Contemporary Vs. Traditional Worship

Labels can be very helpful, but it is sad that this debate comes down to these labels because neither is the real issue. The issue of worship is to be God centered vs. man centered, or that which is designed to please God vs. that which is designed to be pleasing to man. Traditional Worship can be man centered if a church decides to be Traditional solely based on what their people like. And Contemporary Worship seems to often be man centered, in that its whole focus is on what will appeal to this generation. But shouldn't all worship seek to be God centered and contemporary? What I mean by that is not that every church needs to sing choruses, have guitars and drums, and be lead by a worship team, rather the service is to be applicable to life. When our focus shifts to trying to make a service contemporary or traditional in the common use the labels, it becomes dangerous because both are then often man centered rather than God centered.

Calling the Sabbath a Delight

Nehemiah 13:17
"What is this wicked thing you are doing-desecrating the Sabbath?"

The word translated "desecrating" can also be translated to make profane, pollute, make common, or to treat as common. We live in a day and age where the Lord's Day or the Christian Sabbath is treated as common. It rarely reverenced or protected. It is often treated as a day to do what we need to get done or what will bring us pleasure, rather than a day of Holy rest. Recently when an Archbishop in New York tried to tell people that Little League Baseball and Soccer should not be played on Sunday, the response was, "I don't think anyone has the authority—hopefully not in this country—to tell you that." Dr. Al Mohler responds "Taken as a portrait of postmodern America, this little squabble reveals a great deal. There was once a day when a statement like this—from the man known simply as His Eminence to most New Yorkers—would have brought Little League to a Sunday standstill. No more. The erosion and secularization the Cardinal blamed for a decline in Sunday observance have eroded his authority as well. Americans now treat Sundays like other days, though for many work takes a back seat to leisure activities...Sociologists have traced the demotion of Sunday and the decline of worship attendance for years, and have offered a variety of explanations. Their theories all come down to the secularization of the American soul." In other words our Christian society and many of the Christians in it have become common, polluted, and profane. Are we that much different than the world? Are we not merely seeking after what we like, what makes us happy, what we want? It just so happens that let religion play a role in that, but are we seeking Holy Rest?, God's Glory?, and God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? We say the prayer, we go through many of the motions, but have we become like the woman in New York? We want our religion, but we don't want anyone to tell us what is right and wrong. We want our religion to fit into our desires, rather than our desires being molded to God's.
O day of rest and gladness, of day of joy and light,O balm of care and sadness, most beautiful, most bright:On Thee, the high and lowly, through ages joined in tune,Sing holy, holy, holy, to the great God Triune.
On Thee, at the creation, the light first had its birth;On Thee, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth;On Thee, our Lord, victorious, the Spirit sent from heaven,And thus on Thee, most glorious, a triple light was given.
Thou art a cooling fountain in life’s dry, dreary sand;From thee, like Pisgah’s mountain, we view our promised land.A day of sweeet perfection, a day of holy love, a day of resurrection, from earth to things above.