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Why Catechism Preaching in
a Second Worship
Service?
by G. H. Visscher,
Th.Drs.
Recently
Rev. G. H. Visscher participated in a forum in a local Christian
Reformed Church where the second worship service was being
discussed. He was asked to present the case for the historic
practice of having a second service wherein the Catechism would be
the guide for preaching. Here follows an adapted version of his
address.
Why a Second
Worship Service?
Why a second worship service? Why
catechism preaching in this second worship service? Those are the two questions
that need to be answered in all kinds of Reformed churches. From the
outset it is good to realize that struggles in this regard are not
just a specialty of some Christian Reformed Churches. While I have
the pleasure of serving a congregation which attends almost as
faithfully in the afternoon as in the morning, the problem exists in
some of our congregations as well – especially, it seems, in the
more urban areas. But what I mean is that when you study the
history, you find that the phenomenon is not new. Even in the
Reformation period it was a challenge. I read about one church which
announced the catechism service three times only to find that no
one showed up, and another church in which the only listener
to the catechism sermon was the caretaker.1 Nevertheless,
it has consistently been maintained by Reformed ecclesiastical
assemblies that it is a good thing when alongside of services
wherein a particular text of Scripture is proclaimed, there are also
services wherein the catechism is used as a guide for the preaching.
Why? A number of principles can be highlighted here.
A Longstanding Christian
Practice
The first is that
catechism preaching is a longstanding Christian
practice. Due to a need to educate members of the Reformed
churches in Reformed doctrine, the second service has always had
somewhat more of an educational character and purpose. This is seen
in the fact that in the early Reformation period, time was taken out
for direct catechetical instruction of the youth with the recitation
of answers and the like. Yet, it needs to be realized: preaching of
the Word with the Catechism as a guide was not an afterthought.
Catechism preaching was practised from the beginning, and intended
right from the time the Catechism was written.2
Rather than being merely a specialty of the Dutch Reformed
churches, it was the practice of the Lutherans, Zwinglians, and the
Calvinists.3 The British churches even received the
advice that ministers negligent in catechism preaching should be
punished and members absent from the catechism preaching should be
fined.4 (How’s that for a sure fund raiser!) Some have defended the idea
that actually the practice predates the Reformation since preaching
on the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments
(three sizable parts of the catechism today!) was already known in
the Middle Ages and the early church. Cyril of Jerusalem is known to
have preached on the Apostles’ Creed back in 350 AD. In principle, of course,
that is the same as catechism
preaching.
Systematic Presentation
of Christian Doctrine
The second
principle is that this longstanding Christian practice of catechism preaching is
beneficial because, when it is done well, it is a systematic
presentation of Christian doctrine. This was obviously its first
purpose. Members of the Reformed churches generally knew what they
were against and reforming from. But they needed positive and
systematic instruction in the full truth of the Scriptures and
received this when the Catechism was used as a guide for the
preaching. When Martin Luther was appalled at the lack of knowledge
among the common people, he found the right answer in catechism
preaching.5
If we want to have mature congregations that are not tossed
to and fro with every wind of doctrine, this kind of systematic
preaching is ever so essential. The fact that very often in history
it has been the Arminians who opposed catechism preaching, should
tell us something, shouldn’t it? In an age when we are being
bombarded with all kinds of erroneous ideas, there is something very
wholesome about receiving regular instruction in the Christian
truth.
Can we really say that we know these doctrines so well that
we do not need this instruction anymore? To be sure, it takes some
creativity and hard work for ministers to come up with different
approaches to the Lord’s Days and keep it interesting time and
again, but it’s well worth the effort!
For this purpose, in my judgement, one does not need to stick
just to the Heidelberg Catechism. While the other confessions are
not designed for this purpose, they certainly can be beneficially
used in this manner as well. Consider, for instance, the rampant
prevalence of Arminianism in so much of Christianity today. Would it
not be beneficial then to use the Canons of Dort for the same
purpose of systematically teaching Biblical truth?
And what about the whole matter of ethics? Are we and our
youth so aware of the biblical positions regarding a whole host of
moral and ethical issues which arise today? Is there not a lot of
value then in regular preaching on the Ten Words of the Covenant?
Furthermore, is catechism preaching not a way to ensure that, as
Paul put it, the “whole counsel of God” is proclaimed (Acts 20:27
RSV)? When a minister always gets to choose a text, it is easy to
ride hobby horses and ignore less favourite subjects. But this
one-sidedness is prevented when there is a system such as in the
Catechism.
On this point, it is good to note as well, how wonderfully
personal the catechism is. The words “doctrine” and “system” often
suggest today that the material is cold and impersonal. But
preaching does not need to be impersonal or apersonal when the
Catechism is our guide. Think of the way the words “I,” “me,” and
“my” are used here and you know that this material – these doctrinal
truths – are meant to be brought home to the hearer and impressed
upon their very hearts.
Preaching of the
Gospel
A third
principle is that this longstanding Christian practice of catechism preaching is
beneficial because it is after all preaching of the Gospel.
It is not really just preaching on a human document; when it is done
properly, the Catechism is used as a window into the Scriptures and
as a means to expound the various themes of the Scriptures. Then it
too is preaching of the Gospel. And – need I remind you? – there is
nothing today more powerful than true and faithful proclamation of
the Word. Think of Lord’s Day 25 of the Heidelberg Catechism: “where
does this faith come from? From the Holy Spirit, who works it in our
hearts by the preaching of the gospel . . . ” Here too the Catechism
reflects the truth of Scripture. Paul writes to the Romans in
chapter 1 that he is eager to preach the gospel precisely because he
is convinced that “it is the power of God for the salvation of
everyone who believes . . . ” (Rom 1:15,16; cf Rom 10:17). Paul does
not say here that this gospel can be the power of God. He does not say that this
gospel has the potential to become the power of God. He says:
it is the power of God. The gospel, you see, is not advice to
people, suggesting to them how they can lift themselves up. It
is power. And it is not too hard to imagine that it is
power when we remember that it is the Word of God that is
being proclaimed.
The Word that came forth from the mouth of God was the power
that created the world in the first place, was it not? God spoke and
light appeared out of darkness! God said let the dry land
produce, and it brought forth trees. The whole universe derives its
existence and reality from the speech of God. “By the word of the LORD
were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth”
(Ps 33). The word that comes from the mouth of God will not return
to Him empty (Is 55:10-11). The Lord Jesus too is the divine Word
become flesh . . . When he says “Rise!”, paralytics rise,
take up their pallets and go home (Matt 9:6). When He says
“Peace! Be still!” even the wind and the sea obey him and become
calm (Matt 8:26). When He cries out with a loud voice to a
dead man who cannot hear, then there comes Lazarus . . . out of the
tomb (John 11:43)!
The true preaching of the Word of God is in one line with
that; it is not the proclamation of a pipe-dream after the style of
the politicians who come with their endless speeches about promises
they seemingly have no way of keeping. Nor is it the proclamation of
a doubt after the style of so many. The Word of God can call things
into existence, change the old, undo what was, bring forth the new.
It can bring light out of darkness and joy out of tears. It is this
Word of God – evocative, dynamic, creative, saving, sin-annulling,
death-defeating, healing, life-giving – which the church proclaims.
Today too the Spirit of God uses this means to change hardhearted
stubborn sinners and make them soft and pliable beings that can be
moulded in the hands of God?
How does it come about? Only when those in the pulpit and
those in the pew realize that the holy place in the church of Christ
is the pulpit; it is from there that God speaks and it is from there
especially that He works in the midst of the congregation. And I
would stress: the pulpit and the pew must realize this. Those in the
pulpit must feed the flock a wholesome measure of God’s Word,
confident in its value, and those in the pew must hunger for that
very Word; where one of these two are missing, there are serious
problems in the church.
To be sure, if the pulpit is just another platform or
lectern, if the pulpit is just another man’s private stage, then we
might just as well remove it and find something better. But churches
are called to do things God’s way, are they not? And preaching is
the God-appointed way for our age!
A Worship
Service
Fourthly, also the second service with its catechism
preaching is a worship service. And the Lord is worthy of all
worship, is he not? If we are enthralled with the Lord God, will
we not want to do more than just the bare minimum in terms of
worshipping Him? When we make allowances for average sleeping times,
we are left with about 119 hours in a week. Where do we ever get the
notion that we can spend no more than one of those 119 hours in
corporate worship? Every week begins with a Lord’s Day, does it not,
and not just a Lord’s hour? If anything more than an hour a week is
too much, it begs the question about the degree to which we desire
to spend eternity in a place of worship such as the new heaven and
the new earth (Rev 4:10; 7:11; 11:1; 15:4; 21).
The truth is: a
genuine thanksgiving to God for his work of grace in our lives never
leads us to worship him less but always more.
What does it say about us then when we are seeking to get away with
the bare minimum? What does it say about this generation when a
football or a hockey game is never too long, but a worship service
almost invariably is? Besides, we should not isolate the sermon from
the act of worship;6 the people of God do not come
together just to consume another sermon. They come to worship the
Lord! Thus when the people of God are too complacent to do that for
more than one hour a Lord’s Day, some serious questions need to be
asked and, probably, some serious admonitions administered. Those
are the kind of arguments one would bring in
here.
Nowadays it seems popular to bring in all kinds
of other means in which growth in biblical knowledge and Christian
fellowship can be attained. It does not make sense of course to
argue against these when they have such laudable goals. But the
overriding question has to be then: why do these things so often
have to take the place of a second service in which the proclamation
of the Word takes place? If they are desirable, in accordance
with God’s Word, and bring honour to Him, can they not be added to
that service or to some other occasion?
Reformed churches have always given the proclamation of the
Word primacy of place. Worship must have priority. Churches that let
go of this longstanding Christian tradition will discover in the
long run that it has not been in the best interests of their
dedication to the Lord our God.
Rev. Gerhard H. Visscher is Pastor
of Burlington-Waterdown Canadian Reformed
Church
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1 See N.H. Gootjes,
“Catechism Preaching (Part 1)” Proceedings of the International
Conference of Reformed Churches 1993, 147; cf D. Sinnema, “The
Second Sunday Service in the Early Dutch Reformed Tradition,
Calvin Theological Journal 1997 321.
2 This is
evident from the preface to the first edition of the Catechism
(January 19, 1563), and from a letter of Zacharias Ursinus (Gootjes,
“Catechism Preaching I,” 138;
Sinnema, “The Second Sunday”,
303).
3 Gootjes,
140-143.
4 Gootjes,
149.
5 Gootjes,
140-1.
6 See C. Trimp,
“Preaching as the Public Means of Divine Redemption,” Mid-America
Journal of Theology Volume 10 1999
52-3.
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Published with permission from Clarion and from Rev. G.H.
Visscher
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