Services & Classes
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Six Summer Sundays
Class Outlines and Handouts
"Before there was theology, there was worship."
1. Who initiates Christian worship?
a. God initiates and we respond. (study book, p. 13)
b. From tonight's Evening Prayers service:
Call to Worship:
Minister: "The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him." Habakkuk 2:20
Minister: I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice, unto the throne of heavenly grace, saying after me:
Lord's Prayer:
All (standing): Our Father, who art in heaven, . . . .
2. What does Christian worship tell?
a. God's saving deeds, the events of salvation. (study book, pp. 12-15)
b. Example from Psalm 145 in tonight's Evening Prayers:
The Psalm: (The people sitting, the Reader reads Psalm 145:)
1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.
5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.
c. Example: The Apostles' creed, after the scripture readings and before the Prayers of the People, in tonight's service:
(All standing): I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; / and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord; / who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, / born of the Virgin Mary, / suffered under Pontius Pilate, / was crucified, dead, and buried. / He descended into hell. / The third day he rose again from the dead. / He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. / From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. / I believe in the Holy Ghost, / the holy catholic Church, / the communion of saints, / the forgiveness of sins, / the resurrection of the body, / and the life everlasting. Amen.
d. Scriptural example: 1 Timothy 3:16: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. (NKJ)
3. How is worship a celebration?
a. 1. It is rooted in an event. 2. It makes the event become contemporaneous with the group celebrating. 3. It is full of stories, singing, feasting, dramatizing, and enacting. (study book, p. 14)
"When we gather at the Lord's Table to remember Christ's death and resurrection, we do drama. We not only say the words, but we also add actions to the words." (study book, p. 20)
b. Example from this morning's service at Epworth, immediately before Communion:
Minister: Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith:
People: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
The Fraction:
Minister: Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
People: Therefore let us keep the feast.
4. Worship contrasted to:
a. Thought or experience: Worship is something prayed and something enacted, not something thought about or merely experienced. Saliers, Worship As Theology, p. 27.
b. Expressing ourselves: "(T)he ongoing prayer of Jesus, and the ongoing word and self-giving of Jesus, shapes our existence and brings us to expression. Worship that focuses primarily on self-expression fails to be worship in Spirit and in truth." Saliers, Worship As Theology, p. 27.
5. What is the central event which Christian worship remembers?
Christ's crucifixion and resurrection." (study book, p. 19)
6. What have been the four major structures of Christian worship from the very beginning, in all cultures and in all parts of the Christian church, until comparatively recent times?
From Worship As Theology, by Don E. Saliers: 1. The rites of Christian initiation (baptism, confirmation); 2. the Eucharist, with readings of the scripture and prayers; 3. the daily prayer offices; and 4. the calendar of seasons and feasts. (p. 166)
7. Questions to ponder or discuss, now or later
a. Which came first: liturgy (the people's pattern of worship) or theology?
b. What can prayer in public worship do, which private prayer cannot?
c. How important is intercessory prayer in a worship service?
d. Why are the "Prayers of the People" part of the Service of the Table rather than being part of the Service of the Word?
e. If a service does not contain an invocation of the Triune God at the outset, is anything important lost?
f. What is the most intensive and extensive form of praise and thanksgiving in the Christian tradition?
g. Where do we find a church's primary theology?
h. Are active participation and self-expression worship?
i. What is transsubstantiation in reverse?
j. Who leads our worship? Who should do so?
k. What about our worship serves as a school against forgetfulness?
l. What about our worship serves as a school against ingratitude?
7. Practicing chanting Psalms 98 and 67
1 O sing unto the Lord a new song: for he hath done marvellous things. With his own right hand, and with his holy arm; hath he gotten himself the victory.
2 The Lord declared his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3 . . . .
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