One of my pet frustrations at the moment is the propensity for Christian journals and magazines to produce articles where the author makes a pronouncement about the sins of the church at large. We are told about what the churches are lacking.
There are two problems here. First that the author is quick to presume that they have such a helicopter view of the church, that they can pronounce on what is happening everywhere. The reality is that even if they have free time to visit other churches that they will only see a small proportion of churches and only a small proportion of what happens in those churches.
Secondly they forget that they are seeing those churches through their own bias, that acts as a filter. They have an expectation both of what they should see and what they will see.
So can I suggest a New Year’s resolution for those of us who write and those of us who edit or publish. Let’s agree not to put into print articles where we or the author boldly announce our infallible knowledge and assessment on the whole Church.
Matthew Roberts offers such an example in the January edition of Evangelicals Now. He describes a Roman pillar in York, now lying on its side, horizontal and then says:
And yet the tragedy is that far too many of our evangelical churches are like York’s Roman pillar. What should be a vertical connection between us and the One high above us is lying horizontally on its side. We offer no connection to God. We accuse liberals of removing God from the gospel – often with considerable justification – and yet in our worship we have peculiarly fallen into the same trap.
Now, leaving aside the point that Roberts is claiming an observation based on no evidence, just his perception, based on what? His illustration is rather peculiar because there is surely quite an obvious difference between an intentional decision to structure things a certain way, so that those structures serve a purpose (to connect people to each other) and where something has fallen into ruin either through neglect or intended destruction.
What matters in the former case is whether or not the horizontal structure actually serves an intended and needed purpose. Robert’s article simply makes assertions about what the church should do to the point of being dismissive about what it does do. The result is that he completely forgets to talk about what God’s Word tells us to do when we gather. He rightly picks up on Scriptures that describe what happens when we meet together, that describe the fact that God is among us, his people when we assemble.
This is why Jesus promises that He will be present when two or three gather in His name (Matt.18v19). It is why the Spirit descends on the believers when they are gathered in one place on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2v1), an event echoed numerous times in later gatherings of the saints in Acts. It is why Jesus appeared after His resurrection almost always to gatherings of His disciples; every time when we’re told when, it is on the first day of the week. It is why Paul says that the unbeliever entering a faithful church (which means “assembly”, remember) will fall on his face, worship God, and “declare that God is really among you” (1 Cor.14v25). It is why Peter called the church, made of the living stones of Christ’s people, a dwelling-place for God by His Spirit. The assembly of the saints is the meeting-place of God with His people.
However, those Scriptures are descriptions, statements of face about our gatherings. God is not more or less present if we gather in Matthew’s preferred format or in those he is less keen on.
One thing he is not keen on for example is where churches arrange the seating so that congregation members can see one another. He writes:
“I’ve been part of more than one church where the chairs were deliberately shifted so that people looked at each other rather than at those reading or preaching God’s Word, to show that we’re not worshipping God, we’re edifying each other. “
Here, he jumps to an assumption about what the reasoning is behind those decisions. So, it is worth noting first that there was a move during the Reformation to move from a high altar where the mass was offered to a communion table in the nave, among the people so that the vicar faced then and they were gathered around a table for a meal rather than watching a performance.
Secondly, the Brethren offer another significant example of churches that restructured to gathering around a table to break bread. The expectation was that there would be numerous people taking part, praying, bringing a reading, sharing reflections on Scripture, teaching, choosing songs to sing. Similarly, charismatic churches will have an expectation that numerous members will come with tongues, prophecies, prayers, readings and songs. For similar reasons some (and we are going back to the 1970s) structured in order to encourage participation not passiveness. This seems to fit well with New Testament churches which after all met in homes not in purpose built preaching halls.
26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
Roberts’ main concern is that we are focusing on edifying each other when we should be prioritising worship to give a connection to the transcendent God. Yet Scripture’s instructions point not to a mystical experience in a church gathering but rather, we meet the living God through the Gospel which reconciles us to Him and so that the Word of Christ dwells richly in us.
In terms of coming together, we are given further instructions in Ephesians 5:18-21
“18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit(ting) to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Notice that our singing and speaking flow out from being filled with the Spirit. We do not come together and do these things to meet God. Rather, we do these things because we have met God. Notice too, that the immediate response is that we speak to one another. Yes, edification matters. This does not exclude God focused worship because as Spirit filled believers speak to each other, edifying each other, our hearts “make music” which is “to the Lord”. We give thanks to him and we submit to each other. In other words, if you don’t find that there is that praise and thanks which counts as worship, then you probably haven’t really done the one-anothering, the submitting to each other which builds each other up correctly. But let’s be clear, it is as we edify one another, encourage, challenge, correct each other that we worship together. It is those things that provide the foundation for corporate worship.
I find Roberts’ conclusion bewildering.
Several years after it was found, York’s Roman pillar was pulled out of the mud, and the horizontal pieces stood up vertically once again. It’s still there today, restored to something like its former glory. Perhaps, in the worship of our churches, we should seek to do the same.
What he describes there is a monument, a relic from the past, restored to its structural position but no longer serving its original purpose, disconnected from the thing it once held up because that glory has long been departed. I hope that this isn’t our vision for the church.
Faithroots 