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| FPC, Lowville, NY |
We are still working on the third criterion used by the Mars Hill Church to define its branch congregations as "churches," which is, "The church regularly gathers to hear God’s Word rightly preached and to respond in worshipful ways." Having looked at preaching, I'd like to turn to the worship part. Back in the early 1970s, when I served my first congregation—a smallish church in central Pennsylvania—the standard Presbyterian worship service was done by the pastor, featured traditional music and hymns, and had few responses other than a "responsive reading" taken from a selection of readings in the back of the hymnal. It fit on one page of the bulletin or maybe a little more. In the 40 years since, Presbyterian worship has changed significantly and mostly gone in one of two directions. Either it has become more formal and like Catholic worship with lots of sung and congregational responses and pastors all robbed up in clerical garb, or it has become less formal and more like evangelical, semi-revivalistic worship with praise songs and clapping. The majority of Presbyterian (USA) churches have gone the more "high church" route of Catholic-like worship. Some have gone the "low church" route of evangelical-like worship.
In my experience, few Presbyterian churches do neither the high church or the low church approach very well. If you're looking for effective Catholic-like worship the best place to find it is in a Catholic or maybe Episcopal church—or Orthodox church if there's one nearby. If you're looking for effective evangelical worship, the best place to find it is in an evangelical megachurch (or a branch of one). The average Presbyterian church doesn't have the esthetic sensibilities for candles, incense, and ritual or the enthusiasm for revivalism. What Presbyterians do best, I think, is old-fashioned, simple, direct worship with a service that is orderly, fairly traditional, and can be printed on one page or a little more. In our day and age, it should include a fair amount of lay participation, some contemporary music, and focus on reminding folks of God's place in their lives. Technology is fine and helpful as long as it facilitates worship rather than dominate it. Indeed, the creative use of screens and PowerPoint can free a church from the printed order of worship and makes it easier to introduce new music to the congregation.
Now, it has to be said that some Presbyterian churches do the high church liturgy really well and some engage in worship with true evangelical fervor, which is all to the good. All I'm saying is that they are not the norm, that's all.
The thing is, it is easier to do simple worship well precisely because it is simple. Presbyterians aren't looking for high church or low church—for the most part—but rather for meaningful worship that keeps them in touch with ultimate things. Or so it seems to this gray-haired preacher from the 1970s who feels that simple is better, less is more. Amen.
