Liturgical Evangelicals

The orthodox traditions are rapidly gaining popularity among the younger generations. I was first drawn to a more liturgical style of church after attending a Christmas Eve Midnight Mass with my grandmother; though, I currently attend a Foursquare church. My sister-in-law, despite being raised under the umbrella of the evangelical Assemblies of God, has been attending the Eastern Orthodox church.

Much of my life, having also grown up inside the Assemblies of God, it was implied that the liturgical churches were somehow wrong in their approach to worship. Those churches didn't allow for the moving of the spirit and were far too rigid and structrued. I believed that to be true. However, as I have developed my own beliefs, I have come to regard liturgy with a certain amount of respect. And, have found that most evangelical churches also have their own liturgy.

I was reminded of this after attending an Assemblies of God church on Sunday--something I haven't done since the last time I was home with my parents. And even though I am removed by both time and space from that small Connecticut church, I was immediately brought back to the time and place of my childhood. The sanctuary, the clumsy sounding vocals, the types of prayer and the placement of prayer. The order, or liturgy, of the service. I don't mean to imply that all Assemblies of God churches are this way, only that even inside of the "spirit driven" churches, a liturgy exists. And why not? When Jesus taught us to pray, he said "this is how you should pray." And when he was readying himself for the cross, he ate and drank and told his disciples to do this, eat and drink, in rememberance of him.

Sometimes I think that human beings need liturgy. We need a set of guidelines to follow for our own protection.