What concerns me about the modernization I see in some churches today is that people seem to be more concerned about the comfort of those who have never darkened the door of a church, or about the appearance of things, or about energy, than about the purpose of a church. Certainly, God's people should make everyone feel welcomed, but let me share a few little things that demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Some time back, a presenter spoke at our church about making the unchurched feel welcome. Some of the things she said had merit, but I became annoyed when she started talking about 'church-ese'. "Such-and-such is available in the narthex. Can't we just say lobby?" Sure, words like lectionary, doxology, and lectern could be replaced with similar words, but a narthex is not a lobby or even a foyer. These words have a specific meaning, and most, if not all, of them are in the dictionary. When someone is ignorant of the vocabulary of the community, that one should be instructed in the terms. But the engineering department of any business is going to use engineering terms, because engineering terms make the work go faster and eliminate the confusions that attends the use of imprecise language.

The woman in charge of the paraments, candles, and other items that go in the altar area, as part of her service to God, turned the large Bible near the altar to the scripture for each Sunday's sermon. One Sunday, that scripture was in the book of Titus, which is near the back of the Book. The stand adjusts so that one side can be higher than the other. A song leader came in some time later and opened the Bible to somewhere near the middle. When the woman came through again, she put it back to Titus. Coming back a little later, she found it again turned to the middle. When asked, the song leader said he'd changed it because it was uneven. She replied, "This is not a stage, and the Bible is not a prop."

In our rush to make people feel welcome, we should not forget that the traditions we have generally have some reason behind them. As part of welcoming newcomers to the Church of Jesus the Christ, we need to explain the reasons behind our traditions. I think that when we do, most of our traditions will cease to appear like rusty antiquities to those who are young in faith. We also need to remember that in welcoming new people, including those marginalized by society, we should not marginalize those who have grown up in the Church, for doing so is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

And when we look at music, we need to remember that, while excitement and energy are good things, they're not the only things, nor even the important things. They're icing on the cake of meaning. For if a song has no meaning, it is not worship. The old hymns have been with us for over a hundred years for a reason, and that reason is not the powers that be. That reason is that the words of most of the hymns have deep, worshipful meaning. One cannot say the same of the majority of the new songs. But to keep things in perspective, there were many songs written in the past that we have lost awareness of. There will always be songs written that are good and songs that are meaningless. The important thing is to examine the songs and only use them in worship if they have worshipful meaning.

We would not make a collection of our wastepaper baskets and put their contents on the altar, so we need to make sure we worship God with music that is holy and meaningful, not just what makes our hearts beat faster. And worshipful music doesn't even need a beat. Just as a barbecue pit doesn't need two-foot flames to make good barbecue, there is a passionate and worshipful spirit in the members who have quiet, firm convictions as much as in those who feel the need to make a joyful noise. You can have heat without flame.