The Beauty of Reformed Worship
G. VanDooren
That we call our worship “Reformed” means that it has a specific character (and beauty) in distinction from other forms of worship. Our form of worship finds itself between two “extremes” in a specific respect.
On the one hand, there is Romanist worship, in which not only is the “accursed idolatry” of the Mass (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 30) central, but for all practical purposes the congregation or laity is passive. It is not even necessary that there be a congregation present! Where the bishop or priest is, busy at the altar, there is the church—even if he is all by himself.
On the other hand, there is independentism in its various forms. This worship all boils down to a gathering of individual believers without special office-bearers. There is only the congregation. Each member may contribute his input. It is a free-for-all. Especially with the enormous growth of the charismatic movement in our time, this kind of “meeting together” is rampant. Many people are attracted to this form of worship, even people with a Reformed background. When you ask them why they turned their back on Reformed worship, the answer usually is, “Because ‘traditional worship’ is too ‘institutionalized.’ There is too little participation by the congregation. The church service is a ‘one-man business’ without any room for spontaneous expression of what lives in one’s heart.” And thus they seek a place where there is still something of the life of the early Christian church, as they see it. We must admit that at times there is some truth to allegations of a lack of vitality in our churches, but only because we so readily forget and fall short of the genius of Reformed worship.
Thus, Reformed worship is found between those two extremes—one where only the priest is active; the other where only the congregation is active. What then is the specific essence and form of Reformed worship?
