by Wyatt Pruitt
Liturgy means “the work of the people” or “Public Service”
Modern Christianity has Worship or Praise services. But what does it mean to have a service. Service means to do work for the benefit of someone or something
So in worship who or what is being served in worship services
In worship God is giving us his gifts of the word and the sacraments, and we are offering up the work/sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, and offerings
What is the best way for our services to be formatted? This is where liturgy comes into play
The modern praise services originated in the 1970’s with the Jesus Freak movement in California, and the Charismatic Renewal The Praise service was designed to illicit emotions in an individual to get them to “feel the movement of the Holy Spirit” The Holy Spirit is not your emotions. You cannot feel the movement of the Holy Spirit. You can have emotional reaction to the word of God, but that emotion is not the Spirit, the word of God being spoken is the Spirit working. So even when you are not emotional during a service, when the word of God is preached, the Spirit is “moving” despite your feelings. Since the service is not supposed to be about feeling, but the word of God, our services should reflect this.
What Format is the Best?
All Christian traditions have a Liturgy, including contemporary Praise services
Our actions and rhythms of our liturgies reflect what we believe
Traditional Liturgy is designed to teach biblical truth, and is built on scripture and gives each person in the body of Christ a rhythm of prayer, thanksgiving, and receiving of Word & Sacrament
Lets Compare the Liturgies of Praise Services to the Traditional Liturgy
Praise Service
Praise Song 1
Praise Song 2
Praise Song 3
Announcements
Memorial Lord’s Supper (Varying Rates)
Praise Song 4
Sermon
Praise Song 5
Altar Call
Announcements
Dismissal
Traditional Liturgy
Introit Kyrie (Lord have Mercy)
Gloria (Glory be to the Father)
Collect (Prayer of the day)
Old Testament Reading
Hymn
Epistle Reading
Hymn
Gospel Reading
Nicene Creed
Sermon
Order of Holy Eucharist:
a. Sursum Corda “The LORD be with you…”
b. Words of Institution c. Sanctus (Holy Holy Holy…) and Benedictus (Blessed is he who comes)
d. Lord’s Prayer
e. Pax (the peace of the Lord)
f. Agnus Dei
g. Communion (Real Prescence)
h. Benedicamus (Let us Bless the Lord)
Hymn
Aaronic
Benediction (The Lord bless you and keep you)
Dismissal
Liturgy of St Mark (200-400 AD)
Prayer over Incense
Offertory Prayer
The Enarxis
First Antiphon
Second Antiphon
Third Antiphon
Prayer of Entrance
Entrance of Gospel
Prayer of Thrice Holy
Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading
Prayer of Supplication
Litany for the Catechumens
Prayer of Faithful
Prayer before great entrance
Prayer of Oblation
Kiss of Peace
Prayer of the Peace
The Anaphora
Prayer of the Church
Blessing of Bread and Wine
Great litany
Holy Communion (Real Prescence)
Prayer of thanksgiving
Benediction
Prayer of Diaconicon
Biblical Reasons for Traditional Liturgy
- Traditional Liturgy takes into account scriptural commands
“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.’ 1 Timothy 4:13 ESV “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42 ESV
2. Traditional Liturgy Comes to God in reverence, and treats him as Lord and King
“But all things should be done decently and in order.” 1 Corinthians 14:40 ESV
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,” Hebrews 12:28 ESV
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” Hebrews 1:3 ESV
3. Traditional Liturgy tries to copy worship in heaven
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.” Revelation 1:12 ESV
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 4:8 ESV
the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 4:11 ESV
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts. as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Mathew 6:9-13 ESV
Reasons against Contemporary Praise services
Praise Services focus on the emotions of a service instead of the word of God, making the point of worship entertainment Praise Services make the people the center of attention, especially the Pastor and “Worship Team” instead of the word and sacraments (Sermons can take up more than half of a Services length) Praise services neglect the reading of the word, and degrade the evangelistic power of simply reading the word word of God “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 ESV Praise services focus on our “Personal Relationship with Jesus” this misses the point of congregational worship. We are part of the communion of saints, and worship services are not all about the individual, but the building up of the whole body Since the Sermons are often absurdly long instead of focusing on Law and Gospel, they tend to focus on the experiences of the Pastor, complex analogies, and emotionalism. Most of the time shorter is better. Humans have an attention span between 8 seconds and 20 minutes. Praise Services focus on the way we want to worship, instead of the way God wants us to worship him. The point of worship is not entertainment, but the proper orderly receiving of the Word & Sacrament, and the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving
Churches are colonies of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
We should be trying our best to emulate the kingdom of heaven, and to stay connected with the saints that come before us. To ditch Traditional worship for Praise Services which were developed 50 years ago is a grave mistake. We must be connected with our past and the Traditional Liturgy has been in the Church for 2000 years. There are many Churches that still hold to Traditional Liturgy and you can find these Traditions in the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Lutheran church Traditions.
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