When we are reflecting on worship, we naturally begin with our own traditions. We grow within a certain order of worship. The way we worship
This really encapsulates why worship is so important to the Christian. Here is the reason why so many fights within the church today are over worship. In the traditional understanding, worship is where we meet with God. The way we worship and the things we do in worship affect our understanding of God.
In the last fifty years, we have seen a major reset in the liturgy of the church. People will talk about the worship wars and these probably peaked in the 80s and 90 and they continue to be a part of the dialogue in some of the more traditional churches. While liturgical change is happening all the time, the last major re-set of the liturgy was in the 16th century during the protestant reformation. Roger Olson details our contemporary changes in an article that you can find here.
There were a number of causes for these changes. Already before the changes, there was a growing apathy in some churches. There were doctrinal shifts. There were shifts in worship itself and in understanding worship. We can talk about preaching. The Psalms lost their place in worship. We can talk about growing liberalism. Major shifts like the one we are currently observing are not mono-causal. There is a complexity behind a historical change.
Now, I am on the side of the traditionalists. I am on the losing side. I believe that contemporary liturgies have eviscerated the worship service of its proper content. However, too many traditionalists have simply dug in their heels without examining their own liturgical tradition or the tradition of the church. Little do we realize that part of our contemporary problem arises from developments in traditional liturgies. I hope to explore this more in future posts. The church has not spent the necessary time to create a liturgical culture that is equally robust to the American contemporary liturgy. We need to develop our liturgical tradition so that is deeply and unavoidably biblical.
The service on the Lord’s Day is, after all, a gift to man, a gift to encourage him in continuing to seek after God, so that he grows in mortifying his sin, desiring Christ, and doing good deeds for the sake of his Lord.
I’ve already hinted that I find many traditional churches lacking in this matter. I am a pastor in the Canadian Reformed Churches. We have a very traditional liturgy. There is no doubt that we worship God in Spirit and truth, and we do see and experience God in our worship. There is a lot of God in our tradition, but there is also room to grow. The worship wars and our own struggles, especially over the question of music, give us the opportunity to examine ourselves. I hope to offer some reflection on both the good and the bad over the coming months.
As a bit of a postscript, I do not believe I have the last word on this subject. Liturgical concerns are controverted and they always will be. I merely hope to shed some light on the subject. Ideally, I also hope to encourage those who truly do desire to worship God in the beauty of holiness.