Jeff Ling

“The fundamental problem in the evangelical world today is not inadequate technique, insufficient organization, or antiquated music and those who want to squander the church’s resources bandaging these scratches will do nothing to staunch the flow of blood that is spilling from its wounds. The fundamental problem in the evangelical world today is that God rests too inconsequentially upon the church. His truth is too distant, his grace too ordinary, his judgment too benign, his gospel too easy, and his Christ is too common.”

- David Wells from God in the Wasteland

Just had to repost some of the material from Tullian Tchividjian’s post via the Gospel Coalition blog. Excellent!

“Most churches would agree that any segregation arising from racial or economic bigotry runs contrary to the nature of the gospel and should not be tolerated. But there’s another kind of segregation, perhaps more subtle, that many churches today have unapologetically embraced.

Following the lead of the advertising world, many churches and worship services target specific age groups to the exclusion of others. They forget that, according to the Bible, the church is an all-age community, and instead they organize themselves around distinctives dividing the generations: Busters, Boomers, Millennials, Generations X, Y, and Z. Many churches offer a traditional service for the tribe who prefer older music and a contemporary service for the tribe who prefer newer music. The truth is, however, that if the only type of music you employ in a worship service is old, you inadvertently communicate that God was more active in the past than he is in the present. On the other hand, if the only type of music you employ in a worship service is new, you inadvertently communicate that God is more active in the present than he was in the past.

The only way to musically communicate God’s timeless activity in the life of the church is to blend the best of the past with the best of the present. In other words, we must remember in our worship that while “contemporary only” people operate with their heads fixed frontwards, never looking over their shoulder at the stock from which they have come, and “traditional only” people operate with their heads on backwards, romanticizing about the past and always wanting to go back, the Church, in contrast from both extremes, is called upon to be a people with swiveling heads: learning from the past, living in the present, and looking to the future. That’s the only way to avoid in worship what C.S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery.”

You see, when we separate people according to something as trivial as musical preferences, we evidence a fundamental failure to comprehend the heart of the gospel. We’re not only feeding toxic tribalism; we’re also saying the gospel can’t successfully bring these two different groups together. It’s a declaration of doubt about the unifying power of God’s gospel. Generational appeal in worship is an admission that the gospel is powerless to join together what man has separated.

Building the church on stylistic preferences or age appeal (whether old or young) is just as contrary to the reconciling effect of the gospel as building it on class, race, or gender distinctions. In a recent interview J. I. Packer said, “If worship services are so fixed that what’s being offered fits the expectations, the hopes, even the prejudices, of any one of these groups as opposed to the others, I don’t believe the worship style glorifies God.” One of the leading ways the church can testify to God’s unifying power before our segregated world is to establish and maintain congregations and worship services that transcend cultural barriers, including age and musical styles.”

This article was triggered by a couple of things. First, Trevin Wax released a post on his blog entitled  “Steak on a Paper Plate: A Reflection on Worship”.  In it, Trevin questioned the forms of our worship and whether or not those forms (i.e. paper plates) were appropriate for celebrating and acknowledging the glory of God.  It was a great analogy and a fresh one for a discussion that has been going on for quite some time.  Content and form, style and substance. One statement by Trevin especially caught my eye:

But in worship today, there is a tendency toward casualness. The emphasis on feeling God’s closeness in worship may short-circuit the possibility of being transformed by a glimpse of the Transcendent One. There’s hardly any room for feeling awe in worship, and I can’t help but think that part of our problem is the form. (emphasis mine)

Reading Trevin’s article reminded me of some other things I had read in my studies, particularly arguments put forward by Marva J. Dawn, Michael Horton, Robert Webber and others. A work by Dr. Allen P. Ross is what I feature here and base my comments on.  In his book: Recalling the Hope of Glory, Dr. Ross discusses the danger of our worship becoming “imbalanced if not deformed.” How does that happen? By ignoring what he refers to as the “four basic senses of the human spirit as it responds to God.”

What are those four basic senses?

The Intellectual Sense. This relates to our fundamental need of understanding what we do and the reasons for it. We have a huge responsibility as worship leaders to prepare carefully and present with clarity. Dr. Ross suggests that the effect of understanding is two-fold:  First, it keeps the acts of worship safe from the stagnation of routine and or the infusion of superstition.  Secondly,  it helps to ensure that the worship experience does not come untethered from the everyday of living.

The Aesthetic Sense. We were created in the context of beauty and have the capacity for creating beautiful, although flawed, offerings. The wide variety of artistic expressions that exist should serve the purpose  not only of adding color to the world as a measure of common grace but extol and magnify the glory of God before the world. The fact is that there is very little creating that goes on in most worship settings. We often allot people the role of marginally involved observers who may sing a few songs (when not just watching the band) and little else. Ross points to the fact that worship is intended to be a dramatic reenactment of the gospel each week that invites people to participate by song, symbol, prayer, gestures, responses, etc..  This serves not only to draw the heart of the worshipper to God but into a deeper sense of community by shared acts of praise.

The Corporate Sense. Ross stresses that “ private worship or personal devotions, which are essential for the spiritual life, must lead into and find full expression in the assembly of the righteous, for private meditations must benefit others. “  In other words, our individual experience of worship is intended to fuel the worship of the community and help it take flight. It is a sad reality that multitudes of worship leaders look into the eyes of empty people each week; people who are relying on the band, the music, the charisma of the leader, to drag them from the grip of empty devotional lives into a momentary experience that caters more to the needs of people than magnifying the glory of God. Am I suggesting that our worship times should not bring comfort and encouragement to those attending? Certainly not. What I do mean to say is that if we help our people to understand the responsibility of bringing to the corporate worship a heart overflowing from private worship, we would see a greater depth of God-centered worship and less of a need to be pumped or propped up.

The Moral Sense. Frankly, I was disappointed that Dr. Ross used the word moral to describe this. I do understand his point: worship that is genuine should lead to transformed living. Our ethic should reflect the righteousness of the One whose face we behold. That said, I would have preferred the term the transcendent sense. My reason for this is that I firmly believe that our goal should not be to become more moral or ethical. I don’t believe that our goal in worship should be the transformation of people into a more virtuous morality. Where that has been emphasized, legalism tends to rule the day. Our deepest need is to be touched by the transcendent display of His holiness as we worship Him. When we worship “in the beauty of holiness” and behold “as in a mirror, the glory of God.” We find that the holiness we long for and the hatred of sin we experience is the genuine transformative work of the Spirit in our lives. Worship births love and love is the motivation we need to live out of.  I think Dr. Ross would agree with that and I certainly agree with his assessment of what happens when Holy God is not the focal point of our worship:

“Worship must develop this sense otherwise the intellectual sense will become arrogance, the aesthetic sense will be entertainment, and the corporate sense an unguided assembly.“

I don’t think any other statement captures so perfectly the dangers we face today if not humbled by God’s holiness. It is no secret that the reformed that have an emphasis on the intellectual sense are often found to be arrogant, that everyone from the seekers to the charismatics often fall head long into the lure of entertainment, and that emergents and house churches take the form of unguided assemblies in the name of community.

The question I face is the same one that Ralph Martin asks at the end of his masterful treatment of worship in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley):

“What is the pattern of worship that best conveys the richness of divine grace, faithfully interprets the gospel in our modern world and helpfully consolidates the body of Christ?”

Unless we are asking all of those questions then the warning of Dr. Ross concerning entertainment, arrogance and unguided assemblies is what we will contend with.

The Lamb Has Conquered

An outstanding collection of new music for the church, The Lamb Has Conquered has been released by Vineyard Records UK. The music was birthed out of Mercy Vineyard, Southampton and all of the songs were lyrically penned by the team of Mike & Jamie Pearson and Kate Cooke. A group of musicians from the church helped to create the melodies and the result is stellar. Elevation Music are currently offering a free download track from the album on their website.

Much of what is released today in “worship music” seems very removed from the church. Songs are often too difficult to learn for average people or pitched too high for them to sing comfortably. The Lamb Has Conquered reflects the reality of having been written in a church and for the church. The songs are accessible, lyrically devotional but with theological depth, and largely cross generational.

Vineyard Music UK describes the CD this way:

“The Lamb Has Conquered offers 12 dynamic new worship songs of truth, courage, empowerment and hope for believers worldwide”, says Vineyard Records.“The songs focus on the redemptive power of the incarnate Jesus raised to life for us. There is a strong declaration of the love and sacrifice of Jesus through songs which are sometimes very personal and reflective, and other times powerful and victorious. These ‘sung prayers’ are dynamically, passionately and sensitively supported musically.”

Preview the CD here!