I have to admit I that I am a bit depressed about most of the worship services I see in the Evangelical and Reformed world these days.[1]  Jesus gave us a pattern for our worship of Word and meal.  The church from earliest times observed this pattern and developed what was called the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the table.  It is the departure from this pattern that is disheartening.

One problem is that we rarely observe the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the table together.  On the one hand, if you go to mainline Protestant services, the liturgy of the Word is eviscerated by the lack of sound teaching, even if communion is observed.  Sermons are extremely short and grace is not taught against the backdrop of God's holiness and judgment.  Thus, the glory of Christ is not seen, for God's glory is seen in Jesus when the gospel is proclaimed against the background of the law.[2]  We see this in Exodus 33:18-23 and 34:4-8 when Moses asks to see the Lord's glory.  The Lord shows him his glory by preaching a sermon, so to speak, that focuses on the Lord's grace against the background of his judgment.  The same truth is taught in the New Testament when we read, "and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14 ).  God's grace against the backdrop of God's justice or truth is what helps us to see God's glory by faith, but this missing in mainline services, as well as in other branches of the church that depart from the gospel. On the other hand, in Evangelical and Reformed churches, we rarely have the Supper, even when the teaching is true to the New Testament and God's glory is seen in Christ resulting in worship.

A second problem in the liturgies of our churches is that music is squeezing out, not only Scripture readings, but also prayer.  

Jesus gave us the pattern for worship: Word and meal.  He learned this pattern from Scripture and from his Jewish background and then developed it for his church.  The liturgy of the Word was patterned after the liturgy of the synagogue.[3]  It is amazing how much Scripture was read in the synagogue!  The reading of the Word in a synagogue service went like this:

• Torah
• Psalm
• Prophets
• Psalm
• Historical Writings
• Psalm
• Preaching/Teaching known as Midrash

The early church adopted the synagogue's pattern, but pared the Old Testament reading down a little as they added the Gospels as they were written (personally I believe Matthew was written first in the mid to late 40's at the time of persecution following Stephen's martyrdom when the flock was scattered away from the apostles thus necessitating the need for the written Word) and then the letters of the apostles, as they became available.  The early church's reading of the New Testament writings in their liturgy showed that the churches received these apostolic writings as authoritative immediately without a long delay.

It is easy to see, then, that the early church truly had a liturgy of the Word!  The Word was read in big chunks from both Testaments.  In Augustine's church Scripture reading would last for an hour as would the sermon.  But, today in Evangelical and Reformed churches it is almost impossible to find a regular Old Testament reading.  Scripture reading as an element of the service has been reduced to what is necessary for preaching.

If music has squeezed out the Old and New Testament readings as separate elements, it has also squeezed out congregational prayer in many churches. The synagogue services made time for prayer.  Prayers were in the form of what was called The Eighteen Benedictions, which were similar to our collects.  But we just don't have time for a long pastoral prayer or what is sometimes called the prayers of the people.  No time for prayer, but lots of time for singing!  

But is this a good trade that we have made?  Can the words of our hymns and choruses really compare with the words of God in Scripture?  Can we really afford not to pray given the needy condition of our souls and the world around us?

It used to be that our congregational prayer/pastoral prayer/prayers of the people included the following:

• praise to God for what he has done, including creation, redemption, and specific acts of faithfulness to our community; 
• petitions for creation and its care, the nations, leaders in various areas of life;
• our community and its leaders; 
• the church universal and its mission; 
• the local congregation(s) and its ministry;
• those with particular needs in the church;
• doxology

But apparently there is less need to pray in our day than in the days of our spiritual ancestors! Apparently we can now replace the Word and prayer with more singing!  

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this reduction of prayer and the elimination of Old and New Testament readings, is it a good thing?  We need to return to the two part structure of the divine service that included a service of the Word and a service of the table.[4]  If we returned to a service of the Word, with at minimum, Old and New Testament readings as a separate element, and a congregational prayer, it might force us into a more responsible use of music, so that each song would have a more specific liturgical function in the dialogue of worship, much like the the liturgical function of music in the temple worship that we see in Chronicles.[5] Returning to the pattern Jesus gave us cannot be a bad thing!  His pattern was Word and meal, not music, preaching and a meal or even worse, music and preaching apart from a meal.

------------------------------

[1]  This doesn't mean that I don't derive blessing and benefit from the worship services I attend!  God is gracious!

[2]  Seeing the glory of Christ by faith in our worship services is vital.  It is seeing the Lord by faith that transforms us according to 2 Corinthians 3 and 4.  Allen P. Ross' book on worship, entitled Recalling the Hope of Glory is good on this point.  James M. Hamilton's book, God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology makes a strong case for seeing God's glory through teaching grace against the background of judgment.

[3]  Jesus developed the liturgy of the table from the Passover Seder and the Sabbath evening Seder that took place in Jewish homes.  It was a ritual that looked back to the exodus and the Passover lamb and to the coming of the Christ or Messiah.  These Seders, both the Passover Seder and Sabbath Seders, revolved around a meal, and these became the pattern for Jesus' liturgy of the table, which he developed around himself as the Lamb of God and the Messiah who was promised to come.

[4]  Bryan Chapell has written a good book on worship entitled Christ-Centered Worship.  It shows the development of the liturgy of the church and its two part structure of Word and table.  My only caution with Chapell's book is his uncritical acceptance of songs with bad theology in the part of his book dealing with worship resources.  Augustine, Calvin, and Luther all recognized the danger involved in singing words that are not true or in singing without understanding the words we are singing or in being more moved by the music than the words the music accompanies.  On the benefits and dangers of music in the church see the article, Music, Singing and the Emotions: Exploring the Connections by Robert Smith in the book True Feelings: Perspectives on Emotions in Christian Life and Ministry edited by Michael P. Jensen.

[5]  See The Lord's Song: The Basis, Function and Significance of Choral Music in Chronicles by John Kleinig.  Kleinig shows from Chronicles that songs in the temple had a liturgical function that served the overall liturgical purpose.  Similarly, in our services our songs need to service the dialogical nature of the liturgy of Word and table.