21st Century Liturgical Correctness

Wow – I feel like the Lord has been running back and forth over me with a large Mac truck. He is speaking so much to me about 21st Century Church. I started typing a short message on my computer and Blammo – there He was again saying, “Can I say something here please?” Oh boy – here we go then –

There is a new sin overtaking the Church - it is called Liturgical Correctness. Rather like Political Correctness, it is aimed at dumbing down church by taking all the spontaneity out of our services. But this is rather more than just another step in the decline of the Church – rather it is specifically a Pharisaic spirit which contends that we do things ‘decently and in order’. The really dangerous thing here is that this is quite Biblical. 1 Corinthians 14:40 “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”

I remember as a kid going to both Sunday School and to Church where everything was done ‘decently and in order’ – A hymn, a prayer, a reading, a prayer, another hymn, the sermon, another prayer, final hymn, final prayer, the blessing, GO HOME. The real trouble with this was that there was absolutely no room for the Holy Spirit to move in those meetings (there still isn’t) and as a consequence the meetings were dry and lifeless. There’s an old joke where the punch line has God laughing and saying, “Man I’ve been trying to get into that church for years!” But it wasn’t much of a joke because it was too true to be funny.

“Everything done in a fitting and orderly way.” OK – someone please define ‘fitting and orderly way’ ?? There is nowhere in scripture which defines ‘fitting and orderly way’. Sure, there are passages that speak of two or three bringing messages in tongues – with interpretation. We can prophesy, we can bring words, we can do all sorts of things – but in what sequence and why does it all have to be done in the same sequence every week. The Church, in the days of yore (centuries back), decided to lay down rules for services – they called it Liturgy. And liturgy seemed good to us for very many years – it was what church was – past tense – WAS. And it was good – you could go into a new church and you’d know what was happening because of where you were on the hymn list or what prayer was being said. Catholicism went a step or two further by insisting that their services all over the world were held in Latin so you would go anywhere and understand exactly what was going on. And it seemed good to us. Nowadays, there are still very many who will not let go of their beloved liturgy.

Liturgical correctness has infiltrated our planning, our very thinking, and it is STILL stopping the Holy Spirit in His tracks. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman – where He is not wanted or not invited or baulked by our ‘liturgy’ – He withdraws. It was not always so. In the 1st Century Church, we are told in Acts 4 that, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Emphasis mine) Let me ask you – when was the last time the power of the Holy Spirit shook the place where your church was meeting?

So, please, let us stop being Liturgically Correct. Let us give our meetings over to the Holy Spirit completely. Let us return to whatever seems the best way of holding 1st Century meetings in the 21st Century. Yes we praise and worship together for God inhabits the praises of His people. Yes we pray together. Yes we have prophecy and testimony for the edification and encouragement of all. But there is a sense that says – who cares what sequence EXCEPT that I believe P&W must always start us off because P&W brings the manifest presence of God – the Cloud of His Glory. After that comes in, who knows what may happen? And to quote a well known sports commentator – “And quite honestly - who cares!”

© Chris Bennett 2009