Evangelicals/mega-churches....

[andrewstx]

What evangelical churches have you been to? Of course evangelicals go to church to pray. There is the the planned and the spontaneous corporate prayer that occurs .

While this is not always feasible in a church with over 2000 members, evangelical churches in general offer plenty of times for members to speak. Ever heard of “giving your testimony” or “giving a praise report” or simply giving a word of encouragement or exhortation? Plenty of evangelical churches let that happen. Ever heard of the amen corner? Some churches the entire sermon is punctuated by the sounds of “amen” or “hallelujah” as the congregation responds to what the preacher is saying.

I was raised in the campbellite denomination, also called “the churches of Christ”. Which ia as fundamental and Evangelical as you you get. What Evangelicals and fundamental churches lack is the opportunity to pray together in the same words due to the Evangelical distaste for prayers that are not made up as you go along.

 

[4Squarebaby]

Worship from a written liturgy has it’s advantages, for one it’s not needed to break up into small groups. And of course it has the advantage of allowing everyone to pray together in the same words.

To be honest the Protestant (some Protestants not Episcopalians or Lutherans) tendency to make up prayers as they go along, iow exempore is all lot motivated by predjudice to Catholics, history prooves otherwise.

You can use that symbol to the right of “quote”, the sheet of paper with large quote marks on multiple responses and then hit the reply button and then all of the quotes will be in one response

 

[andrewstx]

Appologies for my many mistakes in spelling and grammer. I am not uneducated, I had a bad stroke 6 years ago and I am trying my best.

 

[Cat]

You can use that symbol to the right of “quote”, the sheet of paper with large quote marks on multiple responses and then hit the reply button and then all of the quotes will be in one response

At Church On The Way while Pastor Jack Hayford was senior pastor and maybe to this day every service had a break where the congregation broke into small circles and prayed for each other. For a mega church it was hard to hide. By response I think they mean the scripted call and response taken from the missal or a Methodist church bulletin for examples.

For all the complaining about “a show”, as a child the liturgical church looked just like a show to me. A grand community theatre where everyone read from the script and played their individual part. After all a rock concert may be a show, but so is a classical; recital where you do not clap when the music breaks until you have been taught the proper break in the music for applause

Yes, I identify with these comments.

 

[Cat]

I think I’ve pointed it out before in this thread, but in case I’ve been unclear, I’ll try to re-state it.

A lot of our feelings about worship are based on how we were raised and what our background is.

We tend to feel most comfortable with what we were raised it, and to feel uncomfortable with something that is different than our background.

The Catholic Church is the True Church of Christ, and the Mass is the ultimate human worship, the very best that we can give to God.

The Catholic Church has a liturgy for the Mass. Those of us who were not raised in liturgical churches may have a difficult time feeling “comfortable” with that liturgy.

But just because we feel uncomfortable and miss certain things from our non-liturgical days doesn’t mean that we are expressing objections to the liturgy of the Mass, or advocating that the Church eliminate the liturgy, or do things the way the Protestants do them.

We are merely trying to describe our feelings and describe what we have left behind. For Catholics who were not raised in our church traditions, it might be hard to understand how we could possibly feel the way we do.

You might think we are trying to be critical. Well, we’re not. We love the Mass and we’re trying to learn to love the liturgy.

But we can’t help remembering what we grew up with and missing many of the lovely things about our Protestant worship. In all honesty, I long to hear good, hearty, lively, enthusiastic, congregational singing again. Earlier this summer, I attended a pipe organ concert in a Lutheran church, and the organist played a few congregational hymns, which we were invited to sing during. It was sooooo wonderful to sing with a full voice, and to hear everyone else singing (or trying to sing) in a full voice! I miss that.

Please don’t think we’re being critical just because we would like to see things like this happen in the Mass. We’re all just trying to describe the way we feel, and feelings take time to change.

 

[JustaServant]

Cat.
With all due respect. I sounds like you have one foot in the Catholic world, and one foot in the evangelical world. And that is not a healthy place to be. At some point you are going to have to choose between the two.
Even an honest evangelical would tell you that.

 

[Cat]

Cat.
With all due respect. I sounds like you have one foot in the Catholic world, and one foot in the evangelical world. And that is not a healthy place to be. At some point you are going to have to choose between the two.
Even an honest evangelical would tell you that.

So because I would like to hear hearty singing in the Mass, and good music, I am “not in a healthy place?”

Catholics are supposed to accept, indeed, not only accept, but embrace and love, bad congregational singing and lackluster music?

I don’t understand why it’s “Protestant” to long for beautiful music in the Mass.

 

[PRmerger]

I’ve gotten used to it now after seven years, and I do find liturgy-based worship comforting and solid. But there’s seldom any feeling or emotion. And that’s OK, since I don’t have to “feel” Jesus to experience His True Presence. Being a Christian is faith-based, not feeling based.

'zactly!

Just like a married couple doesn’t necessarily* feel *goo-goo about each other each and every minute of their married life together.

We go to Mass because Christ is there, not because we’re going to hear a great homily. Not because the music is inspiring. Not because of the beautiful liturgical garments the priest wears. But because He is there.

 

[Cat]

'zactly!

Just like a married couple doesn’t necessarily* feel *goo-goo about each other each and every minute of their married life together.

We go to Mass because Christ is there, not because we’re going to hear a great homily. Not because the music is inspiring. Not because of the beautiful liturgical garments the priest wears. But because He is there.

Hear hear! Thank you for phrasing it so well.

I have often said that Catholics demonstrate what true faith is, because there certainly isn’t anything “entertaining” in most Masses to keep them coming back day after day and year after year.

But Jesus is there, and that is all we need.

That being said, I see nothing wrong with wanting the Mass to be beautiful, not only for Jesus, but for His people as well. But if it isn’t beautiful, well, that’s OK, too.