CHURCH:
SERVICES; CHURCH: PRESENCE OF CHRIST

When we compare our present carefully programed meetings with the New Testament we are reminded of the remark of a famous literary critic after he had read Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey: “It is a beautiful poem, but it is not Homer.” So the fast-paced, highly spiced, entertaining service of today may be a beautiful example of masterful programing—but it is not a Christian service. The two are leagues apart in almost every essential. About the only thing they have in common is the presence of a number of persons in one room. There the similarity ends and glaring dissimilarities begin.…

The point we make here is that in our times the program has been substituted for the Presence. The program rather than the Lord of glory is the center of attraction. So the most popular gospel church in any city is likely to be the one that offers the most interesting program; that is, the church that can present the most and best features for the enjoyment of the public.… We’ll do our churches a lot of good if we each one seek to cultivate the blessed Presence in our services. If we make Christ the supreme and constant object of devotion the program will take its place as a gentle aid to order in the public worship of God. If we fail to do this the program will finally obscure the Light entirely. And no church can afford that.

Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 12:1–2; Revelation 2:4–5

The Root of the Righteous, 92–93, 106, 108.