RSB5Living the Christian Life: Worship, Sacraments and Prayer

Worship is showing love and reverence to God, for example through prayer, praise, readings and music. Liturgical worship follows a set order with set words, usually printed in a service book.

• Examples: the Catholic Mass; the Orthodox Divine Liturgy; Church of England services from the Book of Common Prayer (1662) or Common Worship (2000).
• Typical features: a priest or minister leads; the congregation says set responses; set Bible readings; a creed; set prayers; often a sacrament, especially the Eucharist. Examiners report that most correct answers about liturgical worship named the sacraments.
• The church year shapes it: readings, colours and prayers change for Advent, Lent, Easter and other seasons.
• Why Christians value it: everyone knows what to do and can join in; the same words link Christians across the world and back through history; the words have been tested over centuries and teach correct belief; it gives a sense of awe and reverence.
• Criticisms from other Christians: words can be repeated without thinking about them; it leaves little room for the Holy Spirit to lead the service in new ways.

Forms of Christian worship, from most structured to least

Worship

Showing love and reverence to God, for example by prayer, praise and readings.

Liturgy

The set order and words of a service.

Liturgical worship

Worship that follows a set order with set words, e.g. the Mass.

The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is the Church of England’s traditional service book. Its first version (1549) was largely the work of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer; the version still in use dates from 1662.

• What is in it: Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer for every day; the service of Holy Communion; services for baptism, confirmation, marriage and funerals; the Psalms; a short Catechism (questions and answers on the faith); and, printed with it, the 39 Articles, which set out Anglican belief.
• ‘Common’ means shared: one book of prayer, in English, for the whole country, so that everyone could understand and join in rather than hear services in Latin.
• Its authority: with the 39 Articles, it remains one of the Church of England’s official standards of belief. Newer services (Common Worship, 2000) must agree with it.
• How it is used today: most parishes use Common Worship for most services, but many still hold BCP services, especially early Holy Communion and Choral Evensong in cathedrals.
• Why it matters to many Anglicans: it unites Anglicans in the same words, and many other Anglican churches worldwide based their prayer books on it; it teaches Anglican belief through the words people pray; its language has shaped English, and phrases from its wedding and funeral services are still widely known; it links worshippers today with centuries of Christians before them.
• Different views: some Anglicans find its 17th-century English hard to follow and prefer modern services; others value its beauty and stability.

Book of Common Prayer

The Church of England’s traditional service book (1662), in English, used by the whole Church.

Common Worship

The Church of England’s modern set of services (2000), used alongside the Book of Common Prayer.

Choral Evensong

Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, sung by a choir, often in cathedrals.

Non-liturgical worship has no fixed set of words. The minister or leader chooses the songs, readings, prayers and sermon, and some services are open to whatever the Holy Spirit is believed to inspire.

• Examples: many Baptist, Methodist, Evangelical and independent churches, where the sermon (a Bible-based talk) is often the centre of the service.
• Pentecostal worship (for example Elim and Assemblies of God churches): lively music from a worship band; raised hands, clapping and dancing; spontaneous prayer out loud; speaking in tongues; prayer for healing; personal testimonies.
• Speaking in tongues follows the first Pentecost, when the apostles ‘were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak’ (Acts 2:4, World English Bible, British Edition). The name ‘Pentecostal’ comes from this.
• Why some Christians choose it: they believe the Spirit should be free to lead; worship feels personal and joyful; it can respond to what people need that day; the sermon applies the Bible directly to daily life.
• Criticisms: it may depend too much on one leader; it can be hard for newcomers to know what to do; some say feelings can be mistaken for the Spirit.

Non-liturgical worship

Worship with no fixed text, planned by the leader or open to the Spirit’s leading.

Pentecostal

Churches that stress the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and healing, named after Pentecost (Acts 2).

Speaking in tongues

Praying aloud in a language the speaker has not learnt, believed to be a gift of the Holy Spirit.

• Informal worship is relaxed and unplanned, often in small groups: house groups meeting to pray and study the Bible; charismatic prayer meetings; worship at youth events; a Quaker meeting, held mostly in silence until someone feels moved to speak.
• Jesus said, ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them’ (Matthew 18:20, World English Bible, British Edition), so Christians believe a small, simple gathering is real worship.
• Private (individual) worship is a Christian worshipping alone: personal prayer, reading the Bible, meditation, worship music, praying the rosary (Catholic), or praying before icons at home (Orthodox).
• Jesus taught: ‘when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret’ (Matthew 6:6, World English Bible, British Edition).
• Why Christians value them: a personal relationship with God; can be done anywhere, at any time; space to bring personal needs; supports public worship during the week.
• Different views: most Christians see private worship as adding to public worship, not replacing it. Catholics are expected to attend Mass on Sundays; many Protestants say the Christian life needs fellowship with other believers (Hebrews 10:25).

Informal worship

Relaxed, unplanned worship, often in small groups such as house groups.

Private worship

A believer worshipping God alone, e.g. personal prayer or Bible reading.

Rosary

A string of beads Catholics use to count prayers such as the Hail Mary while thinking about events in Jesus’ life.

Section 3.1 is asterisked in the specification, so Pearson can ask you to describe differences between Christian worship and worship in another religion. Islam is the obvious choice: Muslim prayer is Salah.

• Similarities help too: both are ways of praising God and asking for help; both can be done in a group or alone; both use set words (the Lord’s Prayer; al-Fatihah) as well as personal prayer.

Preparation and timing: Christian worship and Salah

Salah

The Muslim practice of prayer five times a day.

Wudu

The ritual washing Muslims perform before Salah.

Jummah

Friday midday congregational prayer in the mosque, with a sermon.

A sacrament is a holy ritual with an outward, visible sign (such as water, bread or wine) of an inward, spiritual grace from God. The Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer defines it in almost exactly these terms. Grace is God’s free, undeserved love and help.

• Catholic and Orthodox Christians: seven. Baptism; confirmation (Orthodox: chrismation); the Eucharist; reconciliation (confession); anointing of the sick; marriage; holy orders (ordination). The Orthodox call them the Holy Mysteries. They mark the whole of life, from birth to death.
• Church of England: two. Article XXV of the 39 Articles says there are ‘two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel’: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The other five are not counted as sacraments of the Gospel, though many Anglicans still practise them as important rites.
• Most other Protestants: two, because Jesus commanded both: ‘baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19) and ‘Do this in memory of me’ (Luke 22:19, World English Bible, British Edition). Many Baptists and Pentecostals prefer the word ordinances: acts Jesus ordered, done in obedience.
• Quakers and the Salvation Army: none as outward rituals. They believe God’s grace is received directly, without physical signs, and that the whole of life should be lived as a sacrament.
• Why sacraments matter to many Christians: they believe God gives grace through them; they mark key moments of life; Jesus commanded at least two; they unite the Church.

Seven, two or none: sacraments in different traditions

Sacrament

An outward, visible sign of an inward, spiritual grace from God.

Grace

God’s free, undeserved love and help.

Ordinance

A practice Jesus ordered, such as baptism; the word many Baptists use instead of sacrament.

39 Articles

The Church of England’s statement of belief (1571), printed with the Book of Common Prayer.

• Article XXVII of the 39 Articles says the baptism of young children should be kept in the Church, so the Church of England baptises infants.
• Jesus himself was baptised by John in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17), and he told his followers to baptise (Matthew 28:19).
• Reasons for believers’ baptism only: in the New Testament people were baptised after they repented and believed (Acts 2:38); faith must be a free choice; a baby can’t make promises; Jesus was baptised as an adult.

Baptism

The sacrament by which a person joins the Church, using water as a sign of being washed clean of sin.

Infant baptism

Baptism of babies, with promises made by parents and godparents.

Believers’ baptism

Baptism by full immersion of people old enough to choose to follow Jesus.

Original sin

The sinful nature Christians believe all humans inherit from the Fall of Adam and Eve.

The Eucharist (Greek for ‘thanksgiving’), also called Holy Communion, the Mass or the Lord’s Supper, is the sharing of bread and wine that remembers Jesus’ Last Supper. Jesus took bread and said, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me’ (Luke 22:19, World English Bible, British Edition).

• Shared meaning: all remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, give thanks, and express unity as the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:17).
• Article XXVIII rejects transubstantiation, which is one reason Catholics and Anglicans don’t share Communion together.
• Quakers and the Salvation Army hold no Communion service.

Belief and frequency in four traditions

Eucharist

The sacrament of sharing bread and wine in thanksgiving for Jesus’ death and resurrection; also Holy Communion, Mass, Lord’s Supper.

Transubstantiation

The Catholic belief that the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood in substance.

Memorial

The belief that the Eucharist is an act of remembering, with the bread and wine as symbols.

Prayer is communicating with God: speaking to God and, many Christians say, listening too.

• Set prayers are written prayers many Christians share: the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Jesus Prayer, and the short ‘collects’ in the Book of Common Prayer. Why use them: everyone can join in; they link Christians worldwide; they say things well when a person can’t find words, for example in grief; they teach belief.
• Informal (extempore) prayer is prayer in a person’s own words. Why use it: it is personal and honest; it can be about anything in a person’s life; it fits a relationship with God as a loving Father. It is common in private prayer and in Evangelical and Pentecostal churches.
• When each is used: set prayers in liturgical services, at baptisms, weddings and funerals, or when someone is too upset to pray; informal prayer in private, in house groups and in non-liturgical services.
• Why prayer matters: it builds a relationship with God; Jesus prayed often and taught his followers to pray; Christians find comfort, strength and guidance; intercession is a way of caring for others.
• Jesus warned, ‘In praying, don’t use vain repetitions’ (Matthew 6:7, World English Bible, British Edition), so Christians who use set prayers say the words must be meant, not just recited.

Prayer

Communicating with God, by speaking and listening.

Set prayer

A written prayer many Christians share, e.g. the Lord’s Prayer.

Informal prayer

Prayer in a person’s own words, from the heart.

Intercession

Praying for other people.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches how to pray (Matthew 6:5-14), then gives the prayer Christians call the Lord’s Prayer or the ‘Our Father’.

• Pray sincerely, not for show (6:5-6): hypocrites pray on street corners to be seen; instead, pray in your inner room to your Father ‘who is in secret’.
• Don’t babble (6:7-8): God knows what you need before you ask, so long, repetitive prayers are not needed.
• ‘Pray like this’ (6:9-13): ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors…’ (World English Bible, British Edition).
• Forgive others (6:14): straight afterwards, Jesus says that if you forgive others, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
• Why Christians value it: Jesus himself gave it; it is a pattern for all prayer (praise first, then God’s will, daily needs, forgiveness, protection); every denomination uses it, so it unites Christians; it reminds them to forgive and to trust God for what they need.

The shape of the Lord’s Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

The prayer Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13), also called the ‘Our Father’.

Sermon on the Mount

Jesus’ long teaching in Matthew 5–7, including the Lord’s Prayer.