The Rush to Ritual and Liturgy

Younger Christians are now embracing ritual, sacraments, and liturgy. Former Evangelical, Rachel Held Evans explains:

·       What finally brought me back, after years of running away, wasn’t lattes or skinny jeans; it was the sacraments. Baptism, confession, Communion, preaching the Word, anointing the sick — you know, those strange rituals and traditions Christians have been practicing for the past 2,000 years. The sacraments are what make the church relevant, no matter the culture or era. They don’t need to be repackaged or rebranded; they just need to be practiced, offered and explained in the context of a loving, authentic and inclusive community.

Ritual is fine, but if it is divorced from truth, it is no more than a good feelings, and good feelings grow old quickly. Church has to come back to the question, "What is the offer of the Good News and how do we get onboard?"

Keith Anderson also warns:

·       Deepening and enriching sacramental liturgies is surely a good thing. But even if it were possible for every congregation to achieve that goal, liturgies alone won’t save the church. If we view worship merely as an “if we build it, they will come” strategy for church revitalization, we are bound for disappointment, because most of the time, “they” won’t come. They’ve made that pretty clear.

Instead, Anderson’s answer seems to be a social Gospel - how we live out our faith in the world. Although this is important, we cannot forget the supportive roots in favor of the fruit. Without the nourishment of salvation and the teachings of the Gospel, we are impotent in our attempts to love others.

Emergent church leader, Tony Jones, sums the problem up this way:

·       I’d even go one level deeper than Anderson’s challenge. Before mainliners head out the door, they’d better figure out what the gospel is. Survey after study after poll has shown that American mainliners struggle to articulate what it is that they believe. The content of the faith has been lost among all this civil religion… What is the gospel for mainline Protestants? That’s the question that needs to be answered.

Mainline Protestants know that they are missing something, but are they willing to make the required sacrifices? Jesus proclaimed:

·       I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (John 12:24-26)

But who wants to die, especially if we are relatively comfortable! And what does it mean to die? To put Jesus’ priorities above our own! How do we do that? By clinging to God’s Words, even above our own:

·       Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4)

This means that we cannot pick-and-choose. Instead, we have to humble ourselves as little children and receive nourishment from the entirety of Scripture. Scripture must judge us and our beliefs. We, therefore, cannot sit in judgment over Scripture to reject those teachings we find offensive.

Many will find this price too exacting. Meanwhile, ritual alone places no explicit demands on us. We feel that we are free to experience it without hearing its underlying demands.

When the World Hates Us: What to Do?

The West is plunging into anarchy and sexual pleasure seeking, and the church has become the fall-guy. Preaching our biblically-based message against sin is no longer tolerated. Military chaplains are even warned against invoking “God” – let alone “Jesus” -in their prayers. The Apostle Paul wrote about these times:

·        But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

What does the church do in these times, especially in light of the growing intolerance and persecution? For one thing, we have to be mentally prepared. Paul counseled the church that persecution was inevitable:

·        In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Tim. 3:12-13)

Jesus also warned about the inevitability of persecution:

·        "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also (John 15:18-20)…in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.” (16: 2)

While it is so distressing to see the younger Christians re-making the church into a “kinder and gentler,” more indulgent, and socially acceptable “Christianity,” we have to remember Jesus words: “If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

These are the “compromisers.” They understandably feel the sting of social censure of the church. However, they are willing to compromise in order to achieve social respectability. They try to show the world that they are not like those “mindless evangelicals” who reject Darwin and the other things that the educated, upwardly mobile gladly embrace. For them, to be hated by the world is a sign of our narrow-mindedness. Consequently, they feel that we deserve the disapproval that we are receiving.

However, there is another group that believes that the church can sidestep the persecution and still remain the church. These are the “silencers.” Although they are reluctant to modify any major Christian doctrine, they believe that we can keep our offensive doctrines to ourselves and not offend the prevailing culture. They may argue that we are called to preach the Gospel and not opposition to our cultural ills. However, preaching the Gospel – the Good News – also entails an understanding of the bad news, sin and its consequences.

Others talk in terms of forsaking the “culture wars.” Blogger and self-confessed evangelical, Rachel Held Evans, is a good example of this:

·        We are tired of fighting, tired of vain efforts to advance the Kingdom through politics and power, tired of drawing lines in the sand, tired of being known for what we are against, not what we are for.

·        So my question for those evangelicals leading the charge in the culture wars is this: Is it worth it? Is a political “victory” really worth losing millions more young people to cynicism regarding the Church? Is a political “victory” worth further alienating people who identify as LGBT?...And is a political “victory” worth drowning out that quiet but persistent internal voice that asks—what if we get this wrong?

   

Evans is understandably concerned about “alienating” the sinner. But whenever we preach against sin, we run the risk of alienating the sinner! What then do we do, especially as society turns so angrily against the Gospel message? Also, Evans wonders “what if we got it wrong?” Well, there’s no better authority than the Bible. Here’s Paul’s advice to Timothy:

·        But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:14-17)

Scripture cannot be compromised; neither should it be silenced. The Gospel is still the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). But perhaps we have to keep it in-house so as not to offend? Perhaps we need to abdicate the public arena for a while? Not according to Paul:

·        Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Tim. 4:2-4)

The myths – culture and moral relativism there is no absolute moral truth), evolution (everything coming uncaused out of nothing), materialism, naturalism (there is no design or intelligence outside of this world), one-world-consciousness, create-your-own-religion -  have certainly proliferated, along with an inexhaustible smorgasbord of teachers. However, nowhere does Scripture even suggest that when we see this happening, we should cover ourselves with silence. We are to be the “light” and the “salt” “in season and out of season.”

Paul admits that already, he is “being poured out like a drink offering” (2 Tim. 4:6). His end is at hand. However, he never counsels that other Christians should do their best to avoid such a fate, shutting their mouths.

John and Peter had been forbidden by the ruling court – the Sanhedrin – from publicly preaching Christ. Although they had been beaten:

·        The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5:41-42)

The Apostles were a far cry from our compromisers and silencers. Oh Lord, let us have such conviction!

   

   

   

   

The Culture Wars: Is Silence an Option?

In light of the growing disdain for the evangelical, Bible-believing church, even among Evangelical youth, is it wise to continue the “culture wars” and to publicly proclaim our disdained opinions?  Many think not!

Blogger Timothy Dalrymple commented on a billboard sign purchased by the MissionGathering Christian Church in San Diego, a Bible-oriented “emerging church,” evidently wanting to distance itself from the evangelical church:

• “MissionGathering Christian Church IS SORRY for the narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive, manipulative actions of THOSE WHO DENIED RIGHTS AND EQUALITY TO SO MANY IN THE NAME OF GOD.”  

Dalrymple astutely observed:

• They’re perpetuating the worst images of conservative Christians who support traditional marriage.  (2) They’re holding themselves our as a better alternative.  They are the good Christians, the more Christ-like Christians, who are not judgmental — even as they’re judging sixty percent of North Carolinians, a majority of Californians, over half of Christians in the United States and the great majority of Christians around the world.  In other words, (3) they’re saying “our hearts are with you” in that “we feel the same anger and scorn in our hearts as you do.”

However, even if Dalrymple is right, the problem remains – the evangelical church is alienating much of society and in the process is loosing the vast majority of its youth, according to recent surveys. Should we therefore keep a low political profile in hope that the prevailing culture might warm up to us once again?

Blogger Rachel Held Evans is convinced that we should:

• We are tired of fighting, tired of vain efforts to advance the Kingdom through politics and power, tired of drawing lines in the sand, tired of being known for what we are against, not what we are for.

• So my question for those evangelicals leading the charge in the culture wars is this: Is it worth it? Is a political “victory” really worth losing millions more young people to cynicism regarding the Church? Is a political “victory” worth further alienating people who identify as LGBT?...And is a political “victory” worth drowning out that quiet but persistent internal voice that asks—what if we get this wrong?

Held asks, “Is it worth it?” Instead, I think that we need to rephrase the question: “How do we honor God in our social engagement?” Certainly, we can’t support issues that He doesn’t support, but can we detach ourselves and remain respectfully silent? Can we fulfill our calling to be the “light of the world” with only our deeds? I don’t find any warrant for this in Scripture. Instead, we have been entrusted with the duty to also verbally defend the faith:

• I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (Jude 3)

• But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15)

Our faith is being vilified within almost every institution of the Western world. In a recent release, our President equated the attempts to resist gay marriage with “prejudice.” Prior to this, Hillary Clinton likened efforts to resist extending full “human rights” to LGBTs to religious discrimination.

Even those calling themselves “Christian” denigrate the Biblical faith, leaving the impression that Christians – and by association, their Bible – are “bigoted” and “homophobic.” It is understandable that, when bombarded with a steady stream of such messages, the youth want to abandon what seems to be a sinking ship.

Can we remain silent? Doesn’t silence signal agreement? If we do remain silent, aren’t we, in effect, telling our youth that we have no answer to the charge of “bigotry?”

Perhaps we have been loosing so many of our youth because we have failed to be proactive enough in our defense of the faith - its rationality, love and justice? Perhaps we have rushed headlong into legislation without first establishing an adequate rationale or justification for our position?

   

Just recently, New York City school officials and Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a decision to ban “God Bless the USA” at a kindergarten graduation ceremony, because they deemed it “potentially offensive to other cultures.”

• Principal Greta Hawkins of P.S. 90 in Brooklyn reportedly pulled Lee Greenwood’s patriotic ballad from the June 20 graduation program saying the song is not “age appropriate” and could end up “offending other cultures.”

• The ban caught national attention after the New York Post reported that while the patriotic song was banned, the children would be hearing Justin Bieber’s teenage romance ballad “Baby.”

Shouldn’t Christians point out the hypocrisy of this decision? Isn’t “Justin Bieber’s teenage romance ballad ‘Baby’” even less “age appropriate?” Besides, isn’t the Bloomberg administration offending those who believe in “God?” Will not every law or edict offend someone? If we were to use “offending other cultures” as the ultimate test of a ruling, wouldn’t that mean that NYC wouldn’t be able to make a single ruling? Definitely!

Even worse, this ruling and many others like it send the message that the Christian faith is far more “offending” than others. How hypocritical of an administration that prides inside for being “inclusive!”

Here’s my point. Don’t Christians have a responsibility to speak up against the ubiquitous negative portrayals in the media and universities of Christians and the Christian faith? Should we remain silent as the media equates the Biblical faith with “hate speech?” Aren’t we required to make a defense for what we have committed our lives?

If the charge of “hate speech” goes uncontested, it becomes more than a charge but an indictment that will be used to silence the church, to fire Christians who speak of their faith, to shut down Christian businesses and even becomes an incitement to violence against those who spread the “hate speech.”

I don’t think that we have a choice. Silence isn’t an option when Christian are being expelled from universities because they have expressed disfavor regarding gay marriage and refuse to submit to the totalitarian process of re-education. Silence isn’t an option when Christians and Christian businesses are being targeted to perform acts that violate their faith, like being compelled to make tee-shirts for a Gay Pride event or to participate in an abortion. Silence isn’t an option when the State requires a Christian school or a home-schooling family to teach curricullum that violates their faith. Silence can not be an option when pastors can no longer teach the biblical faith because it can now be construed as a “hate crime.”

Held and others who preach against the “culture wars” – yes, they are engaged in their own “culture wars,” aren’t they – assume that if we adopt a live-and-let-live approach, our secular culture will adopt such an attitude towards us. However, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to suggest that this will happen. The church is vulnerable and the secularists smell blood.

Christian groups are fair-game. They are now required to provide insurance for procedures that violate the Christian conscience. College Christian groups are often either banned from campus or required to sign statements that they will alter their Christian charter.

This is serious. When we make small concessions and violate our faith, we then have to modify our theology to accommodate to and rationalize these compromises. However, we can’t modify the Bible without also disparaging it. The effect snowballs. One compromise will justify the next.

Nor will the secularist stop at the doors of the church. Many are now arguing that the church shouldn’t be privileged and remain exempt from federal employment guidelines. As corporations can’t discriminate according to faith or sexual orientation, the church also shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate in this manner. However, if the church can’t discriminate according to belief and life, then the church can no longer remain the church.

Ignoring the surrounding culture, as we hide beneath a blanket of silence, isn’t an option. We have to be the light, not only in defense of the faith but also in warning against sin.

Many of the “culture war” despisers argue that the church should be about its number one calling – the Gospel. Therefore, warning against sin and hypocrisy is an unhelpful distraction. However, calling the world to repentance is inseparable from the Gospel! God warned Ezekiel that silence wasn’t an option:

·        "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself…Say to them [Israel], 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?'” (Ezekiel 33:7-11)

Life meant repenting from sin. Ezekiel did not have the option of silence. Silence meant death. Life required a man who had the conviction to speak the truth, even in the face of social condemnation.