My copy of The Study of the Liturgy (SPCK, London and Oxford Univ. Press, New York: 1992) has an excellent chapter titled “Music and Singing in the Liturgy.” The author of this essay classifies things along a continuum from word to music, as follows: Ordinary speech; Proclamation or ‘cantillation’; Meditation or ‘psalmody’; Chant or ‘verbo-melodism’; Hymn or “lied’; Acclamation; Vocalize, Jubilus, Instruments. I have found this classification useful to keep in mind when working with liturgy, although in real life I tend to simplify (oversimplify?) it a little: Ordinary speech, Proclamation, Meditation, Chant, Hymn, and Music.

Using this classification, I find it possible as a worship leader to craft sermons that fit into the liturgy. I believe a sermon can range from Ordinary speech through Proclamation to Meditation. (I’ve even heard some worship leaders, particularly in the Black church tradition, take sermons into Chant and Hymn.) So it is possible for those of us committed to the Free Church tradition to keep sermons fully integrated into the liturgy — that is, fully a part of “the work of the people.”

Of course, from my frame of reference what is most important is whether worship is led by the spirit or not. It’s all about continuing revelation, and any worship tradition can go astray if it ignores the leadings of the spirit.

Just my $.02 worth.