Worship Characterized By Rock Music, Stand-Up Comedy, Beautiful People, & Hallmark Sentimentality

The problem with much Christian worship in the contemporary world, Catholic and Protestant alike, is not that it is too entertaining but that it is not entertaining enough. Worship characterized by upbeat rock music, stand-up comedy, beautiful people taking center stage, and a certain amount of Hallmark Channel sentimentality neglects one classic form of entertainment, the one that tells us, to quote the Book of Common Prayer, that “in the midst of life we are in death.”

Carl Trueman, “Tragic Worship”

    Post authored by:

  • R. Scott Clark
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    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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2 comments

  1. Excellent! Much needed and full of insight. May we have a revival of interest in using the psalms in worship!

  2. The Trueman article to which that quote belongs should be read and re-read until it sinks in with all its truth and beauty. Thank you Dr. Clark for posting it. Nothing like the skull of reality to bob in and unmask the hypocrite’s banquet!

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