The term blended worship is frequently used to describe a service that contains elements of both traditional and contemporary forms of worship. Many dislike the term, seeing it as an unsatisfactory compromise between two extremes that doesn't please anyone. A more helpful perspective is that blending can mean taking the best from all that's available to us.
We live in a time where we have more resources available to us than we can possibly use. Planning worship now is more about deciding how to integrate the embarrassment of riches that we have.
One approach is using traditional music without the familiar pattern of a formal, liturgical church service. We experience this in an informal gathering where we sing hymns in connection with another event, such as a time of teaching or fellowship. Special services that are not taken directly from a published source, such as a healing service, are another example. These services may include elements that are apart of the existing tradition and others that are new or combined in unusual ways.
Likewise, music written in newer styles can easily be combined with traditional patterns of worship. The framework of the liturgy, the pattern (ordo), is not tied to a particular style or language, nor does it require music. It is simply enhanced by it.
We need to make a distinction between what we call "traditional worship" and the ordo, or pattern of Gathering, Word, Meal and Sending. As it turns out, there is evidence from what we think were house churches, dating from the Roman empire, that seems to indicate this pattern was followed very early on. In James White's book Introduction to Christian Worship, he shows some diagrams of early homes that were converted to churches. He also shows layouts of the civic buildings that were used as early churches after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion. It seems apparent from these buildings that gathering together as a group, teaching, the font and a meal were already key elements of Christian faith and practice. If fact, this pattern is much older than we realize. It is a synthesis of Jewish temple/synagogue worship, which is roughly where we get the Gathering and Word portions from, and the Meal, which Jesus appropriated. It too is based in Jewish tradition, with an added dimension.
If we use the framework and put aside our usual expectations of liturgy, we have something like the following:
A more formal example, something along the lines of familiar liturgy might look like this:
Other options that enhance a combination of styles:
Kevin Keele, 2006
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