Ecclesia Augustana: Musings on Contemporary Worship

Last year at school we had Koiné come and lead chapel for us. It was held in the gym partly because that's the only place where the lights and sound equipment would work and partly because lots of area grade schools came. It was... interesting. The "service" consisted of confession and absolution, Bible passages being read, and lots of singing by Koine. It was more or less consistent with the stereotypical form of "contemporary worship." To me, it felt more like a concert than a worship service. Apparently the grade school kids felt the same way since they clapped throughout the service.

Why am I bringing this up? It exemplifies one of my concerns with contemporary worship. In contemporary worship, the service revolves around us and our feelings. The grade school kids clapped because it didn't seem like a church service to them. I mean, we don't get up and clap after the organist finishes a rousing hymn in church, do we?  But if you were in a gym with a band playing? Well clapping only seems normal, because the atmosphere is not one of worship. Koiné uses hymns, which is better than praise songs for sure, but the atmosphere still resembles that of a concert.

The informal quality of contemporary service is coupled by the lack of depth often found in its music.  I recently found a video on YouTube that shows just how shallow the lyrics in praise songs are. These praise songs always seem to be centered around being "lost in the moment" or "feeling God" in some shape or form. There also seems to be something on fire in every song. These songs often have little or no theological depth. Many of them are simply designed to be catchy, making you feel good, saved, and spiritual; they are simple enough so they can be sung without thinking about what is being sung. There's not much to think about when you say "hallelujah" over and over and over again. The reason these churches use contemporary worship is so they can get the people on a rush. Why do we feel the need to do the same when the doctrine behind it is so wrong?

Another thing to consider is the fact that when we use contemporary worship, it signifies a solidarity with the practice of the Reformed and Sacramentarian sects.  Doctrine and practice are linked, so we should make sure we don't send mixes signals by lauding Lutheran doctrine and counteracting it with sectarian practice.  We aren't in fellowship with sectarian churches, so we shouldn't worship like them. Actions speak louder than words. If we look like a Baptist church, what's to stop people from thinking that we believe what Baptists churches believes?  Also, if we use these practices long enough, they are bound to infect our doctrine. Lex orandi, lex credendi, after all.  While the slippery slope analogy can be dubious, Scripture does warn us that a little yeast leavens the whole lump.  If we think it's okay to mimic false teachers in one area, we shouldn't fancy ourselves immune from mimicking them in other areas as well.

Contemporary worship is not something we can define as "doing the same thing, but in a different way."  Don't get me wrong; I like variety in worship. I'm just opposed to letting the way we worship or the things we see in worship become contrary to what God says.  So, in conclusion, I suggest that we should just stay away from contemporary worship altogether.