We have to get rid of the liturgy... young people don't want it

As I was getting ready to leave after a long Easter morning of services I walked to my car with one of my parishioners. He was telling me that they went to a non-denominational church early in the morning. I could see the excitement in his face about this new experience in worship. He loved the upbeat lively music. He loved that the pastor preached for a long time (40 minutes). And then to top it all off... the service was simple. Sing, preach, sing, go home... Botta bing Botta boom!  And this is the type of rhythm we should adopt in our church... away with the rhythm we feel God has called us to practice. 

Grant it... I am tired... I am ready to go home... and he just pushed my liturgy button! 

I had a lot of questions about his experience. My first thought was that our worship experience is no longer shaped God but by people. 

It is about what we want... what makes us feel good... and this is on both sides of the so-called contemporary vs. traditional stupid debate. 

Or we see what other churches are doing that are working or that we like... we get jealous... and then we have to do whatever that thing is. 

There is a rhyme to the reason. We worship the way we do for a reason. I don't think the problem is with the liturgy... it is with us. 

We have lost the rhythm. God hasn't... we have. 

Our liturgy is spiritual. It doesn't need to change one bit. Why? Because it is God created and ordained... yet we often times receive the liturgy with half-heartedly.

Consider a song... Almost every popular song has multiple components: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Tag, Outro. If one of these components was missing... the song would feel weird... it would seem like it was going anywhere. 

I know what my friend desired... let's take out the confession... then we can have a service like the one I attended this morning... then I could preach for 40 minutes. Sure...we could do it... but we just took out the chorus... now the song will feel weird for us. 

I am surely not saying that this other church is wrong. They are worshipping the way they feel God has called them to worship. Yet the difference between us and them... is that they are owning their song... all the while we are complaining about ours... 

I don't think the liturgy needs to change (for which God gave us from scripture)... I think it is us.