Worship Notes for February 14, 2010
Feb 12th, 2010
Greetings Redeemer family,
I just looked at the weather report for this upcoming weekend and a smile came to my face. The forecast is overwhelmingly clear. Cold, to be sure, but there’s a happy little sunshine graphic under each of the dates on the weather calender. There’s no sign of the snow and ice we’ve seen the past two weeks. Now, don’t get me wrong – I usually like the snow. I enjoy the time to settle back, visit with friends and family, and curl up with a good book. What I don’t like is missing our time of worship together on Sunday mornings, which has sadly been cancelled these past two weeks.
So I have a great amount of excitement as I look towards our services this Sunday. Do you share this anticipation? Maybe you have a deep longing for Sabbath worship, yet you haven’t identified it yet. Maybe these past two weeks have left you feeling dry, disconnected, disordered. Sabbath worship is meant to remedy this, as a means of God’s grace through Christ’s body. Sunday morning is our opportunity to come and be fed with the Word and Sacrament. As we study His Word, we find our hearts and minds restored. We find our place in community as we reconnect both with God and with our brothers and sisters. We find ourselves back in order with creation as we praise God through songs, prayers, and tithes. We were created to worship as a corporate body, enjoying the blessings of the One who said: “You will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Jer 31:1)
Because of the cancellations these past two weeks, the leadership team simply pushed back the planned order of service from January 31. Below is the original Worship Notes that I prepared for that service. I pray that they will stir up in you a great anticipation for our time together on Sunday!
Most of us know the story of our national anthem. In the middle of the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key was aboard a British ship, watching as the enemy fleet bombarded Fort McHenry. He could do nothing but listen as the cannons fired round after round. He anxiously waited through the night, dreading the surrender of this crucial US stronghold. As the morning light came in, Key strained his eyes amid the smoke and saw that “star-spangled banner” still flying over the fort. There was no surrender. Hope still remained.
This story stuck out to me this morning for two reasons. First, it reminds me the power of an image. Key saw the flag that night and his hopes for our nation were restored. Before he was anxious and afraid. After, he was inspired to write words that would be sung by millions for generations. Second, it gives me a new appreciation of another song text by Key, which opens our worship this Sunday. “Lord, With Glowing Heart” also points to the need to have our hope restored from an outside source. True love and worship of God is not something we can just will from within ourselves. Left to ourselves, we are spritually blind and cold towards God. Yet it is God’s gracious pleasure to open our eyes to the beauty of His gospel, which enables us to love and worship Him rightly.
Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise Thee,
For the bliss Thy love bestows,
For the pardoning grace that saves me,
And the peace that from it flows:
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
This dull soul to rapture raise:
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.
Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee,
Wretched wanderer, far astray;
Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee
From the paths of death away;
Praise, with love’s devoutest feeling,
Him Who saw thy guilt-born fear,
And the light of hope revealing,
Bade the blood-stained cross appear.
Praise thy Savior God that drew thee
To that cross, new life to give,
Held a blood sealed pardon to thee,
Bade thee look to Him and live.
Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee,
Roused thee from thy fatal ease;
Praise the grace whose promise warmed thee,
Praise the grace that whispered peace.
Lord, this bosom’s ardent feeling
Vainly would my lips express.
Low before Thy footstool kneeling,
Deign Thy suppliant’s prayer to bless:
Let Thy grace, my soul’s chief treasure,
Love’s pure flame within me raise;
And, since words can never measure,
Let my life show forth Thy praise.
As you’ll notice, this song uses some older English forms that we typically use today. While the language is dated, most of it should be accessible if you take a moment to read it carefully. One line, however, uses two words that are seldom used today. In the 4th verse, Key writes “Low before Thy footstool kneeling, deign Thy suppliant’s prayer to bless.” “Deign” is a formal verb meaning “to condescend to give or grant.” A “suppliant” is a person that is asking for something humbly. So this line is a very formal, humble way of asking God to answer prayer.
Francis Scott Key’s prayer is requesting that God would open our eyes and reveal to us again the beauties of His glory and grace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we see Him in this way, we cannot help but honor and adore Him. It calls us out of our own worries and anxieties and into His presence. It is this working of the Spirit in our hearts that draws us to worship Him. Theologically, we call this “effectual calling”.
Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
We believe that Jesus came to call us to Himself by revealing the glories of God’s Kingdom, and verified in the signs and wonders He performed in His ministry. These things were prophesied in the book of Isaiah, which we use this week as our call to worship:
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35)
We respond to this Word of God with joyful singing, for God has revealed to us His glory and splendor:
We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength
We bow down and worship Him now
How great how awesome is He
Holy is the Lord God Almighty
The earth is filled with His glory
To Christ the Lord let every tongue its noblest tribute bring
When He’s the subject of the song who can refuse to sing?
Survey the beauties of His face and on His glories dwell
Think of the wonder of His grace and all His triumphs tell
Since from His bounty I receive such proofs of love divine
Had I a thousand hearts to give Lord, they should all be Thine
A thousand men could not compose a worthy song to bring
Yet Your love is a melody our hearts can’t help but sing!
This week, Mike will be teaching out of John 9, the story of a blind man healed by Jesus, and the complications that ensue. One of the things I love about this story is that it doesn’t just end with the man’s eyesight being restored. The formerly-blind man finds himself in the middle of a controversy between the Pharisees and Jesus. Many of us have had similar stories: Jesus comes into our lives and brings us to new life, yet instead of tranquil bliss, complex conflict follows. May God grant us faith like that man to confess: “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Let the blind say I can see
It’s what the Lord has done in me
Hosanna hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna hosanna
Jesus died and rose again
Following the sermon, we will consider how to respond as people who have been changed by God’s grace. One particular avenue of joyful response is through the giving of tithes and offerings. On a broader level, we call our response to God acts of faith and repentance.
Q. 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.
Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
We follow this reading by taking time to practice repentance together through a time of corporate prayer:
O my Savior, help me. I am slow to learn, prone to forget, and weak to climb; I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my sullied conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities. I am blind while the light shines around me: take the scales from my eyes, grind to dust my heart of unbelief. Make it my highest joy to study you, meditate on you, gaze on you, sit like Mary at your feet, lean like John on your breast, appeal like Peter to your love, count like Paul all things but dung. I believe, help my unbelief. Amen
We will then hear the Word of God, reminding us of our status as His called and forgiven people:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (2 Corinthians 4:6, Ephesians 5:8)
We close our service by singing a song of dedication to “live as children of light.” It is my prayer that this anthem would follow you through the week, reminding you that you are washed in the cleansing blood of Jesus, you have the full inheritance as a son or daughter of God, you have the joy of serving the world as one who loves the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God.
Let us love and sing and wonder
Let us praise the Savior’s name
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame
He has washed us with His blood
He has washed us with His blood
He has washed us with His blood
He has brought us nigh to God
Praying to see with new eyes,
Tim Sharpe
Worship Director