Tertullian's Response: A Liturgy for Resting in Divine Paradox
Tertullian was an early Christian author and apologist from Carthage whose work contributed greatly to the formation of early Christian theology. Most remembered for his writings against Marcion, he and some of his contemporaries sought to protect the church from heretical teaching. Marcion taught that Jesus Christ came to earth as a different God than the God of the Old Testament, and in 144 AD he was deemed a heretic and excommunicated from the church. This liturgy is meant to make us aware of our own tendency to misunderstand our God's nature and to allow us to dwell in the paradox of His character.
From everlasting to everlasting You are God.¹
You are the God who made the seas to roar and swell, and
You are the God who calms them.
You are the God who breathes life into lungs, and You are
the God who empties them.
You are the God who rescues men, and You are the God
who became them.
You, God, are familiar and yet unfathomable.
You, God, are tender and yet fierce.
You, God, are unmistakable and yet mysterious.
You, God, are merciful and yet just.
Through the Flood, You used a sea of destruction as a vessel of mercy.² The creatures that bore Your Image began to worship that which You despise, and out of unexplainable love for them, Your wrathful rain poured down from the heavens.
The land was ruled by chaos, and the downpour restored order. For while humanity looks on the flood and calls it cruel and callous, You used it to remind them of their Maker.
The Israelites wandered and died in the wilderness for a reason.³ They were delivered into the hands of their enemies for a reason.⁴ The king they pleaded for failed them for a reason.⁵ Even when Your people cannot see it, God, You do all things for a reason, for Your glory and for their good.
You were the same when You took on flesh, changing the world forever and yet remaining unchanged. Your love, O Lord, remained rooted in the mission of restoring the earth, for You fulfilled the law but did not abolish it. How could You, God? You have revealed your extraordinary nature through the law, showing Your people how to love.
Just as You rebuked Cain for the murder of His brother,⁶ so too did You reprove the pharisees of their hypocrisy.⁷
Just as you commanded Your people to plead the cause of the rejected,⁸ so too did you defend the foreigner and tax-collector.⁹
Just as You commanded Moses to destroy the golden calf,¹⁰ so too did you wreck the marketplace in Your temple.¹¹
Just as Your commandments remained the same, so too did You.
Forgive us, God, when we fail to hold your mercy and justice in tension. You have shown Your love for us in the giving of Your law, and so often do we demand that You choose one. Give us hearts that see the law as You do, that we would live not out of worship of the ritual but out of worship of You, for we belong to You in body, mind, and soul. When we fall into disobedience, Lord, may we be reminded of the freedom offered in Your sacrifice, that we are no longer bound to sin but bound to You. While we must change to become more like You, God, You remain the same.
From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
¹ Psalm 90:2.
² Genesis 6-9.
³ Exodus 16.
⁴ Judges 2:14.
⁵ 1 Samuel 13.
⁶ Genesis 4.
⁷ Matthew 23.
⁸ Isaiah 1:17.
⁹ John 4, Luke 19.
¹⁰ Exodus 32.
¹¹ Matthew 21.