Reflections on Liturgy and My Generation
We Are Missing Something Sacred
Over the summer I read Ever Ancient, Ever New by Dr. Winfield Bevins. Dr. Bevins’ background is church planting, and as he explains in his book, stumbled into planting a liturgical church. He is now an ordained priest in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and Director of Church Planting at Asbury Theological Seminary. Dr. Bevins has also done work in studying revivals and spoke at our annual conference last year for the Southeast Region of the Free Methodist Church for those of you reading from that camp.
Ever Ancient, Ever New is an exploration of what Dr. Bevins is documenting as a revival of young people actively seeking more ancient and traditional liturgical forms of worship. Dr. Bevins’ book appealed to me as I am a lover of traditional liturgy. My studies in Wesleyan theology led to the Book of Common Prayer, something Wesley treasured, and it has become my daily constant as I pray the daily offices. To be completely honest, I have in some ways enjoyed the times I have visited Anglican churches for worship more so than I enjoy my home church’s song-and-sermon liturgy, as much as I love my church. And maybe it is nostalgia, but I often miss the communion liturgy of the small United Methodist church I attended when I first became a believer. Somewhere along the way I realized I am part of the movement Dr. Bevins is documenting.
Even though I have known for years I am more at home with a traditional liturgy I still had trouble thinking this was a broader movement that was occuring. However, I was recently talking with a close friend; we often act as sounding boards for each other and discuss everything from theology to politics. He told me him and his wife had been attending a United Methodist church because they’ve “been craving a more traditional and liturgical service” and often go to Catholic mass as well. I also have several friends who have left their evangelical churches for the ACNA and Lutheran churches for the same reasons. When I thought about it, it all made sense and lined up that something bigger may be happening.
Dr. Bevins does a far better job than I can of describing the benefits of traditional liturgy in his book, and church leaders, if this is where young people are going it is important to pay attention. I (now) know I’m not crazy, because it’s not just me. There is something we’re missing when our worship service is a 30 minute rock concert followed by a 30 minute sermon. There’s something we’re missing when we don’t take the Lord’s Supper “as often as we shall.” There’s something about saying prayers, creeds, and confessing sin together as the Body of Christ. My soul realizes it too and yearns for it. To be humble is to realize the way we do church in the evangelical world is a recent innovation and, as Dr. Bevins explains in detail in his book, does not catechize our rhythms like a traditional liturgy does.
As many theologians have noted, everyone has a liturgy. Even if the liturgy of your church is something like: stand up for worship, sing familiar songs, sit down for sermon, altar call, dismissal - that is still a liturgy, it is the form in which you conduct worship. Your liturgy, whatever it is, is a physical theological statement that reflects where your priorities are. If your focus is on the Eucharist, that says something. Same thing if the focus is praise & worship, or the sermon. One of the most attractive things about more ancient and traditional, or as it is often called “high church” or “high liturgy,” is that it creates a rhythm that echoes throughout our daily lives and turns our focus constantly to Christ. This is one of the reasons it is so attractive to me, I am unabashedly on fire for Jesus, and I want to pattern every second of my life in light of Him. Liturgy calls us to be part of a larger narrative, a drama, that is vital to our spiritual formation and grounds us in ancient truth that we desperately lack in evangelical and seeker-sensitive churches. This is expressed through attention to the church calendar, patterns of confession, encouragement to pray the daily or divine offices, and a common worship environment. As Dr. Bevins says about liturgy:
As we come together week after week, we are slowly formed by the words, prayers, and sacred rhythms of the liturgy. The poetic words, the prayers, and the reading of Scripture leave an imprint upon our souls, and the practices shape us into the men and women of God. The beauty of these rhythms is that they form us passively, almost without our knowledge. This formation is not contingent upon our mood or temperament when we enter the service. Simply by agreeing to participate and join with the existing structure and rhythms, liturgy has the power to change us.1
A common criticism I hear about churches with a higher form of liturgy is that it is “dead religion” and there is little room for the Holy Spirit to freely move in worship. I have a couple of questions for people with this objection: 1) is the Holy Spirit so limited that He cannot move unless it is in a certain type or worship service, the one you feel works best?, and 2) if it is evidence of “dead religion,” then why are young people craving it and flocking to it? There certainly are expressions of liturgy that can be stifling. I get that. But there can equally be very charismatic and seeker-friendly liturgies that are stifling, in fact I would say some increasingly are.
As Bevins says,
Many young adults have shared with me how they are tired of seeker-friendly, consumerist approaches to the faith in which they observe and absorb the work of others. They no longer want to be entertained; they want to participate. Liturgy ensures that each person has the opportunity to participate in the worship of the church, and it keeps us from being passive spectators who simply observe and consume knowledge. The rhythm of liturgy invites us to join the story of God and, perhaps surprisingly, prevents our worship from becoming static or growling stale.2
Further, a return to more ancient practices is not a dismissal of the charismatic movement of the 20th century. In fact, many of these rebounding higher liturgical churches and new church plants are what many are calling part of the “convergence movement.” I could do an entire article on the convergence movement (I may, keep an eye out), and Ever Ancient, Ever New explores it as well, but essentially, among this movement of younger people toward traditional liturgy is the coming together of the streams of orthodox Christianity. In his book Evangelical, Sacramental and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three, Gordon Smith explores how a return to liturgy uplifting the ancient, sacramental nature of the church does not have to be dismissing of the modern evangelical and charismatic/pentecostal streams of tradition, but combining all three results in a healthy, full expression of Christian worship. He says:
All three, taken together are the means by which the benefits of the cross are known and experienced. The three - Spirit, along with Word and sacrament - are then the means by which we abide in Christ as Christ abides in us.3
Churches across the denominational spectrum: Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Assembly of God, and more are led by people with this conviction and are incorporating elements from all three of these streams to lean in to the fullness of God in worship. Even convergence denominations are arising out of this movement such as the Charismatic Episcopal Church and Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches. I was blessed to recently sit under a sermon from Bp. Emilio Alvarez of the latter denomination when he preached during a recent chapel at Asbury. They uniquely lean into the ancient practices of Orthodoxy with Pentecostal preaching and awareness of the Spirit, and he has a forthcoming book on the topic of Pentecostal Orthodoxy that I am looking forward to. The point is, how we experience Christianity doesn’t have to be an either/or one-dimensionality, we should have both. Can anyone give me a good reason why not? We sell ourselves short of dimensions of rich, biblical spirituality when we exclude the vast 2000 years of tradition we stand on, and conversely when we exclude how the Spirit is moving today. Or maybe I’m just crazy for wanting to experience the sanctifying power of the Lord’s Supper weekly, listen in awe to the glorious sound of a pipe organ, hear passionate preaching that convicts the soul, and worship to King of Kings or whatever the latest worship song is with my hands in the air.
I may be crazy, but it is obvious the Holy Spirit is doing something. While our evangelical churches face decline and our mainline churches face serious existential challenges, the Holy Spirit is moving behind the scenes, carving out a movement of the next generation that crosses denominational boundaries and is more united in a shared convergence of theological and liturgical convictions than they are with many in their own denominations. This movement is mostly silent, though is starting to find its voice. And, if my story is any indication, there are people who are part of it who don’t even know it is happening. That’s the power of us all having the same indwelling Holy Spirit! Parallel movements can be happening that do not even come into contact with each other initially, but are clearly and evidently connected and share an uncanny resemblance that can’t be mere coincidence.
As one of my professors, Dr. J. Steven O’Malley, has documented, this is exactly the case with the revival that spawned the Wesleyan movement in the midst of the First Great Awakening. The First Great Awakening was a mere part of a move of the Holy Spirit across the world that we are just now starting to understand how vast it was, from touching a group of children in Silesia to the fields of Britain to the frontier of America and even as far away as Siberia. Could we be in the midst of the formation of such another great movement?
I pray so. While I am fully committed to the Wesleyan way, this movement (and how much it resembles early Methodism) excites me. I believe it will deeply effect how I pastor in the future and will continue to push me toward a deeper understanding of the things of God through an understanding of liturgy and convergence.
If you are curious about the convergence movement or have had desires and convictions that you feel are calling you to embrace a more traditional faith and have been craving stronger liturgy, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to reply to this post with an email, or comment below. I am opening comments on this post for everyone, including free subscribers. Please also consider subscribing and supporting the publication.
Quote from Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Allure of Liturgy for a New Generation by Winfield Bevins, pp. 51.
Bevins, pp. 53.
Quote from Evangelical, Sacramental and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three by Gordon T. Smith, pp. 21.
Excellent article and right on point concerning so many things. I believe this is gaining traction and is so much a part of a true move of the Holy Spirit.
It's interesting to learn that this may be a broader movement, as it's something that's occurred in my own life. I attend an Evangelical church, which is fairly free form, but I regularly use Anglican prayer books in my private devotions.
A couple years ago, I learned about a prayer book titled "Day by Day" which is a simplified Daily Office based on the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. I'd never heard of the BCP at this point and knew very little about Anglicanism, but I enjoyed using it and quickly found myself wanting to know more. I kept learning more and eventually was led to the 1928 American BCP which has become a daily companion in prayer since.
I can't overstate how much it's benefited my prayer life and faith - the BCP has helped me to form a daily habit of prayer, and drawn me closer to God. If I'd discovered it earlier in life, I may very well have joined an Anglican church; I really love the tradition and form of worship, and it reminds me of the relatively high church UMC I grew up in. But I'm glad I can benefit from the BCP in my private devotions even though I'm broadly Evangelicalish on Sunday mornings.