Some Body Loves You?

[Town Heretic]

A conversation (of sorts) with the ever interesting Pam Baldwin ended with this...

I went to a Presbyterian church yesterday where the minister spoke against religious emotionalism...after sitting through the experience of that worship I can tell you they mean business. Apparently, Presbyterians eschew the joyful noise in favor of a thoughtful murmur. :think:

Pleasant enough people though. :chew:

So when we set up barriers like that, ones not particularly evident in scripture, are we setting stumbling blocks before brothers and sisters? Or do we just need to shake that limb until feeling returns. :idunno:

 

[hoipoloi]

When you consider that Jesus and His disciples taught in the streets wearing robes and dusty sandals it becomes apparent that we place way too much stock in form and not enough in the message. If churches would spend less time telling people what they can't wear, what instruments they can't play, etc. I believe that the message would be stronger, clearer and more effective, but then we wouldn't have all those denominations and divisions would we?

 

[mmstroud]

I think the good reverend may have been referring to "religious emotionalism" (maybe he forgot to hold up his fingers to suggest quotes? :chuckle: ) It's the ism that I think is the thing to be eschewed.

I prefer that my emotions not be drummed up, worked up, played upon, 'led', or in any other way facilitated by a 'worship leader' prompting me to sing a 'God is my girlfriend' chorus 11 times over (with the final time through acapella, of course). This would be my example of 'emotionalism'. And yet I am moved nearly to tears as the liturgy progresses, from the call to worship, through the confession of sin and absolution, through the hearing of God's Word read and the sermon preached, to the partaking of the Lord's Supper, to the benediction...

The manipulation offends me. The idea that the music, apart from the rest of the service, constitutes worship offends me. The possibility that there has been no room left for or no confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament, to cut the believer to the heart in both conviction and gratitude, saddens me. And then I'm reminded that I have no God-given right to not be offended, nor saddened.

Consider the idea that the reverend takes his responsibility to feed the sheep very seriously. If he was only concerned with making them full instead of healthy, he would be a poor shepherd.

Not that I have an opinion or anything lain:

 

[zippy2006]

HALLELUJAH, PREACH IT MM! :banana:

:noid:

I do agree though.

 

[IMJerusha]

:chuckle: You should try Lutheranism! Two year old crackers seem moist by comparison! They mean well, though!