We learned two weeks ago to not be conformed to the zeitgeist or the spirit of the age, but be transformed by the renewal of our minds. If our churches are to be in “unknown” tongue to the non-believer as 1 Cor. 14 says, the non-believer should feel like he stepped into another world upon entering the door; the preaching should convict him, but one thing for sure, he should not feel “comfortable.” The more the church reflects the values of values of the current culture, the less historically “Christian” it appears. This is partly why we speak of our era as post-Christian.
We are told that Christian churches must adjust to the times if they are not only going to be relevant but survive, because people will flock to the latest bells and whistles that tickle their ears. The pastor becomes a CEO of a business, the elders become administrators and the church must market the Gospel to get people in and keep their attention.
Michael Horton in his book, In the Face of God, says, “We’ve adopted a marketing mentality. We’re proud to see that our ‘product’—a faith experience—has made it into the marketplace. After all, as long as people are getting close to God, who cares how they get there?” (4)
We in the historic reformed community find this approach patently unscriptural and obviously unhistorical in the words of RC Sproul, the Protestant church has done things the same way for 400 years—why should we be made to think we need to change now to save the McDonald’s generation? The more we compete with the fads of this age, the more we will lose to the god of this age; you can bet, if they do not like the big mac at one church, they will leave for the whopper at another. If we become people pleasers as a church Body and fail to be God pleasers, he will discipline us as a people as he has promised. It is no wonder that Dr. Bill Hybels the founder of the seeker-sensitive church growth movement admitted to Christianity Today magazine that they failed in their mission to make disciples; they made people feel comfortable on Sunday mornings, but few comparably attended discipleship groups at Willow Creek Community Church and few had any grasp on what the Christian faith was really about—but they had 1000’s in attendance on Sunday mornings for the self-help messages, drama and excellent coffee.
In contrast, Christendom or Christian culture emerged in the pagan world as a conquering force; in the words of Isaac Watts, “He’s come to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found.” The West was profoundly changed and transformed as a result of the spread of Christianity. Hence, Christendom emerged as paganism was suppressed. People often accuse the Christian church for having pagan origins—they are partly right. Wherever the Gospel has been proclaimed, paganism has been suppressed. Where there have been pagan holidays and celebrations, which are as CS Lewis said only shadows of the real truth, the Christian church has pre-empted them with Christian meaning and replaced their pagan observance with the victory of the Son of God. Jesus said that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Example of this are Christmas and All Saints Day.
December 25, the day to commemorate variously the birth of Apollo, the Son god Ba’al or the winter solstice, or whatever. Recognizing the birth of Jesus to be near September, the Christian church chose Dec. 25 to eclipse paganism by the celebration of the birth of the authentic Son of God, Jesus Christ. We anticipate this celebration by adopting the advent candle wheel or wreath in preparation for Christmas. All Saints Day on November 1 coincided with the Celtic harvest holiday Samhain, commemorating the roaming restless dead, but it was suppressed by the spread of Christianity. Hence, All Hallow’s Eve (or “Halloween” on Oct. 31) became a vigil to honor the Christian departed. All Saints remained after the Reformation in the calendar of the Anglican Church, Lutheran churches and the English Presbyterians. Of course, in our time after the Lutheran Reformation of 1517, we Protestants typically refer to October 31 as “Reformation Day.”
As we noted also last week, the Reformers wanted to reform the church not leave it; holding essentially to the idea that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it or don’t throw the baby out with the water. Our own worship liturgy at Rock is based upon the Presbyterian reforms to the Book of Common Prayer in 1689. Presbyterians have always had structured liturgical services in both John Calvin’s Geneva and John Knox’s Scotland, building upon and improving the Mass according to Scripture, retaining what was Biblical and removing what was not, such as the use of the Creeds, Gloria Patri, doxology, kneeling for prayer and replacing the minister’s priestly vestments with the academic gown that identifies the teaching elder.
It was the Puritan reforms of the Church of England that would affect American Presbyterian worship the most, leaving no calendar observances, one holy day—the Sabbath–no Christmas or Easter, no candles in the church or saying the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostles’ Creed—all because the Bible had not commanded it. This left Puritans looking to the Bible for silly things such as a prooftext for when the Session should meet. However, Romans 14 allowed the Church and Christian conscience to observe special days and customs to the Lord; hence, keeping with the principle of worship being guided by Scripture. Puritan worship and those denominations that descended from them represent therefore a departure from the reformed tradition regarding worship.
Why do we sing historic hymns rather than contemporary music? Contemporary worship reflects the values of contemporary experience and is often centered on the self; historic hymnody is God centered and focuses on God’s sovereignty, holiness and glory so often neglected in much of so-called contemporary Christian culture, because contemporary Christian culture is not informed by the reformed faith, but by emotionalism. We may have had strong feelings and emotions, but may never have truly been with God.
The ways in which the Amighty (NB–that would be the Father-Son-Holy Spirit of orthodox Christendom, not the woman in the Shack) orchestrates and had orchestrated the events of my life and others that He has connected me with.
