Question: What do you know about Reformation worship?
    D. Reformation Christianity (1500-1750)

     Shaped by the Enlightenment method of science, reason and  evidence, the church set out to prove it's faith. The main job of the church is to defend the faith and explain it. Therefore, conservative seminaries became intellectual bastions for the Christian faith. Many pastors turned worship into teaching. This style attracts people who like to be intellectually stimulated.

 Characterized by REVERENCE

Question: What does the term reverence mean?

      To show honor or respect. Worship is coming to God, bowing down before Him, praising Him, the King of Creation, the Sovereign of the Universe. If the angels , who are w/o sin, cover their faces in the presence of God and cry out Holy, Holy , Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory' how can we as worshippers, who remain sinners our entire life, do anything less than to come to Him with reverential awe?

      Understanding this principal, the reformed worshipper will not come to God in worship dressed casually, but in his best. the reformed pastor will not promote a casual and careless manner of worship. The reformed believer will pray for grace to come into God's presence with a reverent fear. The reformed organist or pianists will only play music that will bring greatness and glory to God. Because they are going to meet their king!

 Characterized by SIMPLICITY

Question: What does simplicity in worship mean?

      Reformed churches so not have a lot of things in their church buildings. This is in keeping with their views. Some do not even have symbols, like the cross of a dove, in their worship centers because Christ is ever present in the Word, so they don't need symbols. The Holy Spirit is present not in the symbol of a dove but in the power of the preached Word.

Question: Who were the main leaders of the Protestant Reformation?

Martin Luther
  -Emphasized that communion was a gift not a sacrifice.
  -The sermon was given in the vernacular (common language)
  -There was a re-emphasis on reading Scripture and preaching.
  -Communion was both bread and wine for all participants
  -Weekly or at least quarterly communion.
  -No lore masses said for the dead.
  -Offering restated.
  -Con-substantiation: real spiritual presence of Christ in the elements of Communion.
  -Normative Principal of Worship
  -Restored congregational singing in a contemporary form (hymns)
  -Open communion
  -Infant baptism

 Martin Bucer, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli
  -These men believed that the spiritually mature didn't need much or elaborate music.
  -Services consisted mostly of prayer, Scripture and the Sermon.
  -Tore down statues and icons in churches.
  -Regulative Principal of Worship
  -Communion is a remembrance...no real presence of Christ in the elements.
  -Closed communion.
  -Psalm singing only.
  -Dropped the church calendar year
  -Infant baptism
  -No instruments in worship

 Anabaptists

Question: What do you know about the Anabaptists?

     Most radical of all reformers. For bearers of the Baptists, Congregationalists and other free church.

  -The preaching of the Word was central.
  -Emphasis on congregational participation in all aspects of worship.
  -The clergy and laity became practically indistinguishable.
  -Emphasis on hymn singing.
  -Believer baptism only, split with other reformers on this issue. (rebaptizers)

   Both the other Reformers and Catholics were against the Anabaptists. They wanted them to accept their baptism as infants. they would not. Immersion     was not the issue, they would also sprinkle and pour but only after a credible confession of faith.

   E. Modern Era of Christianity (1750-1970)

     Shaped by the philosophy of Descartes, it places an emphasis on reason. The use of logic and the empirical methodology insisted that truth be based on observation. this made significant impact on Christianity. It shifted it's focus on reason which led to a proof oriented Christianity, to evidence that demands a verdict. The result was that worship was dominated by the sermon. The worship of many churches today is still rooted in this modern paradigm.

    There were three main philosophical and cultural periods during the Modern Era.

 Revivalism 1870-1920
     Worship became a means to an end. The end being making converts and the nursing of those already converted. For them Christianity is not something to debate and argue. It is faith to be experienced. they wanted to be emotionally involved in their worship of God, not intellectually removed. They want a Christianity and worship that touches the heart, not wrenched the mind. they want commitment and passion. they want to feel and experience the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

     From this period came the camp meetings, black gospel, witness song. Music has always been highly valued. Hymnody was stressed, not Psalms but hymns written by the church. Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts were the most prominent. Through them, hymnody became known as a mark of Protestant worship.

     Sermons were usually hellfire and brimstone. Preacher paced back and forth on the platform, banging the pulpit, waved the Bible over his head, pointed his finger and stomped his foot. And he often shouted a lot.

 Many churches were founded during this period: Holiness movement, Pentecostals, Black churches and the charismatics.

 Era of Respectability 1920-1950

     Worship mirrors the prevailing values of the culture.  It represented the assertion of sobriety over ecstatic, of refinement over the primitive, of restraint over the boisterous. It was a reflection of the increased sophistication of Americans as education became available to most. There was a correlation between the educational level of the average Believer and what was happening in his worship life. The display of emotion, the freedom and spontaneity, the general folksiness of revivalism were all pushed aside or left behind for those who had not yet ascended the social and educational ladder. 1

    Good taste reigned in the worship of the churches between 1920 and 1970. Conversion was replaced by aesthetic experience. The choir loft was now filled with a full fledged choir and not some folksy quartet singing music by composers who were dead for at least 100 years. A more formal order of worship appeared with the invention of the mimeograph machine. Worship became very predictable. No spontaneous display of emotion, no outward/body movement committing you to anything.

     Worship became middle class America with it's primary values of security and comfort.

 Era of Historicity 1950-1970
     While maintaining the respectability of the preceding 30 yrs, there was a shift after WW2. There was a move to raise the quality of music to an even higher level. There was a movement to rediscover our heritage. The two elements stressed during this time was confession and creed.2

     There was a move to study Martin Bucer, John Calvin and John Knox and Martin Luther. There was a move back to Reformation thinking and practice. This is where many churches still are today. Would you agree?

    F. Post-Modern Era of Christianity (1970-present)

    The modern world view of the Enlightenment is crumbling and a new world view is beginning to take shape.

     Life as we knew it was over..at least for those whose worship style was fixed in the 50's. Non conformists, society and the church moved to a pluralistic approach to worship. The church of the 50's was boring and going nowhere so there was need for a change. Respectability was pushed aside for free expression and spontaneity.

     There was a refocus on understanding people in order to plan worship. The body in worship was taken seriously as a legitimate part of worship. Spontaneity, and Spirit controlled worship took the place of form and predictability.

 -Music is of high quality and inviting people to participate.
 -Balance between order and freedom, Word and Sacrament
  -Blending of liturgical and free worship forms
  -Re-emphasis on the centrality of Communion is worship.
 -Looking to the past to develop a worship style for the future.
 -Authentic, edgy,
 -Worship must include all believers.
 -Regular and frequent communion.
 -Clear and powerful proclamation of the Word through Scripture and Sermon.
 -Clear and heartfelt confession of sin.