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BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The annual cleaning of one of Christianity’s holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled one another with brooms until police intervened.

Wednesday’s fight erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing the other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.

Denver Post wire services

G. Mark Sumpter

Launching T-Shirts at Halftime

Formality in worship

PCA Pastor Jeff Meyers, while writing about the propriety and significance of calling-garb for the pastor, comments on formality in worship. He persuasively wows the reader; he reminds me of the T-Shirt Cannon guys at halftime. Good, fun stuff.

“Since for Americans there is often an in-built negative reaction to any mention of formality in worship, let us turn briefly to Hebrews 12 and Revelation 4-5. Hebrews 12:22-24 describes a New Covenant (contrasted with the Old Covenant worship of vss. 18-21) corporate, Lord’s Day worship service. When the church gathers on the Lord Day she enters into heaven (by faith) to worship God with all of the angelic host and departed saints. It is as if the roof of the church building is torn off when the pastor calls the people to worship. Notice that the worshipers are all organized around the throne of God. The worship service does not merely provide an opportunity for private devotional experiences. The church is a ‘city’ and a ‘joyous assembly’ or ‘festal array’ (v. 22). The word translated ‘festal assembly’ denotes an assembly of people gathered for a celebration or festival. Later, when we are privileged with the Apostle John in the book of Revelation to peek into heaven, how is the worship conducted? What kind of worship is modeled for us in heaven? There are all kinds of liturgical lessons to be learned here. I only wish to highlight one aspect: the heavenly service is liturgical and formal. According to Revelation 4-5, heavenly worship is a formal, coordinated activity. There are cooperative, formal responses by groups of worshipers. Everybody responds together with the same words. There are no individual displays of spirituality. Angels, elders, and creatures respond antiphonally with responses that must have been learned! They have been trained. There is a pre-arranged form to the worship. They have rehearsed this event, and they are dressed accordingly (Rev. 4:4). In other words, heavenly, Spirit-guided worship is liturgical and formal (1 Cor. 14:26-33).”

G. Mark Sumpter

Scoring Points for Traditional Hymnody

What’s great at Christmastime can be great 48 other Sundays

At the Christmas season, traditional hymnody—it’s words and musical genre—scores big. For about 30 calendar days, traditional, even some really old, hymnody rebounds in worship-life and society. People show that they actually like the old stuff.

Maybe this is one way to be more strategic in recruiting worshipers from within the contemporary side of the evangelical and reformed. It’s time to do a little CARPE DIEM. Here are some good vibes at Advent, musically speaking.

Generations Hold Hands: elementary age kids, very young children, 14 year olds, 25 year olds— goateed and lip piercings to-boot—stand next to 69 year olds, those still sporting wire frame bifocals, and they’ll work their way through five lines of #221 Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming. If you look close, they’re holding a hymn book too. They appear dialed in with gratitude. Carols bring about the pleasant wrapped-up gift of the church being the church—young, old, wide, narrow, rich, and poor. Knuckles and high fives.

Sweat on the Brow is No Biggie: At Christmas we don’t mind having to work at our singing. In our worship age, when we’re told about KISS—Keep It Simple Songwriter, at Advent we’re not afraid of fancy notes, awkward beats, and funny syllables. “The shepherds at those tidings re-joice-ED much in mind…” How odd. I wonder if Chris Tomlin uses re-joice-ED in contemporary expression? At Christmas, that doesn’t scare us, and that’s good. I still struggle with the line in O Come All Ye Faithful, the one, “very God, begotten, not created.” I have to work at this line every time we come to it. The timing with the syllables freaks me. But our willingness to work at freaky beats and syllables is good. We see that people don’t mind going over and over a tune to get it right. Maybe once Christmastime is over we can make use of our willingness to be patient and work on singing skills. If people are showing that they’re not afraid of elbow grease, let’s go for it. Whistle while you work—on more difficult traditional worship music.

Use the Principle of Reinforcement: If you go to the malls and over to the hospital, and turn on the radio, and attend the Christmas programs...and—even open a Hallmark Card, you’ll get reinforcement of traditional hymnody-like carols. The principle of reinforcement should cue us. Pastor, Worship Leader: do you want a shot at seeing your people grow in their singing? Discipleship centers on familiarity, recognition and re-play. Once again—here’s hope for traditional worship music. Finding ways for traditional hymns to be piped into ears and hearts is key. If God’s people hear it enough, they’ll grow to love it. Christmas proves this.

If only it was Christmastime every Sunday.

G. Mark Sumpter

Horton's Do Hard Things as Part of the Rebelution

Michael Horton Showing the Way in Youth Ministry

“The year I was twelve things began to change in my life—not all at once, but gradually. I had been involved in family devotions and Bible reading, but suddenly the Bible sprang to life for me. The book of Romans began to shatter many of my earlier notions about reality. Every time I read from Romans I found myself searching for a deeper understanding of God’s purpose and grace.

After playing baseball each afternoon, I would come home, and pick up Romans, and go through it again and again. What I found in Romans had me mesmerized, and I began to share my discoveries with anyone who would listen.

My parents were owners of a nursing home, so I had a ready-made congregation. I began conducting weekly services that lasted, with brief interruptions, for six years (up to my senior year in high school). People who were not even residents attended the services to hear about God’s effective grace.”

From Horton’s Mission Accomplished, pp. 13-14

Young people are the church of today, not merely the church of tomorrow.

G. Mark Sumpter

Getting the Gospel Right and Then Some

When the Church Goes Her Specious Way

From the late Vaclav Havel (written in 1978): “Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier for them to part with them. As the repository of something suprapersonal and objective, it enables people to deceive their conscience and conceal their true position and their inglorious modus vivendi, both from the world and from themselves. It is a very pragmatic but, at the same time, an apparently dignified way of legitimizing what is above, below, and on either side. It is directed toward people and toward God. It is a veil behind which human beings can hide their own fallen existence, their trivialization, and their adaptation to the status quo. It is an excuse that everyone can use, from the greengrocer, who conceals his fear of losing his job behind an alleged interest in the unification of the workers of the world, to the highest functionary, whose interest in staying in power can be cloaked in phrases about service to the working class. The primary excusatory function of ideology, therefore, is to provide people, both as victims and pillars of the post-totalitarian system, with the illusion that the system is in harmony with the human order and the order of the universe. . . ”

This quote, relayed by OPC Pastor Roger Wagner just after Havel’s recent death, stirs. Below, I do not discount the importance of a Christian’s understanding of Havel’s societal and political assessments—his fine assessments and comments I will add, but I pitch a point or two with respect to ideology as a specious way of relating to the church. The church, too, sports herself all things political. The traditionally reformed, confessional church must be aware of how she can situate herself in the grip of the deception per Havel's commentary.

Let’s do some work.

First, church history shows us that ideology is spelled g-n-o-s-t-i-c-i-s-m.