Praise Preview

This week we move from God's Call to Worship in Psalm 95 to our response of Praise in Psalm 8.

The high school Sunday School class will be leading our time of confession & assurance of pardon, using this song by Matt Redman.  Listen, learn, prepare to sing but, mostly, remember that -- even in weeks like this one -- there are reasons yet to Praise.

Call to Worship: Recap

Last Sunday we focused on Psalm 95 as a song intended to call us to worship.  The "Call to Worship" is a formal part of our church's liturgy but it's importance extends beyond formality to ethics.  What kind of people do we become when we recognize that we are called to worship God by God?  Where in the creation, where in our daily lives, in other words where beyond Sunday morning do we hear this call?

I'd love to read some comments. Places where you have felt God calling you to worship this past week.  Below I will share two of mine:

1) A friend posted this on Facebook:

http://www.faithit.com/what-happens-when-worship-leaders-from-around-the-world-take-the-stage-with-chris-tomlin-just-watch/#.UjTAZTKirbE.facebook

2) Another friend wrote this on her blog:

http://www.calliefeyen.com/?p=1972

Enjoy!

Weird

It used to be -- or at least a nostalgic portrait of Norman Rockwell's 1950s would have us believe -- that everyone went to church.  10am Sunday morning, you knew where your neighbors were going to be. You knew where you were supposed to be.  The only "Call to Worship" needed was societal expectation.

Not so the Millennial!  But this is NOT yet another long-winded, hand-wringing polemic about why "our young people are leaving the church in apocalyptic proportions!!!"  This is NOT yet another strategy-session, try-it-this-way infomercial for the coolest (maybe, in a fit of hipster irony, not coolest) way of doing church.

This is a recognition of the fact that what we do in corporate worship is -- and always has been -- profoundly weird.  It has always creeped me out a bit that the nostalgic portrait of Norman Rockwell's 1950s seems oblivious to the fact that they are doing a profoundly weird thing.

Church is weird, y'all!  If you exchange more that a "Christ be with you" with the person next to you in the pew, you would realize the church is full of weird people -- beginning with you.  And the things we do are weird.  We sing out loud. Together. With exception of baseball's 7th inning stretch, where else do we do that?  We let someone yammer at us for 20 minutes (without commercial interruption.) That's weird.  But the weirdest thing of all:

We talk to God.
And we listen believing that God talks to us.
Weird.

Pastor and theologian Eugene Peterson reminds us that the Psalms teach us to pray, to talk and listen, by turn, to God. In worship, then, "We decide to leave an ego-centered world and enter a God-centered world."  

Everything about our daily lives points us in the direction of ego-centrism.  Everything about worship points us in the direction of God-centrism.  We are acclimated to the former, and alien to the latter.  Maybe that is why the Psalms are filled with "Calls to Worship."  Because if we truly understand what we are doing, it might well take some cajoling to get us to do it.

"Sing to the LORD a new song."
"Shout for joy to God, all the earth."
"Praise the LORD."

The "Call to Worship" that begins a service of Christian Worship is not formality.  It is not simply a greeting, like a handshake.  The "Call to Worship" is an invitation to subversion. It is a coaxing to patterns, behaviors, ways of thinking, believing and feeling that are not immediately comfortable to people shaped by an ego-centered world.  It is a drawing back of the curtain to reveal the possibility of a God-centered world.  A "Call to Worship" is a call to be weird. Thanks be to God.

Call to Worship

Why do we do what we do in worship? It is a good and fair question. One that we are allowing the Psalms to help us answer. This week, we focus on what it means to be a people "Called to Worship."

Below is a quotation to center your thoughts and a new song we will be introducing into the liturgy on Sunday morning. Take a listen (or 12) as we all prayerfully prepare for the work of worship.

When we come together to worship we do so in response to God’s call.  In the gathering, we acknowledge that God has invited us to meet with him through his Son, Jesus Christ.  God takes the initiative to invite us to worship and we respond with great joy.  We say a hearty “Yes!” to the invitation and prepare to celebrate the greatness of the God who desires to be in fellowship with us.  A dialogue has begun.  God calls us to worship; to this invitation we joyfully respond.

- Constance Cherry “The Worship Architect”

Make Time for the Psalms

If you have 5 minutes a day …

Read 2 psalms everyday (you’ll make it through the Psalter by December)

If you have 15 minutes a day …
Read 5 psalms everyday (you’ll make it through the Psalter in a month.  Then do it again!)

If you have ½ hour a week …
Read a chapter of C.S. Lewis’ Reflections on the Psalms

Read a chapter of Eugene Peterson’s Answering God

Read a chapter of Kevin Adams’ 150

If you have 1 hour a week …

Join a Sunday School class on prayer or on the psalms (10am Sundays)

If you have 1 hour a month …

Join us for Psalm Writing Workshops Sept 22, Oct. 20 and Nov. 17 at 10am

If you have 1 hour all season …

Read Bonhoeffer’s Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible

Use Your (Worship) Words

(Today we have a very special guest post from our Minister of Music & Worship, Katie Roelofs.  Thanks, Katie!)

My worship professor and academic advisor at Calvin often began his lectures on worship talking about his children.  He would tell everyone that he has a 4 year old and 2 year old triplets at home and people would nod empathetically when he said life could be somewhat hectic and chaotic trying to keep the peace and raise them successfully.  With 4 kids under 4 years of age, he said one of the most challenging, but also most rewarding parts of parenting was helping his children to develop good speech habits.  It doesn’t come naturally to toddlers to say “please”, “I’m sorry”, “thank you.”  Now that I am in the trenches of raising young children as well, I can testify to the fact that learning healthy speech patterns takes time, attention and lots of practice.  Basic conversational skills need constant reinforcement.  These words are the building blocks of healthy relationships – with parents and siblings, friends, colleagues, spouses.

Healthy speech patterns are central to our Christian lives as well.  Of course we are called to love and care for those around us which includes healthy dialogue and conversation but we also need to practice good communication skills with God.  We need to be able to come before him and say “thank you,” “I need help,” “please forgive me,” “I’m listening.”  When we gather together for worship on Sunday morning, we are entering into conversation with God along with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Conversations are not one-sided, and neither is worship.  We talk to God but he also speaks to us.  If you look at our order of worship on any given Sunday, you can trace the dialogic nature of our worship.  

Call to Worship -----“Thank you for inviting us and meeting us.  We are here.”

Songs of Praise----- “We love you.  You are awesome and wonderful.”

Confession------ “I’m sorry.”

Lament----- “Why?”

Assurance of pardon------ “I forgive you.”

Greeting--- “Bless you.”

Guide to Grateful Living---- “What can I do?”

Prayer------“Help”

Prayer for Illumination/the Word----- “We are listening.”

Offering----“Thank you.  I will share.”

Benediction----“It’s time to go and serve”

This fall, we are starting a 12 week series on the Psalms.  While we are gathered under one roof on Sunday mornings, we might very well be in different places.  Some of us come to worship wanting to say “Thank You, Lord!”  Others come wanting to cry out to God “Please help me!” or “Why is this happening?”  Each of the 150 Psalms gives us a piece of conversation – praise, lament, thanksgiving, etc.  They give voice to the deepest feelings and emotions in our souls.  For 12 weeks, we will walk through these worship words using the Psalms as our guide.  We will practice our conversational skills with God and work on the words that don’t come naturally.  Dive into these next 12 weeks of being a toddler once again and take the opportunity to practice your speech habits as they express who we are and form who we are becoming.  

Fall Psalm Series

New Preaching Series

This Fall, we are engaging the Old Testament hymnbook of the people of God – the Psalms.  150 lyrical poems that exalt and lament, that scold and delight.  So many different moods but, in all of them, God speaks and God’s people listen and then, remarkably, God’s people speak and God listens!  A conversation for the ages.

Learning the Psalms in Pew

By absorbing the various moods of the Psalms, we better learn the character of God who invites us into this open dialogue, this covenant relationship.  By learning the various moods of the Psalms, we better learn what it is to be human and to stand in solidarity with those who grieve and those who rejoice.  And then we might ask: 

By singing these songs on Sunday, what sort of people will we become Monday through Saturday?  

What does hearing the conversation between God and God’s people teach us about the mission of God for the world?

Learning the Psalms Beyond the Pew

But hearing something for 20 minutes on Sunday morning is not enough to let it sink deep into our bones. It is not enough to enable us to change our lives. That is why I am challenging you choose ONE way of learning the Psalms beyond the pew.  Here are a few options:

·         Sunday School

-          2 Adult classes -- one studying Prayer, the other the Psalms (beginning September 8.)

-          Each children’s class will have at least one opportunity to creatively engage the Psalms.

·         At Home

-          Memorize a Psalm

-          Rewrite a Psalm each week.

-          Using an old hymnbook, learn a Psalm-song on your instrument of choice.

-          Paint a picture, create a sculpture or a collage or a banner with one Psalm in mind.

-          Follow along with weekly readings provided in the bulletin and online.

-          Listen to sermons on the Psalms (located at www.cep.calvinseminary.edu, click “Audio Sermons.”)

-          Read through the book of Psalms during the month of October (5 Psalms a day x 30 days = 150 Psalms + 1 day to spare)

·         At Church

-          Opportunities to learn a little more during our Fall monthly potlucks.

-          A few “writer’s workshops” for those interested in learning how to write a psalm or would like to share their writing with others.

-          Let me help you start a new small group! There are a lot of great materials on the Psalms out there.

Psalm-Fest

The culmination of our series in the Psalms will be a Psalm Fest on November 24.  This will be a chance to share our learning with one another and celebrate the conversation between God and God’s people that occurs each week in worship. Consider whether you’d like to contribute a drama, a reading, an art piece, special music, a video or powerpoint presentation!