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_ Archbishop Wayne Boosahda
All Rights Reserved – copyright 1997

The worship of the Living God, as it has been revealed in historic Christian faith, has come down to us through the root system of the tradition of ancient Israel.  It has been embodied in the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and has been hammered out on the anvil of the experience of God’s worshiping people through history.  The fullness, beauty, and power of orthodox Christian faith and worship has stood the test of heretics and false brethren, of persecution and martyrdom, of major socio-political shifts at the change-over of key historical eras, as well as the subtle dangers of acceptability, prosperity and prestige in certain times and places. 

           The worship of God in Jesus Christ has come down to us in our modern era as a tapestry shredded and fragmented by the sins of God’s people in breaking the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace given us originally as our heritage in Christ, the Incarnate Lord.  That which began as a beautiful whole, a tapestry of many colors and varied threads which, together, revealed the fullness of Christ in the midst of His Church, has been torn and rent apart as men in their self-centered preoccupations for power, in their pride and arrogance and lack of love and humility have gradually separated that which God gave to the Church as a complete and comprehensive experience. 

            In the contemporary spiritual renewal that many today are calling the “convergence movement”, or “convergence of streams”, I believe we are beginning to see a significant attempt by the Spirit of God to restore the intrinsic wholeness and fullness of Christian worship.  God the Holy Spirit seems to be restoring, reweaving the separated threads of the tapestry so that once again God’s people may rejoice in Him with the gladness that only the blending or convergence of separated, isolated streams can offer the Church, and through the Church, may be offered to the world. 

           The three foundational elements of historic, biblical worship that began as a part of the comprehensive tapestry of the spiritual experience of the early Church were what might be described in today’s terms as evangelical, charismatic, and  liturgical/sacramental.  These three aspects of the spiritual life and worship of the Christians of the early centuries were inherited from their roots in the worship of ancient Israel.  The evangelical element emerged from Israel’s emphasis on the inspired written law of the Lord and its’ faithful and regular exposition and public reading by the teaching priests appointed by God to lead His people in their worship.  The Law of the Lord, the contents of His covenant with His people and the foundational element in their ability to worship Him according to revelation and truth, was central to the worship of the Hebrew people.  This aspect of their worship transcended every phase of Israel’s experience with Yahweh, from mountain epiphany to desert tabernacle, and from temple grandeur to synagogue simplicity.

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