Having said that, each new generation needs to express the Word in a way its people understand intelligibly and emotionally. And it's a "downward and upward" expression. God's Word comes to us, and we respond to Him in prayer and worship and faith. But given our propensity to forget and confuse truth, we do well to continue learning from the good teachers of the past. Gathering regularly to hear the Gospel and respond is an important part of our journey. We dare not act as though we are so independent we need not learn from those who preceeded us about healthy ways to do this.
Perhaps the next-to-worse-case scenario is going to church and experiencing a minimalist approach something like this: pray, preach, sing songs and pass the plate. Such churches seem to give no thought to a well-prepared public reading of scripture (as Paul said, "until I come give attention to the public reading of scripture"). There is no recitation of a creed such as the Apostle's or Nicene, which, when used, are wonderful for summarizing the faith and provoking people to engage their minds more deeply in the indispensable substance of the gospel. But these things and more can nevertheless be developed as a congregation matures, if the Word of God is being taught with clarity and love, and law and gospel are distinguished.
Maybe the worst-case-scenario occurs when many churches engage in a work-up approach to involvement, so that singing, giving, hearing exhortation and testimonies are a means to "work up" the enthusiasm of the people. When the Word is rightly preached and taught, God's Spirit comes graciously to us and He does His creative work in our hearts and wills. And we respond with faith and joy and relief. Although the idea of response is a part of the revolutionary core of the gospel, it is foreign to many. Thus what many practice can quickly become a human effort by which we hope and attempt and struggle to produce a spiritual experience. The thrill, joy, and confidence in the Lord Christ (this often bears little resemblance to emotion) is not in the equation. A sad state of affairs indeed.
This commentary is not for the purpose of urging people to do things in stilted sequence. I enjoy going into a worship service and starting to sing songs and hymns right off. The Word says, "Come into his presence with singing". But there is something very special about hymns and songs which truly bring the Incarnate Word to me. Songs that contain really good lyrical content; hymns that marry the words with the music. Even when I was young I really didn't relish songs that had paper-thin content. I should qualify that: at Bible Camp, there was some of that, but in a setting with chilren aged 10-13 singing around a campfire is a bit different thing than feeding a flock on Sunday morning which comes with a great variety of ages, experiences, needs and backgrounds.
The task of leaders, pastors and laity, is to feed the flock. If they go away feeling hungry, they'll probably not carry out a ministry during the week where they are "planted". If we help serve them up a well-balanced meal of proclamation, teaching, singing, prayers of various sorts, it just follows that they will go on their way rejoicing.
Worship happens during the "worship service" but it also happens during the week as we "present our bodies as a living sacrifice". But this must come from down deep, and doesn't depend on outward circumstances. There's one thing, though, that it does depend on. The Spirit-empowered proclamation and teaching of God's Word.
Our current culture is cranking out quite an array of music resources, much of it within the church. Music is a wonderful gift. But we certainly do commoditize it at times. Worship is worship. But not all music is worshipful. God is not a music critic either. All he's looking for is a heart that is contrite, that is grateful for His grace. He's looking for people who have their ear attuned to His Word and who thirst for it.
"Take away from me the noise of your celebrations" God said through Amos. Let justice roll down. There is a time to celebrate - make no mistake. But when it resembles to prophets of Baal trying to get some deity's attention, Houston we have a problem.
God's already listening. I think the issue is often whether we are.
For the future:
Maybe in a future blog I can comment as to how the five parts of the ordinary of the liturgy, the church year, and the lectionary can be helpful to independent churches. Not as a legalistic template, but as resources to think about.
