Worship Notes for 3/30/2008
Mar 28th, 2008
Greetings, Redeemer Family!
Our service this Sunday begins with a call to worship from the prophet Isaiah; a passage which is actually quoted by Joshn the Baptist in John 1:23.
Call to Worship Isaiah 40:1-5
Leader: “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
Congregation: “Speak kindly to Jerusalem: And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand
Double for all her sins.”
Leader: A voice is calling,
Congregation: “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Worship Team: “Let every valley be lifted up; And every mountain and hill be made low;
Congregation: And let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
We’ll respond together, proclaiming the glory of Christ our King:
Wondrous King, All-Glorious
Wondrous King, all glorious,
sov’reign Lord victorious,
oh, receive our praise with favor!
From Thee welled God’s kindness
tho’ we in our blindness
strayed from Thee, our blessed Savior.
Strengthen Thou, help us now;
let our tongues be singing,
Thee our praises bringing.
Heavens, spread the story
of our Maker’s glory,
all the pomp of earth obscuring.
Sun, thy rays be sending,
thy bright beams expending,
light to all the earth assuring.
Moon and star, praise afar
Him who glorious made you;
the vast heavens aid you.
O my soul, rejoicing,
sing, thy praises voicing,
sing, with hymns of faith adore Him!
All who here have being,
shout, your voices freeing,
bow down in the dust before Him.
He is God Sabaoth;
praise alone the Savior,
here and there forever.
Hallelujahs render
to the Lord most tender,
ye who know and love the Savior.
Hallelujahs sing ye,
ye redeemed, oh, bring ye
hearts that yield Him glad behavior.
Blest are ye endlessly;
sinless there forever,
ye shall laud Him ever.
Text and tune by Joachim Neander, 1680.
Text ©1941 Concordia Publishing House
Why do we worship on Sunday, the first day of the week? Because it was on the first day of the week that the Lord rose from the dead. This next hymn give thanks for the glories of the first day of the week.
O Day of Rest and Gladness
1. O day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light
O balm of care and sadness,
Most beautiful, most bright;
On thee the high and lowly,
Through ages joined in tune,
Sing Holy, Holy, Holy,
To the great God Triune.
(Verse 1 gives thanks for the blessed truth that both those in heaven and on earth join their voices in praise of the Triune God)
2. On thee, at the creation
The light first had Its birth;
On thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On thee our Lord, victorious
The Spirit sent from heav’n
And thus on thee, most glorious,
A triple light was giv’n.
(Note that in verse 2 the pronoun “thee” refers to the first day of the week- and acknowledges the creation of light, the resurrection of the Lord, and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost as a “triple light” given to us on the Sabbath.)
3. Thou are a port protected
From storms that round us rise;
A garden intersected
With streams of Paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
In life’s dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah’s mountain,
We view our promised land.
(Verse 3 reminds us of the glories that we taste on the Sabbath as we gather with the worshiping church)
4. Today on weary nations,
The heavn’ly manna falls:
To holy convocations,
The silver trumpet calls,
Where gospel light is glowing
With pure and radiant beams
And living water flowing,
With soul refreshing streams.
(Verse 4 calls us to give praise that we live in the Gospel era- and that the heavenly manna of the Gospel is refreshing weary souls.)
5. New graces ever gaining,
From this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining,
To spirits of the blest.
To Holy Ghost be praises,
To Father, and to Son;
The church her voice upraises,
To thee, blest Three in One.
(How else would we finish such a crescendo of praise?? We look forward to our promised eternal rest, giving thanks to the triune God.)
Text: Christopher Wordsworth, 1863
Music: ©1997 Christopher Miner Music
I’ve adapted a prayer from The Valley of Vision that we will pray together as we ask for forgiveness, for we have not made Christ our “All.”
“Christ Is All”
O Lover to the uttermost,
May I read the melting of thy heart to me
in the manger of thy birth, in the garden of thy agony,
in the cross of thy suffering, in the tomb of thy resurrection,
in the heaven of thy intercession.
Deepen in me a sense of my holy relationship to thee,
as spiritual Bridegroom, as Jehovah’s Fellow, as sinner’s Friend.
I think of thy glory and my vileness, thy majesty and my meanness,
thy beauty and my deformity, thy purity and my filth,
thy righteousness and my iniquity.
Thou hast loved me everlastingly, may I love thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given thyself for me, may I give myself to thee;
Thou hast died for me, may I live to thee, in every moment of my time,
in every movement of my mind, in every pulse of my heart.
May I never look for fulfillment in the world and its vanity,
but walk by thy side, listen to thy voice, be clothed with thy graces,
and adorned with thy righteousness.
Adapted from the prayer “Christ is All” from The Valley of Vision
(a collection of Puritan Prayers, ©1975 The Banner of Truth Trust.)
Mike will be preaching on John 1: 19-34 in a message titled “John’s Witness to the Glory of Christ.” Please read this passage in preparation for worship, and pray that we will more and more be a people committed to the glory of the Lamb of God.
Blessings in Christ,
John Bennetch
(Texts printed by permission: CCLI #2419466)