High Culture and Festive
In this series, Pastor Kendall Lankford and Deacon Dan Hult elaborate on the distinctives of The Shepherd’s Church, so everyone who worships with us, visits us, or lands on our webpage will know who we are, how we are, what we are, why we are, and what they can expect.
High Culture and Festive
When it comes to worship, feasting, and living as a community of Christ, too many churches today have embraced a kind of thin, flavorless Christianity that is more comfortable with restraint than celebration, more at home with asceticism than abundance, and more suited to drab minimalism than the glorious, overflowing goodness of God. But we at The Shepherd’s Church believe that true, biblical Christianity is a faith of robust beauty, grandeur, and excellence. Ours is a culture that is rooted in the extravagant grace and glory of God, and it demands that we cultivate and celebrate a rich, vibrant, and “festive” life together.
This commitment to high culture and festivity is not about indulging in excess, nor is it a nod to worldly decadence. Rather, it is an intentional affirmation that the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms every aspect of our lives—including our tastes, our celebrations, and our expressions of beauty—into an offering of praise. Whether we’re singing loudly, sharing the best wine, feasting on the finest food, or enjoying the warmth of fellowship over a good pipe or a glass of aged scotch, these things are not peripheral to our faith—they are tangible expressions of our joy in the Lord.
Why We Pursue Excellence in All Things
For us, pursuing excellence is a matter of obedience. The Apostle Paul tells us, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3:23). That means every endeavor—whether preparing a sermon, setting the Communion table, or organizing a church feast—should be done with the utmost care, skill, and passion. Excellence honors God and reflects His character. In creation, God made everything “very good,” filled with splendor and beauty (Genesis 1:31). As His image-bearers, we are called to reflect that same love for beauty and goodness in everything we do.
This commitment to excellence drives our worship. It’s why we sing psalms and hymns with zeal, train our voices, and teach our children to join in with reverence and enthusiasm. It is also why we study theology deeply, seek to understand the regulative principle, and maintain a spirit of order, reverence, and awe in our liturgy. And it’s why we drink wine in communion, feast to the glory of God, and enjoy men’s Bible studies in local pubs or cigar bars. We believe that excellence in worship is not confined to immaterial realms. Whether we are eating, drinking, or engaging in fellowship, we do it all to the glory of God. Like excellence in any endeavor, giving our utmost for His highest points to the grandeur of God and helps lift our hearts and minds to Him.
Reclaiming the Robustness of Christian Culture
High culture, however, is more than just excellence. It’s about reclaiming a Christian culture that is robust, joyous, and full-bodied. Too often, Christians have retreated into a kind of dualism—a Gnostic denial of the goodness of creation. This has led to the proliferation of a thin Christianity that separates spiritual things from physical things, church things from cultural things, and “sacred” things from “secular” things. But true, biblical Christianity has no room for such anemic thinking.
The Bible teaches that God created a good world and placed us in it to cultivate, enjoy, and celebrate it as an expression of His glory. Far from turning our noses up at the pleasures of good food, fine wine, and artistic beauty, we believe that these are all gifts from God meant to be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4). As C.S. Lewis famously said, “There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature.” This means that our celebrations, our feasts, and even our use of leisure are all ways of sanctifying the physical world to the glory of God.
Yet, with all these gifts comes a responsibility. While we celebrate and enjoy the good things God has given, we are careful to do so with restraint and moderation. Christian liberty is not a license for overindulgence; it is the freedom to enjoy God’s creation in a way that honors Him. Whether it’s food, drink, sex, or even something as seemingly innocuous as leisure, we must resist the temptation to turn God’s gifts into idols. We must always guard our hearts against gluttony, drunkenness, lust, and excess, knowing that true pleasure is found in enjoying God’s blessings rightly, without abusing them.
When we hold a church feast, we do it because God is a God of feasts. He instituted the feasts of Israel to commemorate His mighty acts of redemption, to strengthen the bonds of community, and to express the overflow of joy in His presence. When we drink wine at communion, we do so because Jesus drank wine at the Last Supper and declared that He would drink it again with us in the kingdom of God (Matthew 26:29). When we share a cigar or a glass of fine bourbon, we are not indulging in vice, but celebrating the goodness of God’s creation in moderation, using these moments to deepen friendships and give thanks to God who “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).
The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength
Another key aspect of our commitment to high culture is joy. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” This joy is not a fragile thing. It is not dependent on circumstances or moods. It is a robust, muscular, and victorious joy rooted in the finished work of Christ and the eternal reign of our King. It is a joy that bursts forth in songs, in feasts, in laughter, and in fellowship. And because our God is a God of abundance, we believe that joy ought to permeate every aspect of our lives.
The Christian life is not a drab and lifeless thing but a life filled with delight in God. As Solomon said, “Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works” (Ecclesiastes 9:7). This is why, at The Shepherd’s Church, we encourage robust singing, loud laughter, and joyful hospitality. We want our children to grow up in a church where worship is not something to be endured but something to be delighted in—a time to shout “Amen!” at the truth of God’s Word and to sing with all their might.
Taking Every Sphere Captive
Lastly, our commitment to high culture and festivity is not just about reclaiming beauty and excellence in our private gatherings. It’s about extending the supremacy of Christ into every sphere of life and culture. We believe Christ is Lord over all creation, including the arts, music, literature, politics, and every other sphere of human endeavor. As Abraham Kuyper once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”
This means that Christians should be on the front lines of creating, producing, and celebrating the very best in every field. Whether we are creating music, writing novels, or simply making a meal for a neighbor, we should do it all for the glory of Christ, to show the world that the culture of Jesus is a superior culture.
Conclusion
In a world that glorifies the cheap, the vulgar, and the base, we are committed to building a culture of beauty, excellence, and joy. We believe that the church should be a place where all of life’s goodness is celebrated, from singing psalms to clinking wine glasses. We believe that God’s people should be known for their love of what is good, true, and beautiful. We believe that through this joyful celebration of God’s goodness, we can bear witness to the superiority of the culture of Jesus Christ and take every sphere of human life captive to Him.
So come and join us at The Shepherd’s Church. Sing at a rip-roaring volume. Feast at our tables. Enjoy a good smoke or a glass of fine scotch. And let us together build a culture of joyful excellence, all to the glory of God and the advance of His Kingdom.
