22 Constantine in 321, with no apparent reference to Christian ideals

Thus, the Church began to recognise Sunday as a day of rest, rather than just as a day of worship at a time when the church was gaining status

23

in society, and was no longer merely regarded as a sect . Thus, Sunday

19 Whilst Davis seems to prefer the 'desert' to the 'ghetto', in his discussion of the situation its practical implications tend to become very much like those of the ghetto.

20 cf. Davies, J.G., op.cit., pp.253-3- 21 Hoon, P., op.cit., p.258.

22 Rordorf, W., Sunday, S.C.M., I968, pp.154-62.

23 Pickering, W.S.F., 'The secularized sabbath: formerly Sunday: now the weekend', A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain, V,

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became set apart, and viewed as 'the Sabbath', a trend which reached its climax with the Puritanism of the 17th century* The demands of shift work, the growth of the idea of 'the weekend', and the general

24

view of Sunday as a day of well-earned leisure in Britain, as well as the complete disappearance of Sunday as a day of rest in some Eastern

25

European countries , all have profound implications for the continuance of worship. But however disturbing these changes in the use of Sunday may be to some, they would appear to pose a threat not to worship intself, but only to certain accepted patterns of worship.

The day of worship is closely related to the social structures within which worship occurs. The significance of the communal aspect of worship was outlined in the last chapter. Traditionally, the social structure was the parish system- The majority of people lived, v/orked, and had their education and leisure within the parish. Thus, when they met together for worship, they did so as a well-defined community. Today, in many rural as well as urban situations, the parish has little meaning in any community sense. This is due to many factors, including increased mobility, and the diversity of the social network relationships, which are multi-polar rather than of the close-knit village type- Thus it may be argued that the place of work, for example, has potentially more meaning than the residential parish as a possible context for worship, although there are obvious dangers of introversion if narrow groups become the main communities for worship^^, because they cannot

27

relate to many wider issues or to the family . Again, the fact that

24 ibid., pp.59-40.

25 van den Heuvel, A., op.cit., pp.89-90.

26 Nowell, E., 'Liturgy in the secular city'. The Month, V (8), 1972, p •244•

27 The question of the family emphasis in worship will be discussed in ch. 8.

158 -

the parish setting of worship may in some cases be redundant is not in itself an argument for the redundancy of worship, but only of certain traditional forms thereof.

A third fundamental issue is the motivation of worship. This is 28

basic to any understanding of why worship should continue . Although

29

certain specific acts of worship , there is no general command to worship as such^^. It would appear that even the keeping of the

51

Sabbath began as a humane practice rather than as a cultic one . From

there are various Biblical injunctions concerning the performance of >

I

the early centuries of the Christian Church, however, duty has been made a strong motivation for worship. Even before persecution had ended, the Synod of Elvira had threatened with excommunication all those who

32

failed to attend worship for three Sundays running , This emphasis on duty continued, and is to be found in the phraseology of the Book

33

of Common Prayer . Against this background, it may be claimed that one aspect of the maturity of modern man is his freedom from arbitrary authorities,

'for the Church to advocate worship primarily on

the ground that it is one's duty is simply to

1

people today.'34 ]

28 White, J.F., The Worldliness of Worship, O.U.P., New York, 1967, j

pp.3-4. J

29 e.g., the rules for the keeping of the Passover, Ex.12.

J

some sort of worship, hence the injunctions in the Decalogue

against worship of the wrong Gods and against the wrong forms of >

the worship of Yahweh (Ex.20:3-6).

I

31 i.e. for ensuring that all workers had a regular period of rest.

This humanitarian motive is brought out in Deut.5:l4. -vl 32 White, J.F., op.cit., p.5 .

33 '. .it is meet, right and our bounden duty . . .' {

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Duty is also less likely to have meaning when attendance at worship is a minority activity. As will be argued below, there should be a

reasonableness about worship which justifies it on grounds other than duty.

Another former motivation for worship was guilt. This seems to have been based on the idea that the individual either felt, or ought to feel, guilty, and thus in need of cleansing by worship . Many services, particularly within the evangelical tradition, still do much to build up this feeling of guilt. The language of the General Confession,

. there is no health in us . . . miserable offenders’

acts in the same way. This guilt motive is related to a basic view of man as not only sinful, but also inadequate- If, however, modern man does not share the earlier feelings of inferiority, and of the threat of eternal punishment, then the assumption that guilt will

37

lead people to want to worship must be challenged . Whatever view is held of man's 'coming of age', he has certainly greatly enlarged the areas of his control in recent years. Yet much in traditional

*2 Q

worship insists on the helplessness of man , and this is reinforced particularly in prayers which do not take,

'account of men as responsible agents in effecting the will of God.'39

In a secularized society, where a more positive view of the place

35 Kent, J.H.S., 'The psychology of worship', London Quarterly, CLXXXIX, 1964, p.54.

36 Book of Common Prayer.

37 This, of course, refers to a general sense of guilt as a motivation for regular worship. It does not affect the likelihood of individuals turning to the Church at particular times of personal crisis or

individual guilt. ||

38 e.g., the Collect for the ninth Sunday after Trinity, Book of Common

Prayer. „3|

39 Stevisk, D.B. Language in Worship; Reflections on a Crisis, Seabury Press, New York, 1970, p.84.

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4o

of man is held , the basis for legitimation of worship will be

voluntary, and totally removed from the legalism of earlier centuries. The implication here again is that worship must justify itself as a worthwhile activity, and not expect to be able to claim people's participation as a right.

In a society undergoing secularization, these traditional contexts of, and motivations for, worship are likely to be radically altered. Thus, the question of the culture of worship is one which is, to a large extent, accentuated by the various processes of secularization. For example, the culture of worship would be a problem in any case in a technological, urban society, but these difficulties are probably

increased by the problems of the language of God and by the lack of a natural community of worshippers. Similarly, as worship becomes increasingly a minority activity, the question of the time and place of worship acquires a new significance, as more fundamental questions come to be asked about traditionally accepted values. The same

questions are raised, even more pertinently, in the case of the motivation of worship. It is against the background of these 'modi­

fying' factors in worship that the next chapter will attempt to consider some characteristics of worship in a secularized society.

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CHAPTER 8