Lig on Worship

I have recently enjoyed listening to a 2002 round table discussion regarding worship with J. Ligon Duncan, III a.k.a. "Lig," Bob Kauflin, Carl "Chip" Stam, and Mark Dever. Although I found some common ground with all of the pastors, I believe Dr. Duncan's overall approach to worship is most true to scripture.

There was simply too much food for thought in the discussion to address in this short post. However, I was particularly struck by one of Dr. Duncan's experiences while worshiping in the Free Church of Scotland. If you don't know, these churches are exclusive Psalmists and do not believe in using instruments in worship. He relayed that for the first time in his life he realized that if there was going to be worship -- he was going to have to worship. That is, no one was going to worship for him. It was not going to be done for him vicariously through someone else's prelude, ensemble, or choir anthem.

I thought to myself how often do we find ourselves vicariously worshiping through others? Is there such a thing as vicarious worship? How can our worship services be designed for more corporate and direct worship of God?


*You may listen to the discussion online at the IX Mark's website at this link.