This Is the Way It Ought To Be

Christian worship has been given a large amount of attention and sometimes heated discussion in the last twenty years or so. The question that divides is “Should we have traditional or contemporary worship?” That question is centered around the type of music. Unfortunately this has led to much division and even to people leaving a church or worse a church split. Many churches tried to keep everyone happy by splitting the worship services into traditional and contemporary at different times. A few churches, like Edgewood, did not feel comfortable splitting up the family of God and instead opted for a blended format.

Tullian Tchividjian, pastor, professor and author recently led his congregation (Coral Ridge Presbyterian) through this process and wrote a very insightful article about it on his blog. The following is a very condensed version of that article.

First of all, this was not first and foremost a music decision. It was a gospel decision. In other words, while I certainly don't claim to know each and every situation in each and every local church, I don't think a local church can experience the degree of deep, rich unity that Jesus prayed for the night before he went to the cross by having a "traditional/contemporary" split in worship. I think by segregating ourselves this way we miss out on some choice blessings that Jesus intends for his one body to enjoy.

We segregate by age and socio-economic classes as well as by race, physical appearance, and cultural background. We're grouped according to likes and dislikes, preferences and personality traits. We form clans of people who all look, talk, think, and act the same. Some of this separation is both understandable and unavoidable. From elementary school through high school, academic institutions separate students according to age, recognizing the benefit of age-appropriate teaching. But for the most part, when people separate from those who are different, they miss out on so many things intended to enhance human life and relationships.

We see and experience much less, not more, when we gravitate toward, and surround ourselves with, those who are just like us. When young are separated from old, rich from poor, black from white, "traditional" from "contemporary", our world becomes a much smaller and less remarkable place. Our preferences and perspectives remain plain and narrow. We lose sight of the beauty and the brilliance that accompany gospel wrought diversity.

You see, when the gospel really grabs you, something happens.

Some of my closest friends today are people I would never have hung out with in high school. That's as it should be—the work of God the Son reconciling us to God the Father must also result in our reconciliation with one another. When we come to God through repentance and faith in Christ, we come into a new relationship with God's people, many of whom are quite different from us. The church ought to exemplify a radically unusual social order because it integrates people who are very unlike one another.

Paul kept affirming a foundational reality that always accompanies true gospel belief: when God makes us one with Christ, he also makes us one with each other, removing the barriers of separation erected by our society. The church is to bring together people who would remain separated in any other sector of society.

The primary reason, though, that stylistic segregation in worship shrinks our souls is because it prevents us from knowing God deeply. The only way to know him deeply is to have many different types of Christian people in your life, since each person will help to reveal a part of God that you can't see by yourself. This means the great tragedy of segregation isn't so much that we see less of each other but that in separating from each other we see less of God. All of us need other lights than our own to see more of his myriad facets.

So, we miss out on some great things God intends for us to enjoy when we separate in worship according to musical tastes. As my friend Steven Phillips rightly says, we ought to use the best music, prayers, and traditions of our Christian past, so that our worship is guided and enriched by our fathers in the faith. In doing this we demonstrate that our Christian faith reaches back thousands of years. And we ought also to use the best new songs and styles - to "sing a new song to the Lord" as the Psalms say - so that we can demonstrate that the grace of God is ever new. God's saving power is available now, in the present day, to all who call on Him in faith.

By musically blending things in this way we exercise love toward those who resonate with different musical tastes than us. We recognize that our worship service is a shared time and a shared space, so that if a particular song or style doesn't inspire us, we can still look across the sanctuary and give thanks from our hearts for the diversity of people who are here. The gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to look across the aisle and say, "Though this song or style may not appeal to me, I see that God is using it to move you. I love you in Christ and I'm glad you're here."

Brothers and sisters, this is the way it should be-especially when we gather for worship!

And thank God, this is the way it now is at Edgewood Ave. Christian!