Ryan Reviews Trembling Joy

In his book The Orthodox Church, the late Bishop Kallistos Ware, shared the story of a group of emissaries sent out by Prince Vladimir in search of “true religion.” They make their way through various kingdoms and religions all found unsatisfactory. Finally, they reach Constantinople and worship at the Church of Holy Wisdom. It was there they discovered what they desired, “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendour or beauty anywhere upon earth. We cannot describe it to you: only this we know, that God dwells there among men, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. For we cannot forget that beauty.” Has your Presbyterian or Reformed service moved you to say, “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth”? If I had to guess, it probably has not. Presbyterianism has been heavily influenced by evangelicalism so much so that our services are primarily geared toward making the visitor comfortable. This style ran rampant in the 90s with the “seeker-friendly” movement. Maybe a church service's foreignness could be a good thing. Rosaria Butterfield described her first time worshipping in an RPCNA church as “all foreign, all uncomfortable.”  In the early 2000s and into the present, the trend has been to return to ancient practices. For some, it means departing one’s evangelical or Reformed church for Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, or Orthodox traditions. For others, it is introducing innovative or previously condemned practices into evangelical and Reformed churches without the slightest regard for their theology of worship. Within my own denomination, you could attend one church on Sunday morning indistinguishable from the big-eva mega-church in the suburbs or visit one indistinguishable from an Anglican Church. Whither shall we worship? 

There has been one stalwart against the tide of liturgical innovation within Presbyterian and Reformed churches, Dr. Terry Johnson. His Leading in Worship was extremely helpful in my first pastorate. His trilogy: Reformed Worship, Serving With Calvin, and Worshipping With Calvin provides history, exegesis, and practical guidance for many churches and ministers seeking to embrace their Reformed liturgical heritage. There have been many other books with similar goals (With Reverence and Awe, Recovering Mother Kirk, Worship: Reformed According to Scripture, and Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present). It would be a mistake to think that another worship book would be lost in the crowd. Rev. Speck’s work is valuable and a worthy addition to the ones above. He frequently pays his respects to the above as well, this book could be considered a Terry Johnson readers digest with the amount of footnotes bearing his name. Speck spends four introductory chapters reviewing what worship is, what corporate worship is, how it is biblically regulated, and how the liturgy is necessary for services. In chapter 5, “Necessary Distinctions” he defines the worship terms common to the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition: element, form, and circumstance. From chapters 6-15 he dives into each part of a worship service from the call to worship to the benediction. Each deep dive is structured by dividing the chapter into the element, form, and circumstance of that particular portion of the liturgy. 

Where this shines is in chapter 7, “Corporate Singing.” Music is the most important part of a service and also the most controversial. Some people prefer hymns, others want more contemporary music. Some want an organ, while others want a drum kit. Everyone has an opinion and in my experience, everyone likes to share that opinion freely. Instead of asking what pleases me, Speck argues we should ask a different question, “What does our Lord desire, as revealed to us in the Scriptures?” He then asks a rather shocking question for modern worshippers, “Is music an element of worship?” The answer may surprise you. You may say, “Of course, it is an element look at the list of instruments called to praise God in Psalm 150: trumpet, harp, lyre, timbrel, stringed instruments, pipes, and cymbals. It almost sounds like a full orchestra.” Speck argues that references to instruments in worship are tied to the Temple. David ordered instruments in the Temple worship (1 Chron. 6:31-32; 15:16) because God told David to include them (1 Chron. 28:13, 19). Speck concludes, “God commanded musical instruments exclusively for Temple worship, not before it and outside of it.” This is important because if the Temple has ceased so too, Speck argues, has the commands for instruments in worship since we no longer worship in the Temple. The true element of music in worship is singing. Commands to sing out number commands to play the harp. Why might this be? He gives several reasons. First, the singing voice is God’s living instrument available to all believers, “The voice alone is the redeemed person’s un-mediated, living, heartfelt expression of praise to God, which our Lord desires above all other melodic expression. He has not redeemed an instrument unto life; He has redeemed your voice unto life.” Second, the voice sings meaningful words and not just notes. Tunes make us feel emotions but words define those emotions and further give power to the tune. I may be moved by the tune of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, my favorite hymn. But it is singing the last stanza, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above” that opens my heart to the Lord as I recall my faithlessness and God’s faithfulness. 

I said this chapter shines because of his breakdown of corporate singing by element, form, and circumstance. I think it is vitally important for churches to recapture the biblical element of corporate singing is the voice of the congregation. My first pastoral call was to a sweet congregation in rural Alabama. We had a wonderful blessing in our 95-year-old organist. She had been playing music in churches since she was five. I loved her dearly and was thankful for her shining example of persevering service to Christ’s church. However, I did not love the way the organ silenced our small congregation of roughly twenty people. I could never hear anyone else! My favorite season of worship was around Christmas when she was unable to attend due to visiting family. On those Sundays, we frequently sang a cappella or accompanied by an acoustic guitar. My faith was encouraged as I listened to my brothers and sisters sing praises to our God. One more illustration, my family attended a wonderful PCA church that played more contemporary tunes (a lot of Indelible Grace) and included a praise band and singers. My wife has a beautiful voice and was part of the praise team. She was regularly disheartened though as she looked out at the congregation and saw no one singing. Standing out among the congregation, I knew no one was singing as I rarely could hear the voices next to me. I wonder if it was the loudness of the instruments or the setup that resembled a concert that promoted the passivity of the congregation. I know they loved Jesus, and I wanted desperately to hear them sing his praises loudly. The church where I minister now is very traditional in its music. We have a piano, violin, and occasionally a guitar. This is not because I think there is a biblical command to play only these instruments. It is because they support the element of worship - the singing of the congregation. My favorite part of our singing is when the pianist stops playing and we sing a cappella. We do not miss a beat and are just as loud as when the music is playing. Young and old, great singers and terrible ones, we are united in lifting our voices to the Lord. I hope I am not slipping towards flattery when I say the first time I worshiped at the Kirk I felt like the Russian emissaries from the opening illustration, I knew not whether I was in heaven or earth. 

The book is not without some issues. First, the book could have engaged more with proponents of contemporary worship. Speck lays out a great argument for the Regulative Principal Worship and challenges modern-seeker evangelicalism. He does not interact with scholars like John Frame, who has a different interpretation of the RPW. Such a view is fairly prominent in the PCA. Interaction with opponents of the RPW or those with different interpretations of it would have only sharpened his arguments. 

As much as I loved the chapter on corporate singing, the author relies so heavily on Girardeau against instruments that he has to backpedal as he makes a case for their inclusion. I think his argument would be less awkward if he moved one of his footnotes into the body of his work. Speck disagrees with those who categorize instruments as a circumstance of worship. He defines circumstance as “something that is not explicitly commanded or forbidden in Scripture.” He argues it should be categorized as a form of worship since it is part of the manner and content of singing. If he had included this footnote in the body of the paragraph as a transition from the element of singing, which borders on exclusively a cappella, to his argument for why we can play instruments in worship, then he would have spared his readers some rhetorical whiplash. 

His appendix on “Ecclesiastical Holy Days,” which I found informative, could have benefited from interaction with other Reformed Confessions beyond Westminster. I agree that the Lord’s Day is a gift of God and the day we are commanded to worship and rest. I also agree that the Roman Catholic Church’s numerous feast days and holy days distract from the true worship of Christ and can even go so far as to worship the creation rather than the Creator. However, does not the New Testament itself record pivotal events of Christ’s life? Are these meant merely to narrate or could they also provide opportunities to celebrate God’s work in redemptive history? The authors of the Second Helvetic Confession seemed to think so. They wrote in Chapter 24.3, “The Festivals of Christ and the Saints,” “If the churches do religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord’s Nativity, Circumcision, Passion, Resurrection, and of his Ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, according to Christian liberty, we do very well approve of it. But as for festival days, ordained for men or saints departed, we cannot allow of them. For indeed, festival days must be referred to the first table of the law, and belong peculiarly unto God.” I find it confusing that some would be content with celebrating their birthday, Thanksgiving, or Reformation Day but shudder at being wished a Merry Christmas. 

Ryan Speck has given us a great tool in Trembling Joy. I highly commend it for your edification. It will certainly help pastors, music directors, and sessions think through how to construct a biblically based worship service. It will help congregants think through what worship is and how it should be conducted. It will be an immense help to all those who have become tired of shallow songs and distracting performances defined as worship. For above all this book desires to show that worshipping God is not a performance or an event. It is commanded by God to be done in spirit and truth with all reverence and great joy. We worship the creator of the universe and redeemer of sinners. He is owed worship that seeks to glorify and enjoy him forever and ever.