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LOOKING FORWARD TO CHURCH
Gary M. Burge's "Are Evangelicals Missing God at Church?" [Oct. 6] starkly identified the frustrations and disappointments that I, a 29-year-old, have felt in traditional evangelical worship services for most of my adult life. Those feelings resulted last year in my joining a local Lutheran congregation that shares my evangelical views. I now look forward every week to a rich liturgical service that grasps the mystery and power of God while taking me directly to his throne. A close friend recently told me I am [now] a "monarchist" in worship style. He's right. Now I feel that I am worshiping God my King at church, not just talking to God my Friend.

Robert A. Abrams
Celina, Ohio

I mused over how evangelicals bored with singing hymns, prayer, the exposition and application of Scripture would react if they sat in on one of Jesus' services in a stone-cold Nazareth synagogue, reading from Isaiah. Then Jesus sits and applies the passage to the people. No icons, no stained-glass windows, no bells or incense. How boring! Looking through Scripture you see the apostles and prophets, the foundation of the church, and Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone of the church, singing, praying, preaching, and applying the Word. Don't they know that people need something to make them feel good?

Rev. Edward Gospodinsky
Pilgrim Congregational Church
Plymouth, Pa.

Burge emphasizes the primacy of the vertical relationship between God and us while de-emphasizing the horizontal relationship between believers. I, however, believe it is the horizontal relationships that give us distinction as Christians. God himself felt the need to establish a horizontal relationship with us and sent the Son to commune with humanity. Paul's purpose for the church is edification of the believers, not worship (1 Cor. 14).

Patrick Oden
San Dimas, Calif.

When a preacher really loves the Lord Jesus and earnestly seeks to win the lost, the worship meetings will come alive, and there will be genuine worship; the form and style will be taken care of nicely. Unfortunately, many preachers today seem to have come from the church at Laodicea. This kind will not preach on the coming Judgment Day, will not more than barely mention the word sin, and will avoid preaching anything from the Book of Revelation.

Burge also errs in even thinking of the pastor as the priest of the church, for Christians constitute a nation of priests, and we have only one Mediator, our High Priest, who now sits at the right hand of the Father.

Richard O. Pierce
Cedar Park, Texas

* We often confuse what we want with what we need. Challenging sermons, stirring music, and cheerful spontaneity may be all we want. But for the human soul to deepen in God, we need more than that. Our spiritual diet also needs sacrifice, mystery, rhythm. Without dismissing the results of several amazing sermons in the Book of Acts, it is astonishing how often that same Book of Acts reveals the presence of the Spirit erupting among the apostles in the midst of ancient liturgical practice. Rather than killing the spirit, ancient liturgy is a garden in which succulent fruit may grow.

Sometimes old friends discover what I am doing now and ask how a Dallas Seminary grad who majored in biblical, expository preaching could leave the evangelical world to serve in the Episcopal Church. Often they are even more astonished by my answer: The evangelical churches were too rigid for a pursuit of a vibrant, full-fledged spiritual life. Like many others, I moved to the Episcopal Church in order to more freely practice both biblical preaching and biblical worship.

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November 17 1997, Vol. 41, No. 13