Shallow, stupid, irreverent, and ugly

Here is a delightful piece by S.M. Hutchens on the horrors of mega-church worship. I just ran across it though it was posted sometime back in 2005.

A taste:

The liturgy began with the Worship Leader giving a Tonight Show downbeat to the band: “a-one-two-three-four . . . .” And then it began: “CELEBRATE!” everybody bawled, “CELEBRATE!” As the jubilation continued I looked at my wife, she looked back at me, and we mouthed the question, “Traditional?” at each other. I looked over at the anciennes veuves on the other side of the aisle. They were quite unfazed—the old ladies were celebrating right along with the rest.


No liturgy can be justified to any degree whatever by the level of attraction or repulsion it exercises—especially on those who are in no position to evaluate the ways of a church for which they not only do not bear pastoral responsibility, but to which they do not even yet belong!


Legitimate attractiveness of the worship service must always be a by-product of sanctification, and so of the ability to understand and appreciate beauty in the broadest and deepest senses, the beauty of God in Christ as reflected in the sounds and acts of worship.