One of the striking things about worship among charismatics is that there is a sense that God is there, in you, with you, and around you. So much so that even writers with little or no religious interest take note of charismatic worship.

Many charismatics I know see their worship style as a sharp reminder to the rest of the church. When they look at most congregations, they see a dedicated handful of prayer warriors and worshippers, and a majority who limit themselves to polite formal prayer and worship at tightly specified times. This chokes off the power of not just the individual, but of the congregation, the denomination, and whole Body of Christ.

Examples of Overshadowed Worship

This critique is often taken to an extreme, but it is a point is well-taken. Sometimes (especially in some parts of the Reformed and Baptist traditions), the sermon overshadows worship, and the service resembles a dressed-up classroom session.

In other traditions, cultural and congregational activities can overshadow worship. Announcements or special music become the centerpiece, the preaching is for reinforcing the old social verities rather than speaking the gospel message. Some liturgical churches have known about their form of the problem for a thousand years: the worship service becomes a museum for symbols that aren't well defined, with actions run and done by the clergy while the congregation watches as a passive audience.

Revitalizing Worship

Such practices do not reflect the Bride in love with Christ. Luther recognized this problem. That's why he put the traditional service in the common language of the people, stripped the absurdly long prayers down to their core purpose, and introduced vigorous hymns that everyone could sing with the kind of abandon they used to reserve for their local pub.

Charismatics involve their whole bodies in worship through lifting hands, bowing heads, swaying, linking hands, dancing, kneeling, and even lying prostrate at the altar (yes, that's quite biblical and traditional, but try it in most churches and see what happens!) And they often get caught up in singing, immersing themselves in chorus after chorus of what one critic called a "praise-dump." So be it. The church gathers to heap praises on God, knowing the pile can't get big enough to match what God deserves.

A Return to Liturgical Forms

Right from its beginnings at Azusa, the Pentecostal movement has stressed freedom from form in the belief that any human planning would just get in the way of the Spirit.

Yet there's a growing awareness among Pentecostal and charismatic churches that being new or "now" is no good without being godly. They are fast becoming more aware of why the liturgy developed the way it did. It was not just culture, theology, or happenstance, but it was also the Spirit working through those developments. They are discovering that the liturgy really can teach and reinforce, and that liturgical symbols really can bear great meaning and power.

They're also discovering that when the form of the liturgy is treated as worship and not Law, there's much room for movement, change, and difference of emphasis. When done with a whole heart, the liturgical forms can (and sometimes should) go off in an unexpected direction, not in lockstep accord with the bulletin or Missal, swimming in the current of the Spirit. The freedom is needed, but so is the structure.

Introducing the Charismatic Into the Liturgy

It takes a great deal of thinking and planning to worship charismatically through the liturgical tradition. It does no good to just drop a charismatic element into a worship service to jolt the pews; it may disrupt or interfere with the service.

The liturgical service is an ordered event, and the worshippers need to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. When the elements of worship are in meaningless clash or are trivialized, it reduces the sanctity of the service, and thus defeats the purpose.

The congregation's leaders will have to lead the way, by learning about worship, both in their own tradition and in others. Then they will have to teach the congregation —a very slow process—as changes are introduced. The resulting depth and intimacy of worship may well be worth the effort.

Bob Longman is a Lutheran layman and writer who works as a municipal planner. He is an 18-year veteran of college radio and a big fan of acappella music. Bob's website, Spirithome.com, is a down-to-earth resource on faith, spirituality, and the Spirit.