The shock of COVID - 19 is enormous.Of course, it varies by target, but the biggest shock from COVID - 19 must be worship.Not only small churches but also large churches went through a lot of confusion and trial and error as they suddenly switched to video worship without much understanding of video worship.Spring visitations were canceled or replaced by phone calls, and the case of church schools was even more confusing.Sunday worship was replaced by online teacher meetings, education, and provision of video materials, but the satisfaction of the saints is not very high.The problem is that this situation will not end soon but will be prolonged.We must now think more seriously about the worship we offer every week, not in the distant future.If we prepared and offered worship almost unconsciously without special thoughts in the past, now when the weekend comes, we worry about whether we can worship safely this week.Even I prepare for Sunday while checking how many confirmed cases there are on the weekend.
The Problem of Worship
Originally, the Reformers made efforts to restore what the medieval church distorted, refracted, degenerated, or added to the worship tradition of the early church while developing a movement to restore the worship tradition of early Christianity. Therefore, an important task of the Reformation was faith reform through worship reform. While the Reformers tried to preserve and restore the worship heritage handed down from the early church, there was also a tendency to weaken the liturgical worship tradition by radical reformers. Thus, the Protestant church's worship rituals changed according to the emphasis of the reform, and due to the creation of various denominations, the unity of worship could not be maintained, and various worship forms appeared. The Reformed church has fiercely developed a worship restoration movement to correct what the Catholic church refracted or transformed by restoring the worship tradition of the early church.
Rev. Song In-woong introduced several contributions of the Reformers to worship. The special contributions are: first, restoring the most important Word (Gospel) during worship; second, finding the congregation who had been made into spectators and seating them in the center of worship; third, restoring the communion table, which had been made into a sacrificial table, to a feast table for God's people; and fourth, restoring the worship program, which had become the exclusive property of priests, to "worship of the congregation" (of Laos) and "worship for the congregation" (for Laos).
Although worship rituals are important in all religions, it goes without saying that worship is especially important in Christianity. Worship saves the church and strengthens the faith of the saints. People rejoice and dance because of worship, but sometimes worship goes wrong, loses vitality, and becomes corrupt. Looking at the history of Christianity in the past, when worship was exciting and offered well like a festival, the church grew greatly and the saints overflowed. However, from the time worship was neglected and human-centered worship began to be offered, the church lost its vitality.
What is the reason why the power of worship in churches has decreased? First is the rapid change of the times and secularism. The world is changing at a tremendous speed, but the church cannot keep up, and secularism that has flowed into the church weakens worship. Second is the influence of humanism. Instead of pursuing spirituality in worship and hoping for God's presence, it weakens in the tendency to flow into human-centeredness and convenience for believers participating in worship. Regardless of the church's adult department or education department, worship is omitted for the convenience of the saints, and the education department offers only one worship service a week. Third is that ministers do not teach worship well. Although the true mission of the church lies in worship, the importance of worship has been lost because right worship is not taught to the saints. Lee Ho-young said that worship should be taught to the saints, especially teaching prayer during worship, teaching praise, and emphasizing the importance of proclaiming the Word. Here, proclaiming the Word is not a sermon but scripture reading. He also pointed out that Christian preaching is not evangelical. And he emphasized teaching and officiating communion rather than blindly practicing it. He also argues that Sunday evening worship and Wednesday prayer meetings also have problems, so worship education is needed. Fourth is the wrong motivation to attract attention with interest and emotion. As we pursue fun and emotion that follows the congregation's interest and expectation needs, the tendency to lean toward the mystery of worship, that is, festive worship, is increasing. Rev. Song In-kyu points this out as 'fabricated emotion' and argues that attempts to artificially move the audience should be eliminated. Fifth is replacing worship with various programs. Because the attendance of saints at worship is low, every church introduces new programs. As a result, worship, the essence of the church, is neglected, and worship is weakened. The error that programs other than worship can replace worship has caused worship to weaken in the modern church.