The Journey Part 8: Ancient-Future Worship

My biggest sense of dissatisfaction in ministry stemmed from the lack of connectivity between what the church was and what it was becoming. From a Pentecostal perspective there was, and continues to be, a great emphasis on discovering what God is doing now, and getting in line with it. To be fair to my full-gospel family, the same thing seems to be true about evangelicals in general. A case in point is worship music.

In many circles, songs or choruses that are more than a few years old are considered to be ancient, old, and no longer relevant. While it is true that some churches find a few choruses or songs from any age and they become their favorites, most "cutting edge" churches are continually teaching their congregations new songs week after week. The result is that there is little or no "common language" in worship from which to draw a meaningful worship dialog between worshipper and God. The same can be said about the Bibles that are used in church.

Bible publishers have become quite adept at identifying new markets and creating specific new Bible products for that market. As a result, the typical congregation seems to have a dozen or more Bibles being read by individuals and again there is this loss of common language. While I personally found it tedious to keep track of all of these new translations, the bigger loss was that the congregation didn't have a common language to communicate in.

The good news, is that there is always the language of the Spirit bridging the gap to help a congregation enjoy a unified worship experience. This was true in the days of my Catholicism where, although the mass was done in Latin, the cadence of the language and liturgy drew us together. There was never any doubt that we had experienced "church" in the Mass, even if we didn't understand what was specifically being said and sung. This was really brought home when Vatican II allowed priest to say the Mass in the vernacular. The little light came on as we would look at each other and say, "so that's what we've been singing and hearing?" The language of the Spirit bore witness that we were unified in this spiritual observance called the Mass.

While I am not advocating returning to using obscure languages in church services, I am advocating for a common language that draws God's people together in understanding the Gospel. These common elements can be drawn from historical developments within the church over the centuries. Enjoying the baby and throwing out the bathwater.

This is what I experienced at the Church of the Messiah in Jacksonville when I visited in February of 1999. There was a historical connection, clear preaching and teaching from the Bible, charismatic worship and an appreciation for all of what God has done and is doing, while maintaining an expectation of what God is yet to do. For the first time in over 20 years of being a Christian and pastor, I felt a part of the timeless God's agenda. I felt a connection with all the saints that preceded me, all of the worshipers around me, and a sense that this is what it is going to be like at the consummation of the ages when the Church from all time and around the world is gathered in worship before the Throne.

A small bit of eternity future and eternity past had invaded my present. I saw before me a partial fulfillment of Jesus' prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." My heart leaped for joy. I was shaken to my foundation and I knew things would never be the same again. I took this new found revelation back with me to ministry and tried to implement its essence in our church services in very practical ways.

I instructed our worship leader that we would find the best songs, whether they be ancient hymns or band new choruses emphasizimg whatever doctrinal or theological principle I was going to be preaching on. I dug out a couple of the ancient creeds and we would recite them together as a congregation. We changed the way we did Communion so that it would be a participative rather than a passive experience. Our worship was still great, our appreciation for the Table grew, and the preaching of the Word of God was still critically positioned in our order of service. But I also instinctively knew that it was more than just changing the order of service. I needed to learn more about "blended" worship and the Ancient-future connection.

For the next year, my prayer life and reading became more focused. With the heavy responsibilities of ministry it was all done in fits and starts, but the sense of mission was embedded in my heart. I wanted more. I didn't know where to get it so I prayed harder. God began to prepare me for the biggest move of my life.

I'll share that in Part 9: The move to Jacksonville, Florida.