I play drums.
For many of my teen years, this meant playing with a variety of youth groups, filling in at friends’ churches, playing at youth camps, and so on. This exposed me to a whole host of different leadership styles and approaches to service planning. Even at that point, in my less theologically developed times, one of the phrases that frequently struck me as strange was when we’d practice and plan up to a certain point and then the leader would proclaim“then we’ll leave room for the Spirit to move.”
To be clear, I don’t deny that the Spirit works in ways that creatures are unable to plan or predict. Far be it from me to restrict God’s timing and capabilities. That being said, in these situations, I often felt that the implication was that the Spirit DOESN’T work through planning; that there was something inherently more spiritual about leaving certain things like song duration up to the feelings of the leader at the moment.
I don’t want this to devolve into a rant about common pitfalls or excesses in the Non-Denominational/Charismatic realm of Christianity. Instead, I’d like to focus more on putting forth a positive case for why the Holy Spirit is present in the ordering of worship services and how the order points us towards the purpose of worship.
Order
As a starting point, we affirm that one of the Holy Spirit’s roles in our present lives is to “guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13, ESV) It is also important to consider that the Bible explicitly commands decency and order in the worship service. But all things should be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). Earlier in the same chapter, Paul concludes his discussion of tongues with this
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. – 1 Corinthians 14:23-25, ESV
From this passage, we can see that an aspect of Paul’s thought on the order of worship is its appearance to unbelievers.
Paul then turns to the second line of thinking. “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33, ESV) At this point, we now have two reasons for the proper ordering of worship: clarity for unbelievers and reflection of God’s character. Rather than despising order as some sort of limit on the Holy Spirit’s ability and power, let us instead view the order as both honoring who God is and removing unnecessary hindrance towards unbelievers or outsiders who may be present.
Purpose
Order is not an end in itself. Continuing, Paul instruct us, “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:12, ESV) As our ordered worship builds up the church both in personal growth and in numerical growth, it manifests the Spirit, which was the intent in the first place. Furthermore, Hebrews 12:28-29 tells us
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
In speaking with the Samaritan woman, Jesus says, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”(John 4:23-24, ESV) God is seeking a people who worship in Spirit and Truth, a people who give thanks for what He has done in Christ, and a people who manifest the Spirit in the growth of the church. More than just being a place for the Spirit to move, the worship service is a place for a fully Trinitarian theology to be displayed and communicated to the congregation.
Having come to the conviction that order of service matters, there are a few matters of application that I think we can make. To start, I think we should make a priority of being on time (dare I say early?) to church. If God is present in all stages of a given service, we are doing ourselves a disservice when we miss parts of it. Additionally, I think it shows respect to our elders and pastors who put time and effort into the selection of music, the wording of the prayers, and the content of the message. What are we communicating if we make it a habit of missing the first song every week?
Secondly, I think James K. A. Smith struck an interesting note when he talked about our tendency to think of humans as merely “brains on a stick” (see You Are What You Love, 101-102). I’ve often seen a tendency for people to feel that if they miss the music, prayer, and sacraments, but still hear the sermon,they “got it” for the week. This reduces the service to merely being an information transfer surrounded by some songs and a small snack. While the sermon is important, it is not the only means of grace present on a given Sunday. Further, this de-values the participatory aspects of a service thus making Sunday a one-way-street where the word is proclaimed to the people but no response is necessary.
Let us then recall that Paup commands us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1, ESV) Worship is a whole-body commitment. This is our spiritual worship. God desires people who worship in Spirit and Truth. To return to the opening anecdote, I think it’s clear that far from needing space allocated in portions of the worship service, the Holy Spirit is at the center of both our ordering and our purpose.