Worship

It has become something of a Christmas tradition for me to print this article, written by Reuel Lemmons and published in the Firm Foundation several decades ago, not quite every year, but more often than not since I have moved here. Not only are its sentiments highly appropriate, but I get comments every year from those who missed it before somehow about how much they appreciate it; so I make no apologies for running it again. This editorial powerfully addresses…

I confess that I am behind on my Christmas shopping this year. Normally, I have begun by Thanksgiving and often have it finished by the beginning of December; this year, I am still working on it as I type this. I think that the lateness of Thanksgiving in the calendar this year has thrown me off my usual routine. But it reminds me that this is the time of year when we are concerned with choosing just the right gift…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of…

It has become my own Thanksgiving tradition to print historical Thanksgiving Proclamations in this space. The American Presidency Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara has collected all of them for anyone to read; if this sort of thing interests you, I encourage you to check them out. I find historical Thanksgiving Proclamations to be interesting with the insights they provide into the times in which they were issued. While perusing that database, I cam across this lesser-known example from…

From their emergence in this country in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the ethos of churches of Christ has been restoration. European nations had established churches: Roman Catholicism in many countries, Anglicanism in Great Britain, Lutheranism in Scandinavia. These were supported by taxes, given privileges by the government and, in some cases, compelled membership of all citizens. The New World offered an opportunity for religious freedom, as most of us learned in grade school. But that freedom came…

The following article is by Carroll Ellis and appeared in the Gospel Advocate January 1960. It’s still relevant today, and I commend it to your consideration. BP A man has just received a kind invitation. It was not an all-expense paid, deep sea fishing trip, neither was it free tickets to a basketball game. Rather, it was an urgent, pressing invitation to attend public worship. He was not annoyed, embarrassed, teased, but pleased, for he said: “I was glad when…

Most of us are probably familiar with Martin Luther. When you hear the name, you probably think of him first and foremost as the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. What you might not know about Luther is that, among all the changes he made, he was responsible for reintroducing congregational singing into worship. A Jesuit priest once complained he, “has murdered more souls with his songs than with…

I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:15)  Congregational singing is one of the most distinctive aspects of our public worship in churches of Christ. It’s certainly the one that stands out to visitors to our services because it is relatively unusual in contemporary Western Christianity; most religious groups over the last 150 or so years have moved to featuring various instruments in their assemblies. That immediately draws attention to…

I bet if you stopped 100 people on the street to ask them what they associate with churches of Christ, 90+ would say, “oh, they’re the ones who don’t use instruments” (or even “you don’t believe in music!” as I’ve occasionally heard). That stands out to people because it is something of an oddity in the contemporary West. Most professing Christians grew up attending churches with an organ, or a piano, or guitars and drums, depending on the denomination. Whatever…

As we continue our series of lessons on the activities we participate in when we assemble together, we are going to talk today about prayer. The ability to approach God’s throne is a great privilege. But it is also a tremendous responsibility to direct God’s people before him; after all, the one who leads prayer is speaking on behalf of an entire congregation to God! We will make some suggestions for the public (and private) prayer in our sermon, but…

From their emergence in this country in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the ethos of churches of Christ has been restoration. European nations had established churches: Roman Catholicism in many countries, Anglicanism in Great Britain, Lutheranism in Scandinavia. These were supported by taxes, given privileges by the government and, in some cases, compelled membership of all citizens. The New World offered an opportunity for religious freedom, as most of us learned in grade school. But that freedom came…

This week, we are beginning a sermon series on worship – specifically, on the corporate worship of the church in the assembly. We are going to cover the specific activities we participate in and why they are important. More fundamentally, we want to consider what worship is. And with that in mind, there are a couple of important points about the nature of worship that did not make it into our sermon this morning (you don’t want me to talk…