To be fair, congregational singing has been under assault for a century or more. The “contemporary” worship of 100 years ago in some P&R churches already suffered from invasive species propagated by Oxford Movement’s high-church, Anglo-Catholic tendencies. Low churches got high. Organs . . . Continue reading →
Worship
The Reformation, The Regulative Principle, And The Modern Church: Examining Calvin’s Dedication To Purity In Worship (Part 1)
Walk into any corporate worship service today and you will almost certainly observe that the congregational singing is accompanied by instruments. There is no doubt that the common worship style of today, filled with various instruments and too often supplemented by stage lights and smoke machines, differs significantly from the worship one would have observed in a seventeenth-century Reformed church. Continue reading →
Owen On Worship
In general, it is certain that God intended to declare hereby that the work which Moses had to do, —the tabernacle he was to erect, and the worship thereof, —was not, either in the whole, or in any part of it, or . . . Continue reading →
God’s Love Is Not Reckless
Wafting over the airwaves of the local Christian radio station came the predictable chord progressions of every modern worship song known to humanity. I had turned on the radio to quell the boys’ incessant bickering currently testing my patience, and after a . . . Continue reading →
Review: A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship: Understanding the Ideas that Reshaped the Protestant Church By Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong
Whenever someone introduces himself to me as a worship pastor, my standard response is, “Me too.” Inevitably, my reply prompts inquiry about how I lead worship. So, I explain that I call the church to worship, I pray a lot, I read . . . Continue reading →
The Scandal Of Pagans Leading Worship
Collin Hansen has a fascinating series of interviews on the Gospel Coalition asking a variety of pastors whether they allow those who make no Christian profession, who regard themselves as non-Christians, non-believers, those we used to call “heathen” or “pagans,” to lead . . . Continue reading →
Does “Sing To Him A New Song” Justify Praise Songs?
We must read the injunctions to “sing a new song” in light of what the New Testament teaches us about types, (fore)shadows, and copies. Continue reading →
How To Give Up Instruments
As difficult as it was to reform the Dutch churches, rarely have Reformed people been in our situation: free churches (i.e., not state churches) that must persuade a free people to reform worship by giving up the only way of worship most have ever known. Continue reading →
If Instruments, Why Not Swords? (Part 3)
The question before us is how to regard the swords and the herem (חרמ) holy war implied in Psalm 149:6–9 alongside the tambourines, lyres, and dancing of Psalm 149:3. Continue reading →
Presbyterian Congregation Spends $1.8M On Organ
I understand that people love music. I understand that Christians are moved by instrumental music in worship. The question remains, however, does the Lord love instrumental music in new covenant worship? The question is: On what basis do we do what we . . . Continue reading →
If Instruments, Why Not Swords? (Part 2)
The question before us is how to regard the swords and the herem (חרמ) holy war implied in Psalm 149:6–9 alongside the tambourines, lyres, and dancing of Psalm 149:3. Continue reading →
If Instruments, Why Not Swords? (Part 1)
Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. . . . Continue reading →
Rejoice! The Lord Has Come
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled . . . Continue reading →
The Recovery Of The Call To Worship
Over the past several years, I have taught seminary courses on theology and practice of worship in the Reformed tradition. The syllabus requires students to interact with worship services posted online, evaluating the elements, coherence, and execution of the liturgy. The services . . . Continue reading →
Is All Of Life Worship?
The distinction between broad and narrow is very helpful here. Broadly considered, all of life may be said to be worship, but not narrowly considered. Continue reading →
The Mystery Of Children’s Church
I can understand why evangelicals and others who do not have a covenantal theology would exile their children during public worship, but I do not understand why so many ostensibly Reformed congregations have adopted the practice of dismissing their covenant children from . . . Continue reading →
John Owen And The Organ (Among Other Things)
In worship, their paintings, crossings, crucifixes, bowings, cringings, altars, tapers, wafers, organs, anthems, litany, rails, images, copes, vestments,—what were they but Roman varnish, an Italian dress for our devotion, to draw on conformity with that enemy of the Lord Jesus? In doctrine, . . . Continue reading →
What Is It?
A recent visit to what I suppose to be an ordinary, middle-of-the-road, mid-sized Southern Baptist church stunned me, though it shouldn’t have—I should have known better. What I encountered (they used the word “encounter” a lot) was arguably not a Christian worship service. . . . Continue reading →
Review: David Clarkson’s Prizing Public Worship Edited by Jonathan Landry Cruse
Unless one is a reader of the works of Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562) or a student of modern Canadian Presbyterian history one might not know of Mariano DiGangi (1923–2008). One reason for his relative obscurity is because as minister of Tenth Presbyterian . . . Continue reading →
Noah And The Regulative Principle Of Worship
Imagine that you get free reign to design the plans for your dream home. You get to pick the kind of rooms you have, you get to decide the layout for where those rooms go, and you get to determine all the . . . Continue reading →