Happy Tuesday! This coming Sunday is the first Sunday in November, which means that we only have three more Sundays left in Ordinary time! Advent is fast approaching! We'll look more at what this Sunday has in store in just a minute, but first, let's finish our walk-through of our church's weekly liturgy. Before we do that, though, let's recap each section up to this point:

Call to Worship - We hear or recite Scripture to help prepare us to worship God.
Song of Ascent - We sing together, acknowledging God as the one who has brought us together.
Old and New Testament Readings - We hear God's Word read aloud.
Hymn of Praise - We respond to the reading of God's Word by praising Him for His attributes.
Prayer of Adoration & Invocation/Gloria Patri - We pray that God will come down and be pleased by our praises.
Confession of Sin - We confess our sins, both corporately and privately, acknowledging that even as believers, we still need God's forgiveness.
Assurance of Pardon - As a congregation, we recite Scripture together, to remind us that we have been redeemed in Christ.
Affirmation of Faith - We affirm the basic truths of Christianity together as one body.
Pastoral Prayer of Intercession and Thanksgiving - We prepare our hearts to hear God's Word preached, while the pastor prays a prayer of thanks.
Offertory - We thank God for His provision in our lives by returning a portion of our resources back to Him.

Now it is time for the focal point of the service, the Preaching of the Word, or the Sermon. This is the section that most of you will be familiar with, but a Reformed sermon has some characteristics that set it apart from some other traditions. Unlike most, if not all, mainline churches, it's not a short homily of about ten or fifteen minutes. Nor is it a topical sermon such as can be found in a lot of modern or contemporary evangelical churches. Our pastor, John Clayton, preaches through an entire book of the Bible at a time, expositing the text to help us understand its historical and cultural context, revealing how the gospel can be found in the passage, and how believers can apply it to their lives and for their sanctification. By preaching through an entire book, John is able to show how the passages fit together to form a coherent whole, and by proclaiming the gospel every week, he is able to avoid preaching merely a self-help sermon or a sermon that tries overly-hard to be relevant to current events or cultural trends. The message of the gospel is simple and the writers of Scripture had clear messages meant to strengthen believers' walks with God. The Reformed expository sermon is a way to stay true to the gospel message and to preach the Word in its purest form. Sometimes John will take a break from his sermon series in order to preach a focused message, such as special services for Lord's Supper Sundays, when we have a baptism, and for special seasons or services such as Advent, Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter just to name a few, but even during these sermons, he preaches on one passage of Scripture, rather than topically jumping from passage to passage. After the sermon, we sing a Hymn of Response that ties in to the sermon in some way, usually by encouraging us to take to heart or to commit to practice that which we have just heard and processed with our minds, or else to emphasize one of the verses or points of the sermon. After that, John reads a Pastoral Benediction from Scripture that also, if possible, helps to further solidify what was just preached, and that brings us to the end of the service.

I hope this walk-through has been informative and helpful for you, to help you understand the symbolism and significance of what happens during our worship services week after week. Liturgy is a beautiful and helpful form to help us focus our entire selves on the worship of God, but it is crucial that we know why we are doing what we do, so that we avoid allowing it to just become a mindless, meaningless ritual done only because "that's what we've always done." As a form of worship, liturgy helps us not to get too wrapped up in our emotions by seeking a constant "high" while worshipping. It helps our worship to be done not just with our hearts but with our minds as well. If you missed any of the blog posts about any of the sections listed in bold above, you can always look back at any of our previous blog posts to catch up.

As I mentioned earlier, this Sunday is the first Sunday in November, which means that we will be celebrating the sacrament of the Lord's Supper after the sermon. This means that John will be taking a break from 2 Peter and preaching from Psalm 4. A main theme that runs through this passage is the fact that God hears us when we cry out to Him. As we usually do when a sermon is on one of the psalms, we will sing that psalm as our Hymn of Rejoicing, and the sermon passage offered many beautiful, rich options for the rest of the hymns in our service. I was able to find what I think are good hymns to compliment the main themes of the passage, such as God's care and provision for us when we need Him, and I must say that picking this week's songs was particularly enjoyable, as I began to see how they each fit together with each other and with the sermon passage. Our Song of Ascent mentions that God is "our shield and Defender," that "in you do we trust, nor find you to fail," and that his mercies are "firm to the end." Our Hymn of Praise says that God is our "health and salvation," and I love the second verse, which says:

Praise to the Lord, who with marvelous wisdom hath made thee,
decked thee with health, and with loving hand guided and stayed thee.
How oft in grief hath not he brought thee relief,
spreading his wings to o'ershade thee!

What a beautiful declaration of God's care over His people! Even our Hymn of Preparation for the Lord's Supper talks about how God allows us to turn to Him to be filled when we feel unfilled, and how He his the Fountainhead that quenches our thirsting souls. There is a lot of beautifully rich poetry in the songs this week to convey our freedom to call upon God in our need.

Sermon: Psalm 4
Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 23:5-6
New Testament Reading: 1 John 5:13-15
Hymns:   Song of Ascent - "O Worship the King" (Trinity Hymnal, 2, verses 1, 2, & 5; you can hear a recording here)
                Hymn of Praise: - "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" (Trinity Hymnal, 53, verses 1, 4, & 5; you can hear a neat arrangement of it here)
                Hymn of Rejoicing: "Psalm 4;" the tune is "My Jesus, I Love Thee," and you can hear a recording here)
                Hymn of Preparation: "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts;" you can hear a recording here)

As we focus on the freedom and the privilege we have as God's children to cry out to Him in our need, let us prepare our hearts to worship Him in spirit and in truth this week.

Soli Deo Gloria!