I was
caught off guard. My Salvation Army worshiping tradition has produced in me a
naturally interactive worship style that wasn’t ready for what I was about to
experience. Surrounded by fellow students from many denominations, my “Amens”
and specifically my “Hallelujahs” distinguished me amongst hundreds of my
colleagues at Asbury Seminary. Then role
reversal came when I was the unresponsive, reserved worshiper. Outfitted in
liturgical gown, Dr. Ellsworth Kalas majestically read the Scripture lesson for
the morning. When he finished, my eyes were drawn to him as he raised the Bible
in the air, not just to eye level, but above his head as far as his arms could
reach. With a joyful thunder in his voice he declared, “This is the word of God
for the people of God.” I was overcome with emotion with the respect being
given to Scripture, and I had a “hallelujah” ready to burst out of my mouth, in
old-fashioned Army style, but I was interrupted. I was interrupted by the non-Salvationists
in the room, everyone but me that is, as they said back with vigor, “Thanks be
to God!”
Dumbfounded
in that moment, I realized that maybe this liturgical style was not as dusty as
I thought. I was taught in Corps Cadets to simply repeat, “May the Lord add a
blessing to the reading of His word.” In that moment in the seminary chapel
service I was disappointed with our movement. “Come on….we’re the people with
brass bands, fire volleys, waving flags, Joe the Turk, and hallelujahs. We’ve
got to do better.” In becoming friends with my fellow students, I found a
similar love and respect to what my tradition taught me about Scripture. I
learned their hearts were filled with deep conviction when they responded to
the affirmation, “This is the word of God for the people of God.”
Despite
our lack of a liturgical formula in the Army, we do whole heartedly agree with many
other denominations about the authority and power of God’s word. We affirm in
our first article of faith that the Old and New Testaments are inspired
Scripture, representing “the divine rule of Christian faith and practice.”
When we
say the Bible is the “divine rule” in this context, we mean so much more than a
rule book. While reading a fairly technical book on theological hermeneutics (I
get tired just saying that), these words of Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer hit me right
between the eyes: the Bible is “less textbook [rulebook] than playbook.”[1]
With this image of the playbook, Scripture becomes a basis for how we practice,
live, breath, and battle as Christians. It is the source for our action as a
movement of God. It is the battle plan for an Army: a fight which we know we
will win. Scripture then is more than ‘do’s and don’ts,’ or a “instruction
manual” but this vision sees Scripture saying to us today, “Here we are in the
fight, and here we go!” If you take away the revelation of God that comes
through Scripture, then we are running around in circles lacking reason and
rhyme. So the divine rule is more than
rules.
It is no surprise that when General
William Booth crafted the articles of faith of the Christian Mission (later The
Salvation Army), he primarily copied the doctrinal formations from his previous
denomination—The Methodist New Connexion. That is where we get this phrase the “divine
rule.” John Wesley, our spiritual grandfather in the faith, is the source of
this language. He called it the “rule of faith” or the “analogy of faith.” In
his Explanatory Notes on the New Testament he explained that this rule is:
The basis for understanding the grand scheme of doctrine…original
sin, justification by faith, and present and inward salvation….any question
should be determined by this rule… interpreted according to the grand truths
which run through the whole.[2]
It was Wesley’s way of keeping the big story of salvation in
front of his reading of Scripture. Essentially the divine rule implies that we
should keep the “fight” in mind as we read the Bible. Or with a sports image,
the “action on the field” is the purpose of the playbook. The action that we affirm as this “divine
rule” is that God is working in history to save the world through the resurrected
Christ. Scripture constitutes this divine rule and the authority of the God who
inspired it. The pages and the ink itself are not our authority, but it
represents the divine rule, which is God’s authority. British Bible Scholar,
N.T. Wright helped me understand the point that Scripture is authoritative not by
itself but because is carries the authority of God.
With
this confidence in Scripture as the foundation for my identity as a
Salvationist, I have adapted a practice in worship that affirms what I have been
itching for since my days at Asbury Seminary. Just as my friends in more
liturgical contexts relish their opportunity to affirm the place of Scripture
when the reader proclaims, “This is the word of God for the people of God,” and
the congregation responds, “Thanks be to God,” we in The Salvation Army can
develop a distinct affirmation. One suggestion that has been meaningful in a
corps that I serve gives people an opportunity for an old fashioned “fire a volley.”
The person reading scripture symbolically lifts up the Bible after it has been
read and declares, “This is the word of God for the Army of God” to which the corps’ congregation responds “Hallelujah!”
The interactive worship style that we love in Salvation Army congregations can
meet up with the consistency of liturgical drama. This practice has been a beautiful
part of our worship.
This
statement affirms that the word of God—the Bible— is the engine of God’s Army
and consequently a good reason to shout hallelujah. Wherever I have preached
during the last few years, I have introduced this practice. Just after I
preached for the Territorial Executive Council and explained this idea, a wise
senior officer in my territory came to me with a little concern. “Andy, about
that…” My stomach turned a little as he started to speak because he had the
ability to give me “marching orders” right then and there. Sheepishly I
responded, “Yes, sir?” “The word of God is not just for the Army of God…it’s
for all the people of God.” Then as he and I discussed the point, we both
affirmed that this concept of the “Army of God” is bigger than “The Salvation
Army.” Salvationism and the divine rule of Christian faith and practice is
about the way all Christians rally around the authority of God as revealed in
Scripture. With his encouragement I kept the practice up. I confidentially encourage
every believer, but specifically the battle focused Salvationist, to let out a
“Hallelujah” when hearing the “word of God for the Army of God!”
This article appeared in the July 7, 2012 edition of The War Cry
[1]
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, The Drama of
Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology
(Louisville: WJK, 2005), 145.
[2]
John Wesley, comment on Romans 12:6, in Explanatory
Notes on the New Testament (London: Epwoth Press, 1954), 569-570.
