Recapturing an Enchanted World: Ritual and Sacrament in the Free Church Tradition

244 Pages·6.779 MB·English

by  John D. Rempel, Gordon T. Smith

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T RITUAL AND SACRAMENT IN
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THE FREE CHURCH TRADITION
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Foreword by GORDON T. SMITH
InterVarsity Press
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©2020 by John D. Rempel
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989
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While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been changed to protect
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Cover design and image composite: David Fassett
Interior design: Jeanna Wiggins
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white wall background: © Nadine Westveer / EyeEm / Getty Images
ISBN 978-0-8308-5117-1 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-4929-1 (print)
IN GRATITUDE TO MY FRIENDS
in East and West Berlin (1971–1973)
and in New York City (1989–2003)
who opened brave, new, and beguiling worlds to me

CONTENTS
Foreword by Gordon T. Smith ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
1 An Enchanted World? 1
Surrender to the Water
2 Embodiment, Language,
and Sacrament 11
3 Ritual, Sacrament, and Spirit 30
Incarnating the Transcendent
4 The Sacramentality of Time 55
5 Baptism 66
The Art of Rising from the Dead
6 The Meal Jesus Gave Us 100
New Testament and Patristic Era
7 The Meal Jesus Gave Us 122
Middle Ages and Reformation
8 The Meal Jesus Gave Us 141
Anabaptism, Free Churches,
and Peace Churches
9 The Meal of Covenant 163
10 Service of the Lord’s Supper 174
Afterword 183
Appendix 1 An Order of Service for the Lord’s Supper | 193
Appendix 2 Liturgy for Footwashing and Agape Meal (Love Feast) | 199
Appendix 3 Emmaus Communion | 202
Bibliography | 205
Name Index | 213
Subject Index | 215
Scripture Index | 220
Praise for Recapturing an Enchanted World | 223
About the Author | 225
More Titles from InterVarsity Press | 226
FOREWORD
GORDON T. SMITH
THIS IS A TERRIBLY IMPORTANT BOOK; and it is timely. You are
holding in your hands a fine piece of accessible scholarship and a gift to the
whole church, not merely those within the Free Church tradition. It is a ter-
rific contribution to the current ecumenical conversations because of the way
this project proceeds: John Rempel speaks to his own tradition but does so
in dialogue with other traditions.
The approach taken to the important topic, the sacraments, is so very
appropriate—as he frames it: to provide a correction to an overcorrection. This
is a brilliant tactic or posture to take in addressing this topic that has been so
divisive at key points in the history of the church, notably the sixteenth century.
What he does is demonstrate than an overcorrection is really, in the end, no
correction at all. And in this case, the overcorrection meant that those within
Free Church and Evangelical Christian communities have as much as anything
missed out on the beauty and power of the sacramental life of the church.
Related to this is the overall tone of the manuscript: non-defensive and
attentive to the insights of others with whom he may well differ. And this tone
allows him to demonstrate that we may well have more in common with other
traditions than points of difference. Rempel’s work is a fine example of what
is now called “receptive ecumenism.”
Rempel’s historical overview is worth the price of admission. This is
superbly well done. He has detailed what needs to be mentioned without
being onerously focused on the particulars: just as much detail as one needs
to be “in the know” and able to understand the issue or issues at hand. And
by the historical overview, I include the work that Rempel does on the book
of Acts and the experience of the early church. In this book you will be intro-
duced to patristic sources, the voices and perspectives from the Reformers,
as well as contemporary sources.
x Foreword
The particular relevance of Rempel’s work is that he speaks to what he
calls “liturgically lean churches” in a manner that frees them and opens them
to learn from the more liturgical or historical traditions. In the process, he
helps those within the Free Church and evangelical world to come to a much
greater appreciation of the critical and essential place of ritual in the life and
witness of the church. Naturally and appropriately, this call to a renewal in
sacramental theology and practice is grounded in a renewed appreciation
of the incarnation.