“When fundamentalism lost her power to worship, she invented religious clap-trap to make her happy. That is why I have hated it and preached against it and condemned it all down these years. . . . Ventriloquists with wooden dummies on their knee and wood on top of their necks, worshipping God supposedly. Worshipping God, and claiming to serve the Lord. The only joy they have is the joy that is of the flesh. Elvis Presley’s a happier man after he gets through with a number than a lot of Christians are after they’ve worked themselves up for a half-an-hour. You don’t have to do it, brother. The well of the Holy Ghost is an effervesiant artesian well, you don’t have to prime the pump.”
A. W. Tozer, from the sermon, “He is Lord, Worship Him” in the Worship Series (click on “Tozer Audio Sermons” on the top right of the page, and then the drop down box titled “series,” select “Worship Series”).
Immoderate 
Ryan,
You have recommended to me a Piper audio series on worship, and alas, I can’t find it. Can you give me the link again please?
Go to the “John Piper at Monergism” link to left of this in my list of disheveled links. Then keep scrolling down until you get to “Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning.” You can also search for the word “Gravity.”
Elvis Presley’s a happier man after he gets through with a number than a lot of Christians are after they’ve worked themselves up for a half-an-hour.
I agree with that. And I wouldn’t give a plug nickel (whatever that is) for a “worship service” that was a chore.
Last night, I remarked to a friend how rarely the Pyromaniac/TeamPyro blog talked about anything positive. In that regard they are more Fundamentalist than any of them want to admit. It is all controversy, all the time.
Then today I see the conversation over at Remonstrans, and I believe it all ties together. One cannot be negative, a pessimist, and a reactionary, then expect to have a beautiful, positive worship service.
Christianity should be enjoyable.
Which is to say that I think “When fundamentalism lost her power to worship” was probably about the same time it turned inward on itself and obsessed over the negative. 1925 or so.
And I wouldn’t give a plug nickel (whatever that is) for a “worship service” that was a chore.
I’m not sure what you mean by that, but I sometimes think that worship may be the most “intensive” things we do. Worship is not “sit back and relax,” but requires rigorous mental exercise. How easy it is for us to expect to be entertained! This temptation is of the Devil and must be fought.
Christianity should be enjoyable.
There you go, though we must certainly acknowledge that sometimes trials are not enjoyable. All the same, sometimes it is necessary to denounce heresies and false teaching. But we should always be holding up what we love–the contrast to the false and ugly.
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