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 […]
Confession & Repentance
People often confuse two Biblical concepts: confession of sin and repentance from sin. Confession means to say the same thing about my behavior, thoughts, emotions, motives, goals, and desires that God says about them. It means to tell God that I’ve sinned and here’s how I did it. Some people are great confessors. They freely […]
A Worship Conversation
In the medieval Church, there was a sharp distinction between the worshiping clergy and the spectators found in the laity. The “action~ was up front, behind what was called the rood screen, and the people of God assembled to watch—well, mostly to listen. They were permitted to be in the presence of something big—they were […]
Weekly Communion
Our practice of weekly communion comes out of our understanding of covenant renewal worship. The natural procession moves from confession to consecration, and from consecration to communion. We want this progression to occur every time we worship God. The heart of biblical worship is organized around Word and sacrament. But we do not understand this […]
Spinners No Longer
In the world, people often get what they want by demanding, begging, cajoling, manipulating, and coercing everyone around them. The way to win is to knock everyone else off the top of the mountain and become the “King of the Hill.” One of the more subtle ways we do this is by what has become known […]