It looks like most of the house / cell churches are not liturgically oriented.
Anyone seen a liturgical house church service, or have any theories on how it would work?
__________________ "Look with the eyes of Thy love upon our manifold imperfections and pardon all our shortcomings, that we may be filled with the brightness of the everlasting light and become the unspotted mirror of Thy power and the image of Thy goodness."
__________________ "Look with the eyes of Thy love upon our manifold imperfections and pardon all our shortcomings, that we may be filled with the brightness of the everlasting light and become the unspotted mirror of Thy power and the image of Thy goodness."
It's an idea I've toyed with but I'm a church of one with it at the moment. I'd posit the Didache as a good starting point. The idea of a house church seems to be very much about about paring accretions of the century and getting back to the original form. So getting back to the spartan liturgy of the original church seems to gel with that quite well.
__________________
On the way from their dwelling to the Sultan's palace, Brother Ives saw an old woman crossing the street, who carried in her right hand a pannikin full of fire, and in the left a flask full of water. "What are you going to do with this?" Brother Ives asked her. She answered: That, with the fire she was going to burn up Heaven; and with the water she was going to quench Hell, that there might be no such things any more. And he asked her: "Why do you want to do that?" "Because I want no one ever to do right for the sake of the reward of Heaven, nor for fear of Hell, but simply to win the love of God, which is worth all the rest, and in which consisteth all our good."
It's an idea I've toyed with but I'm a church of one with it at the moment. I'd posit the Didache as a good starting point. The idea of a house church seems to be very much about about paring accretions of the century and getting back to the original form. So getting back to the spartan liturgy of the original church seems to gel with that quite well.
Well if you ever put it into practice, let me know how it goes.
__________________ "Look with the eyes of Thy love upon our manifold imperfections and pardon all our shortcomings, that we may be filled with the brightness of the everlasting light and become the unspotted mirror of Thy power and the image of Thy goodness."
What would liturgy add to a home group? I'm curious. How would things be altered? Would attire matter? Would there be formal rituals?
Dave
I was thinking something specifically along the lines of the Didache. Perhaps even bringing back the original Agape meal. Something like that.
As for attire, I wouldn't think it necessary unless one's church dictated specific attire. In my own tradition, that would be limited to the Priest who should have cassock, alb and chasuble.
__________________ "Look with the eyes of Thy love upon our manifold imperfections and pardon all our shortcomings, that we may be filled with the brightness of the everlasting light and become the unspotted mirror of Thy power and the image of Thy goodness."
Lots of churches that meet in homes have a set order of doing things. Its just usually not very formalized and not written down. But in a lot of these churches the same thing happens in the same order most weeks.
As far as formal liturgy goes, Dan Hubbell said once he was invited to speak once to a house church. Hhe heard their conversation before they got started and everyone was talking about the church fathers. He asked about it and someone told him that they believed that the ideal form of the church was what the church arrived at in the second century. They considere dthe Biblical age church to be immature. All his teachings about church were based on the New Testament, and he did not know if they would receive it well.
I don't know if they were liturgical or not. They had an Anglican background apparently.
Liturgical House Church? 
Linear Mode
