Where we have introduced the church calendar back into our year we have been very careful to explain what we are doing. People are sort of getting used to it and our cingregations for our Ash wednesday and Good friday services have doubled in the last year which I think points to an understanding of the importance of the Christian year.

1. The ancient practices were seen as ‘man made’ and not ‘biblical’.

2. Tradition was a dirty word that was seen as something ‘they’ did which had little meaning and was just really dusty, old window dressing.

3. The traditonal church never (in my experience) explained what we were doing and why we did it.

4. and in some cases, we are better than them attitude prevailed.

In a debate I had with a freind anumber of years ago. He said he couldn’t use prayers that were written by someone else as they were so impersonal although as I ppinted out he was happy to sing words to tunes that he hadn’t written.

Personally I could see the difference, a worship song or hymn are just sung prayers.

I think by contrast that the primary driving force beyond much of charismatic-ism has been the elevation of spontaneity in worship and devotion above all else, closely followed by emotional state, both of which feed a rampant individualism. Anything that falls outside these markers falls by the wayside.

That is why so many charismatics are so instinctively suspicious of anything ’set’ - regardless of the fact that their own worship is often very rigidly defined (”I now want to hear a spontaneous clap offering to the Lord”).

;-)