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<body>  <div id="wrap"><div id="wrap2"><div id="wrap3"><div id="wrap4">  <div id="content"> <div id="header"> <h1 id="blog-title"> <a href="http://www.yuma-reformed.org/journal/index.html"> COVENANT LIFE CHURCH </a> </h1> <p id="description"></p> </div>  <div id="main"><div id="main2">  <div class="post"><a name="113911757869133027"></a> <h3 class="post-title"> Drama or Reverence? </h3> <div class="post-body"> <p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><a href="http://www.yuma-reformed.org/journal/uploaded_images/Drama-767038.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 77px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 86px" height="97" alt="" src="http://www.yuma-reformed.org/journal/uploaded_images/Drama-765884.jpg" width="92" border="0" /></a> <strong>When do we put the Brakes on?</strong><br /><br />Gauging whether a worship service is God-centered or not, in our day, is a bit tricky, but not at all impossible.<br /><br />Where do we draw the line? Do we allow modernity to guide us or do we take a stand somewhere within the history of the Church? Is it more godly to use a piano than a guitar? What about the more modern tools such as mixing equipment and special effects? Who's to say that we can't use these things?<br /><br />What does true worship involve? Does it involve bringing contemporary culture and drama into the Lord's Day ceremony? If it does, then what are you doing worshiping with that old-fashioned acoustic guitar and those plain white lights? Aren't you aware that the American culture likes multi-colored lighting, electric guitars, movie clips, skits, and dancers?<br /><br />To be consistant in practice and belief, a contemporary church must adhere to the very latest culture. But there is a time to embrace the ever-changing entertainment trends and there is a time for submission to the unchangeable holiness of God.<br /><br /><strong>Learning from the Liberal Culture </strong><br /><br />There is a reason why Hollywood uses classical music for their movies: it speaks to the human spirit. If you notice, in even the sci-fi movies such as Star Wars, the classical instruments are used to anticipate and cultivate certain feelings within us. In fact, many of our modern instruments and pop-culture beats come from various drug, satanic, and voodoo cultures (<a href="http://apologeticsgroup.com/ecommerce/os/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=108">see Hell's Bells Video</a>). Certainly these types of instruments can create <em>some</em> kind of spiritual efficacy, but many times they lead to (aggressive) addreniline than they do "wholeness." This is why we use the classical instrumetns in most movies that are not geared toward the teenage pop-culture.<br /><br />So if Hollywood can figure this out, why can't we?<br /><br /><strong>Competing with Trends?</strong><br /><br />At Covenant Life Church, we do not attempt to compete with the latest trends of "worship." We are positive that this is what's called syncretism:<em> the infusion of two completely different systems of belief that are not homogeneous</em>. What does post-modernism (pluralism) have to do with Christianity (2 Corinthians 6:15; 1 Kings 18:21)?<br /><br />Is there a point in time when instruments became evil? No, but there was a point in time where technology began to advance so rapidly that science began to usurp theology and man began to create instruments for the sake of mere entertainment and even satanic worship. Does this mean that, say for instance, the electric guitar is evil in itself? No, but what was the electric guitar originally created for? Certainly not the Church. And so how easy is it to create chords of harmony, reverence and general humility out of these types of instruments? It's not easy, and in fact it is almost impossible to do without abandoning the entire gender of the instrument.<br /><br />Many will say that it is not the way you worship but it is the "heart" that matters. We agree...sort of. The heart matters, but the heart does not manifest into licentiousness. We cannot simply do whatever the liberal culture does, and then write our actions off because no one can seemingly "prove" where our heart is. The proof is in our actions (Luke 6:43) of constantly conforming the Church's worship to the culture of liberalism rather than the culture of Christ.The Church of Acts did not bring the culture of the world into their worship, so what or who gives us the authority to do so?<br /><br /><strong>Apostolic Worship </strong><br /><br />Paul the Apostle was "all things to all people" when he went out to evangelize, but he never took this philosophy into the worship assembly. Rome was heavily into theatre, but the church of Rome didn't bring theatre into the worship (they did, though, in the medieval ages, which is one apect that sparked the Reformation).<br /><br />At Covenant Life Church, we attempt to worship much like the First Century church worshiped. Do you have a problem with this? Do you think this is old-fashioned? Well, the church is old and it is to be fashioned after the apostles, not modernity.<br /><br />Our worship service may not be hip and cool to some, but is is certainly within the parameters of the Scriptures and the doctrines of the apostles and their successors.<br /><br />At Covenant Life Church, you will experience an Apostolic and Reformed type of singing and liturgy but you will also hear preaching and teaching that is heavily influenced by over two-thousand years of rich theology.<br /><br />At Covenant Life Church, you will also take part in The Lord's Supper every week just as the First Century Church did; and trust us, it doesn't become mundane. It is actually very refreshing!<br /><br />Covenant Life Church seeks to become interdependent with one another. We want to create a community of believers, rather than a superficial and trendy "worship" group. Our spirit longs for true fellowship and intimate relationships, and we aim to incorporate this kind of life by starting our week with a reverent worship service. This is one reason we call our church "Covenant Life," because God has given us a Covenant to live under, and true fellowship and worshp is vital to this Covenant.<div style="clear:both; padding-bottom:0.25em"></div> </p> </div> <p class="post-footer"> <em>posted by Mike Spreng at <a href="http://www.yuma-reformed.org/journal/2006/02/drama-or-reverence.html" title="permanent link">9:28 PM</a></em> <span class="item-action"><a href="http://www2.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=18784049&postID=113911757869133027" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"> </span></a></span><span class="item-control blog-admin pid-1498885732"><a style="border:none;" href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=18784049&postID=113911757869133027" title="Edit Post"><span class="quick-edit-icon"> </span></a></span> </p> </div>   <div id="comments"> <a name="links"></a><h4>Links to this post:</h4> <dl id="comments-block"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www2.blogger.com/dyn-js/backlink.js?blogID=18784049&postID=113911757869133027" charset="utf-8" defer="true"> </script> <noscript><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/?ui=blg&q=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.yuma-reformed.org%2Fjournal%2F2006%2F02%2Fdrama-or-reverence.html">See links to this post</a></noscript> <div id="blogger-dcom-block" style="display:none"> <dt class="comment-title"> <span class="comment-toggler"> </span> <a href="<$BlogBacklinkURL$>" rel="nofollow"><$BlogBacklinkTitle$></a> <span class="item-control blog-admin"><a style="border:none;" href="http://www2.blogger.com/delete-backlink.g?blogID=18784049&postID=113911757869133027&backlinkURL=%3C$BlogBacklinkURLEscaped$%3E" title="Remove Link" ><span class="delete-comment-icon"> </span></a></span> </dt> <dd class="comment-body"><$BlogBacklinkSnippet$> <br /> <span class="comment-poster"> <em>posted by <$BlogBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$></em> </span> </dd> </div> <script type="text/javascript">if (typeof BL_addOnLoadEvent == 'function') { BL_addOnLoadEvent(function() { BL_writeBacklinks(); }); }</script> </dl> <p class="comment-timestamp"><script type="text/javascript">function BlogThis() { Q=''; x=document; y=window; if(x.selection) { Q=x.selection.createRange().text; } else if (y.getSelection) { Q=y.getSelection(); } else if (x.getSelection) { Q=x.getSelection(); } popw = y.open('http://www2.blogger.com/blog-this.g?t=' + escape(Q) + '&u=' + escape(location.href) + '&n=' + escape(document.title),'bloggerForm', 'scrollbars=no,width=475,height=300,top=175,left=75,status=yes,resizable=yes'); void(0); } </script> <a class="comment-link" href="javascript:BlogThis();" id="b-backlink">Create a Link</a></p> </p> </div>  </div></div>   <div id="sidebar"><div id="sidebar2"> </ul>  </div></div>   <div id="footer"><hr /> <p> </p> </div>  </div>  </div></div></div></div>   <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var sc_project=1729207; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=16; var sc_security="2b214fc1"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://www.statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://c17.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=1729207&java=0&security=2b214fc1&invisible=1" alt="website hit counter" border="0"></a> </noscript>   <p align="center"><span style="font-size: 11px"> <a href="http://www.yuma-reformed.org"><span style="text-decoration: none">Yuma Reformed</span></a> is Hosted By </span> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saeler.com"> <span style="font-size: 11px; text-decoration:none"> Saeler Enterprises</span></a><br> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saeler.com"> <span style="font-size: 11px; text-decoration:none"> Saeler Enterprises</span></a><span style="font-size: 11px; "> offers <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saeler.org">Discounted Website Development</a> & Free Website Hosting to:<br> Reformed Christian Organizations <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saeler.org">Click Here</a> to Learn More</span></p>  </body>