Songs for Ascension, Pentecost, and Professing Our Faith
This article introduces a number of hymns that can be used in corporate worship for Ascension, Pentecost, and profession of faith.
This article introduces a number of hymns that can be used in corporate worship for Ascension, Pentecost, and profession of faith.
How should worship planners make use of the liturgical calendar, and in this case in particular Advent? This article gives a number of considerations when reflecting on the function of the liturgical calendar.
Why are hymns connecting with young people? This article reflects on the resonance older hymns find with the younger church generation.
This article offers a sample service for planning celebrations during Advent. Its special emphasis is giving expression given to the believer's longing for Jesus, who is our way home.
This article tells the story of the motivation of a single church to choose for an urban rather than a suburban location.
The article introduces a hymn and a psalm for use in public worship at ordination and on Trinity Sunday: "God the Spirit, Guide and Guardian" and Psalm 29, respectively.
This article answers questions put to the author about the confession of sin and assurance of pardon in a worship service.
The article introduces two songs for use in corporate worship during Lent and Easter.
Moravian churches have been celebrating this Easter Service service for more than 250 years and singing the same hymns for at least the last hundred years. This article provides the main content of such a service and presents it as an example to other churches.
This article explains the calendar for the church year, covering terms like Lent and advent.
This article provides resources to celebrate three Old Testament festivals, in their “Christianized” versions.
This article wants to give encouragement to learn to cherish both preaching and the sacraments.
This article offers resources to prepare a worship service based on Psalm 103.
This article offers liturgies for planning a sermon series whose focus is the image of birds in the Bible.
This article introduces a new songbook Sing! A New Creation for use in corporate worship.
This article reflects on how the textual and musical substances in congregational singing become the building blocks for a life of faith.
This article introduces songs to be used in worship that focuses on hospitality, stewardship of creation, Ascension Day, and Pentecost.
This article offers resources to prepare for and celebrate Ascencion Day.
This article offers resources for the preparation of a series of worship services with a focus on stewardship.
This article offers answers to questions on durable music, the Ten Commandments, and Palm-Passion Sunday.
This article considers how the Belgic Confession can be made more accessible in a question and answer format for use in a worship service.
This article presents the whole Belgic Confession in a question-and-answer format.
This article offers resources to plan and prepare a worship service focusing on the theme of the Lamb of God.
This article introduces a number of hymns and Psalm 97 for singing in a corporate worship service: "It Came upon the Midnight Clear"; "Angels We Have Heard on High"; "In the Lord, I'll Be Ever Thankful"; "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light."
This article is a short meditation on Psalm 137.
This article reflects on the significance of the cloud in Jesus' ascension into heaven, as the "Shekinah Glory" and the presence of God. It further supplies resources to help plan and prepare an Ascension Day service.
The Book of Common Prayer is the oldest prayer book in continuous use in the English-speaking church. This article introduces this document.
This article gives some help in how to publicly acknowledge copyright on songs used in worship.
This article addresses a number of matters related to public worship, including the use of liturgical cliches by ministers in prayers, and collects.
This article considers the function and meaning of the prayer for illumination during a worship service.
This article introduces a number of hymns to be used in public worship: "Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise," "O Sing to the Lord," "Like the Murmur of the Dove's Song," and "Gracious Spirit, Heed Our Pleading."
Great care needs to be taken that the congregation be led in a way that helps them do what they have come to do in worship, that is, encounter the living God. This article reflects on practical aspects in this regard.
This article introduces and reviews the book, "The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church," by Hughes Oliphant Old.
This article indicates the importance of how songs are introduced in the worship service. It reflects on how to introduce worship songs and offers some helpful pointers for pastors and other worship leaders.
This article introduces a number of hymns for use in public worship during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
This is the second part of an article that offers service plans for celebrating the Lord's Supper throughout the church year.
This article introduces a number of hymns that can be used in public worship that includes the Lord's Supper: "Gather Us In," "Taste and See," "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord; Holy Is the Lord," "Go, My Children, with My Blessing," and "Hallelujah, We Sing Your Praises."
This article offers resources for the preparation of the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
The liturgical form for the celebration of the Lord's Supper includes the call to "discern the body" (1 Corinthians 11). This article reflects on the significance of this biblical call for the way a church celebrates the Lord's Supper.
On the first Sunday of October, increasing numbers of churches participate in World Communion Sunday. This is a time when Christians from all over the world celebrate what it means to belong to the holy catholic church. This article indicates that one way to remember the larger body of Christ is to offer prayers and songs that come to us from brothers and sisters around the world. Several examples are given.
This article offers support for worship planning by providing six service plans for celebrating the Lord's Supper throughout the church year.
This article reflects on how the prayer at the communion table when celebrating the Lord's Supper cradles the church's central, basic affirmations concerning the knowledge of God, the person and work of Christ, and the life and ministry of the church in the power of the Spirit.
Should patriotic songs be part of a church's hymnal? This article reflects on this and other questions related to public worship.
When we worship with believers who come increasingly from every tribe and language and people and nation, we should expect that worship to reflect the gifts that come from those diverse cultures, places, and people. This article reflects on the reality of our worship as coming from all nations and peoples, how it will be united in heaven, and how we even today have a foretaste of that unity.
Many congregations use the guitar to lead part of the congregational singing. This article reflects on the appropriate musical arrangements and harmonization with other instruments used.
This article introduces a number of hymns for use in corporate worship during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light," "Gloria, Gloria," "Glory, Glory, Glory!" and "Glory to God."
Much church music (new and old, "contemporary" or "traditional") is of suspect quality and appropriateness for authentic worship in the Reformed tradition. How should we determine what music is appropriate to sing in worship services? This article reflects on relevant considerations and principles.
This article reflects on the surprising choices of teenagers with regard to the style of church music.
This article introduces a number of psalms to sing in corporate worship: Psalm 13, Psalm 25, and Psalm 33.
How can our prayers reflect the awe, wonder, privilege, honour, and delight we have in meeting our Lord in prayer? This article provides a number of the different names of God found in Scripture, with a view to us enriching our ways of addressing God in prayer.
Ascension is the crowning event of Jesus' ministry. This article wants to encourage churches to take the celebration of Ascension Day more seriously as part of the liturgical calendar.
This article offers resources to celebrate the summit of Holy Week in the form of four worship services.
This article echoes the message of the prophet Amos that the praises in song of the church can never be a substitute for deeds of justice.
Why do Christians in most Reformed and Presbyterian churches not kneel during prayer? In this article Abraham Kuyper explains that kneeling was still customary as late as 1618, at the Synod of Dort.
This article gives organists advice on changing keys when leading congregational singing.
Conviction of sin is hardly possible in today's Western culture. We believe not in sin and forgiveness but in illness and recovery. Increasingly, the people who gather in churches for worship come expecting to have their self-esteem enhanced.
This article reviews the book Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, by David Peterson.
This article introduces two hymns and a psalm that can be used in corporate worship: "Prepare the Way of the Lord," "When Jesus the Healer," and Psalm 1.
This article reflects on the nature of worship.
This article offers some resource ideas for worship planning for the Sundays after Epiphany.
This article offers a liturgy to be used in a service where the birth of Christ is celebrated in Scripture, song, and symbol.
This article offers a sample liturgy where world hunger and poverty form the theme.
This article introduces a number of hymns for use in corporate worship: "Lord, You Give the Great Commission," "Holy God, We Praise Your Name," and "What Shall I Render to the Lord?"
How often should communion be celebrated in communal worship? This article reflects on one church's experiment with weekly communion.
Ritual is one of the most important practices in worship. This article reflects on the importance and function of rituals and repetition in worship.
This article offers a sample liturgy for the celebration of Christmas as well as for the Sunday after Christmas.
How important is it to minister to the minister, care for the elder, and lead the music leader? This article considers ways to care for those called upon to lead the church in worship, in order to refresh them in their calling.
This article introduces two hymns and a psalm for use in the public worship of the church: "Holy, Holy, Holy," "There Is a Balm in Gilead," Psalm 65.
This article wants to encourage a more accurate understanding of the psychological development of adolescents, in order to help churches better serve and lead them.
Do praise choruses contribute to the expression of our worship of God? This article outlines the strengths and weaknesses of such choruses.
A bulletin says a great deal about a church. What should be the purpose of a church bulletin? It is argued in this article that bulletins deserve more care and consideration than most churches have been giving them.
Real worship is costly. It will cost personal and corporate worship preparation. It will cost churches tendencies toward a people-pleasing style of leadership. This article (a letter) reflects such a struggle and search for real worship.
This article provides some questions from a worship coordinator and a response from a worship consultant.
This article draws attention to the fundamental shift taking place within most Western cultures: North America and Europe are now viewed as a mission field, This shift is requiring churches to make substantial adjustments in both their self-understanding and their ministries. The implications of this shift for the church—from having a church-shaped mission to being a mission-shaped church—is explored.
This article reviews The Church Music Handbook.
This article considers particular advantages of making use of a Common Lectionary for worship planning.
Some congregations are discovering that the Heidelberg Catechism is good for more than preaching; many churches benefit from its use as a liturgical resource. This article explores possible uses of the Catechism as a liturgical document.
The singing of canticles has been a part of Christian worship for centuries. This article reflects on the "Canticles of Christmas" as a refreshing departure from as well as an excellent alternative to today's trendy musicals. The songs of Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon are reflected upon as rich songs of worship.
This article suggests that there are several reasons commending reinvigorating the practice of singing Scripture today. A number of genres are proposed, like Metrical Settings, Responsorial Settings.
This article introduces a number of resources that could be used in singing in public worship.
A number of hymns for use in public worship are introduced in this article: "On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry," "The Song of Simeon," "Rejoice in the Lord Always."
This article offers liturgical suggestions to be implemented on Christmas Day in public worship.
The hymns and tunes of Lowell Mason are among the best known and best loved in English hymnals. Mason, for example, was the composer of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and "Joy to the World." This article is a tribute to Mason.
This article introduces a number of hymns to be used in worship services: “Tell Your Children,” “How Firm a Foundation,” and “Sing to the Lord of Harvest.”
This article offers a selected bibliography of organ music to be used at funerals.
This article introduces two hymns and a psalm for use in worship services: "God of the Prophets," "When Morning Gilds the Sky," and Psalm 113.
This article introduces the history of the lyrics of the hymn "God of the Prophets."
Real, authentic biblical worship is at its core a celebration of the living, dying, and rising of Christ. This article reflects upon models for evangelism through worship.
This article reflects on how different personalities have a bearing on how public worship is experienced and understood.
This article tells the story of an African American pastor who has had numerous opportunities to participate in the integration of local congregations and higher bodies of a predominantly white, ethnically based church. It tells the story of how to invite in people who are different from us.
This article focuses on celebration in worship and in particular what can be learned from Africans in this respect.
The sursum corda (Latin for "Let us lift up our hearts") calls worshippers to acknowledge their absolute dependence on Christ at the right hand of the Father, who desires to commune with man who is made in his image. This article reflects on its liturgical significance.
What should family worship be? This article considers the link between family worship and Sunday worship services.
This is a review of the book Introduction to Christian Worship.
What is the "Great Prayer of Thanksgiving"? What is the significance of this "Eucharistic prayer" for Reformed worship? This article reflects on this central prayer in the celebration of Holy Communion.
Each congregation ought to reflect on how it celebrates communion. The way the elements are distributed should not be out of custom or superstition, but for sound theological and pastoral reasons. This article surveys some of the practices in the time of the Reformation.
This article introduces Psalm 18 and a couple of hymns for singing in public worship: "Jesus Lives and So Do We," "All Creatures of Our God and King."
This article offers service plans for Advent, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, and the two Sundays of Christmastide.
This article introduces the hymn "O Come, O Come, Immanuel," for use in public worship.