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The past several week, we've been looking at the different sections of our liturgy, so that we can gain a better understanding of what we are doing every week and why. Forms, traditions, and rituals are not in and of themselves bad; they only become a hindrance or "dead," if we do them for their own sake, without understanding the meaning and significance behind them. We have thus far gotten to the Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon, so let's keep going!
Following the Hymn of Rejoicing, we recite an Affirmation of Faith. Like other portions of our service, this is pretty self-explanatory. Here, we affirm the truths of Christian doctrine together as a congregation. This is a practice that has been used in liturgies for centuries. Historically, creeds such as the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds were written in order to refute and combat heresies within the early church, such as Gnosticism or Arianism, and a host of other false teachings that have threatened the truths of Christianity throughout the years. They have also been used historically as a way of instructing new converts. Oftentimes, new believes would recite the Apostles' Creed before being baptized. Their purpose is to put down in written form those things that are foundational and essential for right doctrine. In other words, it was a way for the early church to say that these are the non-negotiables. If you don't believe, for instance, that Christ is both fully God and fully man, or that God created all things, you are not subscribing to right, orthodox Christianity. So, we take time to affirm our faith together. Of course, these creeds and man-made confessions are always subject to the authority of Scripture, but we believe that they have value and are worthwhile for use in worship. Sometimes, we will also pull creed-like passages of Scripture and say them together. 
After the Affirmation of Faith, Pastor John recites a Pastoral Prayer of Intercession and Thanksgiving. This is a beautiful time of the service, wherein John uses his role as a pastor to pray for the congregation, to prepare us for the sermon, and, most importantly, to help lead us to the throne of God to communicate with Him through prayer. Although John is the only one who prays out loud, this is never meant to be a passive part of the sermon. We are to be listening and even praying along with John in our own hearts, in order to give God glory and praise, and to prepare ourselves even further to receive the Word of God during the sermon. After this, we Worship with Tithes and Offerings as a church. As John reminds us regularly, taking up the offering is not about balancing the church's budget or trying to force you to give us money. It is in itself an act of worship, a very tangible act that we take part in every week, where we acknowledge that all that we own is a gift from God. He is the God of all creation, and anything that we have is a gift from His hand. So, we are merely returning a portion of what we have back to Him, as a way to thank Him for His provision. After the offering is taken, we even sing a traditional Doxology, which is a way to say in song what we have gone by our giving: to praise God from whom all blessings flow. A deacon then prays a prayer of thanksgiving and also asks that God would allow us to receive His Word proclaimed through the sermon. Next week, we will finish our walk-through of our liturgy, but let's turn now to this Sunday's service.
This Sunday is a special Sunday in the life of the Church. It is Reformation Sunday, when we remember and give thanks for Martin Luther's nailing his ninety-five theses to the door of his church is Wittenburg, Germany and on October 31, 1517, which was the spark for the Protestant Reformation. The Reforms brought about by the Reformation are summarized in the five Solas of the Protestant Reformation (I'll talk a little more about that in just a bit). John will be beginning chapter 3 of 2 Peter, looking at verses 1-13, which talks about the imminent return of Christ to earth. Christ has ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, but He won't stay there forever. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, to quote the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. For the songs this week, I tried to use songs that would either tie into the service, or else tie into the fact that it is Reformation Sunday. As I mentioned above, the Reformation is represented by the five SolasSola scriptura (Scripture alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone). In order to help us commemorate those truths as a body, I have organized all of the songs, plus the prelude, in such a way that they will represent each of them. They will be labeled in the bulletin, but I'll also do so below. Also, the choir will sing a lovely arrangement of each of theses statements during the offertory, and we have even organized a responsive reading around these doctrines to use as our Affirmation of Truth this week.
Sermon: 2 Peter 3:1-13
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 13:9-13
New Testament Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6
Hymns:   Prelude - "New Songs of Celebration Render // Soli Deo gloria
                Song of Ascent - "Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending" (you can hear a recording of the tune here) // Solus Christus
                Hymn of Praise - Psalm 37 (vs. 10-19); you can hear a recording of the tune here. // Sola scriptura
                Hymn of Rejoicing - "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (Trinity Hymnal, 92; you can hear a recording here) // Sola gratia
                Hymn of Response - "My Jesus, I Love Thee" (Trinity Hymnal, 648; you can hear a recording here) // Sola fide
Four our Psalm this week, we are continuing Psalm 37. It continues to compare the fate of the wicked with that of the righteous. When Christ does return, he will come as judge over all the earth, and those that remain with "the wicked" will not be able to stand. Our final song will allow us to respond to God's promise to return for His won, and will encourage us to look ahead to the day when we will be with Him forever and ever.
If you haven't already, I want to again encourage you to purchase a copy of the Trinity Hymnal. It's a great way to prepare for worship each week, and would be a great addition to your daily personal quiet time. I posted links in the very first blog post for you to be able to find both the Trinity Hymnal, as well as the Trinity Psalter. May you be encouraged this week as you prepare for worship, and let us come together on the Lord's Day ready to worship our Almighty and soon-returning God and Father.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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