"Worship Wars"

I couldn't pass up the chance to comment on this article posted on CBC.ca earlier this week about "Worship Wars" in churches. Having now attended church (of the evangelical protestant variety) for over 25 years, I can say that I've been around a few controversies in the churches that I have attended. I will agree with this statement from the article: arguments over music and other styles of worship are often hotly (and very selfishly) contested.

A little history: Much of the problems with worship comes from a split in churches over what constitutes "acceptable" worship to God. This is actually a crucial point for Christians, as there are examples in the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament of the bible where people (Nadab & Abihu, Uzzah) are struck dead for worshiping God incorrectly.

There are two competing principals which Christians tend to adhere to: the normative and regulative principles of worship. The normative principle essentially says that if God doesn't prohibit a form of worship in the bible, and it benefits the people and unity of the church, then that form of worship is acceptable in church. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, some Baptist, Pentacostal/Charismatic churches tend to hold this position, meaning that they incorporate all sorts of drama, music, etc. into their worship services with no problem. Reformed, Presbyterian, and some Baptist congregations follow the more strict regulative principle which states that the basic elements of a worship service have to be instituted by God, as seen in the bible (specifically the New Testament).

Both beliefs can be taken to extremes, where in some cases a person walking in the door of a church following the normative principle would wonder if it believed in God at all, and in others, the regulative principle cuts out all songs, singing, instruments and leaves one wondering "how do I express my love for God, if I have no way to respond to this worship service?"

The point of a worship service should be to hold up how great and worthy God is, and allow us humans to respond to that greatness. It may inspire awe, love, thankfulness, respect, repentance, even fear. Then we must respond with our hearts and minds, voices and bodies.