"One’s view of the Holy Spirit has direct impact on how he views worship, and would certainly impact his methodology of worship."

[article] For example, Wayne Grudem articulates a theology of worship that assumes a kind of “special, experiential presence” of God in worship.[6] Kauflin sees the job of a worship leader as one of “motivation” toward a certain worship experience[7] and physical expressiveness in worship as an essential component.[8] Piper has made very helpful contributions in terms of stressing the importance of the affections in worship, but he also clearly connects the affections to physical feelings.[9] Each of these are examples of how continuationism has influenced their theology and practice of worship, in my opinion.

Interesting article from Scott.

I am a cessationist.

And no Reformed person would consider me Reformed in theology if they sat down and talked with me about it for an hour. Though a few of you who are not Calvinists might call me Calvinist if you heard me preach certain passages. Yet I find myself in at least partial agreement with some of the above points.

Matthew 18:20 says that where two or three gather in Christ’s name, He is in their midst. If the Scriptures already affirm the omnipresence of God, then Christ must here be stating that He is present in a special sense when believers gather to worship. This is certainly a “special presence.” It also must be to some extent experiential, because the previous verse says that we would, in that context, experience a special attention to our prayer requests. I’m not sure it would be stretching things to suggest that other “experiential” aspects may exist. Certainly the examples of worship music in Scripture have joy attendant in almost every instance.

My studies of the Psalms make it difficult for me to thoroughly separate affections and feelings from worship, particularly in the musical context. I am not saying that the emotional is central, but I do believe we are sticking our heads in the sand if we try to deny that it should be involved at all.

The examples of worship music in Scripture, along with at least some of the teaching passages on music, make it hard to imagine that we are being directed toward worship in the Vulcan mode [sorry, non Trek fans].

The problems of some movements with regard to emotions and worship occur because emotion becomes the tale wagging the dog. Let theology take the drivers seat, and tell emotions to stay in the back seat and give no driving advice. They’re just along for the ride. But don’t throw emotions out of the vehicle.

Due to the problems with the inherent subjectivity of emotional experience, I would be leery of trying to “program” emotion into the worship service. But I also become suspicious of the true health of a church when, for instance, songs affirming our gratefulness for Christ and His sacrifice can be sung coldly by a congregation.

I was intrigued by these statements:

[Scott Aniol] In contrast to an understanding of worship that centers on people in evangelism or discipleship, John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and Sovereign Grace Ministries all strongly stress a God-centeredness that should permeate life and especially worship. This is clearly evidenced in their theology…

…there is no direct impact of Reformed Theology on worship theology and practice.

I must repeat, there is no direct impact of Reformed Theology itself on worship theology or practice.

I would argue that the God-centeredness of these men is due to their Reformed Theology.

I agree with you Brian. My primary point was to address arguments I’ve heard recently that try to insist that Calvinism or Reformed Theology necessarily leads to the adoption of CCM. I think that is a silly argument. There are Calvinists who are very conservative in their worship philosophy, and there are Calvinists who are quite contemporary.

So I was speaking more of their music philosophy, not their God-centeredness; perhaps I should have been more clear on that.

I would add that sometimes regional or cultural influences (or heritage) can over-ride the theology that is preached or taught. You can have the old hymns in a liberal church (and often do) and Gospel music in a Calvinistic church out in the sticks.

You would think that theology at least controls the lyrics, but churches that embrace Sovereign Grace might sing, “What He’s done for others, he will do for you.” Theology does usually over-ride extremely abusive content (I don’t know any churches that would sing “Superstar”), but, beyond that, a lot of times churches sing songs (at least at times) because they are favorites of important people in the church. It’s part of the sharing of church life, the give and take of Body Life.

How many fundamentalist youth groups kids have sung (in the 70’s), “And we pray that all unity will one day be restored…And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” I can see the love thing, but I don’t pray that all unity will one day be restored!

So there can be a disconnect, particularly in a “church of the people” or in a church that has “converted” to Sovereign Grace regarding election.

I posted a few clarifications about these comments at my site: http://www.religiousaffectionsministries.org/news-reviews/a-couple-clar…