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Fifth worship service in a collection of building blocks for a series of worship services based on key themes from the Belhar Confession
Fourth 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.
Ministry goes forward when faith-filled people work together collaboratively! Collaborators are co-laborers. They contribute from the field of their own gifts and passions. But they do not labor in isolation. Their labors are so interwoven that the final product is a composite. A group effort is genuinely the product of the entire group, not merely a modified solo plan"
We do not find that the Bible prescribes a specific liturgy for worship, we do find that our understanding of the Scriptures and the guidelines that it provides will be very helpful in discerning the pattern of worship and understanding the freedom for variation and flexibility in our worship life.
Before you come to the meeting, spend some time with these two chapters from Revelation. As you read these chapters, remind yourself that while John is an exile on the island of Patmos he receives this revelation from God. You are getting a view of the throne room of heaven.
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!
