What Was Early Christian Worship?
Which of those two images above do you think best captures Christian worship?
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It is interesting that in the mid-second century, Justin Martyr described Christian assembly for worship, like this:
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things, Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying, Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And those who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn [Saturday]; and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them those things, which we have submitted for your consideration. (Justin, 1 Apol. 67).
So, that is probably closer to what the first-century church did. However, if you read 1 Corinthians 11-14, not everything in the early church worship meetings was necessarily edifying or even God-glorifying. So trying to recover first-century worship is a mixed bag! Plus, we have to decide how to worship today, in a way that is meaningful for us, albeit still has continuity with the saints of the past.
Otherwise, I need to point you to a great project led by my good friend Dr. John Dickson of Wheaton College and the Undeceptions Podcast.
One of the earliest recoverable Christian hymns, with words and music, has been recovered from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, and John and his team are making a documentary about the discovery of the text and eventually recording it for a modern audience.
Check out the podcast episode from Undeceptions, it is a must-listen!
Bring back the incense! It’s funny that some churches use smoke machines but they think incense is some sort of empty ritual. 😁
The desire to go back to the early church and its "practices" is understandable, but in my opinion, misguided. The church has problems now . . . and the church had problems then. I think it is better to focus on the culture and practice in which we worship in the contemporary context.