God works in extraordinary ways. Perhaps you’ve heard this truism. I suppose it’s true. But usually, God works in ordinary ways. What we do each week in church is all very ordinary–it’s an invitation to work the simple means of grace. Sing. Pray. Confess. Preach. Eat. Drink. Listen. Think. Just like we see in Acts 2: teaching, fellowship, breaking bread,…
A recurring theme of this series is that Christian worship is participatory. Perhaps nowhere is the participatory nature of worship more clearly seen than when we eat bread and drink juice (I’ll say wine and juice interchangeably) at the Lord’s table. I grew up in churches that did not observe the Lord’s Supper very often. I remember doing it occasionally–probably…
What’s the point of preaching in a worship service? What am I (the preacher) supposed to do? What are you supposed to do? Why do I work so hard on a sermon every week? Paul commands the Colossians to let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly. Listen to this instruction to the church at Colossae about how they…
We sing to an audience of One, but we also sing for each other and for ourselves. // Sing to and for Each Other 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord…
I confess I’m not a big music guy. I’m more into podcasts than music, lectures than concerts, and though I love how Charleston comes alive in the summer, I have less than no desire to go to Live on the Levee. No offense, it’s just not my thing, but you should totally go. It’s not that I hate or even…
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have…
How do we remember God’s story, week in and week out? Short answer: The service and all the stuff we do in the service. This is where we’re going over the next several weeks. The service itself tells a story.The stuff that we do tells the gospel story. When we preach, we preach from the Bible–the very Word of God,…
Let’s go back to the beginning. Jesus’ Bible, the Apostles’ Bible, is the Old Testament. Christian worship finds its roots deep in the Old Testament. From the beginning of the Scriptures, we see chosen people meeting God in sacred spaces. Now, when we survey the theology that undergirds what is happening in the tabernacle and the temple, I am struck…
Our primary point of contact with the church is the Sunday morning worship gathering. I’ve grown up in church, so I’ve sat through services almost every Sunday for 30 years, and in all of those we’ve sang, someone has preached, and sometimes other stuff happens, depending on the church and the service–prayers, offerings, recitation of creeds, baptisms, the Lord’s Supper,…
Christmas will fall on a Sunday this year, and that comes with both a unique challenge and a unique opportunity. Will we have church on Christmas? Another way to ask that question, just replacing the terms “have church” and “Christmas” with more precise theological language: Will we gather on the Lord’s Day for the celebration of the Lord’s coming? This…