Paying Attention in Worship

Here’s an excerpt from Paying Attention in Worship, John R. Muether’s contribution to the December issue of Tabletalk:

A dear friend took my wife and me to dinner last week. We went to an expensive restaurant that served a fabulous meal. But that is not why he chose it. Rather, it was a place particularly suited for conversation. There was no loud music blaring, no televisions with ESPN highlights and scrolling baseball scores. Undisturbed, we dined and talked for nearly five hours, and it was a delightful time. Reflecting later on the experience, I was struck by how the conditions for fine dining can differ so much from our expectations for public worship. My own congregation promotes its worship as simple, avoiding the worship bands, big screens, and other common features of many churches today. But any pride that I may be tempted to feel is dispelled when I read how the Westminster Assembly, in its Directory for Public Worship, prescribed the proper way to approach worship.

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