We often hear that we need to change and revitalize worship in order to attract prospects and keep people in the church. Because some feel that the best way to do this is to make traditional worship less liturgical and more like the worship of evangelicals, it is interesting to hear what some evangelicals are saying about revitalizing worship.
Professor Donald Hustad, music professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offered the following observations and suggestions:
"The evangelical church has too often discarded everything that comes from the past and jumped from one worship fad to another. ... Liturgical churches have done a better job of preserving worship traditions, while evangelicals have rarely understood the essence of worship and so have been cheated of their heritage. Some evangelicals have grown tired of trite worship and are leaving the churches of their childhood for liturgical churches with a richer celebration of the majesty of God."
God's Standard for Worship
Hustad has hit upon a key point with his recognition that the essence of worship is a celebration of the majesty of God. It is true that God's standard for judging worship is whether it is conducted "in spirit and in truth," and that such worship can be expressed in many forms and styles.
But it is also true that an important standard for judging forms of worship is not "how much do I get out of it?" but "does my worship express my awe and humility in the presence of a holy God?" Unlike preaching and teaching, which are addressed to the congregation, prayer and worship are addressed to the holy God. Their content and form should reflect that fact.
Liturgy De-emphasizes the Individual
The spirit of liturgical worship runs counter to the entertainment-hungry mentality of our society. Much contemporary worship emphasizes being moved or entertained by platform-led performances. Contemporary worshipers may at times be confused with an audience filing into a talk show to be dazzled by the bubbly personality of the emcee.
The character of good liturgy on the other hand, is that it de-emphasizes individuals and unites worshipers in corporate praise of a majestic God. It directs less attention to human feeling and to individual desires and more attention to the majesty and goodness of God. Liturgical worship recognizes that although God is our truest friend, he is not our "buddy." He is a holy God, who is to be feared.
A Balance of Contrasts
Good worship forms, therefore, preserving a balance between contrasting pairs:
- God's nearness and God's farness,
- Law and gospel,
- The means of grace and prayer,
- Listening and confessing,
- Receiving and thanking.
Another such contrast is the need to enter worship with a welcome and with a warning (read Psalm 95 for an example). In many contemporary efforts to "make worship more meaningful," the warning and reverence component of worship is slighted.
The point of all this is not that we should be tied to one set of forms or one level of formality, but that we should not be carried away with a "grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side-of-the-fence" mentality. A less liturgical style of worship is not a panacea for holding interest and attracting people. The road to lively worship that keeps a healthy balance of welcome and warning, of offering and receiving, is not constant innovation, but careful preparation and loving presentation.
Worship Needs Vibrancy, Enthusiasm
Whatever style and form of worship we follow, worship leaders need to invest their best efforts to make the worship services vibrant. Boring, ill-prepared liturgy has never been in style. Any form of worship that is lifelessly delivered is going to leave worshipers cold, whether it is high church liturgy or spontaneous prayer. Liturgy that is well prepared and is delivered with life and enthusiasm will never be out of style. Worship that honors the majesty of God and speaks to people's spiritual needs never fails to draw people nearer to God and nearer to each other.
No style of worship is more God-centered than liturgy at its best. Worship leaders and worshipers alike should strive to present a majestic God with the best they have to offer.
John Brug serves as Professor of Systematic Theology and Old Testament at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.
This article is reprinted from November 1992 Parish Leadership (now called Lutheran Leader). Lutheran Leader aims to help leaders in Lutheran congregations with a Bible-based approach to ministry. Used by permission.
The word "orthodox" was coined to distinguish the Faith of One Church in ancient times from the various heretical sects which had sprung up, teaching doctrines foreign to the Faith found in the Scriptures.
