A Primer on Reformed Liturgics — The Beginnings
St. Nicolas Church in Strasbourg where Calvin served as pastor of a French-speaking congregation
The Beginnings[1]
The Reformed liturgy is thought to originate in St. John’s chapel in Strasbourg, where a revised mass was celebrated in 1524 in German by Diebold Schwarz. Schwarz, an ex Dominican, translated the Latin mass into simple German and removed words and phrases which spoke of the mass as a repetition of Christ’s work on Calvary. The service was read audibly in the vernacular. A revised mass in the common tongue was just the beginning.
As the Reformation took root across Europe, a number of liturgical reforms were made in Strasbourg and elsewhere, especially in Switzerland. Metrical Psalms (with melodies and harmonies) and hymns were introduced into the service and sung by the congregation in German. The Apostles’ Creed was also recited by the congregation, and the old lectionaries (collections of biblical passages to support “holy days” on the church calendar) faded into disuse. The Scripture lessons, especially from the gospels and epistles, became much longer and were now read in every service. Sermons were also preached at every service, often based upon the Scripture lessons chosen for that service. The ceremonial elements of the mass were slowly eliminated, the minister no longer faced to the East (a long practiced custom) but now faced the assembled worshipers. Church fixtures changed as well—the communion table was no longer called “the altar” and was moved forward, much closer to the people.
By 1530, Martin Bucer’s influence had grown significantly, and reforms to the church’s worship became more distinctly Protestant. Bucer (1491-1551) was a German Reformer based in Strasbourg, who exercised great influence upon the development of a distinctive Reformed liturgy during this formative period. New prayers were composed to replace the old Roman rites, sermons increased in length (up to an hour), priestly vestments gave way to academic attire or “uniforms” of the ministerial vocation (including a cassock, bands, black academic gown, and felt hat), a bidding to prayer was added, and the table was fenced (unbelievers were warned not to partake). Weekly communion was instituted in many places (in most places it had been celebrated annually). Services were held weekly in the cathedral church (the large metropolitan churches) and monthly in the outlying parish churches (due to a shortage of ministers and difficulty in travel). Communion (of both kinds—bread and wine) was received while standing and service books were prepared to incorporate the various reforms.
When John Calvin arrived in Strasbourg (from Geneva) in 1538, he was given charge of the small French congregation which utilized the same liturgy as the German-speaking congregation. Calvin made several minor changes to the service–adding a metrical Decalogue which was divided into two parts (reflecting the two tables of the law), separated by a collect (an appropriate prayer for the occasion) and the singing of Kyries (“Lord have mercy upon us”) and the Gloria in excelsis Deo (“glory to God in the highest’). This was the service Calvin brought with him from Strasbourg when he returned to Geneva in 1541.
By the time Calvin had returned to Geneva, forms for baptism, the ordination of ministers, and more metrical Psalms were added. Originally entitled, La Forme de Prières (the Form of Prayers), this became the standard of Reformed worship. It was translated into English, and used by the English exiles (during the Marian exile) in Geneva. Knox brought it to England and Scotland where it became the official service book of the Church of Scotland in 1560 (it was revised in 1564 and in 1638) and was known as The Form of Prayers, or The Book of Order.
Calvin’s Form of Prayers had no order for daily prayer (as did Roman rites), although daily services were held focusing upon biblical exposition and prayer. The Lord’s Day service opened with Psalm 124:8—“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” and followed by a confession of sin, biblical words of pardon or absolution, the singing of the Ten Commandments (with Kyries) after each table of the law, a prayer for the grace to keep the commandments, a prayer for illumination (invoking the same Holy Spirit who breathed forth the Scriptures to help the assembled congregation to understand what they were hearing), Scripture reading followed by the sermon from a biblical passage, intercessions, a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles Creed (often sung), a metrical Psalm, and followed by the Aaronic Blessing.
When the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, the Lord’s Prayer was moved to a place after the prayer of consecration (the setting apart of bread and wine for use in communion). This was followed by the words of institution (“on the night in which our Lord was betrayed . . .”), the fractionary (the “breaking of the bread” to be distributed to the communicants), people coming forward to receive communion (standing) as a Psalm was sung. The service ended with a prayer of thanksgiving, the singing of the Nunc dimittis, taken from Luke 2:29-32– “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel,” or the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6:24-26—“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
A distinctly Reformed liturgy was beginning to take shape.
Up next, the development of Reformed liturgies
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For histories and texts of the Reformed liturgies see: Jonathan Gibson and Mark Earngy, Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present (Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2018); Bard Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985).
[1] William D. Maxwell, “Reformed Worship,” in The New Westminster Dictionary of Theology and Worship, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986), 458.