Adoration
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and will be for ever.
Amen.
Alleluia.
[Silent praise and worship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in His works, actions and words]
Tag: Liturgy
“While some of our habits are acquired by choosing to engage in certain practices (e.g., signing up for drivers’ ed. or registering for piano lessons), many are acquired without our knowing it. And this might happen especially when we are unaware of it. If we are inattentive to the formative role of practices, or if we treat some practices as thin when they are thick, then we will be inattentive to all the ways that such practices unwittingly and unintentionally become automated. We will fail to recognize that they are forming in us habits and desires, oriented to particular ends that function to draw us toward those ends at an affective, unconscious level such that we become certain kinds of people without even being aware of it.
Brian Davis, the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, a PCA church plant in Fort Worth that is starting up in August (that our family will be attending :)), recommended a couple of books that look really interesting on spiritual formation: Desiring the Kingdom and Imagining the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith.
R. Scott Clark says of this video (at the bottom) on his blog, “Who Says the Evangelicals Don’t Have a Liturgy?” As much as we Evangelicals have tried to eschew the “traditional” styles of church, it seems we’ve merely replaced it with newer styles that are 3 inches deep. This is one of many reasons why so many are leaving these kinds of churches for 1) nothing, 2) the Roman Catholic church, or 3) other traditional-style Protestant churches (Reformed and otherwise) that don’t take the worship service so casually, as if they weren’t approaching the throne of God.
I believe there needs to be reverential awe when we come together before God’s throne corporately (and privately), knowing Him to be the very God Isaiah, Ezekiel, Job and John (Revelation 1) approached, and at the same time, the gentle Shepherd who saves His people mercifully through the cross and resurrection. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7) In many of these churches, you don’t get the feeling the people are in awe of God, just emotionally jazzed up, the same way you are at a concert of your choosing.