May Our Sunday Morning Practices Point Us to God
I’ve been hearing of people opting for traditional churches with more formal, liturgical services. They desire to move away from the seeker sensitive services they grew up with. They don’t want to go to a performance every Sunday.
They want to worship God in a reserved, structured setting.
I get that.
Seeker Sensitive Services
It seems services at many churches—especially larger, growing congregations—pursue this performance mindset. It feeds into consumerism, with people migrating to the Sunday destination that offers them the most exciting entertainment.
They become church shoppers.
What follows the upbeat music at these churches is a sermon. It’s not much of a stretch to equate these Sunday experiences to a concert and a lecture.
Though I didn’t go to a liturgical church growing up, the churches I attended had their share of liturgy. I didn’t like it then, and I still don’t like it now, several decades later.
This isn’t saying liturgy is wrong, merely that I don’t care for it.
The reason I shy away from liturgy is that it strikes me as “vain repetition,” which Jesus tells us to avoid (Matthew 6:7).
The focus of Jesus’s warning is prayer, which is why liturgical prayers repel me. For this reason, I don’t even like written prayers. Beyond our prayers, it’s not a stretch to apply Jesus’s warning to any form of worship.
Growing up, I struggled to equate what happened for one hour on Sunday morning with what the Bible pointed me to do as I followed Jesus the other 167 hours of the week.
It felt like two disconnected facets of the same religion: the formal and inaccessible Sunday service contrasted to striving to live a life for Jesus the rest of the week.
Yet the Sunday morning alternative, which culminated in seeker sensitive services, ultimately did nothing to erase the disconnect I sensed between the Sunday service and living a life for Jesus.
In fact, this one hour each week often distracts me from following Jesus.
Old Testament Liturgy
Given all this, I’ve been reconsidering liturgical services. Is there value in them that I’ve missed? Its proponents say that, among other things, our liturgical traditions have endured over time. They’ve proven themselves, and we can count on them.
We see liturgy in the Old Testament, though not as often as I initially expected.
One delightful example has the repeating refrain “His love endures forever” (Psalm 136, NIV). This line is given twenty-six times in response to an equal number of phrases that celebrate God. It possesses a comforting rhythm.
We read a short, comparable passage in Psalm 118:1-4.
Moses has the Levites teach the people about God’s law, where the people (the congregation) respond to each phrase with a hearty “Amen.” In this liturgy, the rhythm repeats sixteen times (Deuteronomy 27:15-26).
We see a short liturgy of sorts when Solomon dedicates the temple. The people’s response to God’s glory is “He is good; his love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 7:1-4, NIV).
We later get a sense of liturgy when Nehemiah dedicates the wall around Jerusalem. He sends two choirs walking around the wall in opposite directions giving thanks to God (Nehemiah 12:31-43). What a powerful, inspiring worship of the Almighty.
These are all Old Testament examples.
A New Testament Perspective
I can’t think of any examples of liturgy in the New Testament. This gives us something to contemplate. Yet I also don’t see many examples of church services in the New Testament either. This also gives us something to contemplate.
Paul does teach us what to do when we come together (1 Corinthians 14:26-27). Notice that he doesn’t mention liturgy in his list. This isn’t just when we gather for church services, it’s anytime we gather. This is another point worthy of contemplation.
Liturgy
If liturgy draws you to God, then embrace it.
If liturgy has the opposite effect, seek other ways to worship him. An alternate response is to ask God to give you an appreciation for liturgy.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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