Many defectors from Protestantism, particularly of the reformed and presbyterian variety, to Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy cite a desire for a more serious and ceremonial liturgy. In "Puritan Sacramentalism," Peter Leithart argues that a simpler liturgy, stripped of unnecessary ceremony, takes the Spirit's work in and through the sacraments more seriously.ADDENDUM: John Calvin echoes this sentiment, with just a wee bit more polemicism, in 4.15.19 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion. A couple choice lines:
By these experiences let us learn that there is nothing holier or better or safer than to be content with the authority of Christ alone.
How much better it would be to omit from baptism all theatrical pomp, which dazzles the eyes of the simple and deadens their minds...
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