There are lots of things that we do, without actually thinking why we do them. This is particularly true when it comes to worship. So to help my church understand what it is we do in worship, I have produced a 'Teaching Eucharist' (based on the Church of England Holy Communion Common Worship liturgy). It is designed to be used as part of the service. The items in Bold are the various different parts of the service, so you have an idea of the running order. I've borrowed some of the material from other people, so I cannot claim it is all my own original work.
Welcome & Greeting
Good
morning! There was once a guru, who every time he sat down to worship, his cat
would get in the way and distract the worshippers. So the guru ordered that the
cat be tied during evening worship.
After the guru died the cat continued to be tied during evening worship.
But over time the worshippers forgot why
the cat used to be tied up, so when the cat died, another cat was brought so that
it could be duly tied during worship. Centuries
later learned treatises were written by the guru’s disciples on the religious
and liturgical significance of tying up a cat while worship is performed.
It is easy in worship to
do things, but not know the reason why we do them. So today’s service is going to be different,
we are going to be talking about worship as well as doing it.
What is worship?
Worship is something
that we all do in many different ways, it is that which we offer to God, and
therefore it’s not confined to Sunday mornings. But worshipping together as the family of God,
is probably the most important activity we do as Christians.
William Temple, the renowned
archbishop of Canterbury, defined worship as quickening the conscience by the
holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the
imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting
the will to the purpose of God
So let’s begin our worship
with an opening hymn, which helps focus our attention on the God we have come
to worship.
Opening Hymn
This morning, we have
come together as a community to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The central act of
Christian worship is the celebration of the Eucharist (the Greek word eucharistia simply means thanksgiving).
It is also known as the Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Last Supper, or
the Mass.
But whatever name you
call it, it is a Holy Meal at which Jesus is the host. Jesus has invited every
one of us to come as his guests to eat and drink with him. It should be a
joyful, exuberant celebration and a wonderful privilege, and it should be a
foretaste of that great banquet in heaven to which we are invited.
Before the New Testament
was written, or any of the creeds composed, Christians shared together in the
Lord’s supper. As we share bread and wine together, we are reminded of what
Jesus has done for us, and all humanity.
The Eucharist was
instituted on the eve of the Jewish Passover—the night our Lord was betrayed
and the night before he was crucified. It was a family meal that was filled
with fun as well as faith. Perhaps one of the most unfortunate images that has
shaped our thinking about the Last Supper is Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting. Some
may think it to be great art, but it is terrible theology and it is obvious
that Leonardo never took part in a Jewish Passover. Let’s face it—it looks more
like a middle aged men’s club than a joyful feast. There are no women or
children present and no one looks very happy!
So erase that image and
replace it with one of an exuberant family party with bread and wine, story
telling, laughter and lots of music, where everyone participates. Don’t forget, we are worshipping as a family,
as a community, and so everyone is expected to participate.
Our service has two
distinct parts: THE LITURGY OF THE WORD and the LITURGY OF THE SACRAMENT.
The first section of the
service is the liturgy of the word.
After our opening hymn,
we move into a time of confession.
Paul in Romans 3:10
writes ‘There is no one righteous, not even
one.” And the Apostle John writes ‘If we claim to be without
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’
(1 John 1:8)
So as begin our worship we acknowledge
our sins, and our need for God’s forgiveness.
We bring to mind the times when we have failed to love God and our
neighbour as we should. For the times
when we have ignored God, and lived as if he did not exist. We bring to God the things we have said and
done that we want to say sorry for, as well as the missed opportunities to show
God’s love during the past week. And together, using the words of the
confession, we say sorry to God.
The Apostle John says that ‘If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’
(1 John 1:9) And so after the
confession, comes the words of absolution, the promise of God’s love, mercy and
forgiveness.
Confession & Absolution
Singing hymns and songs form an essential part of our worship, but why?
- Singing connects us to one another. It’s an expression of our identity and our relationship with one another.
- Singing impacts my mind. The lyrics of songs teach profound truths about God. Songs reinforce biblical values and are part of transforming our minds by moving our thoughts beyond ourselves to focus upon Jesus.
- Singing is a part of our sacrifice of praise Through it we express recognition and thanksgiving to our Creator and Redeemer.
- Singing is a form of prayer The songs provide us with a vocabulary to express and explore who God is and to declare what He is doing in our lives.
- Singing is tied to the promises of God God promises to show up in a special way when we gather in His name according to His purposes. He literally “indwells” the praises of His people. He promises to draw near to us as we draw near to Him.
- Singing is something the Bible commands us to do The Bible contains over 400 references to singing and 50 direct commands to sing, and in the New Testament we are commanded to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
- Singing affects our emotions Music bypasses our mental filters and stirs our passion. It challenges us to arise from the depths of our emotional slumber and coldness, fanning the flames of our hearts to burn brightly for the Lord.
- Worship through music is one of the few things that we know goes on in heaven It’s powerful enough to shake heaven’s very gates. Music accompanied many major events in the Bible. It led God’s people forward in battle. Even Jesus’ birth was announced through song, as will be His triumphant return.
But the main reason we sing is for one very
simple reason. God
deserves our praise.
We’ve just confessed our sins, and been reminded of God’s love and
mercy, and in response to this we sing songs of praise and worship.
CS Lewis said “I think we delight to praise
what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the
enjoyment.” It is for this reason that
at this point in the service we often sing two or three songs to give us the freedom and
space to abandon ourselves in the wonder of God, and to allow him to minister
to us.
During this time feel
free to express your worship the way you want to. If you want to move, and dance, and lift your
hands in worship then that is fine, but if you’d prefer to be quiet and still
that also is fine. As you sing these
songs, focus on the words that you are singing.
So let’s continue our
worship as we praise God in song.
Worship Songs
We now have the Collect or
Prayer for the Day. This prayer gets its
name from the Latin word collecta.
Originally it was a prayer at the start of the service, which would gather the
people together for worship.
Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Which is why after the Collect, we
have our two Bible readings, which usually includes a reading from either the
Old Testament or New Testament and a Gospel reading.
Sometimes we choose
readings that focus on a particular theme or topic, and at other times we
follow the lectionary, which is a three-year cycle of Bible readings, that
enables us to hear most of the Bible over the three years and gives us a
balanced diet from the Word of God.
When it comes to the Gospel reading we
normally stand, why?
Different reasons are given, but one reason
is because if a King or someone of significance entered our presence, we would
stand as a sign of respect. And so we
stand for the Gospel reading, because we’re in the presence of our Lord. We stand
because we consider ourselves to be entering into conversation with Jesus. We
are drawn into his life through his words and deeds in the Gospel.
Another practical reason why
many people stand for the Gospel is because traditionally in many churches the
Gospel is read in the middle of the nave, amongst the people, symbolic of Jesus
coming amongst us. And if you were
sitting at the front of church, in order to see and hear the reader, you would
need to turn around to face them, which involves standing up!
So let’s now listen to the
word of God.
Bible
Readings
Sermon
You will be relieved to
know that I am not planning to preach a long sermon today, but I do want to
spend a couple of minutes thinking about why preaching matters.
Jesus spent much of his
ministry preaching and teaching, in the Temple, in synagogues, on mountain
sides, in market places, wherever he may be.
Preaching still has an
extremely important role to play in worship.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a well-known preacher said “What is the chief end of
preaching? I like to think it is this: It is to give men and women a sense of
God and His presence.”
Paul in
Romans 8:29 tells us that the purpose of God is this “For those God foreknew he
also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son.” God's purpose from the very
beginning of time has been to make us like Jesus, to have the character of his
son. Therefore the goal of preaching is transformation,
to impact and change lives, and produce Christ likeness in God’s people.
Preaching should open up the
word of God, and point to Jesus. If we
want a vibrant, growing church, with Christian’s who are maturing in their
faith, and who are committed to serving God in the world, we need good biblical
preaching.
We may
not remember ever meal we eat, but every meal should nourish and strengthen us. Likewise we won’t remember every sermon we
hear, but hopefully every sermon will nourish and strengthen us.
When it
comes to preaching, it is not only the person who speaks who has a
responsibility to properly prepare, but also the listeners too. Charles Spurgeon one of the greatest
preachers ever to live, said “Which, do you think, needs the most preparation,
the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I
would have the ground well-ploughed and harrowed, well-turned over, and the clods
broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation
needed by the ground than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher.”
So when
you listen to a sermon don’t mentally switch off or start planning what you’re
going to do with the rest of your day, but listen and engage with what is being
said. Pray that God will give you a pure
open heart that hungers for his Word. Have
the Bible open in front of you, and take notes, because it keeps the listener
alert and actively involved in the sermon, and helps us to retain what is being
said. It also enables you to go back to
the passage of Scripture after the sermon and meditate and reflect on what has
been said. Seek to learn, not be
entertained, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. And finally, apply thoroughly! Remember movement in emotion is useless without
movement in obedience. Leave with at
least one written point of application from the passage, and put it into
practice!
And
last of all, please pray for those of us who preach, that we will be faithfully
in the task of preaching, because it is a big responsibility.
After we listen to the
sermon, we respond by affirming our faith together in the words of the
Creed. We use different versions of the
Creed, mostly drawn from Scripture, like our Creed today which is taken from
Philippians 2. Often the Creed begins
with the words “We believe” to remind us that we are affirming the faith of the
whole church.
Then having just reaffirmed
our trust, relationship and our commitment to God we move into a time of
prayer, where we pray for God’s world, the Church, our community, each other
and ourselves. We call these prayers the
intercessions, because we are interceding between the needs of our world and
God. The prayers are
an expression of our belief that people, and the circumstances in the world
that affect the human family, can be touched and changed through Jesus Christ
and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
Creed
Intercessions
After the prayers, we move
from the Liturgy of the Word, into the Liturgy of the Sacrament, which begins
with the Peace.
The peace is probably one of the most
misunderstood parts of the service, often treated more as a half time
intermission, and a chance to stretch legs and catch up with friends. But it is a very ancient custom going back to
the earliest days of the church.
Jesus said “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there
remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your
gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come
and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:24)
The Peace is therefore intended to be a time
for reconciliation, a time to demonstrate Christian love and acceptance with
our sisters and brothers in Christ, before we gather together at the Lord’s
table. So if you are holding something against your brother and sister in
Christ, this is an opportunity to seek peace and reconciliation. Whether we greet one another with a hand shake,
hug or kiss is unimportant, what matters is our attitude.
After the Peace comes the offertory hymn,
where we bring the bread and wine forward for communion, and where we also take
up our financial offerings. The Bible reminds us that 'our'
possessions are not really ours. God provides, and we are only stewards
of what we have, that is why we often quote the words of 1 Chronicles 29:14, 'All things come from you, O
Lord, and of your own do we give you.’ There
is a joy in being able to give to God, in gratitude to all He has given us.
So I invite you now to stand for the Peace.
Peace
Offertory Hymn
We come now to the Eucharistic Prayer, which in some
churches is called the Great Thanksgiving, which is the climax of the service,
in which we remember what happened at the Last Supper and Jesus’ instructions
to “Do this in remembrance of me.”
The prayer begins with a reminder that at this meal Jesus
is our host, and that we are in his presence.
‘The Lord is here, his Spirit is with us’. Next comes the response ‘Lift up your hearts,
we lift them to the Lord’. This is
called the Sursum Corda which literally means hearts lifted, and this response has
been used in Christian worship from at least the 3rd century.
One of the high points of the Eucharistic prayer is the Sanctus, which is a hymn of timeless adoration
to the holiness and glory of God. Holy, holy is the Lord. The Sanctus is the
song of the Seraphim in Isaiah’s account of his vision of the Lord.
We then pray for the Holy Spirit to sanctify the gifts of
bread and wine so that they may be the outward and visible sign of the inward
and spiritual grace given to us in the body and blood of Christ.
In the Eucharistic Prayer, there are four great actions which
parallel what Jesus did at the Last Supper:
1) We take the bread and wine
2) We give thanks
3) We break it
4) And
we share the bread and wine
We conclude this section of the liturgy with the Lord’s
Prayer which reminds us that because of what God has done, we can now, with
assurance, call Him “Our Father.” So let’s stand and begin.
Eucharistic
Prayer
We have almost come to the end of our service. And you are about to pray the most dangerous
prayer in the entire liturgy! As we ask to be sent out to do the work that God
has given us to do. This work will get us in trouble because it includes loving
the unlovable, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, working for justice and
peace and reflecting the life and light of Christ into a world that is filled
with darkness. But this is our privilege and our joy. Then after we have sung
one more hymn of praise we will be dismissed and go out into the world with God’s
blessing, so that we can be about our ministry until we meet again. Let’s pray.
Prayer after
Communion
Final Hymn
Blessing
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