This week, I begin a three-part column on the worship service. I will comment on various components of our worship services, lifting up the discipline of silence as a key tool to our experience of God. Worship is first and foremost about God. When the Christian community gathers to worship each Sunday morning at Grace Presbyterian Church, we are to give God our best in praise, adoration, and reverence. God is God. We are God’s creation.
Silence is a most significant tool to plumb the depths of worship. That is, how we quiet our minds and hearts in order to be focused on God is important. Silence is the discipline that we can use to encounter the holy and awesome God. Silence is an attitude of heart and mind that attempts to get in touch with God. Silence is the discipline to unlock the worship experience for something bigger than us.
We Gather as the People of God
- A “Musical Call to Worship” focuses us on the reason we have gathered. We are in God’s presence. The service is not about us. It is about God. We are aware of the transcendent. We are being lifted up into an experience bigger than ourselves.
- The Greeting, Announcements, and Invitation to Discipleship occurs. This is significant for the “body life” of our church family.
- The “Call to Worship” and a “Hymn” pull us into the realization that God is with us and will speak to us.
- We participate in a “Confession of Sin,” private and corporate, an “Assurance of Pardon,” and “Exchange of the Peace”. Why? According to Scripture, we are depraved through sin and only in Jesus Christ and his forgiveness can we discover our true identity as persons created in the image of God. We need God to forgive us. We need to be reminded that our sins do have consequences and that our lives are ultimately bankrupt without the loving and forgiving salvation of Jesus Christ in our lives who gives us peace.
- A Response Hymn concludes the We Gather as the People of God
On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,
Steve
The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh
Interim Pastor
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