wfn.org | Taiwan's Presbyterians Revisit their Liturgies

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Taiwan Church News 2750, 8 to 14 November 2004
Reported by LinYi-ying.  Trans. & rewritten by David Alexander

The Faith and Order committee of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan hosted a
forum November 8 & 9 to look at the church's forms for Sunday worship,
ordination & installation of ministers, retirements, weddings and funerals.
Under the general theme of "Responsive Liturgy" the Rev. Dr. Hu Chung-ming,
spoke on "Rethinking Sunday Worship." The Rev. Mr. Cheng Hong-hui addressed
those special services conducted by local presbyteries, such as ordinations
and installations.  The Rev. Mr. Shih Ching-chuan from City Center Church in
Taipei addressed the meeting on the topic of funerals.

Rev. Shih serves as the head of the Faith and Order committee. He calls for
worship to be clearly a matter of "spirit and truth" and thereby acceptable
to
God. It is his opinion that worship must deeply penetrate the human heart so
that reconciliation between separated people can be attained.  Within worship
itself he is agnostic about form and time, asking only that it flow
naturally.
Of worshippers he asks three things: spiritual honesty, faithful reflection,
and respect.

Dr. Hu began his presentation by setting "ceremonial regulations" and
"spiritual manifestations" over against each other.  He believes that good
liturgy is based on "response to God" and is a way of establishing
relationship human/divine relationships.  He pointed to models from the
Hebrew
scripture that show God's direction for ceremonial actions and the
development
of the priesthood to intercede between the human and the divine.

"God desires that we have more than outer and inner forms, God also wants us
to worship in spirit and in truth." Dr. Hu pointed to models from the 16th
century Reformation that theologically and physically placed the scriptures
and preaching at the center of worship. With these in their proper places all
things sacred and secular fall into line.

Rev. Shih spoke to the occasional services that are part of the lives of
churches and their members. These include dedications of new houses,
birthdays, celebrations of a newborn's first month and such. He says that
though these should not be ignored, neither should they be made too much of.
None of them should last more than an hour at most.

He suggests that Christians invited to attend or take part in weddings or
funerals conducted for non-believers ask if they might be allowed to offer a
hymn or lead a prayer in a way that testifies to their care for and concern
for people.

For More Information: Shih Ching-chuan tktkck.aa@msa.hinet.net
		      Hu Chung-ming huchungming@mail2000.com.tw
		      Cheng Hong-hui tpepct@ms29.hinet.net
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
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