WHAT IS WORSHIP?
A RECOVERY OF THE ANCIENT DANCE!
Worship is the ultimate aim of the church and all history.
Worship is the way we cultivate our vision of God's glory. Worship is the means to increase our knowledge and love of God.
Worship is the source of which ministry leads to or flows from.
Worship is both the goal of and means to evangelism and mercy.
Worship is a distinctly journey-like, counter-cultural activity.
Worship is a supernatural meeting of God with His people.
Worship is a corporate, relational dialog, not a duty performance.
Worship is patterned after the redemptive experience in the exodus.
Worship is to find its form from looking at the whole of the Bible.
Worship is always liturgical in ways that aid believers to express their hearts.
Worship is intended to communicate a dramatic restatement of the gospel.
Worship is to facilitate an awareness of the transcendent majesty of God.
Worship is to express the radical immanence of our loving redeemer.
Worship is to be God-revering, Gospel-centering, and grace-directing.
Worship is historically rooted in the Old Testament feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
Worship is typologically driven by the life of Christ through the seasons of the Church Year.
Worship is the court in which God realigns his people through the preaching of his Word.
Worship is the sanctuary in which God renews his people through the sacraments of his grace. Worship:
Recovering the Ancient Dance
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HOW DO WE WORSHIP?
A STROLL THROUGH OUR SERVICE
Christianity is covenantal by God's design, that is, it is relational and therefore corporate. We are made for relationships and bound together in a covenant family. Because God has gathered us to himself, worship is the highest expression of the church. Worship is a restatement of the gospel. It is a counter-cultural, relational dialog between God and his beloved people. We need help to worship well and liturgy provides us with that help. What follows is a brief explanation of each element of our worship service. It represents some of the ways by which we at Christ Church intend to recover and rediscover worship.
Prelude:
This instrumental music is intended to heighten our sense anticipation of entering the presence of God.
Welcome and Announcements:
The pastor greets worshipers to focus their attention on church family “business”, which is horizontal. Having these before the service ensures that worship, which is vertical, flows in an interrupted manner.
Silent Preparation:
Silence provides a time of prayer and contemplation helping us transition from the outside world full of noise and distraction.
Choral Introit:
A short choral or instrumental prelude to the service, aims to lift and focus our hearts toward God, his glory and grace, and the joy of worship. These are reminders of God's majesty and grace.
Call to Worship:
God, through the pastor, summons his people into his presence. The people add their voices in expectant response.
Invitatory:
An invitation is given to praise God, to which the congregation responds by ascribing glory to the eternal and triune God.
Hymn of Praise:
This hymn of praise is to be viewed as a procession going up into the heavenly city to meet with God. A procession of a choir singing praise symbolizes this for us.
Prayer of Adoration:
God has called us to himself and going up to meet him we have sung his praises. This first prayer of the service acknowledges who God is as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that we need him. We call upon him to show us his mercy and to meet with us. This prayer normally follows a classic pattern: an address to God, acknowledgement of divine attributes, a petition, an application to our lives, and a final doxology praising Christ as the mediator of our prayers.
Affirmation of Faith:
We are now together with God. The meeting with God has begun and our first act in his presence is to confess our allegiance to him using the historic creeds, confessions and catechisms of the Reformation. It is like the covenant renewal conducted at the highland of Shechem between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal after the conquest of the land. Just as Israel reaffirmed her commitment to the one true God surrounded by and in the midst of the nations, so we as those who have been gathered from the nations reaffirm our faith in God who has redeemed us. This is a declaration of our allegiance—a covenant renewal in the likeness of Joshua 8:30 -35.
Word of God:
God now speaks to His people often in a Psalm, reminiscent of its use in Old Testament worship. It reminds us that all of worship stands under the authority of Scripture.
Hymn of Thanks:
This is a hymn of gratitude to God for his goodness. The music underscores the truth of the Word of God read, focuses on some aspect of its teaching or directs our attention to the coming time of prayer.
Prayers of the People:
God has spoken to us and now the dialogue continues as we speak to God, expressing our personal and corporate needs and praises. These prayers are intended to direct us in specific avenues of intercession; worshipers are encouraged both to pray aloud and silently.
The Lords Prayer:
This prayer is offered in conclusion to the prayers of the people in confidence that the Lord Jesus will answer our prayers and teach us to pray, as he did his disciples.
Hymn of Grace:
This is a hymn of joy reflecting on the grace of God in the gospel. The theme of the hymn directs our minds to the truth of God's Word that is about to be read and preached. In this respect, the great hymns of the faith are like sermons set to music. At times this is a simple expression of praise in choruses.
Word of God:
God speaks again to His people. We stand in order to show particular attention, honor and reverence for Scripture. The biblical warrant for this comes from Neh. 8:1-8, when Ezra, the priest, read from the law, all the people stood. We stand for a minute or two, but they stood all day listening to God's Word.
Prayer of Illumination:
This prayer precedes the sermon as a plea that God the Holy Spirit would do in our hearts what Jesus did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus so that “our hearts burn within us” as the Scripture is explained. It is a request that what God previously inspired He would now illumine it.
The Sermon:
We hear from God again in the Word preached. True preaching is the opening and applying of God's truth to our lives. This was how the prophets viewed preaching as well as the Reformers. The Puritans believed that God's Word preached was God's Word to you. The people come to hear God, not a man.
Pastoral Prayer:
This prayer asks God to seal to the hearts of his people the truth they have heard. It is also a prayer that it will shape their lives and move them to obedience.
Offering:
This act of worship is a symbol of our response to the grace of God. All that we are and all that we have belong to him and we give freely because we have received freely. In both the Old and New Testaments, offerings were received from the people of God as they assembled for worship (1 Cor. 16:2).
Doxology:
We offer these “words of glory” to the triune God by our praise of him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Prayer of Dedication:
This is a prayer of consecration before God asking he would be pleased to use our gifts and our lives for the cause of Christ's kingdom and glory.
Confession of Sin:
Here we place ourselves in the proper attitude by saying what is true, namely, that we have in fact sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that we need God's forgiveness.
Assurance of Pardon:
This announcement declares that we, being repentant, are forgiven by God for Christ's sake and on the basis of His merits alone. This is a reminder to God's people that he loves, forgives, hears and responds to them. Jesus prays for us as our advocate in heaven, who ever lives to make intercession for us.
The Great Thanksgiving:
The Lord's Table having been set, this prayer focuses our gratitude on the redemptive work of Christ in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly intercession.
The Sanctus:
This is a song of the angels to which we join our voices in ascribing glory to God. The text comes from Isaiah 6:3 and Rev. 4:8. In keeping with the assurance of pardon, the Sanctus has a devotional feel to it. It is more meditative and reflective than the previous hymns and has minor key themes.
Prayer of Consecration:
This prayer asks God to meet with us at his table, and by the Holy Spirit, remind us of Christ's sufficient work, stir up our faith, set apart the common elements to a holy use, and mediate Christ's presence to us.
Words of Institution:
These words from the Apostle Paul's Letter to the Corinthians 11:23-26) indicate that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is an ordinance established by Christ himself and clearly articulated in Holy Scripture.
Prayer of Approach:
This prayer acknowledges our unworthiness to come to the Lord's Table and our need for his mercy.
The Agnus Dei
This anthem points to Christ as the only sufficient sacrifice for sin, who was offered once and for all time for repentant sinners and who alone can atone for our sins and grant us true peace.
The Lord's Supper:
The congregation is encouraged to reflect on the greatness of the gospel and to sing in praise and celebration of God's mercy as the sacrament is observed.
Prayer of Commitment:
This prayer offers thanks to God for what he has done for us in these holy mysteries, and asks him for strength to go out into the world to do his will.
Benediction:
God pronounces blessing on his people and promises to be with them all their days. The term “benediction” comes from two Latin words, bene (good) and dictum (speech) and simple means “good word”.
Dismissal:
We go into the world with the praise of Christ on our lips, to serve Him and point others to His grace.
Postlude :
Triumphant music is played to encourage us as we go into the world to be Christ's servants and witnesses.
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