different levels
are seen as ascending or descending . intended to lead onwards and
upwards, (e.g. the gnostic texts such as Pistis Sophia Ref.)
g) Another idea is in the form of a Cosmic Dance, ‘Nothing exists
without music, for the universe itself is said to have been frames by a
kind of harmony of sounds and heaven itself revolves under the tones of
that humming’ Isadore of Seville, (c560-636 AD).
John Dryden, (1631-1700 AD) puts it this way :
‘From Harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began :
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran
The diapason closing full in man.’
(A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day, 1687AD).
(h) We have also the modern Gaia Theory, proposed by James
Lovelock, which sees living and non living parts of the earth as a
complex and interracting system that can be thought of as a single
organism. All living things have a regulatory effect on the earth’s
environment and promotes life overall. Lovelock who proposes this
theory is ridiculed by some scientists as a return to paganism, and locking
the universe into a predetermined purpose, and determinism.
The Great Chain of Being
A conceptual description that has pervaded through the middle ages is
that of the « Great Chain of Being ». This sees the whole of God’s
creation in one interlinked system, starting with God, creator and
originator of everything that exists. The idea of a chain of cosmic order is
hierarchical ; it sees the interdependence of the levels as crucial and tries
to make sense of the evidence of our eyes. The angels and ether, are
followed by the stars, then the elements, humans, animals/plants/metals
(these three in corresponding planes), order and interconnectedness are
the main characteristics. The idea began with Plato’s Timaeus,
was developed by Aristotle, was adopted by the Alexandrian Jews, and
was spread by the Neo-Platonists, and from the Middle Ages till the 18th
century was one of those accepted commonplaces taken for granted. The
Scivias of Hildegardof Bingen, for example is permeated with joyous
elucidation of the interconnectedness of the whole of creation.
The Language of Poetry is often used to express this idea.
One of its best known expressions in English is from Shakespeare’s
Troilus and Cressida, which also contains echoes of the other two
world views:
‘The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre
Observe degrees, priority and place
Insist on course, proportion season, form,
Office and custom, in all line of order :
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthron’d and spher’d
Amidst the other, whose med’cinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil.
Wind posts like commandment of a king,
Sans chech, to good and bad. But when the planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander,
What plagues and what portents, what mutiny,
What raging of the sea, shaking of the earth,
Commotion of the winds, frights changes horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixture. Oh, when degree is shak’d,
Which is the ladder to all high designs,
The enterprise is sick. How could communities,
Degrees in schools and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,
The primogenitive and due of birth,
Prerogative and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns sceptres laurels,
But by degree away, untune that string,
And hark, what discord follows. Each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy. The bounded waters
Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores
And make a sop of all this solid globe.
Strength should be lord to imbecility,
And the rude son should strike his father dead.
This chaos, when degree is suffocate,
Follows the choking’.
This passage gives a picture, of immense variety of activity, cosmic and
domestic, constantly threatened with dissolution. It is also incomplete
since it does not formally express, the place of God, as a poetic
expression, and not a theological statement, it takes God for granted.
The over-rationalism of the 18th century rendered the « Chain of
Being » idea ridiculous, since it didn’t account for the chasm between
man and even the lowest of the angels !
The Shift in sensibility with concentration on the individual experience
and an almost contempt for the ‘world’ is seen in English poetry in the
contrast between Shapespeare’s inclusive vision and the individualistic
poetry of Milton.
On Time
Fly envious Time, till thou run out they race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whole speed is but the heavy plummets’ pace,
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more then what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross
So little is our loss,
So little is they gain.
For when as each thing bad they hast entombed,
And last of all they greedy self consumed,
Then long eternity shall greet our bliss
With an abundant kiss ;
And joy shall overtake us as a flood,
When everything that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine
With truth, and peace, and love shall ever shine
About the supreme throne
Of him , to whose happy-making sight alone,
When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb,
Then all this earthly grossness quit,
Attired with stars, we shall forever sit,
Triumphing over Death and Chance, and thee,
O Time.