Pray and Pay Attention in Church Again

December 2018

Paying Attention in Worship

Dec 2018

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A dear friend took my wife and me to dinner final week. We went to an expensive eating place that served a fabled meal. But that is not why he chose information technology. Rather, it was a place particularly suited for conversation. There was no loud music blaring, no televisions with ESPN highlights and scrolling baseball game scores. Undisturbed, we dined and talked for nearly five hours, and it was a delightful fourth dimension.

Reflecting later on the feel, I was struck by how the conditions for fine dining can differ and so much from our expectations for public worship. My own congregation promotes its worship as uncomplicated, fugitive the worship bands, big screens, and other mutual features of many churches today. But any pride that I may be tempted to experience is dispelled when I read how the Westminster Assembly, in its Directory for Public Worship, prescribed the proper manner to arroyo worship:

The people are wholly to attend upon [worship], forbearing to read anything, except what the minister is then reading or citing; and abnegation much more than from all private whisperings, conferences, salutations, or doing reverence to any person present, or coming in; as also from all gazing, sleeping, and other indecent behavior, which may disturb the minister or people, or hinder themselves or others in the service of God.

Whispering, gazing, sleeping—if I am honest, I must plead guilty to these and other "indecent behaviors" that hinder my worship and disturb others. The Westminster Larger Catechism reinforces a demand for reverent attention in worship. Pew sitters are to

attend upon [the Give-and-take read and preached] with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of information technology; hide information technology in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives. (Q&A 160)

An unattainably high bar, we are liable to think. But the Westminster divines wanted us to understand that information technology is largely through public worship that God meets with His people. These standards serve to deliver God'due south hope that the Discussion and the sacraments are effectual to the elect for conservancy. Reformed worship is about guarding the pulpit and fencing the table. The Westminster Assembly goes even further and asks, How are we to eliminate the distractions that beset usa in worship?

For i, we might rethink the logic of "seeker-sensitive worship." We should be concerned most visitors in our worship, but our concern for them should not prompt us to maximize their condolement and pleasure over the worship of God.

Traditional church practices refocus our attention on the gospel and enable our worship of the transcendent God.

Second, focused attending warrants a mensurate of withdrawal in order to properly reflect on the things of God. This requires that we filter out some senses that might detract from our attending to the Give-and-take, such as being distracted by coffee or looking around. Even our Bibles themselves require caution; the Westminster Directory warns against Bible reading during worship if it extends beyond the text of the sermon.

What about reading from the Bible app on our smartphones? Caution is again needed. Our phones are a pathway to many distractions—there is texting and tweeting and much more than. Fifty-fifty if we think we are disciplined enough to exercise restraint, we should consider how we are encouraging others who lack our self-command. (Remember, we are engaged in public worship.)

Unmarried-minded attention is strange to us, fifty-fifty in worship, considering nosotros take pride in our ability to navigate our busyness with speed and nimbleness. In a multitasking world, Marva Dawn rightly concedes that worship is a "royal waste of time" because we are focused on something that our corybantic culture dismisses as inefficient. And still, neuroscientists have come to the consensus that multitasking is a myth. Nosotros achieve far less when we juggle several tasks than when we focus on i thing at a time. What is worse, our digitally enhanced distractions are becoming addictive: our brains crave abiding stimulation and instant gratification. How ironic, and then, that we program our phones with "alerts" and "notifications" for so-called breaking news when they have the effect of diminishing our alertness, prompting thoughtlessness and negligence to the task at manus. In sum, the spirit of our historic period is inimical to the careful and sustained attention that public worship demands.

Is it possible anymore to resist the persistent distractions of our digital age that obscure the message of the gospel? We need not abandon such a hope. Traditional church practices refocus our attention on the gospel and enable our worship of the transcendent God. Public worship and Sabbath keeping are the most culturally confusing witnesses for Christians to exercise. On a day designed for the soul to banquet, nosotros must resist habits that distract us and others. I am trying to go completely offline during the solar day. It is proving to be a smashing struggle, but I trust that it will awaken me from the stupor that can come up from living in a culture that prizes distraction.

The stakes may be college than we recollect. As distraction dulls our senses, it can pb even believers to indifference about heavenly matters. The volume of Hebrews (which many commentators believe was originally a sermon) speaks powerfully to our digital age when it warns, "Nosotros must pay much closer attention to what we accept heard, lest we drift abroad from information technology" (Heb. ii:1).

If we tin carve out undistracted time and space for a fine meal, why non also for public worship? After all, the conversation is even better, and then is the food.

John R. Muether is professor of church history and dean of libraries at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla. He is author, coauthor, or editor of several books, including Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism.

wolfgangtaintimand.blogspot.com

Source: https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2018/12/paying-attention-worship/

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