Gathering Together

When we arrive at church on a Sunday morning, we don’t always feel ready to worship God, let alone even come into his presence!  Sometimes we are hurried and frazzled, having rushed to get ourselves and/or our children up, fed, dressed and in the car on time!  It can be challenging to feel prepared to meet God!

So the church provides a time of preparation, a time to ready our mind, heart and spirit to worship. 

Worship begins in “Gathering around the Word.”  In some churches, when people arrive they greet one another and there is an air of celebration and festivity.  In others, when people enter they sit quietly in prayer to prepare their hearts.  As the congregation is called together, the “gathering” elements include congregational announcements; a call to worship; a prayer of adoration or praise; a call to and prayer of confession; and an assurance of pardon.  Any of these elements can be done through the spoken word or through song.

But why this order?  Let’s see if I can illustrate.  One of my favorite television shows has been “Undercover Boss.”  If you haven’t seen it, this is the premise: the CEO of a large national company goes undercover to try the entry level jobs in his company to see how things are going and to get in touch with the workers.  These workers don’t know that the person working beside them is The Boss, so they feel free to say what they do or don’t like about working for this company and suggest how the company could improve.  At the show’s end, these employees are called to the company headquarters to evaluate this “new” co-worker.  But in reality, this is when The Boss reveals his true identity.  When the worker understands who this really is, one of the first things he or she says or thinks (you can tell by the red face!) is “Oh no! What did I say or do?? Will I be fired?”  After the worker and The Boss talk for a bit, The Boss proceeds to give this worker a gift, whether a promotion or raise, a spot on a national committee to improve some aspect of the company, or a financial gift to assist with their or their children’s schooling, for example.

For me, this is the perfect picture of the purpose of Gathering around the Word.  As we hear the call to worship and the prayers of praise and adoration which reveal to us the glory of who God is and what he has done, we begin to feel the full impact of what it means that God is with us.  And what do we say or think?  “Oh no! What did I do or say that God didn’t like???”  This is the time for confession. 

But confession is not the end—the good news is that God gives us a gift too: the gift of forgiveness through his Son Jesus!  He does not count our sins and misdeeds against us!  We are assured of his pardon.

And with that, our mind, heart, and spirit have been cleansed and are open to receiving the Word—which happens in the next movement: “Proclaiming the Word.”  For the next few weeks when you come to church, pay attention to how the call to worship and the hymns or praise songs affect your heart and spirit as you begin the prayer of confession and then receive the assurance of pardon.

The Worship Service: “A Suggested Order”

Have you come to church one Sunday morning and wondered “Why do we always have confession at the beginning of the service?” or “Why do some people think the offering should come after the sermon?”  Well, you’ve come to the right place!  This is the first of a series of short articles, to be published in my church’s monthly newsletter, to answer those and other questions about why we do what we do during our worship service.

Since I am part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) I will be referencing our Presbyterian Book of Order.  It suggests five areas or “movements” in a worship service:

gathering around the Word;

proclaiming the Word;

responding to the Word;

the sealing of the Word; and

bearing and following the Word into the world. 

In my next several entries, I will look at what goes into each movement and what they accomplish in our mind, our heart, and our spirit.

Do you see that there is a certain flow, a certain direction to the movement?  Coming in, receiving, and going back out changed.  It’s kind of like a hospital, a restaurant, or even a gas station.  We come in with a need, we receive what is offered (healing, nourishment, a fill-up for the car), and we go out again, strengthened to continue our life.  The purpose of this order in our worship service is basically the same: we come to church needing to know God, we encounter and receive the Word, we worship, and we go back out into the world strengthened, knowing God better and ready to serve Him.  

In my next entry I’ll look at the first movement: “Gathering around the Word.”