A Dead End

I know this is a bit removed from the theme of previous postings and comments but I wonder if others have noticed what my family have noticed in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in recent times.

It seems to me like the outworking of what Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones called "Dead Orthodoxy." To clarify this term for those unfamiliar with it I shall say that "Dead Orthodoxy" is the teaching of Scripture so intellectualised that sermons are so dry that the life of the Gospel is drained from it. There is little or no experience of God in it.

The situation is aggravated by the in-flow to the ministry of people from the St Matthias inspired Ministry Training Scheme. Training must involve opportunity to preach (or is it teach?)
from the pulpit. Congregations then, in most situations, receive a structured sermon from young men still learning about life in our time let alone the activity of God in the life of a people he chose some thousands of years ago. The result is a sermon basically sound in its presentation of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Atoning Sacrifice. But is it presented fresh and alive with something for a long term Christian family to go home and feed on for the rest of the week? Or even for a couple of hours.

Don't get me wrong, all Clergy have to start somewhere and allowance has to be made for their infancy in the ministry. But does the training these people receive within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney mean they are only regurgitating a dead intellectualism, perhaps, a little further down the path towards the "Department of Redundant Churches" as exists in England?

That there is a problem within the Diocese must be known because something is being done about it. Recent coverage in the Diocesan journal "Southern Cross" on the issue of music in the Diocese tells us where many Anglicans have unwittingly been looking for a solution to the creeping death of "Dead Orthodoxy."

Some years ago, influentials in St Matthias, Centennial Park, were cautious about the excesses of music pursued by the "Charo's" and "Penties" but today the Anglican Diocese is, in practice, going after them, although, at this stage at a little distance. Read the "Southern Cross' story and readers follow-up comments and you will see how much more influence music has in the conduct of church services today in comparison with forty years ago. Try this measure of influence - compare the ratio of floor space for musicians to the floor space for Bible preaching/teaching/reading and for prayers to God. Perhaps even compare the "Sanctuary" space to the music space.

The growth of music beyond its past influence is a dangerous experiment. It is fed by a desire for something more spiritually satisfying than what is coming out of the pulpit and is aided by new songs/choruses coming out of the various Katoomba Conventions and the array of "Charo" chorus writers from sources elsewhere. And what about the influence of the music making the "charts'" in secular music over the past fifty years? One influence which amuses and disturbs me is secular music's use of the words "Yeah" and "Baby" - perhaps the two most used words in the history of music charts. Well, the word "Yeah" is now creeping into Christian songs and now, as a "Babe", I await with interest, or is it dismay, the word "Baby". Then again, "Baby" is not really singing about God so it shouldn't emerge should it? Or does that really matter nowadays?

The danger of music is that it influences the emotions. Influencing emotions is not a bad thing but, for Christians, the primary influence on emotions ought to be the experience of God. Consider the activity of God in the times of Revival some centuries ago. It was not music that was the primary influence but the experience of God in the preaching of his word. Preaching with life and emotion that touched the heart of the hearer. Preaching that came with power "from on high". Preachers were a variety of skilled and not so skilled orators. You can read some of the sermons and wonder why they might have had effect. But they did! They had to have been accompanied by something not visible in the pages of the written record of them. It had to be the Spirit of God using men who were close to God, who knew something of the character and love of God and who had a burning desire to share this experience of God with hearers.

Learn a lesson from the secular world's interest in music. Its satisfaction level has its limits. First it was alcohol and now it is drugs which are pursued to get more out of music.

Lively preaching of God's word emanating from a deep knowledge and love of God, not music, is the antidote to "Dead Orthodoxy." Music has a place but not not as much as we are giving it and especially not if the lyrics and melody lack substance.

Gwen