General Assembly Worship That is Presbyterian

 By Ryan Biese - Posted at Mid the Pines:

Terry Johnson annually asks good questions regarding the worship services accompanying PCA Generally Assemblies. Why does GA worship typically not reflect the historic principles of Reformed worship?

I am relatively new to the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). I was reared in the mainline (theologically liberal) Lutheran Church (ELCA) with its normative principle of worship. Worship in the ELCA of the 1990s and 2000s was characterized by robes, processions, well-developed liturgy, the liturgical calendar, candles, kneeling for Holy Communion, strong congregational singing, and, alas, short homilies and sometimes kitschy attempts to make worship “relevant.”

While at Grove City College, I was exposed to Reformed Worship at a local congregation, which was decidedly different from my previous experience. Worship was dialogical and characterized by speaking Scripture and singing Scripture either from the psalter or from hymns that reflected the truths of Scripture: God spoke to His people in the Word and His people spoke and sang back to Him with His Word. This congregation was a most perfect school of Christ.

I discovered Reformed Worship lacked the grandness of the worship in the Lutheran Church, but was yet more glorious for its simplicity and focus on God rather than man.

Continue here.