You are listening to The Mortification of Spin, the regular podcast of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

My name is Todd Pruitt.

I am the pastor-elect of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

If you don't know where Harrisonburg, Virginia is, shame on you.

It is in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, and it's absolutely gorgeous.

And I am joined, as always, by Carl Truman, who is the pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Ambler, Pennsylvania. He is also

professor of church history at Westminster Theological Seminary. Carl, good to see you.

Good to see you, Todd, as well. And I have to say, given the fact that the time of this recording,

that was a very interesting introduction, but I'll make no further comments.

Maybe I'll write about it in one of these days. Let's just hope you get the vote.

Absolutely. We're keeping our fingers crossed around here.

Okay. Well, the topic we want to discuss today is the issue of liturgy.

My background, being English nonconformity, was very anti-formal liturgy.

For historical reasons, way back in the 16th 17th century, much of the struggle in the English Reformation took place around details of the

book of common prayer. There were things in the book of common prayer to which groups within the

Anglican church objected, for example, kneeling at communion, the wearing of the surplus for ordination

and consecration services. And there was also the problem of state imposition.

I know Todd being a good American, you're sitting there feeling very smug and proud of yourself

at this point. We won't mention Romans 13 and what it teaches about necessary obedience to the

civil magistrate, who was Nero at the time, I believe, when it all wrote.

But anyway, getting back to the English Reformation, going back to the godly era.

And it had something to do with bongos also, right?

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