Category Archives: Shock and Awe

The Original Blended Worship?

By D. G. Hart | Published: August 10, 2010

With less division [than over church government], the Westminster Assembly also drew up an order or worship and a confession of faith. The Directory for Public Worship, accepted by the Parliaments of England and Scotland alike in 1645, carved a middle ground between the Presbyterian desire for a fixed liturgy and Independent attachment to extemporary… Read More→

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How Can We Make the Pagans Conform to Our Rules When We Won’t Play By Our Rules?

By D. G. Hart | Published: July 23, 2010

I have made this point several times, but I think it bears repeating. Evangelicals and cultural transformers spend a lot (inordinate, in my estimation) telling the wider culture how it needs to follow God’s law. Much of this activity happens during the ordinary days of the week. When James Dobson calls for a Justice Sunday… Read More→

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Why I Love MY Church (It’s All About ME)

By D. G. Hart | Published: July 19, 2010

A couple of comments recently suggested that it’s all negative all the time at Oldlife. So here’s a list of reasons why I love my congregation and its ministry. We sing from a hymnal (and a good one at that). We pray at least six times during an average service (eight or nine with a… Read More→

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Missing the Forest for the Pericopes

By D. G. Hart | Published: July 15, 2010

I have yet to read T. David Gordon’s book, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, but I’m tempted to wonder if part of the reason for Johnny’s homiletical ineptness is that he feels constrained to preach one paragraph at a time. Mind you, I have nothing against the lectio continuo, that is, preaching and reading through entire… Read More→

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Which is More Troubling?

By D. G. Hart | Published: May 15, 2010

Charismatics who sway and wave their arms during congregational singing, or evangelicals who think charismatics swaying and waving are a sign of the Spirit? I can’t help but wonder after reading David Neff’s wishing happy birthday to the charimsatic movement in his editorial for Christianity Today. He writes: In April 1960, I was a seventh… Read More→

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Where to Put What We Sing

By D. G. Hart | Published: March 25, 2010

Hymnals are something that Presbyterians take for granted. Rare is the lay person who picks up the book to examine it like any other, looking say at the table of contents, then at some of the indexes, and then at one or two hymns to see which tune the compilers used for a certain text.… Read More→

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How Evangelicals Can Prove their Environmentalist Convictions

By D. G. Hart | Published: March 9, 2010

This past Sunday my wife and I visited a Baptist church in a seaside town that fifty years ago would have been the worship option for our both sets of parents when vacationing. The half-hour of singing during the first half of the service, punctuated by insights from the pianist-minister-of-music, was not surprising. This liturgical… Read More→

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Sixteen Reasons Not To Watch the Super Bowl

By D. G. Hart | Published: February 5, 2010

16. Remember the Sabbath day. 15. Keep it holy. 14. You have six days for all your work. 13. The Sabbath belongs to God. 12. Don’t work on it. 11. Don’t let your son work on it. 10. Or your daughter. 9. Or football players. 8. Or cheerleaders. 7. Or advertizing executives. 6. Or broadcasters.… Read More→

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For What Do We Pray?

By D. G. Hart | Published: January 27, 2010

Reformed Protestants are generally dismissive (or worse) of prosperity gospels. They know, at least intuitively, that suffering is part of the Christian life and that calculating God’s favor on the basis of material well being is not good theology. Max Weber, the sociologist who interpreted capitalism as the republication of the covenant of works, never… Read More→

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Brit Hume Reconsidered

By D. G. Hart | Published: January 13, 2010

Put this in the category of ornery, as in there is no pleasing some people, as in paleo-Calvinists are a demanding lot. But the details on Brit Hume, his remarks about Tiger Woods, and Hume’s own Christian convictions are not as encouraging as they seemed at first. Many have commented on Hume’s remarks and subsequent… Read More→

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