When the congregation meets God, she should also honour Him as the Lawgiver. That way the congregation respects that God, who after all is the Creator, writes the directions for her life as well. The congregation also honours God as her Redeemer and, therefore, wishes to live thankfully according to the Law of God. Each worship service presupposes that the congregation renews the covenant before God's face.

It would be good to sing the Law, for it has music (Psalm 119:54). It is also possible that the minister speaks the commandments or that they are sung by a choir with the congregation responding to each commandment with: "Lord, God, have mercy upon us." Not only does the Law discover our guilt, but also gives directions for our living according to God's commandments; we are dependent on His help and love.

In the Order of Strasbourg (1526) the Law was optional. After the Confession of Sins and Absolution, a psalm (or hymn) could be sung or, instead, a Kyrie and Gloria. A third possibility at this juncture was the singing of the first table before the Salutation and the Prayer for Illumi­nation after which (between the short prayer and the sermon) the second table could be sung.¹

In the so-called Pseudoromana (1542), which, although written by Pierre Brully, represents the purest of Calvin's intentions², the Law, in verse form and divided over two tables, was placed before the Salutation and after the Sermon. In the order of Geneva (1542) the Law (also in song form) functioned as a transition between the Service of the Word and the Celebration of the Lord's Supper. In that way both functions of the Law ('knowledge of misery' and 'rule of thanksgiving') are simultaneously illuminated, and that is in agreement with the work of God's Spirit in the life of a redeemed person. In our orders of service the minister determines by his song selection whether the Law functions as 'knowledge of sins' or as 'rule of thanksgiving.' Furthermore, because the Law is always placed before the prayer, in which the minister on behalf of the congregation confesses the sins, the reading of the Law in the experience of the church mem­bers usually receives only an accent of 'knowl­edge of misery.'

It seems to me that the Law must be positioned in the worship service in such a way that both functions of the Law in the life of the believer are simultaneously mirrored, and must be in agreement with the work of the Holy Spirit, who by both functions binds the redeemed person to Christ. On this point, as well as in the matter of Confession of Sins and Proclama­tion of Grace, Order B requires quite a bit of work.

At this point it becomes clear why we, with M. Jenny, must not understand the 'ordo salutis' — which receives form in an order of service — in an existential sense.³ When the believers in an order of service are first forced to dwell on the Law as 'knowledge of misery' and only then may see it as the norm for the new life in Christ, the one becomes the condition for receiving the other and that does not tally with the teaching of the Reformers.⁴ Is the believer not righteous and sinful at the same time? Which function the Law addresses mostly can, therefore, differ from time to time and to this situation of the believer the Holy Spirit adapts in love. When, furthermore, the Law is illuminated one-sidedly as 'knowledge of misery,' it can lead the believer to see his life apart from his justification and sanctification.

In summary: the Law must be positioned in an order of worship so that both functions are simultaneously illuminated. So God's work becomes visible in the lives of his children. That, however, must not be understood existentially: what function is accented the most is determined by the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believers and not by the minister.⁵

G. Zomer Jzn. calls the Law 'constitutive' for the worship service — for when the congrega­tion assembles, she renews the covenant with her Lord — and, therefore, places the Law preferably at the beginning of the worship service.⁶

Whether the Law must always have a place in the worship service, depends on which order of worship is used. When the order, for exam­ple, has been composed from the unvarying parts of the mass (the ordinarium), the Law is absent. However, when the Law has a fixed place in the order of worship, for example in Kampen (1957), it is — viewed liturgically — a strange and objectionable custom to leave it out in some special worship services (such as Christmas, etc.) Liturgically, it is indefensible why it must give way and not, for example the Creed⁷ or the sermon.

Theologically, a lot could be said about this curious custom. In services, in which the congregations remembers and celebrates the events of God's salvation, a great deal can be learned about the Gospel from the Law. In prayer services, when the congregation ex­pressly seeks the Lord of the covenant (cf. Hosea 2:20f and Jeremiah 31:31-37), the Law may not be left out.

The suggestion to place the Law at the begin­ning of the service certainly deserves consid­eration. Within order B that, in my opinion, is not possible, because that way the historical connection with Strasbourg (1526 and 1537) is lacking. (When in a worship service the Lord's Supper is celebrated after the Service of the Word, the place of the Law in B can be brought into line with that of Geneva). In the still to be formulated orders for days of prayer or thanksgiving, and the so-called marriage services, placing the Law at the beginning of the service is a good possibility. Then the votum could even be amended with the pream­ble of the Law, in the following way: 'Our help is in the name of the Lord, our God, who brought us out of Egypt, the house of bondage, freed us from the power of evil.'

This votum ought to be sung by the congrega­tion, after which the congregation sings the Ten Commandments each followed by the refrain: 'Lord, God, have mercy upon us.' Instead of the Ten Commandments other parts of the New Testament can be set to music and sung. The latter is certainly to be considered, when it concerns services in which the events of salvation are celebrated and which, in particular, illuminate the transition from the Old- to the New Testament. So, for example, texts such as Romans 10:4-17 and 12:1-3 could be used for Christmas; Romans 6:12-14 and 7:4-6 or Colossians 2:14ff for Good Friday and Easter; Colossians 3:1ff for Ascension Day; Romans 8:12-15 and Galatians 5:13ff for Pentecost.

In short, some of this may make clear that we have not yet exhausted the possibilities for giving form to our relationship with the Lord. And that of course is not a conclusion that needs to make us sad, as long as we together have the will to make something beautiful and good for our good God.