Sermon for August 19th, 2012

Last week we started our sermon series "The Heart of Worship" with an overview of what worship means for us as Christians and Presbyterians. We established that Jesus Christ, the living word of God, is at the heart of our worship and infused into every part of it.

Today we're going to zoom in on the very first part of our worship service--the things that, in your bulletin, come under the heading "WE GATHER IN GOD'S NAME." We'll look at what we do in this part of the service, why we do it, and what God's written word, the Bible, has to say about it.

We gather in God's name. Or as I have recently come to think of it, the "emotional roller coaster ride" of the worship service. We go from the hopeful heights of the Call to Worship and a rousing opening hymn down to the depths of despair as we are reminded of our sins in the prayer of confession, then right back up as we receive the assurance of pardon and pass the peace of Christ to one another. If we take these things seriously, we ought to be emotionally worn out by the time were just a quarter of the way through the service!