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 practice of unceasing song is now standard almost everywhere that Protestants do not use a prayer book even though Pentecostals were the first to introduce the period of praise songs as the way to enter into God’s presence (the invocation used to take care of that).
What was surprising, though, was that this form of service – a half-hour of song, followed by a half-hour sermon – could transpire without an order of service in the bulletin. The songs appeared on the screen above the baptistry, the singers and musicians in the front found the right music, and when the singing was finished the pastor assumed his place behind the pulpit. It seemed to transpire in an orderly way. But what happened to a prayer of praise, one of confession, one of thanksgiving? Or what about different readings from parts of Scripture? What about the dialogue between God and his people? This seemed to be one monologue (song) followed by another (sermon). The only part of the service that remained unchanged from our youth was the Lord’s Supper that concluded the service. It was a memorial of Christ’s death.
As I struggled to think about the words on the screen during the first half of the service – I could not sing because the tunes are difficult, unfamiliar and only the musicians up front had music (so much for the priesthood of all believers) – I began to wonder how this congregation would do if the power went out. Well, they would not be able to sing because the projector would not work, the microphones would also be off, and some of the instruments would no longer function. Plus, the pastor would have to do without that nifty microphone headset that made it look like he was wearing braces. Still, the sun was bright enough to let us use the hymnals, especially if the sexton would have opened the shades that darkened the room sufficiently for the projector to do its work.
This led me to think that if evangelicals really are becoming green and owning their environmental responsibilities, then perhaps such statements as “An Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation†should include as one of its policy proposals the banning of all Praise & Worship worship. This would mean saving all the electricity that is used to support the praise bands, the singers, and the projectors and computers. The proposal should also call for worship music that uses only hymnals and pianos.
Of course, trees need to be felled to produce hymn books and to make parts of pianos. In which case, evangelicals might consider that the form of worship with the smallest carbon footprint is exclusive psalm-singing unaccompanied by musical instruments. Yes, the psalter still requires the demolition of trees. But unlike most hymnals that weigh in with close to 700 hymns, the psalter only has 150 songs, and so requires less paper. And without the need of a piano, organ, electric guitar, or synthesizer, psalm-singing further reduces the consumption of fossil fuels.
So if evangelicals are truly serious about the environment, one way to look for it is with a return to the worship of Geneva. Who knew Calvin was such a sensitive and trendy guy?
Old Life 
Trees are renewable, though maybe we could make our hymnals from recycled Scofield study bibles.
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Ah yes. The sans bulletin order of service: 1) singing, 2) “the talk,”… and 3) snacks. Reminds me of those heinous youthgroup gatherings.
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This is a good reason to not visit seaside towns!
Baus – you’re on to something. Many of these groups would probably gladly own that diagnosis & description. It’s institutionalized juvenile-ism, and so, of course, there’s a problem with it from that perspective along with others.
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Gotta say, this made my morning. I actually laughed out loud. Odd that statements on “current affairs” seem more prevalent than those on worship…
“Who knew Calvin was such a sensitive and trendy guy?”
His sweet goatee always gave me this impression…
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What, no Lutheran churches available? But thanks for the historical insight on the song service preamble. It explains why even the staunchest Reformed churches around here don’t seem invulernable to quasi-Pentecostalism (singing for fifteen minutes from the revivalist hymnbook before the PM service).
Baus, I like to call it three-songs-and-a-lecture.
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Thanks for the laugh this afternoon! My wife and I like to call these “worship” services “K-LOVE Karaoke” (positive, encouraging!) – ordered, of course, on the “7/11” principle; 7 words repeated 11 times. Although the hymns in our LCMS hymnal are more difficult (IMHO…they have more than 7 words…*gulp*) – hardly a Sunday goes by without my thanking G*d for our church…
And I could probably come up with a few Scofield/Ryrie Bibles to enhance my green creds…excellent idea!
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Pentecostals were the first to introduce the period of praise songs as the way to enter into God’s presence
Isn’t this originally a Finneyism?
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Although I love the Psalms and sing them heartily, it is interesting to note, as Godfrey does (somewhere), that singing does not seem to have made up a large portion of the worship of the early church. An inversion seems to have taken place in modern worship.
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LOL: I love it … “the form of worship with the smallest carbon footprint is exclusive psalm-singing unaccompanied by musical instruments” Also, unlike hymnals (which differ from church to church based on denomination/doctrine) the Psalter is unifying and the Psalms are always biblical (inspired by the Holy Spirit)!
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Darryl: you’re a jerk. (Said with the utmost of fondness :-))
Seriously, do you have to be so consistent all the time? Sheesh!
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Reed, if the site is going to feature a photo of Wendell Berry, I best show concern for fossil fuel sometime.
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A related question you forget to raise: What drove Ocean City Baptist Church to dramatically change her worship? My grandfather was a deacon of that congregation, and my memories there as a child and teenager (1960s and 1970s) were that the worship was largely traditional, with a bulletin, hymnals, and even the singing of the doxology. The church was also relatively large in terms of membership, having built an addition adjacent to the sanctuary to accommodate summer worshipers who filled the place. But the church’s move to a “Young Life” venue of worship in recent years seems to correlate with much smaller numbers (so much for the church-growth theories).
The other relevant observation is that the church three blocks down Wesley Avenue, First Presbyterian Church, a PCUSA congregation, has changed her worship service very little. Same traditional “Service for the Lord’s Day,” no camp songs, and they still use hymnals. (In fact, I am told they are considering getting the Trinity Hymnal). First Presbyterian even still retains an evening worship service so that even if distracted by the girls on beach or boardwalk, a young man can still make the best use of the Lord’s Day at First Presbyterian.
So the irony: the godless mainline congregation gets it right, but the independent Baptist church, even one with a pastor who claims he is Reformed, trades her birthright for a mess of pottage.
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