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Seventh worship service in a series of worship services based on key themes from the Belhar Confession
Third worship service in a collection of building blocks for a series of worship services based on key themes from the Belhar Confession
First worship service in a collection of building blocks for a series of worship services based on key themes from the Belhar Confession
Your worship planning has likely been marked by a good bit of intensity in recent weeks. The season of Lent followed by Holy Week and Easter require a great deal of effort by worship planners, preachers, and worship leaders. The services have hopefully all had a consistent theme focused on the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord.
The Sunday for which this service is designated is World Communion Sunday. On this day churches around the world will come to the Table of the Lord as an expression of their oneness in Jesus Christ.
Worship planning assumes that a calendar is used. The assumption in worship planning is that we anticipate future worship.
In corporate worship we are expected to give a response to what God has said and done. So we talk about the "service of response" of a worship liturgy, and it always follows the proclamation of God's word in the sermon. When God has spoken his word of hope and grace, it is unthinkable that we would leave church without a response. The dialogue of worship always includes the assumption that God waits for some response to his word.
In the dialogue of worship in the Reformed tradition, congregational song has primarily had the role of the people's response to God. And that role has been shaped by Scripture, as shown through a study of the Psalms as the songbook of the Bible. In our discussion on congregational song, we will examine closely the nature of the Psalm songs and how that can serve as a model for our songs today.
We are called into the presence of God. We are exhorted to come with joy, thanksgiving, music and song. We affirm that he is the "great God," our maker and our shepherd. We can expect to be welcomed into his presence because we are the "flock under his care." What a rich spirit in which to begin worship!
While we cannot find either a precise order of worship or rules for the practice of worship in the Bible, we can discover much about the nature of worship by stepping into events of worship that are described in Scripture.
Perhaps you have seen examples of churches that have become more vital than ever through an examination of their worship life, and perhaps you have also seen churches that have been damaged by worship conflicts. What can we do to be sure of the one and not the other?
This Bible study lesson explores how to proclaim the Word of God.
