Our Featured Member Article: The Rote of Worship by Trout

[Hail Mary]

I think that 'middele-ground' protestants (e.g the Baptist church I go to?) is to prepare not for an altar-call (We have not had one in quite a while) but to meet with God corporately and hear from Him through His word.

Sorry if middle-ground came off as a pejorative term. How about non-Liturgical/non-MegaChurch Protestants?

I'm searching for the unique reasons for the rote of worship. I understand that worship [should] prepare us for Christian living, and during worship we should praise and thank God, study the scriptures, etc... But that isn't something unique to worship itself, that is something we should do all the time. Likewise, a worship service is not necessary to meet God corporately, study scripture, sing hymn 237, etc...

The reasons for the rote of worship are pretty clear elsewhere. Its an unusual service in a mega-church where there aren't answers to the alter-call. The service always culminates in some individual's deeply transcendent salvation experience, which is shared by the members of the congregation. The liturgical Churches always culminate the mass/service with the deeply transcendent experience of the Eucharist shared with all members of the Church.

So, I'm still trying to figure out the unique reasons for worship in the realm of the non-Liturgical/non-MegaChurches. Admittedly, the reason why I'm perplexed could be that each Sunday for 18 years I sat in a Baptist Church pondering this question, and never came up with an adequate answer. I could have studied the Bible much more effeciently elsewhere, and if 'works' were not necessary for salvation then why was I working so hard to get out of bed every Sunday morning? If I wanted to be enraptured by God's majesty, a nice picnic in the park would have been more appropriate, or a camping trip.

[Trout]

That is a start.

I have to agree with George (as usual) - there is something transcendent about Orthodox worship services. I went to one this Pascha. Due to a prior engagement I didn't feel I could miss (sister's birthday party), I was an hour late, and the service went for another 2 hours, 20 minutes after that. And it was all in Arabic, and I don't understand Arabic. And yet, not once did I look at my watch (whereas in my Lutheran church, I do sometimes flick ahead through the liturgy book to see how much longer the service has to go... and it's usually only about an hour!). For me, time seems to stand still in an Orthodox liturgy.

Interesting.

Arabic? Where in the world were you?

Jezz:
Hmm, rather than answering this question outright, perhaps I will get you to ponder a question: Why does God command us to worship Him? Are we to worship Him because He needs us to and won't be complete unless we do? Or are we to worship Him because we need to and we won't be complete unless we do?

Good question. I believe that we were created as worshipping beings, designed to worship The Most High God, however, somewhere along the way humanity took a wrong turn. In the aftermath, humanity hasn't shed its desire to worship, we have forgotten what the object of our worship should be.

I believe a day is coming when we will not need to be commanded to worship God, we will worship Him continually. I believe that mankind's chief purpose is to glorify God. To say that God "needs", or that He isn't "complete" is to describe a being that doesn't deserve our worship. However I do believe that it's God's desire that all of His creation worship Him.

[Findo]

I'm searching for the unique reasons for the rote of worship. I understand that worship [should] prepare us for Christian living, and during worship we should praise and thank God, study the scriptures, etc... But that isn't something unique to worship itself, that is something we should do all the time.

That is worship. Worship isn't only what goes on in a church building on a sunday morning, it should be a whole of life affair of giving glory to God in all that we do. If it isn't, then what happens on sunday morning is actually offensive to God. The worship that happens collectively in church buildings should be the overflow of lives of worship.

Likewise, a worship service is not necessary to meet God corporately, study scripture, sing hymn 237, etc...

Then what is it for?

The reasons for the rote of worship are pretty clear elsewhere. Its an unusual service in a mega-church where there aren't answers to the alter-call. The service always culminates in some individual's deeply transcendent salvation experience, which is shared by the members of the congregation. The liturgical Churches always culminate the mass/service with the deeply transcendent experience of the Eucharist shared with all members of the Church.

So, I'm still trying to figure out the unique reasons for worship in the realm of the non-Liturgical/non-MegaChurches. Admittedly, the reason why I'm perplexed could be that each Sunday for 18 years I sat in a Baptist Church pondering this question, and never came up with an adequate answer. I could have studied the Bible much more effeciently elsewhere, and if 'works' were not necessary for salvation then why was I working so hard to get out of bed every Sunday morning? If I wanted to be enraptured by God's majesty, a nice picnic in the park would have been more appropriate, or a camping trip.

If you think of it in the individual sense you probably won't find the answer. It is a corporate gathering that is meant to edify one another, to spur one another on to love and good works. We meet together precisely because God has told us we should. And in meeting together, it's for God and one another. It's not meant to be about transcendant experiences, but meeting as the bride, the church, with God to honour Him together, and hear from Him through His word. As is my understanding, liturgies were created to facillitate this somehow..?

[Hail Mary]

If you think of it in the individual sense you probably won't find the answer. It is a corporate gathering that is meant to edify one another, to spur one another on to love and good works. We meet together precisely because God has told us we should. And in meeting together, it's for God and one another. It's not meant to be about transcendant experiences, but meeting as the bride, the church, with God to honour Him together, and hear from Him through His word. As is my understanding, liturgies were created to facillitate this somehow..?

I mostly agree with everything you've written, except when it comes to transcendent experiences. Christianity itself is based upon the supreme transcendent experience of Christ's resurrection, so the point of worship should somehow include a way of reflecting on the mystery of Christ's resurrection. I was thinking of this in terms of the eucharist, or the alter call, but I suppose simply gathering to worship Christ can be another way to accomplish this.

[Findo]

I mostly agree with everything you've written, except when it comes to transcendent experiences. Christianity itself is based upon the supreme transcendent experience of Christ's resurrection, so the point of worship should somehow include a way of reflecting on the mystery of Christ's resurrection. I was thinking of this in terms of the eucharist, or the alter call, but I suppose simply gathering to worship Christ can be another way to accomplish this.

I don't really understand what you mean by 'transcendant experience' as I think I'm understanding it to be some kinda feeling-experience?
And we don't experience Christ's resurrection in the eucharist...

[Hail Mary]

I don't really understand what you mean by 'transcendant experience' as I think I'm understanding it to be some kinda feeling-experience?

A belief in Christ's resurrection could be described along a spectrum. On one end is an event that we can completely understand and describe. On the other end of the spectrum is something that completely transcends or ability to understand and describe.

I think most people would view some aspects of the resurrection as knowable, and others as mysterious. So the 'transcendant experience' is the climactic culminating experience of a mass or service carefully designed to bring us closer to the mysterious aspects of the resurrection, or presence of Christ in the eucharist, or salvation.

In the 'rote' of worship, why is there a sequence of sitting and standing, with 3 hymns, a prayer, a sermon, a climactic alter call, and a dismissal hymn?

I concluded the 'rote' of worship found in many western Protestant Churches was basically a variation of the Tridentine mass split off from the Catholic Church at the beginning of the reformation. As time passed, and new Protestant Churches formed, some of the items in the mass carefully designed for the experience of the eucharist, were lost. Some items such as the alter call were sometimes added to replace the transcendent experience of the eucharist, while other items of the mass were retained but now appear to be meaningless.

Or they appeared to be meaningless to me, if you've found meaning in them, then that is fantastic because it brings you closer to God.

[Findo]

In the 'rote' of worship, why is there a sequence of sitting and standing, with 3 hymns, a prayer, a sermon, a climactic alter call, and a dismissal hymn?

I concluded the 'rote' of worship found in many western Protestant Churches was basically a variation of the Tridentine mass split off from the Catholic Church at the beginning of the reformation. As time passed, and new Protestant Churches formed, some of the items in the mass carefully designed for the experience of the eucharist, were lost. Some items such as the alter call were sometimes added to replace the transcendent experience of the eucharist, while other items of the mass were retained but now appear to be meaningless.

Or they appeared to be meaningless to me, if you've found meaning in them, then that is fantastic because it brings you closer to God.

Apart from the sterotype of western protestantism, I would suggest that there is in fact no meaning in the standing to sing, appart from it being easier to actually sing...? We sing and we pray and we read scripture and we exposit scripture because that is what the bible calls christians to do... is there any meaning further needed?

[Hail Mary]

Apart from the sterotype of western protestantism, I would suggest that there is in fact no meaning in the standing to sing, appart from it being easier to actually sing...? We sing and we pray and we read scripture and we exposit scripture because that is what the bible calls christians to do... is there any meaning further needed?

The reason for searching for meaning is that it connects us with the earliest Christians. The meaning behind standing is FAR from simply improving our singing capabilities. If you look at very early Christian art, such as images in the catacombs, the gatherings of Christians are usually depicted with people standing in the orant position. Here's a pretty cool site but you can google it yourself if you would prefer. During the gatherings, one common instance of standing in the orant position occurred at the moment the bread and wine were consecrated.

Catholics continue to stand precisely at this moment in time in the mass, as I'm pretty sure the Orthodox do too. Protestants stand for the alter call (don't they?). So, at least this element of the rote of worship has a very VERY rich heritage for all Christians. It is the climactic spiritual event of our worship with shared ritualistic elements for all Christians throughout history.

(Sorry for the delay in answering, I was away on vacation)