Experiencing Traditional Worship

By Tom Claibourne

Robert, did you enjoy the month you spent with your cousins?”

“Yeah, Mom, it was pretty cool. We got on each other”s nerves a few times, but otherwise it was great.”

“What was their church like?”

“Pretty much like ours, only a little smaller. The teen class was interesting. Their worship band was good, but all four Sundays were basically the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Mom, by the third Sunday I figured out the basic pattern and what to expect. There was a new message each Sunday, and mostly new songs, but otherwise it was pretty much the same.”

“Is it a contemporary church like ours?”

“I guess it is, depending on what you mean by that.”

“Well, describe a typical Sunday.”

“That”s pretty easy. The words for the songs were always on the screen. We stood for all the songs. The worship band and vocalists were always dressed casually. The preacher always wore a sport shirt, sat on a stool, laid his Bible and notes on a music stand, and used PowerPoint. There was always a meaningful skit or drama to reinforce the theme, and a video clip sometime during the message. The services were always the same length.”

“Was the Bible kept central, Son?”

“Of course. I learned a lot, was challenged, and felt close to God in the worship. I never noticed anything that was against Bible teaching, but after two Sundays I didn”t need to carry my Bible with me anymore since they always printed all the Bible verses on the screen and on the page for sermon notes in the bulletin.”

“Every time?”

“Of course. Our minister does that a lot, too.”

“I guess you”re right. It”s very helpful for guests, but it doesn”t provide much incentive for anyone to bring their Bibles or learn how to find passages in the Bible.”

“Exactly! Anyway, I loved their church with the more casual atmosphere and the upbeat music. They”re introducing lots of new people to Jesus. There just isn”t much variety. I guess you could say it was . . . How do I say it? Well, it was somewhat . . . traditional.”

“That”s an interesting way to put it, Robert. This has been a helpful experience for both of us. I used to get frustrated with the rigid, thoughtless format at our previous church in the Midwest. I sometimes complained to the elders that all we did was change the hymn numbers and sermon each Sunday, and everything else remained basically the same. I think I”ll try to be more careful about stereotyping and how I use terms like contemporary and traditional. I personally prefer a praise band to an organ, but I have to admit that many congregations can easily fall into predictable, rigid patterns, no matter what style of music they use. We all tend to become traditional once we find a style and format that makes us happy and comfortable. We are all just traditional about different things.”

“Mom, I remember hearing a speaker say one time that what really matters in worship is that our heart is right. He also said a service needs to be Christ-centered, Bible-based, alive, relevant, and have some variety, no matter what type of songs or instruments are used.”

“Robert, that sounds like a good tradition to follow!”

 

 

Tom Claibourne is minister with the Bethlehem Church of Christ near Winchester, Ohio.