I read the following in a longer article on contemporary worship. The author sees the trend declining – he may be right. Regardless, I loved what he wrote about the essence of corporate worship.

It’s about the very purpose of gathered worship.

It’s about unity, not choice.

It’s about Holy Scripture, not self-help.

It’s about theology, not experience.

It’s about participation, not consumption.

It’s about liturgy, not jesusy entertainment.

It’s about being a church for the world, not getting butts in the seats.

It’s about ancient and future, not just now.

Gordon’s conclusion says it very well.

“Contemporary worship” to me is an oxymoron. Biblically, worship is what angels and morning stars did before creation; what Abraham, Moses and the Levites, and the many-tongued Jewish diaspora at Pentecost did. It is what the martyrs, now ascended, do, and what all believers since the apostles have done. More importantly, it is what we will do eternally; worship is essentially (not accidentally) eschatological. And nothing could celebrate the eschatological forever less than something that celebrates the contemporary now. So ultimately, I think the Apostles’ Creed will stick its camel’s nose into the liturgical tent, and assert again our celebration of the “holy catholic church, the communion of the saints.