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Pastor · Sunday Schedule · FBC
News
November
2004
From the Pastor
Suggestions for Worshiping
Before Arriving: Take time to remind yourself that worship is about meeting God. It is about being with God’s family. In a sense it is about going home, seeing the aunts and uncles, greeting the grandparents, watching the little ones. Try to find in your preparation for worship a feeling of anticipation.
Arriving: While walking from the parking lot to the entrance of the church building repeat to yourself, “This is the day the Lord hast made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Smile. Take the hand of the greeter and usher and let it serve as a welcome into the house of the Lord. Look around the narthex and let the stained glass and carving of the Lord’s Last Supper remind you, you are in a different sort of place.
Before the service begins: Take your seat. Pause for a moment to realize where you are. Look over the announcements. Pray that each ministry or activity listed will successfully fulfill its purpose.
The Prelude: A very important time. While the music plays in the background, offer yourself up to God. Become conscious of everything in your mind but ask God that these things might not be distractions but instead through this time of worship you might begin to see all things in the light of his love.
Praise Choruses: Let yourself go. Truly now, you are in the presence of the Lord. Sing, clap, whatever moves you. Think of yourself as being in a scene out of the Book of Revelation. You are standing before the throne praising God. If this is not your kind of music, let it teach you of the university of God’s Love. Look into the faces of the young adults leading us and thank God that his Love has so touched them they are willing to spend the time in rehearsal and planning to bring us this offering of praise.
The acolytes and children’s story: Wow! Look at the children. Aren’t we blessed? And isn’t it wonderful the seriousness with which the acolytes perform their task? They bring the light into the sanctuary and they take the light into the world at the end of the service, and they in themselves reveal that light, the Light of Life.
The repetitious responses: The Lord’s Prayer and Doxology, The Prayer Litany and “Thanks be to God,” response at the end of the Scripture Lesson. The more often you say them or sing them, the deeper they fall into your soul. You say it so often, you are able to say it without cue cards, it is in you, a part of you.
The Scripture reading: Think of it as God answering back to you. It is God’s revelation. You are not speaking to a God who does not engage Himself with you. God is present, and His Word ties us to all the generations who have met in worship before us and who on this day worship in Heaven. The Scripture expresses what is eternal, what is for now and evermore. The Lord is in His Holy Temple. Thus, after the reading we exclaim, “Thanks be to God.”
The Sermon: Allow for the possibility that however the sermon is crafted, there might be something in it, something even the pastor didn’t intend that God might lift up and apply to you or something you are going through or wrestling with. If this be the possibility then it requires listening too.
The hymns: Hymns are different from praise choruses. Mostly hymns are narratives. They tell a story. In them we hear the testimony of those who have gone before us, but in singing them, we begin to recognize, they are telling our story as well.
The Anthem and organ: Their music soars. They express a beauty and majesty beyond our own talent but one that inspires us. We are lifted up. We are given a glimpse of the beauty and majesty of God’s presence and His desire for all creation.
The ending: We stand to sing. Perhaps we feel more grateful, perhaps we have been comforted, perhaps we have been inspired, or perhaps it is enough to say, “It has been good to meet in the presence of the Lord.”
Going out: It once more is God’s world, and again our life has center from which we are ready to embrace and live this new week, the center of God’s Love for us and God’s Love for the world.
Be a part of this hour. Worship this Sunday and every Sunday at 10:30 am.
Dr. David W. Andersen
          
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