An invitation to worship...
Worship is a Public Service
The word that is used to describe the particular elements of a worship service is the word "liturgy." Every church has a liturgy. Even "non-liturgical" churches have a liturgy, because it is the word that simply describes what the church does during a worship service. Some churches have relatively simple liturgies which might consist of the singing of praise songs and a sermon, while other churches contain more elements, as does ours.
Liturgy comes from two Greek words, which mean the "work" of the "people." The church chose liturgy to describe what Christians do when they worship to place emphasis on the fact that Christian worship is done by the congregants. Worship is supposed to be what everyone does. The contemporary development in which congregants are mostly spectators to what is happening on the stage, has more to do with the influence of the entertainment industry than it has to do with Biblical models of Christian worship. If there are spotlights in a sanctuary, they really should be on the people.
But the church chose liturgy to describe what Christian worship was for another reason. In Greece, liturgy referred to public service, the mandatory duty of citizens to serve the state. Liturgy was what one did to make the city better. Thus, the other reason liturgy seemed appropriate to describe Christian worship was because the early church believed that their worship made their communities better. They thought that their worship was a "public service." In other words, they worshipped for the sake of their community.
I'm pretty sure that is not a usual understanding of worship, that it is done for the sake of our state, that it is a service to the community. But I'm thinking the early church knew what we don't, that Christian worship doesn't begin and end with us, but that it is, indeed, a public service. Christian worship serves the community, and I can think of several ways our community is served because we have gathered to worship.
The evidence that it does might be found in the simple observation that our city, our state, and our nation would be better if more people were faithful to the Lord and His church.
And so, we will gather to worship in two days, certainly for the sake of our Lord. He is worthy of our faithfulness to corporate worship.
And we will gather to worship in two days, certainly for our sake. We need the spiritual nourishment that corporate worship provides.
And evidently, we will gather to worship in two days, in order to serve our community. It needs our prayers, our gifts, and our Christ-like lives.
See you Sunday. Let's worship for the Lord's sake, for our sake, and for our community's sake.
Pastor Mark
Liturgy comes from two Greek words, which mean the "work" of the "people." The church chose liturgy to describe what Christians do when they worship to place emphasis on the fact that Christian worship is done by the congregants. Worship is supposed to be what everyone does. The contemporary development in which congregants are mostly spectators to what is happening on the stage, has more to do with the influence of the entertainment industry than it has to do with Biblical models of Christian worship. If there are spotlights in a sanctuary, they really should be on the people.
But the church chose liturgy to describe what Christian worship was for another reason. In Greece, liturgy referred to public service, the mandatory duty of citizens to serve the state. Liturgy was what one did to make the city better. Thus, the other reason liturgy seemed appropriate to describe Christian worship was because the early church believed that their worship made their communities better. They thought that their worship was a "public service." In other words, they worshipped for the sake of their community.
I'm pretty sure that is not a usual understanding of worship, that it is done for the sake of our state, that it is a service to the community. But I'm thinking the early church knew what we don't, that Christian worship doesn't begin and end with us, but that it is, indeed, a public service. Christian worship serves the community, and I can think of several ways our community is served because we have gathered to worship.
The evidence that it does might be found in the simple observation that our city, our state, and our nation would be better if more people were faithful to the Lord and His church.
And so, we will gather to worship in two days, certainly for the sake of our Lord. He is worthy of our faithfulness to corporate worship.
And we will gather to worship in two days, certainly for our sake. We need the spiritual nourishment that corporate worship provides.
And evidently, we will gather to worship in two days, in order to serve our community. It needs our prayers, our gifts, and our Christ-like lives.
See you Sunday. Let's worship for the Lord's sake, for our sake, and for our community's sake.
Pastor Mark