The following is a brief description of the theological significance of each of the acts of worship, why it occurs where it does in the service.
Gathering
- One of the exciting things about becoming a Christian is that you have now joined a family. When you were born, you became part of a family, and now, by spiritual birth, you have entered God’s family. Being a part of God’s family is more than a position, more than a title, and more than a list of benefits. It is a relationship with God, your Father, it is relationship with your brothers and sisters - other Christians.
The New Testament describes the local church as a group of believers in a certain place, banded together for instruction, fellowship, worship, and service. (Hebrews 10:25) One of the purposes for gathering together is to stimulate each other to do good deeds and love – to encourage each other to live a life based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. An important way to interact with your new family is to gather to worship with them.
Opportunities for Christian growth and fellowship are found in weekly Sunday morning worship service. This is a time of celebration where the entire church gathers together to worship and be taught. A primary time for encouragement is also on Sunday mornings in the Sunday School. These different congregations are smaller groups than the worship service and provide an opportunity for discussion, relationships to develop, common issues and needs to be addressed from the Word, and prayer and caring to take place. The goal of the Church is to stimulate, encourage, and equip the congregation to live a life of devotion and obedience. This process takes time, involves biblical teaching, godly models, the ministry of the Holy Spirit and sometimes difficult choices. It requires a commitment of presence – in other words, you must show up to receive the benefits of group worship.
It is important to include children in worship services, for children are reminders of God’s grace and represent the hope He has for the future. Since earliest times families have worshiped together. Indeed, the Bible records examples of very young children who were known for participation in worship.
It is assumed that converts, including children, must be carefully taught their way into the faith, learning the truths of the Bible so that they can understand the story of Jesus and respond to him. In many cases this has resulted in the segregation of children into age groupings for more effective teaching, separating them from the arena of adult worship. Teaching is, of course, important. But children learn best by imitation. Unless they are where adults are worshiping, they will miss the opportunity to learn by example.
Indeed, without this example they may decide that the worship of God is an adult activity which has no relevance for them. However, an adult display of faith done on a consistent basis offers children a lesson in faith; that it is of import and value to the adults in their lives. That it is a worthy and valuable activity to aspire to and to cherish and incorporate.
When we bring our children along with us into the worship life of the church, we are giving them the opportunity to act out the truths they learn in Sunday School and make them real. Not only so, but participation in worship with the whole church helps to instill in them an identity as members of the body of Christ. It also offers children a feeling of belonging to the community.
Most importantly, adult worshipers can encourage all children to sing, stand, kneel, or respond in other appropriate ways, so that the motions and activities of worship eventually come naturally to them. When children learn to drink from the fountain of God's presence in worship, they are more likely to maintain a thirst for God into their adult years. And, as adult Christians, it is our obligation to show them the way with a life of faith that includes, and values, their participation.
Creed: (1. a brief authoritative formula of religious belief; 2. a set of fundamental beliefs; and 3. a guiding principle.)
- The Creeds and Confessions produced by the Christian Church over the centuries are not inspired additions to Scripture nor in any way replacements for the words of Christ and his apostles or the prophets which preceded them.
Creeds are statements of faith that are true and authoritative insofar as they accurately reflect what Scripture teaches. They are helpful "measuring sticks" for orthodoxy. Some have said the creeds are man made and hence should be ignored in favor of Scripture. The creeds do not masquerade as Scripture and many specifically point out that it is the Scriptures themselves which are the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
Offering:
- The idea of putting forth an offering to the Lord is rooted in a long tradition of practice. The first mention of tithing is when Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek, the priest to the true God at Salem (Gen 14:20). Two generations later Jacob promised a tithe of his possessions to God in response to the vision of the ladder reaching up to heaven (Gen 28:22).
Where did these men get the idea to tithe 500 years before tithing was legislated at Mt. Sinai? Their spontaneous acts were probably suggested by the fact that tithing was a common practice among pagan religions in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Canaan, and all over the world. Just as with animal sacrifices - which the people of God offered long before Mt. Sinai - tithing may have seemed appropriate when someone wanted to worship his or her God.
The Old Testament tithe was originally designed for the support of a theocracy, the direct rule of God, in which the church and state formed a single entity. Basically the tithe paid for everything needed in the day-to-day operations of the people of God. In the Old Testament some offerings were required, but others were free-will, “over-and-above” offerings. In view of the sacrifice of Christ, all offerings in the Church today fall under the category of free-will offerings.
Tithing was never intended to be a mere drudgery or test of obedience. It was intended as a joyful endeavor. It was an expression of fellowship with God, which was freely granted solely by God's grace. It was the expression of a heart truly thankful to God for all his blessings in this life and the life to come. It was – and is - a tangible opportunity to give all glory to God, who allows His people to honor him with their "substance" (Prov 3:9); even their gifts were deemed acceptable by the mercy of God. And, it was – and is - a concrete way for fellow believers in the Gospel to express their fellowship with each other and to care for each other in a very specific way. Tithing continues today in many contexts, including the free-will offering during the contemporary worship service.
Scripture:
- In the worship service, scriptures play a central role by helping to communicate the real presence of Jesus Christ – the Incarnate Word of God -- to the congregants through the words, thoughts, ideas, and experiences of the Biblical authors.
When putting together a service, the minister relies on scripture to help set the tone and the message of that day. And “that day” is an important point to make - the use of scripture helps to keep the calendar and the tenor of the church in motion.
By this I mean that the scriptures themselves provide us with a link to the living experience of the risen Christ in the early Church ... and the transforming reality of that experience, which still has power to reform us today. They set outer boundaries for belief, certainly, but they also set inner boundaries for our Christian living. After all, the Scriptures are described as "containing all things necessary to salvation."
In all worship services the service themselves are built around the scripture – hymns are chosen and sermons are written and delivered – based on the chosen scripture for that day and reinforcing the messages contained therein. Scriptures are also used as the basis of the other aspects of worship including Sunday School and Bible Study.
How does a simple book, a collection of thoughts, words, and ideas, become a Means of Grace for us? Scriptures convey God's Grace to us because they reconnect us to the resurrection experience of the early church, and who wrote them. The scripture offers us access to God’s grace in many ways: through a simple reading, through Bible Study, through preaching, through song and dance... the Scriptures come alive to us and attain a transforming power for us in ways that go beyond our ability to catalog.
Theology of Prayer
- Prayer in worship can be divided into the following types, Prayers of Invocation, Prayers of Praise, Prayers of Thanksgiving, Prayers of Confession, Prayers of Petition, Prayers of Reflection, Pastoral Prayers, intercessory prayer, Prayers of Dedication, Prayers for Special Occasions, Narrative Prayers and Personal Prayers. All types of prayer are contained in a worship service.
All types of prayer are more powerful when conducted in a group setting – e.g, a worship service. There is something about the common bond of prayer that is both a unifying force and equalizing force for all of us. There is a different, arguably more powerful, energy at work when we are at work praying together.
Strengths of prayer is the repetitiveness of traditional group prayers – reminding those present of the history of the church through its traditions. Through repetitive group prayer we are reminded of Christ’s faithfulness to us throughout history and His promise for our future. These reminders are important and constant. Another importance of traditional group prayer is generational sharing – the passing on of tradition and faith from one generation to the next.
Our prayers are responses to the dimensions of depth we all encounter on our journey, interpreted in the light of the amazing grace of God. The origin of the theology of prayer can be found in the Scripture. An assumption behind these scriptures is that to know more of God's purpose will deepen our commitment to pray and help us glorify God for why he does what he does.
Sermon
- The sermon is an integral part of the worship service. It is an opportunity for the minister to preach the gospel faithfully and with power, in season and out of season. In these times when people are drawn by so many other attractive forms of communication, is no small task to captivate and engage congregants. The sermon cannot simply repeat the words or ideas of another person or time. It demands the best of everything that is in every one of us: our minds, hearts, souls, and strength. It demands our earnest engagement with everything about our own culture, civilization, and historical location; our willingness to listen to other cultures, civilizations, and historical time periods; and above all, our unswerving attention to the one Word whose claim on us is absolute.
Many people attend church with certain hopes: of coming away with reassurance that no matter how crazy the world gets around them that the Lord is on their side, to leave energized for another week, and to learn something new - or at least think about something that they know a bit differently. Most people have their hopes realized by the Sunday sermon – a central piece of the worship service. It is at this point in the service that the preacher can really “show his stuff” so to speak – to speak to those present about the Scripture and its relevance to their modern lives.
The sermon is a very individual thing – from the preacher’s perspective it is the most personal part of the service – he or she is able to speak as they think best on various topics. In this role, the preacher addresses those assembled on the nuances of the Scripture as he interprets them. This is important because each preacher interprets the Scripture through the filter of his or her personal experience.
The God whom we know and whom we seek to talk about is the God revealed to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel must constitute the center of our reflection. Crafting and delivering a sermon has always been, and must always be, evangelical theology. It is integral to the success of the church and to each of us as Christians, to be able to speak about the work of God in our lives.
We must define for ourselves what we consider our own evangelical natures. For some it is found in the pulpit, for others it is found on the street corner, soup kitchen or barbershop. It doesn’t matter so much where we are as it does what we say. We are endeavoring to bring the “good news” to others. This is what the minister strives to do in his/her sermon each and every time it is delivered.
While many of us who do theology may find personal satisfaction and enrichment in our work, it is not a private pursuit. The things that the individual theologian finds fascinating, useful, or attractive are not the criteria by which he must measure his constructive work. Instead, he must realize that the sermon is his interpretation of the gospel for the laity as the church travels its collective journey.
The goal of any sermon is to have its message reinforced by public prayer and commitment. This cannot happen in a solo environment. To the preacher, the congregation is just as vital part of the sermon as the words that he delivers.
Even the language of "faith seeking understanding" would be misleading if we thought the faith spoken of was one person´s own faith journey. The faith we seek to understand is, first and foremost, the faith that is confessed and proclaimed by the church. A well-preached sermon gives the church family a true sense of community by offering encouragement, guidance and comfort within its Gospel message.
Hymns
- Music is a primitive force on the human soul. Our ears and souls are nurtured by melody and rythems. Our hearts and brains are nurtured by the message. Our mouths and beings raise God when we sing hymns. We are the only beings on this earth that can do this. I would argue that the basic beliefs of most Christians have been formulated more by the hymns they sing than by the preaching they hear or the Bible study they pursue.
Hymns can be chosen which will educate (subconsciously) on a specific theological doctrine. For instance, singing a doctrinal hymn such as “Ò Holy, holy, holy” repeatedly over a period of time will eventually convey ideas concerning the Trinity much more powerfully to a congregation than a series of sermons. As a child many of our earliest church memories are defined by the songs that we were taught and remember singing.
Hymns by their very nature are theological - that is, as songs of praise or glorification they embody beliefs about God and God’s purpose for human beings. Theology, good, bad, or indifferent, is present in all hymns, making it important to identify just what we are upholding when we sing.
Hymns make some kind of theological statement; they have something to say about God, the divine character and purpose, the nature and destiny of human life, the way of salvation, human responsibility before God, and related matters. When we are voicing concerns as ultimate as these it is important that we pay attention to the content of our words.
Hymns have the power to educate and comfort many. When black slaves in the U.S. sang in the fields while they worked they were talking to God and each other about the way things were on earth and how they knew it to be when they were to go to heaven. Many overseers did not, or could not, grasp the power of the messages contained in these verses.
Hymns are words of comfort they were also sowing the seeds of revolution. If life could not be any better on earth, it would most assuredly be better in heaven. As families were fractured and slaves were sold from plantation to plantation they took these powerful messages with them and shared them anew.
Hymns convey theology and consequently through the singing of hymns (in connection with power of music to link ideas with emotion) theological ideas are subtly conveyed to the singer. This is done either consciously or subconsciously. Consciously, it is done when people intentionally sing the hymns that overtly express what they believe. In this context, hymn singing can be equated to an offering of sorts in the spirit of Hebrews 13: Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15 RSV)
This idea often spills over to the secular world as well – just think of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s and imagine it occurring without the soundtrack of the hymn “We Shall Overcome” – it’s hardly imaginable.
The Eucharist:
- The service of the Eucharist begins with thanksgiving over the cup and the loaf. In offering the cup, the leader gives thanks for "the holy vine of David," apparently a reference to the Messianic community (Psa. 80:8). A doxology, or expression of praise to God, follows: "To you be glory forever." Then the leader gives thanks over the broken bread, thanking God "for the life and knowledge you have revealed through Jesus, your child [servant]," concluding with a doxology.
Then follows a prayer comparing the bread to the gathering of the church into the kingdom, again ending with a doxology. The community meal, which comes next, is not described. After the meal, the leader again offers thanksgivings for the Lord's holy name dwelling within his people, and for God's creative activity and his provision of food and drink for all people. He then prays that the Lord would deliver the church from evil, perfect it in love, and gather it into his kingdom. Each of these acts concludes with a doxology.
The service concludes with responses ending with Maranatha! Amen, and extemporaneous thanksgivings by the church prophets, who are to be allowed to give thanks (eucharist) in their own way, following no particular text.
The order of worship in the Didache follows Jewish forms for "grace" before and after meals. The leader's prayer does not refer to the body and blood of Jesus; instead, the emphasis is on the gathering of the church body (see 1 Cor. 10:17). It is noteworthy that the prayer and thanksgiving are interlaced with doxologies; the event is a praise-celebration of the congregation of God's people.
