We are all familiar with the word worldview. It is a commonplace among us, and in danger of becoming a buzzword. The Reformed usually mean that a Christian worldview is something like having a biblically-based intellectual framework. This is part of it, but it is only a part.
A worldview is characterized by four basic things–a shared framework of common stories, a sharing of the same basic symbols, shared practices, and a shared set of answers to questions–a creed or catechism. The Reformed generally emphasize the last of these, while other groups have a different emphasis. For example, both Anglicans and Presbyterians have a “creed” and a “directory of worship.” But Anglicans are all about their prayer book, and pay almost no attention to their creed (the 39 Articles). Presbyterians are all about their creed (the Westminster Confession) and completely ignore the Directory for Public Worship. But even so, even with this selective ignorance of certain things that were written down in their own tradition, the Anglicans still believe in a way similar to one another, and the Presbyterians worship in a similar way.
We are seeking to recover a biblical worldview, and we are seeking to do it across the board. We have a confessional element to what we do, but we want to cultivate the other three elements of a biblical worldview (without surrendering anything confessionally).
This is why we are pursuing covenant renewal worship and a church year calendar the way we are, along with Christian education for our children. This is why we focus on practical holiness. It is important for us to share these practices–what we do with our bodies, how we live our lives.
This is why we emphasize telling stories from our history the way we do, and developing a godly love for godly fiction. A worldview is characterized by its stories, and not just by isolated propositions to be affirmed in the abstract, and assembled on a grid.
And this is also why we identify with certain symbols, whether they be men from history (Tyndale, Luther, Anselm), or visual (cruciform architecture, or, at the center, the symbols of open Bible, clean water, bread and wine.
For a worldview is not just something you think. It is something you tell, something with a plot line and characters. It is a set of symbols, the kind that bring a lump to your throat. It is what you think. And your worldview is also sprinkled on your head, and is something you must eat and drink.