Can a Baptist have a liturgy?

A coworker of mine recently told me of the new church he has been attending. He related to me how they participated in the Lord's Supper, or Communion, in a way he had never seen before. They invited everyone up to the front where they tore off a piece of bread and then dipped into a chalice...filled with wine. Now mind you, this church identifies itself with the Southern Baptist Convention, but was unlike any church he had ever attended.

I told him that the method of communion was reminiscent of my experiences with the Lutheran Church. The experience was more formal and ritualized, but to me, it lent it more gravity. I never personally took Communion with the Lutherans because I disagreed with their theological viewpoint, but was present at many Communion services. There were a number of things about their worship experience that I enjoyed. The church architecture itself, imposing stone churches designed in the shape of the cross with a large stained glass window at the rear of the sanctuary depicting Jesus with a massive pipe organ in the balcony at the rear, lent a sense of awe and majesty rarely found in Baptist churches. I also enjoyed some of the liturgical aspects of responsive readings, processions and recessions, and corporately spoken prayers. Couple these with the grand and majestic sound of the pipe organ forcing you to sing your praises louder in order not to be drowned out and in my mind you have a worship service with the potential to be focused squarely on the majesty of God.

Don't get me wrong, I also thoroughly enjoy the less liturgical services I have at my church. There seems to be a deeper sense of community in such settings, especially in a smaller church.

So, what then shall we do? Can Baptists have a more liturgical "high" church kind of service? I absolutely think so. In fact, I think we have lost something very precious by abandoning this style of worship. I don't think that we have to abandon our current worship structure either, since it too has some great positives. Somehow, we have to find a way to either incorporate the two, or perhaps focus on one style or the other on a given Sunday. Certainly, it will have to be a slow process of introduction to your typical Baptist church goer. "What are we, some kind of Catholics?" But I believe that a new generation should be raised to know the awe and majesty that can come from a service that reflects how our Christian ancestors worshiped and how still today some of other brothers and sisters in the Lord still worship.

In my next post, I would like to examine some of these issues further by bringing up catechizing our church members. I figure if I keep going I might be the victim of a Baptist lynching!

Just to clarify, I don't agree with the Baptist church mentioned here serving wine at communion. I know it's what Jesus drank, but I don't think it is a very good idea and not the way I would have done it if it were my church. Everyone has their opinion on this issue, but I didn't want that to be the focus of this post.