… sorry, is that too much of a t-shirt slogan?

Another thing I have noticed for years that makes me think Protestantism–inexorably following its own internal logic– is cracking up and vaporising into a spiritual wilderness: whenever some “New Life” church finally raises enough money to move out of the converted Sav-A-Lot or former Wal-Mart and build their own facility, it invariably is indistinguishable from an anonymous corporate building or industrial park warehouse. This from people who claim the mantle of those who built Hagia Sophia and Notre Dame?

I think worship teams represent an attempt to recreate the revival experience every Sunday, which seems to me to rather miss the point of having revivals at all. The old-fashioned tent meeting was a spectacle, but was so separated from quotidian existence that it didn’t intrude, and no one thought it should until the 1970’s. People lost entirely what it was that a revival revived, but they still liked the guitars, so some churches decided to try it once a week. They have an event that appeals to their emotions, but does nothing to elevate or enlighten them. I’m afraid that the habit of ecstatic worship acts like a herion habit; it takes more spectacle to produce the same high. Eventually it becomes impossible to obtain greater spectacle, so the members drift away unsatisfied.

I now, happily, participate in what the Reformed tradition refers to as Covenant Renewal Liturgy, which is a weekly feast (literally - you wouldn’t believe how infrequent the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper is observed in most Protestant churches) for my soul.