Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation Week 3. Calvin's Ethics Sequence 7. Worship, Liturgy, Music We are coming to you today from the International Museum of the Reformation, in Old Geneva, not far from the Calvin Auditory and Saint-Peter cathedral -- places with which you are now familiar. With me is the founder of this beautiful museum, which is well worth the visit: Olivier Fatio, emeritus professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Geneva's Faculty of theology. A renowned Calvin scholar, he is also an expert on 16th and 17th century Protestant theology in general. He is going to give us an overview of the worship service as Calvin conceived it, including its liturgy and the place occupied in it by music. The worship service is an absolutely central aspect of Calvin's thought and endeavors. It is the moment and the place in which the community is built up, in which the community comes together to worship God, in which the community -- by the intermediary of the minister, who explains
the Word of God -- is met by God. It is a time of prayer, of humility, and of coming together. The worship service, then, is something Calvin took very seriously. While in Geneva, Calvin preached every day of the week every other week, and twice on Sundays. His sermons centered on the books of the Bible, which was covered verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and book by book. He preached about virtually all of the New Testament, except for Revelation, and numerous passages from the Old Testament, in particular the Psalms, parts of the prophets, the historical books and also, at times, books such as Genesis and Deuteronomy. Covering such a wide spectrum was of critical importance to Calvin: these sermons were his opportunity to build up and develop the community by explaining the true meaning of
God's message to the faithful. In this respect, Calvin followed in the footsteps of his teacher Guillaume Farel. In Strasbourg, while briefly serving as minister to the community of French-speaking refugees, Calvin used a liturgy that was provided for him. In 1542, one year after his return to Geneva, Calvin published his own service book (or liturgy), "The Form of Prayers." Calvin's liturgy was quite simple, unlike what he had known in his youth, the Catholic mass, in which the priest stood with his back to the people, spoke Latin, and reactualized the sacrifice during the mass. Behind me is a famous painting dated 1567 (three years after Calvin's death). Entitled "Temple called 'Paradise', in Lyon," it depicts a Protestant church service, in a metaphorical and perhaps naive manner, following the artistic criteria of the time. In the center of the temple is an enormous enclosed pulpit in which stands the pastor, who, you'll notice, is dressed all in black, in keeping with the style associated at the time with philosophers, attorneys, or judges. He's wearing a hat, as it was often quite chilly inside the temple. In front of him is an open book, the Bible, which he is explaining to his parishioners, who are seated on benches that were not particularly comfortable, especially considering that
the service could last up to 75 minutes, including sermons of 45 minutes or so. The worship service had a simple structure: it began with the invocation, followed by the congregation singing a Psalm in unison. Next came a long prayer of repentance, which is still practiced by some Reformed churches to this day. Next up: a reading from Scripture, with explanations of the text. When Calvin preached, he used either the Greek text if he was reading from the New Testament, or the Hebrew text if the passage of the day was from the Old Testament. At the foot of the pulpit, two men were recording in shorthand everything Calvin is saying. Indeed, Calvin's teachings were considered invaluable to the community (he preached without
the aid of notes). Calvin's sermons were then meticulously transcribed (many of the manuscripts have been preserved to this day) and made available to the community (and especially to theology students) through the French Bursary, and in
particular to theology students. Affluent foreigners who wanted access to Calvin's sermons had to
pay a nominal fee, which went towards Geneva's relief efforts for French refugees. The sermon was followed by the singing of another Psalm, then the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. Finally, another Psalm, the intercessory prayer and the benediction to end the service. So the structure of the service was relatively simple. The texts were long -- too long, from our modern point of view -- and the service tended to be tedious and highly didactic,
especially when the Lord's Supper was celebrated. The Lord's Supper was celebrated four times a year in all three of Geneva's temples: Saint-Gervais, Saint-Peter, and the Madeleine. Because the services were attended by so many, large containers of wine were needed: these tin vessels were used to ensure that the service didn't run out of wine and that each of the faithful could have his or her cup filled for the sacrament. Worship services were very well attended. They were held every day of the week and included a sermon. Some were held at four in the morning to accommodate certain work schedules, in particular those of domestic servants. During the summer, the main service was at 7am; during the winter, at 8am. There was a daily prayer service, with no preaching, at 4pm (6pm in summer). Thus daily life was very much organized around the worship service schedule. The church was where the community came together, no doubt providing ample opportunity for gossip. Let's not forget: at the time, the minister in his pulpit was the only "public media." There were obviously no newspapers, no TV and no radio. Yet Calvin himself, in his sermons, only rarely referred to any political situations, current events or other topical issues. The only thing he was interested in was explaining the Word of God. There is a famous passage in one of his sermons on 2 Timothy in which he likens the Word to a big loaf of bread whose crust is thick and hard, and which the father of the family breaks into small
pieces in order to make it edible and digestible for his children. This represents, in Calvin's view,
the role of the minister. The minister breaks down the Word of God, preparing it for the faithful so that they may understand it and live from it. One important element that brought the community together and helped it pray as one was the act of singing. For Calvin, it was very important that the faithful understand what they were singing. Thus he asked one of the most famous poets of his time, Clément Marot, to create
versifications (i.e., rhymed versions) of the 150 biblical Psalms. Marot, who died in 1544, was only able to partially complete the task. His work was continued by Theodore Beza, who carried the project through to completion in 1562. Behind me is an original psalter which Genevan parishioners held in their hands during service. In 16th century Europe, the average literacy rate was around 2 or 3%. In Geneva, however, thanks to Calvin's College and the establishment of public education for children, the literacy rate was very high. This meant that the faithful were able not only to read along as they sang the Psalms but, more importantly, to read the Bible. In the home, the Bible was read by the father -- always aloud (the Bible was not read silently). Unlike in church, Psalms sung in the home were arranged for four voices. Indeed, the melodies were extremely familiar to everyone at the time. The composers selected by Calvin to write the melodies and harmonizations were the "hitmakers" of their time -- for example, the well-known musician Claude Goudimel. So these melodies, which sound positively ancient to our ears, were in fact totally modern at the time. It is important to note that Calvin wanted only Psalms -- i.e., biblical prayers -- to be sung. Luther and his successors, on the other hand, created numerous church hymns which, though of course inspired by Scripture, were not biblical texts per se. These were made famous in particular by J.S. Bach, who wrote beautiful preludes to the Lutheran hymns for the organ and used them as the basis
for his "choral cantatas". One last piece of information: under Calvin, there were no longer any organs in the Reformed temples of Geneva. Though there were few to begin with before Calvin, they were entirely eliminated, as they were considered to be superfluous, non-essential elements of worship, an artificial supplement to the human voice, which was regarded as the only medium through which to properly praise God.
