The Latin phrase Lex orandi, lex credendi is typically translated as “the law of prayer is the law of belief”. This brief blog entry will discuss how this small phrase carries a lot of theological import in the task of theology.
Understanding
The value and significance of worship cannot be explained as superstition alone.[1] The phrase Lex orandi, lex credendi suggests that before there was a cannon and creeds there were beliefs, traditions, values and significance transferred via the life of the early church.
Thus the liturgy of the church is a witness to what the Church has believed alongside Scripture and tradition.[2] The author of Jeremiah 6:16 states: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Lex orandi or “law of prayer” suggests that to understand the worship of the Church one must look back to the ancient ways of the early church. The Church is to make the past a present reality.[3] The worship of the Church is a prophetic witness to the truth of what it professes.
Lex credendi or “law of belief” is what is received from the “law of prayer”. The Church is to worship and live life based on what has been handed down. Christian worship at its best is a response to God’s initiative.[4] The “law of prayer” provides the grounds for the Church to respond to God’s invitation or as J. D. Crichton suggests in A Theology of Worship:[5]
To God’s inviting word, they responded with the words that his prophets and writers put on their lips. Both in the Old Testament and the New, words play a peculiarly important role (in the contrast to primitive worship where the action is dominant and the word seems to have little role as all), first because faith comes by hearing-the word must be proclaimed-and secondly because response in the words is the specifically human way by which man makes known to himself and others that he has received the word.
The “law of prayer” or the words and practices of the early church provide for the “law of life” or worship. It is through the “law of life” that the Church, through its worship and living, seeks to respond to God’s initiative.
Reflections
Mystery
There many ways that the word mystery could be understood. Here mystery is being used in the sense of actualizing the past events of God into the present so that the saving power of Christ may be made available.[6] By reflecting on the meaning of Lex orandi, lex credendi Christian worship can invite worshipers in a mysterious union of past events brought to life in the present. Past events such as the Eucharist are brought into a mysterious union with the present. Though the celebration takes place in current time is also reproduces and taps into past events of the early church.
Concrete Sacraments
Reflecting on Lex orandi, lex credendi can create a concrete connection with actions such as baptism. Baptism can thus be more then symbolic and carry deep connections and purpose.[7] The action of pouring or dipping in water which can symbolically signify the death and resurrection of Christ also concretely connects one’s entrance into the kingdom and adoption into the family of God.
Thus, while baptism has some symbolic actions, it also connects concretely with past events. By connecting with these past events baptism concretely taps into a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ.
Response
An understating of Lex orandi, lex credendi as the “law of prayer and law of belief” can bring about a worshipful response. Reflecting on how past events can connect in the present might cause those gathered for worship to consider changes in daily actions. If participating in the Eucharist connects to the past and brings it into the present then one might consider the impacts of such actions present actions.
Conclusion
The Latin phrase Lex orandi, lex credendi carries a lot of theological weight. It carries this weight or import due the past events that connect with current acts of worship. This understanding of Lex orandi, lex credendi can help those who plan or participate in worship. It can help those who plan worship so that actions planned can be connected concretely into the Biblical story. It can help those who participate in worship understand that actions in worship are more than mere actions. While one may not fully grasp the mysterious union of past events in present time Lex orandi, lex credendi can allow worshipers to concretely re-imagine the impact of the “law of prayer” on “the law of belief”.
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