It is now a common assumption in evangelical Christianity that the Church can no longer focus worship on meeting with God through Word and Sacrament. God centered worship with "reverence and awe" has been replaced with man-centered worship experiences and celebrations in an attempt to reinvent the church as more relevant to the culture. Take "Christmas Eve with Rick Warren" aired on FOX this holiday season as an example. The "Order of Worship" went something like this -
Opening - "Feliz Navidad"
(Production Note: Worship leader, band, choir and praise team. Keep lights in sync with drummer. Take audience shots of happy people. Move back and forth between band members, audience, and the good looking girl singers.)
Welcome - Personal Anecdote - Joke - Rick Warren
(Production Note: Keep it light and personal. Put Rick in jeans and on a stool. Make it like a conversation between friends.)
TV Commercial - (Sell everything from travel to chicken soup)
Time of Sharing - "God's Christmas Gift" - Rick Warren
(Production Note: Keep it short and relevant. Personal application most critical.)
Power Point #1 - "God's Gift of Presence" - Rick Warren
(Production Note: Emphasize the felt need of loneliness. Find lonely looking people in the audience to contrast with happy people. With Jesus you will never be lonely again. Use selected scriptures from The Message)
Musical Interlude Fading to Commercial - Boy singer with choir and praise team.
(Focus on sincere emotions. Shoot photogenic women on front row.)
TV Commercial - Same as before.
Power Point # 2 - "God's Gift of Pardon" - Rick Warren
(Production Notes: Emphasize pardon as a "second chance;" a "mulligan" in the golf game of life; a chance to get your life right. Take shots of people nodding in agreement. Utilize "user friendly" paraphrases of the Bible)
More Music and Commercials - Same as before.
Power Point #3 - "God's Gift of Purpose" - Rick Warren
(Production Notes: Focus on destiny. Changing directions. Turning their lives around.)
More Commercials - Same as before.
Conclusion: Rick wraps the show with an appeal for folks to believe and experience a God who wants to give them a better life now - hit again destiny, new life, transformation etc. End with more music, lights and visual effects.)
And on it goes ad infinitum ad nauseum until everyone feels better about their lives and themselves. Notice what was missing -
No invocation of the Triune God;
No public reading of Scripture;
No intercessory prayers;
No sacraments;
No exposition of Scripture;
No confession of sin;
No profession of faith;
No Gospel!
This is an example of the triumph of the gospel of man over the gospel of God; a therapeutic gospel designed to encourage people to live better lives. This is not the gospel of salvation that demands faith and repentance before holy God. While at times encouraging and entertaining it fails as acceptable worship and lacks entirely any sense of a God who is Holy and wholly Other. No one watching would ever imagine or even consider that the God presented on the show is worthy of worship with "reverence and awe" for He is "a consuming fire."
