The trend toward a return to primal traditions in theology and worship practice was intensified in the mid-twentieth century, partly due to the influence of the “New Reformation.” Along with a return to biblical authority, we have seen a revival of Reformation worship forms and practice, including even neo-baroque organ design. The total result is a blend that includes three traditions: the apostolic heritage, historic medieval contributions, and Reformation distinctives.
The Liturgical Movement
The liturgical movement includes a renewed interest in liturgical symbolism, especially in vestments, church design, and furnishings. The liturgical movement has had considerable influence on Calvinist and free churches, some of whom have been guided by the same objectives mentioned above: to unite their own distinctives with the traditions of the apostles and the medieval church. To illustrate, the Worshipbook (1974) of the United Presbyterian Church contains a Communion service which can be said to combine the early form of John Calvin with elements of eucharistic worship from earlier centuries. The text of the service is an amplification of Calvin’s Geneva service of 1542. In the music section of the book, the historic songs of the mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) are included so that they might be added to that service.
Though some evangelicals may doubt that they have been influenced by the liturgical movement, these trends will be noted in many groups:
1. Increased interest in more sophisticated church architecture and furnishings, whether or not it includes the consideration of theological principles in symbolism.
2. Development of more complete worship forms, with more congregational participation.
3. More frequent observance of the Communion. Many evangelicals do so once each month, rather than quarterly—the historic norm.
4. Increased observance of the liturgical year, especially as related to Advent and Holy Week.
The Evangelical Influence of Vatican II
Eugene L. Brand describes the liturgical movement as “the label given to efforts across the breadth of the Western church to restore full and vital corporate worship that centers in a eucharistic celebration where Sermon and Supper coexist in complementary fashion” (“The Liturgical Life of the Church,” in A Handbook of Church Music, ed. by Carl Halter and Carl Schalk, 53). As such, much of its impetus came from encyclicals of Pius X and Pius XII and from other church leaders both in Europe and America. The Second Vatican Council of 1962 marked the climax of the movement for Roman Catholics with the release of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. All observers agree that its reforms have been “evangelical” in nature. These are some of the most significant:
1. Worship is to be social and rational, not personal and mystical.
2. A return to vernacular languages.
3. Full congregational participation, including the use of “Protestant” hymns.
4. Inclusion of several Scripture readings from both Old and New Testaments.
5. Inclusion of a sermon on a regular basis.
6. “Concelebration” of the mass—the people with the priest.
7. A retreat from extremely sacerdotal theology. (The revised Sacramentary includes four versions of the eucharistic prayer; only one closely resembles the old Roman Canon.)
There is now more similarity between the services of Lutherans and Episcopalians (even of liturgical Presbyterians) and those of Roman Catholics than there has been at any time since the Reformation. As a result of their new freedom, many Roman Catholics now participate in the worship services of evangelicals. Some regularly attend small Bible study groups, and even extra liturgical, charismatic worship services.
The New Pietism
What we identify as “celebration” today may be partly a reaction to the liturgical movement of yesterday. Laypersons who are expected to take a larger part in worship may well insist that it should consist of activities that they enjoy. For this reason, we may call the contemporary style “the new pietism” (the emphasis is on religious experience), or even “the new worship hedonism” (the emphasis is on enjoyable experience).
There are other contributing influences which should be noted:
1. Existentialist philosophy—emphasis on the “now” experience which may sometimes be suprarational.
2. McLuhanism—“the medium is the message.” McLuhan foresaw the weakening of words as communicative symbols and noted increased interest in audio-visual media.
3. Secular theology—a decline in the significance of traditionally sacral expressions in the awareness that the church is sent forth “into the world.”
4. Roman Catholic reforms—Vatican II encouraged its communicants to be rational, social, and joyful in worship.
5. Relational theology—the importance of our relationships with other persons, both in and out of the church.
6. The philosophy of “linguistics”—a consideration of the meaning of words.
7. A reappearance of the aesthetic concept of music as “revelation” (see Mellers, Caliban Reborn).
8. The growth of Pentecostalism.
The resultant expressions in contemporary worship can also be listed:
1. Emphasis on celebration—a total experience in which there is an appeal to all the senses by means of new worship forms and expressions, more emotional music, multimedia, drama, new symbolism, physical movement, etc.
2. Updated translations of Scripture; fresh, more personal language in liturgy, hymns, prayers, and sermon.
3. Congregational participation not spectatorism.
4. Renewed emphasis on Christian fellowship in worship (in the tradition of the “kiss of peace”) and in daily life.
5. Cross-fertilization of the sacred by the contemporary, in text as well as music.
“The new pietism” appeared first among the liturgical churches and more liberal communions, and its total impact may have been more revolutionary among them. After all, the movement simply validated the ancient heritage—of joy in worship and in fellowship with other persons. Furthermore, it was moving counter to the interest of some evangelicals who were seeking to develop a greater sense of reverence in public worship.
One of the first expressions of the new music in contemporary worship was Geoffrey Beaumont’s Twentieth Century Folk Mass, which appeared in 1957. As a member of the Light Music Group of the Church of England, he stated their philosophy succinctly and boldly: Worship should include not only the timeless music of master composers but also the popular styles of the day, which are so much a part of people’s lives. Soon thereafter, youth musical ensembles were appearing among evangelicals in Great Britain, patterning their styles after those of the Beatles and other folk and rock groups. Their objectives were to communicate the gospel and to express Christian response in word/music languages that were comprehensible to young people, both inside and out of the organized church. Before long, liturgical churches and traditional denominational bodies in America were following these examples in an endeavor to make worship services more relevant and celebrative.
Among typical American evangelicals, popular expressions in witness music had not changed dramatically since the advent of the gospel song about 1850. To be sure, there had been modest variations in style in the mid-twentieth century—including “Southern quartet” forms, “western” hymns, a few songs in a mild Broadway-musical style, and the beginning of a country ballad hymnody. But, by and large, evangelicalism had not shown great interest in new music since the days of Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver.
There was, however, considerable awareness of the need for fresh expressions in the church, and considerable (but not universal) support for new translations of the Bible and new phraseology in prayer. Evangelicals used the available new Scripture versions and even sponsored some of their own. The musical breakthrough came with a few gospel folk songs by Ralph Carmichael that appeared in Billy Graham films and with the youth musical Good News, released by the Southern Baptists in 1967. The latter was soon followed by a flood of similar works, written for various age groups, using contemporary popular music forms and frequently performed with the recorded accompaniment of a full professional orchestra.
Soon shorter musical works began to be published in the same idioms. Older titles (and even new works in older forms, like Bill Gaither’s gospel songs) continued to appear, but in upbeat arrangements—with strong syncopated rhythms, a goose-bump-raising orchestration, and a series of “half-step-up” modulations—which added up to strongly-emotional expression.
In the last ten years, we have also seen an unparalleled rise in the number of professional performances of popular religious music by traveling artists. A large number of youth groups are on the road, like Re-Generation (with Derek Johnson) or the Continentals (sponsored by Cam Floria). Older professional singers (e.g., Hale and Wilder, the Bill Gaither Trio, Andrae Crouch, Ken Medema, Bill Pearce, Suzanne Johnson, Jimmy McDonald, and Evie Tornquist) give full programs of music, sometimes in churches and sometimes in auditoriums. And there is a new breed of professional Christian musicians, some of whom have crossed over into the pop market, most notably Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. Many of these young performers write their own songs and perform them almost exclusively. All of this activity has been a great boon to the religious music publishing and recording businesses and has created a multimillion dollar market-centered largely in Nashville, Tennessee. It is safe to say that we have just witnessed the most significant new development in Christian witness music since Ira Sankey popularized the gospel song more than 100 years ago.
No doubt there is much that is good in the new spirit and expressions of worship. But, as in so much of life, every plus is a potential minus if we do not maintain a healthy balance. It is well to give vent to emotional expression, providing it does not lead to emotionalism and irrationality. The new humanism is good when it helps us be more aware of ourselves and our neighbors in full-orbed worship and fellowship, but bad if we substitute transcendent human experience for a full understanding of the transcendence of God. The creativity that new forms offer may lead to a loss of meaning and identity if we forsake completely the historic expressions that are part of our religious roots. Finally, the “new enjoyment” may lead to a worship hedonism that is another form of idolatry—worshiping the experience instead of God.