Liturgical Worship

Among other things, one of the effects that an understanding of Reformed theology has engendered in me is the appreciation of liturgical forms of worship. What used to seem like dead prayers and cold formulas of worship now appear to me as guardians and teachers of true doctrine. Not only do the best liturgies maintain substantial presentations of Biblical truths for the body, but they also ensure that the Word is taught in its full scope without pandering to "hot topics" or any other pet issues of the minister.

Even with the strengths that I have mentioned (and the many more besides) I am as yet unconvinced that a formally constructed liturgy is the only valid form of worship. The salvific work of God in Christ is the greatest truth of all time, and as such must lend itself to many varied and diverse forms of response. While we undoubtedly have certain non-negotiables of worship presented by Paul, it appears that the instructions given to the Church in the epistles lend themselves to the adaptation of many different people groups, cultures, and traditions. While God must be worshipped for the truth He has revealed, and that truth is the same across the board, there seem to be many different ways to express the gratitude for that truth. So long as the reality of man's sinful state and the gracious intervention of Christ's work of forgiveness is being proclaimed rightly, we should be grateful for the many diverse expressions of gratitude that different traditions produce.

One principle that is helpful for the true worship of God by His people is distinctiveness. The worship of the Triune God should look like no other activity that the world has to offer. Once again, this seems to me to be the strength of many liturgical forms. Try finding any other institution in the world whose gatherings look even remotely like the worship services of a church in the Reformed, Lutheran, or even Catholic tradition. It is essential that a Church whose message is the antithesis to any other message in the world, have a style of worship that is distinct from any other type of gathering in the world. However, I am as of yet unconvinced that the only way to do this is with one the historic liturgical styles of the Reformed tradition. No doubt, it is vital for any church to implement the historic creeds, confessions, and hymns of the Church throughout the ages, but where exactly do we find the standard for how these resources should be specifically used? I believe that keeping in mind this principle of distinctiveness, along with the proper proclamation of the Gospel and a regular use of the historic resources of the Church, there is room for many new expressions of gratitude for God's work.

In all honesty, the point of this post is to get you to read another post by Steve Bush, a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University, to which I've provided a link below. He expresses this far better than I could.

http://www.generousorthodoxy.net/thinktank/2005/09/liturgy_and_con.html