Another practice that is common in CREC churches is that of listening to Scriptures read aloud. This is distinct from the reading of the text for the sermon-it is simply a time in the service where the Word of God is recognized as central and foundational to our lives. We usually have at least one […]
Musical Style
Apart from offering praise to God, the music of a worship service also has the important role of setting the tone of the service. Scripture teaches that music sets the mood. A particular kind of music is for mourning, and another is for dancing (Luke 7:32). When the prodigal son returned, and the elder brother […]
What We Wear
When I was a boy, I remember my parents talking about the way the “new generation” was dressing and looked. The Beatles had just started the “me generation,” the hippie generation, the long hair, bell bottoms, braless, tie died, shaggy look. Rock and roll took on a whole new meaning, drugs were everywhere, free love […]
Singing Parts
Another notable thing about our worship services m the CREC is that we are interested in learning how to sing “in parts.” It is a testimony to the damage that has been done in the realm of church music over the last few decades that many young Christians don’t even know what that means. This […]
We’re Walkers
One thing that I think would be really helpful is if we stopped using non-Christian or non-Biblical terminology to describe what we’re going through. For example, we keep saying we are “obsessing.” What does that word mean? In psychological terms it means essentially that you have no control, or that your thoughts are out of […]
Psalm Singing
One marked feature of worship in the CREC is the abundance of psalms. There have been some in the Reformed tradition who have insisted in staging only psalms, but that is not what we are doing. We do not hold to “exclusive psalmody,” but it would be fair to say that we seek to practice […]
Posture in Worship
Churches can generally be categorized as “truth oriented” or as “feelings oriented.” It would be fair to rank our churches as among the former, but one the temptations faced by such truth oriented churches is that of sliding into thinking that this means “brain oriented” churches. But the truth is for the whole man. The […]
A Corporate Amen
Another thing that is common in CREC churches is the corporate amen. There are other verbal responses that our congregations give, but amen is the most common. (For other examples, after the Scripture reading, the reader may say something like “The Word of the Lord,” and the congregation responds with “Thanks be to God.” And […]
Worship Centrality
It is fairly common in CREC circles to hear folks speaking about the centrality of worship. This requires some explanation because it is easily misunderstood. Because the Church exists in time and in history, that which is “central” to our identity and work has to be understood in terms of our mission and task. A […]