Worship As Dialogue

Bill van Schie. Trowel & Sword. March 2003

Preamble: Last week, despite our “tongue-in-cheek” description of the approach of many people to attending a church service, we learned from Bill that attending a church service is serious business. How serious? Imagine the following scenario. The last day has arrived and all people have been raised from the dead and been joined by those who were still alive at the time of Christ’s second coming. All have been called before the throne of God. Are you rejoicing or are you terrified at what is about to take place? Now wind the clock back to the present. Same scenario. You are entering your place of worship – entering into the presence of God. Is your attitude one of deep reverence and respect or more a casual one of: “Well, I’ve done done church for another week. Now I can go out and enjoy myself and do what I want?” It boils down to this: Is God real for you?

Worship As Dialogue

Last month we saw that worship, to be truly worship according to the Biblical definition of the word worship and following the meaning of the English word itself, must always be God focussed. We saw that worship must never be human emotion centred. Or even human mind centred. Or congregational experience centred. For worship to be truly worship it must be focused on God whom we honour and on whom we declare worth.

But then the question can be raised, “What about those aspects in the worship service where we receive from God and we learn?” Is that not worshipping as well? How does the dialogue principle fit into this definition of worship?

The dialogue principle has been accepted as a Biblical concept and closely followed by the Reformers. In short the dialogue principle teaches that corporate worship is a conversation between God and us. That God speaks to us in the worship service and that we respond. In the Reformed understanding of worship we recognise four significant points in the worship service where God speaks and we respond.

The first is in the “Greeting”. God begins the worship service by beginning the conversation with His greeting. God welcomes us into His presence and invites us to worship Him. The traditional wording often used is taken from Ps. 124:8, Phil. 1:3 “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who has made heaven and earth. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The worship aspect is our response to God’s greeting. We declare our dependence on Him and we honour Him for who He is.

The second significant point of the conversation between God and us is the “Assurance of Pardon”. In the assurance of pardon God shows us through the summary of the Law that we are sinners. Then God assures us through a suitable Scripture verse the forgiveness we have in Christ. God then instructs us through the Ten Commandments or another suitable reading how we should live in gratitude.

The worship aspect in this section is twofold. We worship in the way we humble ourselves in confession and repentance and in the way that we rededicate ourselves to live in gratitude. This worship can be through prayer or song.

The third significant point of the conversation between God and us is in the “Preaching of the Word”. God speaks to us when the word is opened and expounded. The Spirit then does his work of illumination, correction, guiding and encouraging.

The worship aspect in this section is also twofold. The way we listen and open our hearts, minds and will to receive that word reveals our attitude of worship. The way we dedicate ourselves and commit ourselves to put that Word into practice is also an act of worship.

The fourth and last point of conversation between God and us in corporate worship is the “Benediction”.

It is in the Benediction that God blesses us with a farewell promise that He goes with us into our lives and into the world. The Benediction is the link between the worship service and our daily lives.

The worship aspect in this section is when we go out with a believing heart and go rejoicing leaving one presence of God in a corporate context for another in a more individual context.

Looking at the above we can see that the dialogue principle of corporate worship confirms our previous definition of worship. That worship must at all times be God focussed. When God speaks and declares his forgiving, grace empowering love to us in the greeting, in the assurance of pardon, in the Word and in the Benediction, it is then that we respond in worship.

Worship therefore must always be God focussed.

As it says in Psalm 100:1-3

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

The question can then be raised, How does this work in practice? Well next month we will examine this a little more closely by looking at different ways of doing the “Greeting”.

Bill van Schie

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