New Narrative - Worship

We are rapidly approaching Easter Sunday.
It is the season when our world and our minds begin pointing toward resurrection, rebirth, and new life.

The daffodil have bloomed, the magnolia have blossomed, and the trees are beginning to green.

The church has been moving through the forty day desert of Lent growing ever closer to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

This is a tremendous season to turn our hearts toward the spiritual disciplines.  The center of our lives as Christians is the discipline of worship. The next few posts will have worship as their focus.

A lot has been written about worship throughout the last several years. Much of the discussion has focused on questions of style and methodology. It is easy to grow weary of this discussion because there are faithful people with diverse and often divergent opinions about the how, the when, and the where of worship. Adding to this discussion would simply be stacking someone else's opinion and convictions on top of an already insanely high stack. Therefore, these posts will avoid adding another voice to the confusion. We will instead turn our attention to the discipline itself.

In the Book of Order, Christian worship is described as follows,
               Christian worship joyfully ascribes all praise and honor, glory and power to the triune God.

            In worship the people of God acknowledge God present in the world and in their lives. As

            they respond to God’s claim and redemptive action in Jesus Christ, believers are transformed

            and renewed. In worship the faithful offer themselves to God and are equipped for God’s

            service in the world. (W-1.1001)

Worship is our central act as faithful people.  It is what we are to be about. There is nothing more important that we could be doing with our time and energy than offering ourselves, our lives, our gifts to the One who in Christ gave and continues to give us all things. It is in our worship that we offer our grateful response to what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do. As the central response of faith, worship reminds us of where all praise, honor, glory, and power rightly belong. In worship, we are challenged and equipped to serve the triune God in word and deed.

Christian worship is a discipline. It is not something that we are necessarily drawn toward naturally. It is something that takes time, effort, and commitment to develop. I encourage you in these last two weeks of Lent to find a time to worship together as a family (however your family may be assembled). Worshiping together has the power to transform the manner in which you talk about faith and life. Worship truly gives us a new narrative into which we can live.

Second Presbyterian Church offers several worship times throughout the next several days for you to practice your worship discipline.

March 28 - Wednesday Evening Prayers, 6-6:25 p.m.

April 1 - Palm Sunday Worship - 8:15, 9:30 and 11 a.m., Families@Five at 5 p.m. & Second@Six at 6 p.m.

April 1 - Service of Holy Communion and Wholeness - 10:35 every Sunday

April 5 - Tenebrae Communion Service - 8:00 p.m. At this service of shadows, we share the Last Supper and hear the story of the last hours of the life of Jesus. The service ends in darkness.
April 6 - Good Friday Worship Services - Noon to 3 p.m., with meditations in the chapel on the Seven Last Words of Christ. Please feel free to come and go as you are able. This service features a string quartet performing The Seven Last Words of Christ by Franz Joseph Haydn.

April 8 - Easter Sunday - Morning Worship Services: Worship Services in the Sanctuary at 8, 9:30 and 11:15 a.m. Music at these services will feature special music with Sanctuary Choir, Festival Brass, organ and percussion. Evening Worship Services: Families@Five at 5 p.m.; and Second@Six Communion Service at 6 p.m.

Make these last two weeks of Lent a time for you and your family to begin or add something to your discipline of worship.