wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Preacher calls for revival in Presbyterian worship

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7737 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Preacher calls for revival in Presbyterian worship
GA03047

Preacher calls for revival in Presbyterian worship

by Eva Stimson

DENVER, May 27 - Before reading from scripture during Tuesday morning's
General Assembly worship service, preacher Victor D. Pentz strode out in
front of the podium to chat with the congregation. He asked how many of his
listeners remembered the 1950s and '60s, "when flying in an airplane was such
a special thing, people used to dress up."

	 Today, he said, flying has become so routine for most people that
they don't even want to sit by the window. "Instead of the oohs and ahhs, you
hear the click, click, click of laptop computers," he said.

	 Pentz, the pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA,
compared the change in attitudes toward flying with Presbyterians' loss of
wonder in worship. "The best antidote to that," he said, "is the phrase in
the Lord's Prayer, 'Hallowed be thy name.'"

	"Hallowed," he continued, means "set aside as holy." It refers to
reverence, awe and wonder. He cited the story of the calling of the prophet
Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-9) as an example of what is lacking in today's
Presbyterian worship.

	"We often say we go to church to get it together," he observed.
"Isaiah says, 'In the presence of God I came undone.' For us buttoned-down
Presbyterians, the hardest thing is abandoning ourselves in worship."

	When it comes to worship, Presbyterianism is considered "synonymous
with stodginess," he said. "But it hasn't always been this way."

	He cited examples from a history of early Scottish Presbyterians,
describing how they worshiped in "large field meetings" - apparently the
precursors of the Billy Graham crusades of today. 

	"The thing we most need to carry forward from that old revivalist
heritage is the 'Old Rugged Cross,'" he said. "It is the radical, saving love
of Jesus Christ that brings wonder to our worship."

*** For instructions on using this system (including how to UNJOIN this
meeting), send e-mail to mailrequests@ecunet.org
------------------------------------------
Send your response to this article to pcusa.news@pcusa.org

------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an 'unsubscribe' request to

pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org