A Baptist Theologizes the Liturgical Year
David Neff

Every week my desk at Christianity Today is flooded with review copies of new books. Most look a bit too familiar, modeled on other books the way the house-brand raisin bran at your grocery store is modeled on the name-brand versions by Post and Kellogg. They’re probably serviceable, but they really don’t grab your attention.

Last Monday, there was a book that caught my attention for its originality: The Rhythm of Doctrine by John E. Colwell. The book is subtitled, A Liturgical Sketch of Christian Faith and Faithfulness.

The book caught my attention, first, because the author is trying to organize a systematic theology around the seasons of the church year. I don’t know of anyone else who has done this, and Colwell says it’s such an obvious idea that “someone must have adopted this approach previously.” Except that neither he nor I know of such attempts. Most systematic theologies are organized around the three major sections of the Creed: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Occasionally someone tries a different organizing principle. James McClendon tried organizing a systematic theology using ethics as his starting point back in 1986. And Tom Finger tried to organize a systematic around eschatology in 1985. But these are highly unusual departures.

But it wasn’t merely novelty. Colwell’s effort caught my attention for several other reasons.

One of those is that I am interested in narrative approaches to theology. And the seasons of the church year are the chapters in the story of salvation. At their best, narrative approaches to theology help us understand God in more dynamic terms than many systematic theologies do. The Bible tells us (in the words of G. Ernest Wright’s 1952 monograph) about “the God who acts.” This notion is born out in the preaching of the apostles as recorded in Acts. Their sermons are a recitation of the mighty acts of God, leading up to and culminating in Jesus. Or in the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel, the prophets introduce us to the God who brings deep pathos to his interaction with a suffering world. In other words, it is through narrative that we best convey knowledge of the God who interferes in human history because he cares deeply.

The third thing, however, that caught my attention is that John Colwell teaches at Spurgeon’s College in London. That’s a Baptist institution, I thought. What’s a Baptist doing organizing his theology around the liturgical calendar. That’s what an Anglican or Lutheran might do. Or perhaps a Methodist. (The closest thing to this effort is Geoffrey Wainwright’s Doxlogy: The Praise of God in Worship (1980). But what’s a Baptist doing writing about such things?
Colwell’s answer is very personal.

I write as as Baptist and some may expect me to conform to this non-conformity of neglect. I write, moreover, as one who teaches in a college founded by a Victorian Baptist preacher who was notorious in his distaste for liturgy.


That's exactly what was puzzling me. So why did Colwell turn to formal liturgy with its prescribed prayers, its creeds, and its set rhythms of devotion?

More than any other factor, it was the experience of wrestling with the crushing darkness of clinical depression that drew me to a more formal devotional life: when you really cannot pray yourself, when every form of ‘felt’ experience has fled, when you are despairing of yourself and despairing of God, then the prayers of others become precious. … I discovered the prayers of the Church, some ancient and some contemporary, that expressed concisely and profoundly what I would have wanted to pray myself if I had been able.


I read that passage just a few days before hearing the revelations about the spiritual dryness of Mother Teresa. Perhaps you’ve seen the news stories. Clearly, without set practices of devotion, she could not have persevered in her saintly work.

And then I thought of how I begin each morning’s prayers. Using an abbreviated form taken from the Book of Common Prayer, I always begin morning devotion with these words from Psalm 51: “Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.” When I say those words, I realize that I do not pray. God prays through me. I cannot pray. I need God to “open my lips.” And then the Spirit helps me in my weakness.

I’m glad that in their “crushing darkness” John Colwell (and Mother Teresa) have learned to rely on the prayers of others. For Colwell and for me, that has meant learning to rely less on self and on feelings and to enter into the larger prayer of the church, which organizes itself around the chapters of the story of salvation. And that is what section four of the Call for an Ancient Evangelical Future invites us to: “Therefore, we call Evangelicals to recover the historic substance of worship of Word and Table and to attend to the Christian year, which marks time according to God's saving acts.”

A Baptist look at the Liturgical Calendar

Taken from: "At Home in Wyoming" Blog
As a child growing up in Virginia, we attended a Methodist church that my father helped found. Thinking back, I remember stained glass windows and the progression of the church calendar, the Protestant Liturgical Calendar, that focused on the life and ministry of Jesus. As a child, I loved following the seasons...the time of Advent and the Advent candles, the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas, the dark time of Lent and Good Friday, and the glory of Easter and the beauty of the Resurrection.

When I look back on my childhood, I think that the reason the impact of the church calendar stayed with me all these years, was that it involved so many of the senses. I heard the specially selected readings from the Bible, I saw the different colors on the pulpit and communion table covers, I heard and loved the hymns appropriate to each season, I smelled the melting wax from the advent candles, the lilies at Easter and touched the palms on Palm Sunday. As young as I was, the impact of all of this was that I realized that these celebrations of the Christian faith were sacred times. Because so many of the senses were involved, the memory of that time didn't fade, but stayed with me.

Many years later, I committed my life to God by asking Jesus to abide in my heart. I began attending Baptist churches...and was surprised to find that they did not follow the church calendar--other than the celebration of Easter and Christmas. ( I since learned that some Baptist churches do follow the Western Protestant Liturgical Calendar, but not the churches around here). I am not sure why...probably something about it causes offense. (I was watching the Waltons on DVD last week, and they were decorating the church at Christmas, and the preacher said that some congregation members may take offense at the draping of pine...and the Walton boy said that you can always find some Baptist that will take offense at just about anything! I can say that with love because I am a Baptist!).

But a few years ago I began to organize my Christian walk around observing the seasons of the church calendar. I just sort of adapted it into a personal tool for growth in Christ. During Advent I read all the gospels up to the point of the birth of Christ. During Lent I read everything leading up to the Crucifixion. I follow the Lent practice of giving up something...this year it is time--I am setting aside extra time for prayer. I usually give up something that will draw me closer to God. Observing the time of Lent helps me to think about the suffering of Christ on the cross, just as Advent stirs me into thinking about how much God loved us to send his Son. Since I started doing this, I have noticed that I do a lot more reflection on the life of Jesus.

I have read that there is an increase in Protestant churches following the Western Liturgical Calendar. I can't answer the reason why different denominations do what they do...but I can say that our culture is becoming increasingly chaotic, everyone just too busy and overwhelmed by the too fast pace of daily life. We are also becoming increasingly secular...the children know Easter as the season of the Easter bunny and Christmas as a time for Santa...but not much time is spent anymore on the reflection for the real reasons for each celebration. When I follow the church calendar, I slow down the pace of my life, and reflect on the life of Christ. Maybe others are craving this in their lives, also. I am NOT advocating anyone else do this if they are not so inclined...I am just sharing something that was a tool for me for growth. The Bible says,

"So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12).

One of the ways I personally number my days is to observe the Christian celebrations of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. And there you have it folks, this Baptist's look at the Liturgical Calendar!

First United Methodist Church- Little Rock, AR