Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

Ses s i on 4: Chur ch Mat ter s and Go i ng Back to the Future 79

3. As core dogma (essential faith) of the Church. The Great Tradition is the core dogma (doctrine) of the Church. It represents the teaching of the Church as it has under stood the Authoritative Tradition (the Holy Scriptures), and summarizes those essential truths that Christians of all ages have confessed and believed. To these doctrinal statements the whole Church (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant) gives its assent. 4. Expressed in its worship and practice . The worship and theology of the Church reflects this core dogma, which finds its summation and fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. From earliest times, Christians have expressed their devotion to God in its Church calendar, a yearly pattern of worship which summarizes and reenacts the events of Christ’s life. . . . it is important to point out that, in spite of the scarcity of documents describing it, it is possible to know something about the daily life and the worship of Christians during those first years. Throughout this period the central act of Christian worship was communion. This was a joyous event, for it was above all a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and a fore taste of his return. As a celebration of the resurrection, it usually took place on Sunday, the day in which the Lord had risen from the dead. Also, as a foretaste of the great heavenly banquet, communion originally involved an entire meal. Later, for various reasons, it was limited to bread and wine. Also, from an early date the custom developed of celebrating wor ship at the graves of martyrs and other departed Christians, in places such as the catacombs of Rome. Baptism, the rite of initiation and grafting into the Christian community, was the other central act of worship. It usually took place on Easter Sunday, after a long period of preparation for those who were to be baptized. During the last weeks before this great event of Easter, those who were already baptized also prepared themselves for the renewal of their own baptismal vows. This is the origin of the season of Lent. It seems that at first there were different forms of government in various churches throughout the Roman Empire, and that the titles of “elder” and “bishop” were roughly equivalent. But already toward the end of the second century the tripartite order of ministry had appeared: deacons, elders, and bishops. There were also specific ministries for women, especially within nascent monasticism.” ~ Justo L. Gonzalez. Church History: An Essential Guide . Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996, p. 30-31.