Saints,
Last week the summary word would be, worship is serious, but filled with glorious music. No gravel-eating presbyterians aloud (that’s a pun, not a typo for the remaining presbyterians). On the other hand, the sobriety and intention of gloriousness and the honor Christ that presbyterians represent, great! That is why presbyterians before have so carefully guarded the Table with much evaluation and much heart-searching prior to permitting people to come or to serve communion.
The practical answer: train ourselves to praise, to sing, to play, to jam & to know the whole of the Psalter. Also, we should (or you should hold me accountable to) preach the Bible, all of it and to make pastorally challenging applications. Then, we should forthrightly abandon all presbyterian distinctives in the liturgy itself, so that real confession happens early in the service and joyous celebration, conscionable hearing of the preached Word, and Table joy result. We have mostly done that already, but there’s still some mopping up to do.
This week, we must turn to the topic of Lent. What does Lent mean? The word “Lent” comes from the Middle English lente (“spring”) and from the Old English lengten (“to lengthen’), referring to the time of lengthening daylight from Christmas (around the Winter solstice) to Easter (Spring equinox). The Lenten season lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays), beginning with this past Wednesday (February 25). Lent commemorates the forty day fast of Jesus who fulfilled the forty year wilderness journey of Israel. In this time, we are encouraged to examine ourselves anew in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are to “train” for a more earnest struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil and seek increased sanctification and growth in Christian maturity and obedience. It is “spring training.” Knock out the flab, but all for the purpose of the big game. All for the purpose of Easter. More in the sermon, anon.
So what is it to the “non-liturgical” people: it is just “new year’s resolution time.” It is a time to diet, to break the cocktail cycle, to kick the World Wide Stout habit, to address your internet pornography addiction, to unplug from cable TV, to clean out the chocolate in your cupboard, to abstain from a toxic habit of bad music, to finally walk a mile a day, to seek counsel over your recent near infidelities, to go on a colon cleanse, to stop smoking, to seek forgiveness for a broken relationship, to eat fish on Fridays, to actually change the routines of your physical existence [or for the gnostics, just think of something different] . . . is that practical enough?
I am not going to cite it for you, but please read Matthew 3-4 to get a clue. Even more, you could join in prayer and prep even if you did not go on Wednesday, by the magical power of the internet.
Note: Dr. Don Stone’s Lenten service (Ash Wednesday) and sermon is posted on our website. Three of our families went to the service, they can testify.
Precious moments verse: Matt 4:11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
Gregg Strawbridge, Pastor
Website & Links:
Prepare for worship with the online service:
http://www.allsaintspresbyterian.com/worshipservice.asp
Church Calendar:
http://www.allsaintspresbyterian.com/calendar.aspx
All the sermons are online and available, as well as others, here:
http://www.wordmp3.com/ministry/?id=allsaints
