Worship

Ephrem the Syrian and His Scriptural Songs

Simonetta Carr
Apr 17, 2018
Ephrem was still a young man when his quick understanding, knowledge of Scriptures, literary skills, and love for the church captured the attention of the local bishop. Jacob had been bishop of the Christian community of Nisibis (a commercial center on the Persian border) since 309, when Ephrem was...

City of Joy

Mark Johnston
Feb 27, 2018
The theme of joy in Scripture finds its focus in the joy of knowing God as our God and Saviour. As we seek his glory (as opposed to our own) we experience a joy that is utterly different from all the joys of earth combined. Nevertheless, amazingly, this joy can be found and experienced on earth...

Martin Bucer and the Reform of Worship

Terry L. Johnson
Feb 8, 2018
If Martin Bucer (1477-1548) is not an un sung hero of the Reformation, he is certainly an under sung hero. This particularly is the case when it comes to public worship. Bucer's fingerprints are all over Calvin's Form of Church Prayers (1542) as well as the Book of Common Prayer (1552, 1559, 1662...

How to Discourage Your Minister in the New Year

Paul Levy
Jan 7, 2018
I recently had someone come to see me who was struggling in their church. In all honesty it would have been hard to be more depressed by what they had to say. I had very little sympathy with their complaints and told them if they wanted affirmation I was the wrong man to whom they should come...

The Quest for Biblical Worship (Part 2)

Terry L. Johnson
Sep 18, 2017
Reformed churches not only have the regulative principle worship (RPW) to guide them regarding elements and forms, but they also, throughout their history, have had liturgies and directories. The liturgies were the more restrictive ( e.g. Strasburg , Geneva , Amsterdam), the directories (...

The Quest for Biblical Worship (Part 1)

Terry L. Johnson
Jul 27, 2017
Which is more likely today, liturgical sameness or liturgical strangeness ? Which is more damaging to the integrity of Protestant denominations? Are we suffocating from liturgical uniformity--encountering the same old predictable things in the Reformed churches we attend? Or, are we unsettled by...

The Regulative Principle of "Liturgical Sameness?"

Stephen Tipton
Apr 25, 2017
In the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)--the denomination in which I serve as a minister of the Gospel--quite a number of ministers lament the fact that you can attend five of our churches (all within the same city) only to have five very different worship experiences. Additionally, these same...

Redemptive History, Union with Christ and the Liturgical Calendar

Nick Batzig
Feb 28, 2017
The word "liturgy" continues to be a trendy--yet often indeterminate--buzzword among young(er-ish) Christians. This is especially so with regard to those who have recently made the shift away from broad evangelicalism and toward historic worship practices of Christendom. Alongside this phenomenon...

The Public Reading of Scripture--Presbyterian-Style

Brian Tallman
Feb 6, 2017
In 2011, the session of the church that I pastor sought to educate and assist the members of the church regarding proposed changes that we had decided to make to an important aspect of our corporate worship services. Prior to these changes, unordained men would regularly lead the congregation in...

Creation Calls For Wonder

Aaron Denlinger
Jan 26, 2017
"The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good." Thus the Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes the Christian doctrine of creation (WSC 9). What response should this doctrine elicit from us? Too often, I think,...