Who’s Driving?
Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
1 Chronicles 16:9
We just came home from a great weekend with old friends. We drove down to Virginia with friends to visit a couple that we have known and loved for thirty years (we were very young when we met!). It was precious time as we walked the streets and had lunch in Williamsburg on Saturday during the day. In the evening our friends made a delicious dinner of salmon and rice (and coconut crème pie from a local restaurant that we took with us!). We celebrated the end of 2011, the beginning of 2012, and one of our friend’s birthdays. We worshipped together and even had communion in their home church on Sunday morning. It was all good!
As we were headed to worship on Sunday our friends were telling us about their church. It has grown a lot in the time they have been in Virginia…to such a point that they now have four services a weekend and have begun to build a new, larger campus.
The service we visited was known as their “Spirited Traditional Service”. New Year’s Day was an unconventional service for them and the Pastor came over and talked to us to let us know this before we started. It was actually a fine Biblical service. In the sermon the Pastor called God’s people to examine their lives and search their hearts for those areas of their lives where they have been unfaithful in their walk with the Lord. They then served communion and asked for a signed commitment to “renew the covenant” each had with the Lord.
We read many words and had some pretty deep promises before us in the form of a litany. I need to think about these things so I did not sign the commitment – knowing that I probably would not be back to that church to be held accountable for it for another year anyway!
I am not exactly sure why they call this service the “Spirited Traditional” service. We did sing parts of a few hymns but in a medley rather than from the hymnal. The music was beautifully done but we were all a little frustrated by the medley because the hymns were familiar and we just wanted to sing the whole song! From the bulletin it appears that all four services hear the same sermon – so I am guessing the service names aren’t related to anything other than the music.
But… I am one of those people to whom words mean something. The service names were:
Contemporary Service at 5:30 PM on Saturday
Traditional Service at 8:30 AM on Sunday
Band-driven Service at 9:17 AM on Sunday
Spirited Traditional at 11:00 AM on Sunday
“Contemporary” and “Traditional” have become familiar terms for most of us in the Protestant world. Though the styles vary from church to church we have a general understanding that if we go to a contemporary service we will sing praise songs and choruses and if we go to a traditional service we will be singing from the hymnal or maybe some hymns with the words on a screen in the front of the church. We also know that a “Blended Service” is an attempt to please the old and the young!
From my experience on Sunday I am going to interpret “Spirited Traditional” as a service where hymns, or the choruses of the hymns, are sung, set to a more contemporary tempo. I am taking the word “spirited” to mean “lively” rather than “Holy Spirited”. I say this because otherwise I would have to assume that the Traditional Service at 8:30 did not have the Spirit and I really don’t think that is the case if the preaching was the same.
I think that when we are working with the worship and the Word of God that we have to be careful how we say things. The names of the services are intended to send a message. I am confused about the “Band-driven Service”. My friends do not attend that service but they are concerned about the name as well. I fear that it sends the wrong message. It is as if the church so wants to be attractive to a certain demographic, presumably young people with families, that they think they need to make the Lord more attractive or alluring.
Bands “drive” the tone of a nightclub. If the band is “on” everyone has a great time. If the band is “off” then the club clears out early in search of the place where the band is better at creating the party atmosphere. Is that what we want in our worship?
I have been accused – rightly so many times- of being too particular about words, but “Band-driven Service”? I understand that we are all more comfortable with what is familiar to us. The early church raised a huge stink when the organ was introduced. It was new and different and rejected by many. And although bands are relatively new to church services, my concern is not the band. My concern is that the band “drives” the service.
Every time the church meets it should be a service of worship. Not some place we go to get something out of but a place we go to offer worship to God as He commands His people. (1 Chronicles 16:29 above).
This will not keep me from going back to that church the next time we visit. People there love the Lord and His Word. But, should God Himself not be the driving force behind all of our worship?
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. 1 Chronicles 16:29