At Issue Index    Worship Him Index

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Copyright © 1967 by 
Southern Publishing Association

Manufactured in U.S.A.

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NORVAL F. PEASE 
Andrews University     
1967                           

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This symbol could not be changed by geography, by culture, or by the passing of the years. To man, time is basic.

But God gave man something more than a holy day. He gave him Himself. He was a companion of Adam and Eve in the Garden. The relationship was close; the worship was highly personal. After the entrance of sin, worship continued, but on somewhat different terms. New symbols typified ultimate redemption from his fallen state. Thus the altar and the lamb came into the picture of worship. The experience of Cain, whose offering was not acceptable to God, is an early lesson in the fact that worship has theological significance. It is more than a mere spontaneous gesture, done by man in his own way. It has to be in harmony with a body of revelation which God has given to man.

As the population increased, worship became more complex. "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." Genesis 4:26. (This was at the time of Enos, the grandson of Adam.) Regarding this verse, the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary says:

"In his time a more formal worship was begun. Man had of course called upon the Lord before Enos' birth, but as time went on a more pronounced distinction arose between those who worshiped the Lord and those who defied Him. The expression `to call upon the name of the Lord' is used frequently in the OT to indicate, as it does here, public worship (Psalms 79:6; 116:17; Jeremiah 10:25; Zephaniah 3:9)."—Vol. 1, p. 244.

After coming out of the ark, Noah is described as worshiping God. (Genesis 8:20-22.) This worship followed God's revelation of Himself to Noah, and was followed by God's blessing on Noah.

The same pattern is evident in the Old Testament descriptions of Abraham's relationship to God. In Genesis 12:7 we read, "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." Genesis 13:14-18 describes God's repetition of His promise to Abram, and ends with the familiar words, "Then Abram ... built there an altar unto the Lord. "

When Abraham proved his faith on Mount Moriah, 

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he responded to the welcome voice of the angel of God by offering up the ram for a burnt offering. On another occasion Abraham worshiped his God by giving his tithes to the priest of God. On yet another, he "planted a tamarisk tree," the Revised Standard Version says, "in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God."

When Abraham's servant recognized how the providences of God had led him in finding a wife for Isaac, he said, "And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son." Genesis 24:48.

When Jacob met the Lord at Bethel, he responded by setting up a pillar, pouring oil on it, making a vow, and calling the place Bethel, "God's house." (Genesis 28:18-22.) Years later, God directed Jacob to return to this same spot and "make there an altar unto God." (Genesis 35:1.) God spoke to him again and renewed to him the promise which had been given to his grandfather; "and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel [the house of God]." (Verses 14, 15.)

These incidents teach us something about worship in pre-Mosaic times. It was characteristically a response of a man to a personal encounter with God. Man worshiped, not to appease a God whom he feared but to express his gratitude and love to a God who had revealed Himself to him. The symbols were simple—an altar, a lamb, a rock, a tree, a pillar, a bowed head, a place called "the house of God." Worship was very personal and very real. God came very close to man, and man's response was worship.

During the Mosaic age worship continued to be personal, but new dimensions were added as God shaped Israel into a nation. God confronted Moses at the burning bush, and Moses was directed to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. When Aaron told the nation of slaves that God was about to deliver them, "they bowed their heads and worshipped." (Exodus 4:31.) 

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When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, their plea was that Israel should be freed to worship God.

When Israel was delivered, a service of worship was established—the Passover—and God told them, "And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever." Exodus 12:24. When Israel passed safely through the Red Sea, Moses and the people sang a song of praise to their God. Once in the desert, Israel was reminded by the miracle of the manna of their responsibility to a day of worship. When God gave the law from Sinai, the first four commandments dealt with worship. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy deal largely with two subjects—worship and ethics.

Mosaic worship, as outlined in the Pentateuch, consisted of Sabbaths, special feast days, sacrifices, a Day of Atonement, a priesthood, and a sanctuary. This system did not evolve—it was revealed. The worship of Israel was based on theology—a theology including the transcendence of God, the sinfulness of man, the grace of God, and the necessity of forgiveness.

A perversion of worship appeared in the case of Aaron's golden calf. This incident was serious because it represented theologically unsound worship. This calf was not the God that brought them out of Egypt. Aaron's sin was similar to Cain's—substitution of a manner of worship formulated by man for the manner revealed by God.

The final public act of Moses was a song of worship (Deuteronomy 32) in which five times he characterized God as a Rock. "He is the Rock," said Moses, "his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." Verse 4. This was worship of the highest order. 

During the Mosaic age, worship became more complex to fit developing theological concepts. Place became more significant with the development of a nation. A priesthood became an integral part of the program. The central theme was sacrifice, but the personal nature of worship was retained, because many of the sacrifices were personal. Although the details were minutely prescribed, there was only one prescribed prayer—the priestly benediction 

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of Numbers 6:24-26. This system of worship had a special purpose as pointed out in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 358: "Thus in the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that afterward took its place, the people were taught each day the great truths relative to Christ's death and ministration, and once each year their minds were carried forward to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, the final purification of the universe from sin and sinners."

The history of Israel from their conquest of Canaan to the captivity was marked by a constant struggle regarding worship. One problem was the attractive cult of Baal worship, a cult marked by ethical standards as low as its liturgy was fascinating. This worship was a return to Aaron's golden calf and all that it represented. The judges attacked this problem. Samuel established the schools of the prophets, one of the purposes of which was to maintain the worship of God. Elijah fought this false worship manfully.

By the time of the eighth-century prophets, Israel's worship had degenerated into empty form, made meaningless by low moral standards. Amos quoted the Lord as saying, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity, . . . saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts." Amos 5:21-27.

Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and others repeated this refrain over and over again, but with little effect.—Prophets and Kings states: 

"The temple services were continued as in former years, and multitudes assembled to worship the living God; but pride and formality gradually took the place of humility and sincerity. "—Pp. 303, 304.

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The prophets did not attack the sacrificial system as such they resisted its abuses. Worship had become buried in liturgy and form. Worshipers ignored their ethical responsibilities. Contemporary patterns of worship supplanted revealed principles. And as a result of this departure from true worship, Israel went into exile. Reformers such as Josiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel tried in vain to reverse the trend.

After the return from exile, the Temple and the priesthood were reestablished. Much emphasis was placed on the law, but in place of the spiritual emphasis of the prophets a new variety of externalism which we speak of as "Judaism" developed. This was the highly ritualistic and legalistic religion that Christ met in His day. The ritual was maintained by an entrenched priesthood and the legalism by the scribes who worshiped the law.

Despite the failures of Israel, the Old Testament has left a great heritage in the field of worship. The worship literature, including the Psalms, is unsurpassed. The basic concerns of Old Testament worship—forgiveness of sins and joy in the Lord—were right, though badly abused. The prophetic emphasis on ethical worship was unsurpassed. The very failures of the people of the Old Testament teach us valuable lessons regarding worship. The Old Testament stands almost unique among the literary remains of antiquity in teaching the worship of one God, without the use of idols, based on love rather than fear, with high ethical standards.

The ritual of the Old Testament varied with time and place from the vow taken by Jacob over a lonely pile of stones to the ornate worship of Solomon's Temple. Underlying all of these variations was a revelation of a God of power, love, and purpose. Old Testament worship was theologically oriented; and when men became uncertain about their theology, their worship lost its meaning. When prophets of God revived theological truth, worship came alive again. The revelation of the Old Testament is not to be disregarded. Where, in all the writings of men, could be found a finer song of praise to God than the 145th Psalm?

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"I will extol thee, my God and King, 
     and bless thy name for ever and ever. 
Every day I will bless thee,
     and praise thy name for ever and ever. 
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, 
     and his greatness is unsearchable.
 
"One generation shall laud thy works to another, 
     and shall declare thy mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of thy majesty,
     and on thy wondrous works, I will meditate. 
Men shall proclaim the might of thy terrible acts, 
     and I will declare thy greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of thy abundant goodness,
     and shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

"The Lord is gracious and merciful,
     slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 
The Lord is good to all,
     and his compassion is over all that he has made.

"All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O Lord, 
     and all thy saints shall bless thee!
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, 
     and tell of thy power,
to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds, 
     and the glorious splendor of thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
     and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. 

"The Lord is faithful in all his words, 
     and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling, 
     and raises up all who are bowed down. 
The eyes of all look to thee,
     and thou givest them their food in due season. 

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Thou openest thy hand,
     thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 
The Lord is just in all his ways,
     and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him, 
     to all who call upon him in truth.
He fulfils the desire of all who fear him,
      he also hears their cry, and saves them. 
The Lord preserves all who love him; 
     but all the wicked he will destroy.

"My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
     and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever."
                                                               
                                                                           (R.S.V.)

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Roman Church is a most impressive ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate the senses of the people and silence the voice of reason and of conscience. The eye is charmed. Magnificent churches, imposing processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice paintings, and exquisite sculpture appeal to the love of beauty. The ear also is captivated. The music is unsurpassed. The rich notes of the deep-toned organ, blending with the melody of many voices as it swells through the lofty domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, cannot fail to impress the mind with awe and reverence.

"This outward splendor, pomp, and ceremony, that only mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul, is an evidence of inward corruption. The religion of Christ needs not such attractions to recommend it. In the light shining from the cross, the true Christianity appears so pure and lovely that no external decorations can enhance its true worth. It is the beauty of holiness, a meek and quiet spirit, which is of value with God.

"Brilliancy of style is not necessarily an index of pure, elevated thought. High conceptions of art, delicate refinement of taste, often exist in minds that are earthly and sensual. They are often employed by Satan to lead men to forget the necessities of the soul, to lose sight of the future, immortal life, to turn away from their infinite Helper, and to live for this world alone.

"A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship has a seductive, bewitching power, by which many are deceived; and they come to look upon the Roman Church as the very gate of heaven. None but those who have planted their feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God, are proof against her influence. Thousands who have not an experimental knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godliness without the power. Such a religion is just what the multitudes desire.".—Pp, 566, 567.

This evaluation is equally applicable to Protestant worship whenever Protestant worship departs from its original spontaneity and becomes like Catholic worship.

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The psychological factor is not the only reason for the liturgical revival. Another equally potent influence is to be found in theological change. Worship reflects the theology of the worshipers. When the Protestant Reformation declared itself regarding the three great theological principles of salvation by faith alone, of the priesthood of all believers, and of the Bible as the rule of faith and conduct, it thereby determined to some extent its mode of worship. No priesthood could arise in a Communion that believed in the priesthood of all believers. Therefore, there would not be a priestly, sacrificial, temple worship.

When the Bible became the rule of theology, it also became the pattern for worship. The apostolic patterns were far different from those of the third and fourth centuries. This type of worship challenged man's personal responsibility and imparted an intellectual quality to his relation to God. It tended to reduce liturgy to a minimum and to increase the importance of the spoken word. This type of theology reached its fullest development in the free atmosphere of the United States during the early nineteenth century.

But changes in theology were in the making. German theologians were raising questions regarding the Bible. The supernatural was being challenged. Such basic principles of Reformation Christianity as the incarnation of Christ, the miracles, the atonement, and the bodily resurrection of Christ were being questioned. A blatant liberalism thrived for a time; this has now largely given way to a veiled liberalism sometimes known as neoorthodoxy.

But under whatever banner modem Christianity holds forth, it has lost its evangelicism, it has sacrificed its supernatural nature, it has reduced Christ from God in the flesh to a Spirit-filled man, it has made the Bible merely the story of man's effort to find God, and it has taken the reality out of the future life.

These far-reaching changes in theology, I am firmly convinced, are partly responsible for the liturgical revival. Paul Tillich in his Dynamics of Faith makes this statement:

"But faith cannot remain alive without expressions of faith and the personal participation in them. This insight has driven Protestantism to a new evaluation of cult and sacrament in our period. 

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Without symbols in which the holy is experienced as present, the experience of the holy vanishes." —P. 121.

Why does Tillich say this? He and those who agree with him reduce creation, miracles, resurrection—everything that offends the modern mind—to myth. The worshiper who holds his view point can no longer consider the Sabbath as a memorial of a real creation; he can no longer worship a Christ who died for his sins and who intercedes for him in heaven; he can no longer worship a Christ who came forth from the tomb on Easter morning; he can no longer worship a "living God" in the sense that the Bible describes God.

What then must the Christian do? He must have symbols to represent the holy, for the holy has no objectivity of itself. Cult and sacrament then become essential to a church that has been stripped of much which it once possessed. The evangelical Christian can worship a God who creates and sustains; he can worship an incarnate, resurrected, everlasting, soon-coming Christ. He requires only the basic symbols of communication to engage in such worship, for he is worshiping objective realities and not subjective philosophical concepts. When the resurrection of Christ becomes merely a notion of the early Christian church, there is no resurrected Christ to worship. When creation becomes myth, there is no Creator to worship.

Another motivation for the liturgical revival has been the ecumenical movement. During recent years, the services of Protestant churches have been slowly approximating uniformity. The average Protestant may feel quite at home in the service of most denominations. Nor has this trend been limited to Protestantism. Rome has also been experiencing a liturgical renewal. The recent Vatican Council dealt with matters of liturgy and went so far as to authorize the development of a liturgy in the vernacular. We are watching Catholicism and Protestantism as they move closer and closer together in matters of liturgy. Shepherd says:

"There is now available an agreement among scholars of both the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions about the meaning of Christian worship that can only be attributed to the miraculous 

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working of the Holy Spirit. The liturgical reforms now taking place in the Roman Catholic Church are more extensive and far-reaching than anything witnessed in a thousand years and more. ... Protestant churches which hitherto have spurned or have lost interest in liturgical usages are now exploring and experimenting." —The Chaplain, April, 1961.

The title of this chapter is "The `Liturgical Renewal' and Adventism." To this point we have reviewed some of the developments of our day, and we have seen that recent years have been marked by radical changes in Protestant worship and by some modifications in Roman Catholic worship. What does this trend mean to us as Adventists?

We have not been greatly influenced by the liturgical revival. In scattered instances, no doubt, we have allowed aesthetic considerations to cause us to do things that are out of harmony with our Adventist theology. These occasional deviations, I am sure, were well intentioned and resulted from lack of understanding rather than from ulterior motives. Our basic worship problems cannot be traced to an acceptance of the liturgical renewal.

I do not mean to imply that we can be satisfied with the standards of worship in our churches. We are aware of crying needs for improvement, but this improvement must not be sought by following the lead of the liturgical revivalists. We need to look in an entirely different direction. We need to remember that worship can be spontaneous, Spirit-filled, Protestant, simple, Biblical, and still possess beauty, order, and reverence.

We especially need to remember this great truth in these days of the liturgical renewal, because whatever shortcomings modem Christian worship may have, it does have beauty, order, and a type of reverence. In many cases the people whom we attempt to reach in our evangelistic services are accustomed to carefully planned worship services, although they may not be evangelical. If we neglect beauty, order, and reverence in an endeavor to avoid formalism and sacerdotalism, we miss a vital part of Christian worship. We need a liturgical revival, but not the kind that is going on in the Christian world around us.

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Why do I imply that reforms are in order in our churches? I base my contention on a familiar chapter in Volume 5 of Testimonies for the Church entitled "Behavior in the House of God." I quote the following selections from this chapter:

"To the humble, believing soul, the house of God on earth is the gate of heaven. The song of praise, the prayer, the words spoken by Christ's representatives, are God's appointed agencies to prepare a people for the church above, for that loftier worship into which there can enter nothing that defileth. . . .

"There has been a great change, not for the better, but for the worse, in the habits and customs of the people in reference to religious worship. The precious, the sacred, things which connect us with God are fast losing their hold upon our minds and hearts, and are being brought down to the level of common things. The reverence which the people had anciently for the sanctuary where they met with God in sacred service has largely passed away. Nevertheless, God Himself gave the order of His service, exalting it high above everything of a temporal nature....

"There should be rules in regard to the time, the place, and the manner of worshiping. Nothing that is sacred, nothing that pertains to the worship of God, should be treated with carelessness or indifference."—P. 491.

"When the worshipers enter the place of meeting, they should do so with decorum, passing quietly to their seats. . . . Common talking, whispering, and laughing should not be permitted in the house of worship, either before or after the service....

"If when the people come into the house of worship, they have genuine reverence for the Lord and bear in mind that they are in His presence, there will be a sweet eloquence in silence."—P. 492.

"All the service should be conducted with solemnity and awe, as if in the visible presence of the Master of assemblies.... 

"Sometimes young men and women have so little reverence for the house and worship of God that they keep up a continual communication with each other during the sermon."—P. 493.

"No wonder our churches are feeble and do not have that deep, earnest piety in their borders that they should have. Our present 

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habits and customs, which dishonor God and bring the sacred and heavenly down to the level of the common, are against us. . . . 

"It is too true that reverence for the house of God has become almost extinct. Sacred things and places are not discerned; the holy and exalted are not appreciated. Is there not a cause for the want of fervent piety in our families? Is it not because the high standard of religion is left to trail in the dust? God gave rules of order, perfect and exact, to His ancient people. Has His character changed? Is He not the great and mighty God who rules in the heaven of heavens? Would it not be well for us often to read the directions given by God Himself to the Hebrews, that we who have the light of the glorious truth shining upon us may imitate their reverence for the house of God? We have abundant reason to maintain a fervent, devoted spirit in the worship of God. We have reason even to be more thoughtful and reverential in our worship than had the Jews. But an enemy has been at work to destroy our faith in the sacredness of Christian worship....

"Nearly all need to be taught how to conduct themselves in the house of God."—Pp. 495, 496.

"Because of the irreverence in attitude, dress, and deportment, and lack of a worshipful frame of mind, God has often turned His face away from those assembled for His worship."—P. 499.

"When a church has been raised up and left uninstructed on these points, the minister has neglected his duty and will have to give an account to God for the impressions he allowed to prevail."—P. 500.

Those of us who travel about among the churches know that only an occasional church gives evidence of a full appreciation of these high standards. Even some of our larger churches have confusion, lack of order, and unnecessary noise. We hear perfunctory prayers, poorly chosen hymns, inappropriate announcements, punctuated by audience restlessness and crying babies.

There are both ministers and laymen who are trying to change these conditions. May God bless them. The remaining three chapters suggest practical means for achieving our own "liturgical revival" without drifting into formalism.

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thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name." Verses 1-4.

This is a tremendous affirmation of faith in God and worship of Him. Can I say it in such a way that my people will catch the spirit of it? Can I create an atmosphere in which the members of my congregation are saying in their hearts, "Thou art my God," "My soul thirsteth for thee," "My lips shall praise thee," "I will lift up my hands in thy name"? A scripture like this—and the Bible contains hundreds of them—can change a casual audience into a worshiping congregation if it is read correctly by a minister who knows the God whom these words are praising.

A great hymn of praise can have the same effect. My favorite hymn is No. 1 in our hymnal. You have sung this hymn many tunes:

"Before Jehovah's awful throne, 
Ye nations bow with sacred joy; 
Know that the Lord is God alone; 
He can create and He destroy.

"His sovereign power, without our aid, 
Made us of clay, and formed us men; 
And when like wandering sheep we strayed, 
He brought us to His fold again.

"We'll crowd His gates with thankful songs, 
High as the heavens our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues, 
Shall fill His courts with sounding praise.

"Wide as the world is His command, 
Vast as Eternity His love;
Firm as a rock His truth shall stand, 
When rolling years shall cease to move."

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If people can be led to sing such hymns thoughtfully, they will see God as Isaiah did. But if we start the service with a sentimental ditty set to cheap music, we are not likely to see the Lord sitting upon His throne, and we will not be prepared to worship.

The second experience of Isaiah, after he saw God, was one of humility. "Woe is me!" he said, "for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Somewhere in the prayers, in the hymns, in the Scripture reading, in the sermon, every service of worship should include confession. The formal services of many churches include this in litanies and formal prayers. This can become meaningless form. But if the pastor or the elder in his prayer earnestly seeks God's forgiveness for his sins and those of his congregation, the effect can be genuine and the experience real.

If a pastor and a congregation can read responsively Psalm 51, and can say with earnestness, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit," such a pastor and congregation can be prepared for a blessing from God. But if, in effect, we are saying to God, "We thank thee that we are not like this rabble that passes by our church door; we are keeping the Sabbath; we have brought our tithe; we have a first mortgage on heaven"—if this is our attitude, we will never know the glories of worship.

The third part of Isaiah's experience was a manifestation of the grace of God. In the language of the text, an angel came straight from God's throne and touched Isaiah's lips with a live coal and said, "Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." It is not the place of the pastor to pronounce absolution for sin, as did the priests of older days; but it is within the scope of a service of worship for people to receive from God the assurance of sins forgiven. People may come to church burdened, frightened, discouraged, but they should never go away feeling that way. Did you ever go away from a worship service feeling a foot taller, with new confidence 

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"Here with the tinted rays
Of thy Sabbath morning light, comes peace, 
Joy lingers, courage is born, and hope sings. 
Freed for a while from the fret and care of daily toil, 
In the solemn hush of this holy hour I hear God speak, 
Steadied and strengthened by this communion sweet, 
With lifted head I leave thy tempted doors
To dare whatever the day may bring to me, 
For I who heard shall heed."
                                                —Selected.

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"We have not known Thee as we ought,
     Nor learned Thy wisdom, grace, and power; 
The things of earth have filled our thought, 
     And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light Thy truth to see, 
     And make us wise in knowing Thee.

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We have not feared Thee as we ought, 
     Nor bowed beneath Thine awful eye, 
Nor guarded deed, and word, and thought,
     Remembering that God was nigh. 
Lord, give us faith to know Thee near, 
     And grant the grace of holy fear.

"We have not loved Thee as we ought, 
     Nor cared that we are loved by Thee; 
Thy presence we have coldly sought, 
     And feebly longed Thy face to see. 
Lord,  give a pure and loving heart
     To feel and own the love Thou art.

"We have not served Thee as we ought; 
     Alas! the duties left undone,
The work with little fervor wrought, 
     The battles lost, or scarcely won! 
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might, 
     For Thee to toil, for Thee to fight.

"When shall we know Thee as we ought, 
     And fear, and love, and serve aright! 
When shall we, out of trial brought,
     Be perfect in the land of light! 
Lord, may we day by day prepare 
     To see Thy face, and serve Thee there."

This hymn is an eloquent confession. Meaningfully sung, it is equivalent to Isaiah's statement, "I am a man of unclean lips." It was especially significant preceding a sermon on "Perfection."

When the last words of the hymn were being sung, the minister walked to the pulpit so that when the worshipers replaced their hymnals in the racks and looked up, they saw him there. The sermon was expository, intended to clarify the Biblical teaching on a subject that is always relevant. The closing hymn was No. 271, "Not I, but Christ," chosen to reinforce the thought that our 

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I ask the class to guess what type of church this order represents. Some suggest a small country church. Imagine their surprise when they learn that I copied this order from a bulletin picked up in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington in the summer of 1947 when Peter Marshall was pastor! The order was simple, but the service was made meaningful by a great preacher who knew how to conduct a service so that the elements of worship were there.
The leader of worship is trying to change an audience into a congregation by challenging them in these various ways with the presence of God. Second, they try to develop a unity of thought by choosing hymns, Scripture reading, subject matter for prayer, and musical selections in harmony with the purpose of the sermon of the day. Third, they give the congregation a chance to respond to the presence and grace of God by confession and dedication in responsive readings, appropriate hymns, offerings, and personal decisions.

Just as there are hundreds of ways of building a good house, so there are many ways of putting together a good worship service. Continuing the analogy, certain procedures cannot be followed in building a house. The roof cannot be put on first. The foundation cannot be left until last. The needs of those who are to live in the house cannot be ignored. The services of worship may be constructed in many ways, but it must make possible a meeting of man and his God in an atmosphere of reverent awe, with saving, cleansing, purpose, and an expectation of rededication and Christian growth.

We have been talking in terms of ideals. Wherein have we failed? In our next chapter we will discuss each part of worship in detail, but at this point we can well afford to look at the act of worship as a whole, at its order and general effect. Wherein has it often been ineffective?

One weakness has been the idea that songs, prayers, Scripture readings, and offerings are merely preliminaries to a sermonitems to be disposed of quickly in order that an impatient preacher can get into the pulpit. This viewpoint has caused us to "omit the third stanza," to omit Scripture readings, to move along with such dispatch that no impact can possibly be made on the worshiper. In fact, it probably would not be correct to call him a worshiper. He is only an auditor, conceding to certain customs which demand a few preliminaries before he can listen to the preacher.

As a pastor, it was my custom to tailor my service to exactly one hour. At the stroke of 11:00, I walked alone before the congregation and discussed with them items of announcement and 

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I ask the class to guess what type of church this order represents. Some suggest a small country church. Imagine their surprise when they learn that I copied this order from a bulletin picked up in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington in the summer of 1947 when Peter Marshall was pastor! The order was simple, but the service was made meaningful by a great preacher who knew how to conduct a service so that the elements of worship were there.
 promotion essential to the church program. This could be completed usually in about five minutes. Then I left the platform. Moments later the ministers entered, during an appropriate choir, organ, or piano number. I used different orders of service in different churches, but I planned that preaching should begin sometime between 11:25 and 11:30. The sermon was finished exactly at 11:55, and the congregation was leaving the sanctuary at the stroke of 12:00.

A well-planned sequence of hymns, prayers, Scripture readings, and the receiving of an offering can fit into a period of approximately twenty minutes. The sermon will be better if it is limited to twenty-five or thirty minutes. Two extremes must be avoided too little time devoted to the parts of worship other than the sermon, and too much time thus employed.

I recall an experience early in my ministry. I had just moved to a new district and was preaching at one of the four churches I pastored in addition to teaching Bible in an academy. The local elder made interminable announcements, read an article from the Review, offered a long prayer, and finally surrendered the pulpit to me at 11: 53. He assured me I should take all the time I wanted. "We have all afternoon," he said. Children were restless. People were looking at their watches. I spoke for seven minutes. I remained in that district for six years and had no more problems of this kind with that church.

I feel almost equally frustrated when the elder hurries through the opening of the service and gives me the pulpit at 11:15. The people have not been resolved into a worshiping congregation. I don't want to speak for forty-five minutes in any church. The entire balance of the service is destroyed.

Another frequent problem is the introduction of inappropriate material. The congregation sings a hymn, and someone offers the prayer, then the elder announces the church picnic, plugs for magazine subscriptions, and describes the plight of the church budget. All of these items have a place and a time, including the church picnic. The work of the church must not be neglected, but the machinery of the church must not hum so loudly that it

I ask the class to guess what type of church this order represents. Some suggest a small country church. Imagine their surprise when they learn that I copied this order from a bulletin picked up in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington in the summer of 1947 when Peter Marshall was pastor! The order was simple, but the service was made meaningful by a great preacher who knew how to conduct a service so that the elements of worship were there.

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I ask the class to guess what type of church this order represents. Some suggest a small country church. Imagine their surprise when they learn that I copied this order from a bulletin picked up in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington in the summer of 1947 when Peter Marshall was pastor! The order was simple, but the service was made meaningful by a great preacher who knew how to conduct a service so that the elements of worship were there.
drowns out the voice of God during the hour of worship. This is largely a matter of procedure. Most church business can be handled during the missionary service, the announcement period, in the church bulletin, or by letter. And, let it be remembered, a church that has really worshiped and responded to the call of God will also work. The best promotion possible to develop an active church is an effective program of divine worship.

We must learn to build our services with a concern for beauty, for appropriateness, for purpose. We must test our orders of service by their results. Are our own people and our visitors being brought into the presence of God? Christianity Today tells about a visitor who was being shown through a magnificent cathedral. He asked the embarrassing question, "Is anybody ever saved here?" This question can be asked of our services of worship. Is God cleansing hearts during the worship hour? Are decisions being made for Christ? Are children and young people being tied to the church because they love what happens in the service of worship? Or do the "worshipers" come and go like doors on their hinges, propelled by custom.

The answer is largely in our hands. May God give us the grace to make worship all that He wants it to be.

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CHAPTER V

The Content of the Adventist Worship Service

WE HAVE discussed the worship service as a unit. Now to take a closer look at its various parts. Although a proper arrangement is important, it is even more vital that each part be performed with insight and excellence. Well-chosen Scripture readings, heart-warming prayers, well-selected hymns, a good sermon, will be helpful in almost any sequence, although a meaningful sequence will enhance their helpfulness. On the other hand, the best sequence will be meaningless if the individual parts are not well selected and performed.

The fourth and fifth chapters of Revelation tell us a great deal about worship. Through the telescope of prophetic vision John looked into heaven itself. Let us look over his shoulder as he watches worship in heaven. What did he see? He saw God sitting upon a throne surrounded by an emerald rainbow. He saw twentyfour elders sitting about the throne, wearing white robes and gold crowns. Before the throne was a crystal sea, and about the throne were four living creatures, indescribable in human language. What was this quartet of celestial beings doing?

                    "Day and night they never cease to sing,
                          `Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, 
                          who was and is and is to come!"'
                                                             Revelation 4:8, R.S.V.

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And what were the twenty-four elders doing?

"And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,

"'Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, 
to receive glory and honor and power, 
for thou didst create all things,
and by thy will they existed and were created.' " 
                                                Verses 9-11, R.S.V.

These elders, "redeemed from among men," joined in a twentyfour-voice chorus of praise and worship to God.

Then upon the scene came a Lamb—the most often repeated symbol of the Book of Revelation. The Lamb took the sealed scroll from God's hand "and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying,

" `Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God 
from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, 
and they shall reign on earth."'
                                                            Revelation 5:8-10, R.S.V.

The quartet and the chorus combine and offer their worship to Christ, who ransoms men for God.

But others wished a part in this worship:

"Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, `Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"' Verses 11, 12, R.S.V.

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Can you imagine the reaction of John as he listened to the angels sing? But something still greater was in store. The climax was yet to come:

"And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, `To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!' And the four living creatures said, `Amen!' and the elders fell down and worshiped." Verses 13, 14, R.S.V.

But the best part of this glorious picture of worship in heaven is found in Revelation 7. Again we see the same God on His throne, the same myriads of angels, the same twenty-four elders, and the same four living beings. But in verse 9 a new group is introduced:

"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands."

Who are these? Verse 14 reveals that they are those who "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." What are they doing? They are worshiping God. Verse 10 pictures them as saying, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." It is a tremendous thought that we, along with the elders, the living beings, the angels, and all the hosts of God's universe may one day worship God and Christ on that crystal sea. We may be participants in this great drama. If we expect to worship God in that day, shouldn't we be learning to worship Him now?

This picture of worship in heaven reveals several of the components of divine worship as we know it. There was music. All the beings in the universe sang their praise to God. There was prayer.
The golden incense bowls held the prayers of the saints. There was an offering. The twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne. There was a sermon and a Scripture reading. The opening of the scroll was a revelation from God. It was the didactic part of the service. Critics say that these chapters in Revelation reflected 

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contemporary worship practices and current liturgies. We must remember that this experience of John was a vision from God, not an expression of human experience.

And now let us turn to materials for worship. The first is the Bible. Revering the Bible as we do, isn't it strange that we sometimes neglect the Scripture reading in our worship services? The call to worship, if one is used, can well be an appropriate selection from the Bible. Would there be anything wrong in having both a New Testament and an Old Testament selection for the Scripture reading, as many Protestant churches do? One could be responsive, the other not.

Instead of saying, "We will now receive the offering," why not quote one of the many texts on stewardship, like 2 Corinthians 9:7: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver"? The language of worship can well be the language of the Bible. We can use the Bible much more extensively than we have in the past.

And should we not learn how to read the Bible? How often we read the Sacred Word haltingly and without interpretation. The worship leader should be adept at oral interpretation of the Bible. The Sunday after VE Day during World War II, I attended the worship service at a Jewish synagogue in Boston. I was eager to sense the reaction of the Jews who had such a tremendous emotional investment in the European conflict. I remember just one thing about the service. The cantor read with great beauty and skill the ninth Psalm. No sermon could have expressed more feelingly the Jewish reaction to events in Europe. I can still hear that cantor as he read:

"When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. . . .

"O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.... "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. . . .

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"Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. . . .

"Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men."

What a Scripture lesson that was! Why cannot we read great scriptures to our congregations, and read them in such a way that our hearers will become aware of their greatness and their relevance to modern life?

The second great area of worship is public prayer. The usual prayers in our services are the invocation, the offertory prayer, the pastoral prayer, and the benediction. We do not need more prayers, but we do need better prayers.

What is an invocation? It is not another pastoral prayer. It is a prayer in which God's presence and blessing are invoked on the congregation. It can become sheer form. With planning and thought, it can be meaningful and valuable. We can be sure it will not be worthwhile unless we make an effort to make it so. A study of sample invocations in some standard guide to public worship can give the leader of worship ideas he can use in his own way.

What has been said about the invocation also applies largely to the offertory prayer and the benediction. Both can and will degenerate into "vain repetitions" without thought and planning. If these prayers are worth praying, they are worth planning. This does not mean they need to be read or memorized, but the one who prays should have some idea as to what he is going to say before he opens his mouth.

One of the best books on public prayer is Robert L. Williamson's Effective Public Prayer, published by the Broadman Press in Nashville in 1960. This book is worth the attention of any minister. I shall bring you a few quotations which I hope will whet your appetite for more. In his introductory chapter, Williamson says:

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"Of course, the Spirit of God is not bound. He can draw near to us whatever the conditions. Despite such handicaps as impossible hymns, wearisome sermons, interminable prayers, and agonizing choirs, God still can find ways and means to break through to a long-suffering congregation and commune with them. But on the other hand, if those who lead in public worship are truly ready for their office, not only being in tune with God themselves but also having carefully prepared for each phase of the worship service, how much more quickly, how much more clearly will the worshiping body catch the sound of the `still small voice.' "—Pp. 1, 2. Regarding prayer, he says:

"If preaching is of supreme importance because in it the minister seeks to become the voice of God speaking to the people, we also must say that public prayer is tremendously important because in it the minister becomes the voice of his people as they speak to God."—P. 2.

Williamson lists the common faults of public prayer under these headings: (1) lack of preparation, (2) excessive length, (3) poor delivery, (4) monotonous reference to the Deity, (5) personal references, (6) preaching disguised as prayer, (7) private rather than public prayer. Under desirable qualities of public prayer he lists: (1) corporateness, (2) fervor, (3) reasonable length, (4) freshness in thought and language, (5) concreteness, (6) progression, (7) expectancy, (8) dedication of life as the goal. All of these items deserve more attention.
Regarding the function of pastoral prayer, Williamson says: "What then is the pastoral prayer? It is a time in which the minister, united with his congregation, becomes its voice and offers its prayers to God. Not only is there personal confession but also the confession of the church. Not only is there thanks to God for his daily blessings but also thanks for his grace poured out on the church. Not only is each Christian encouraged to surrender his life to Christ, but the church itself is led to those pathways of service to which God directs it and sacrifices itself anew to his holy will." —Pp. 43, 44.

The pastoral prayer, says Williamson, should include 

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 (1) adoration, (2) confession, (3) thanksgiving, (4) petition, (5) intercession, (6) dedication. He observes:

"Some are there burdened with sorrow. Others rejoice in blessings they have received. Some have lost the sense of the presence of God. Still others are shamed by sin. The pastoral prayer should be balanced so that it may be a real prayer experience for each of these people."—P. 63.

Excellent counsel is given on the language of prayer. First, it should be dignified-spoken in a mood of "reverent restraint." Second, it should be varied. The same old expressions should not be repeated in the same old way, week after week. Third, the language of prayer should be clear. Emphasize the verbs and the nouns rather than the adjectives. Fourth, it should be stimulating. Many people do not listen during prayer. When Peter Marshall prayed, "Where we are wrong, make us willing to change, and where we are right, make us easy to live with," people listened. Warmth should be generated as the pastor prays. Fifth, the language should be reverent. "You" should not be substituted for "Thee" and "Thou" in addressing God. The language of Scripture cannot be improved upon as the language of prayer.

If these counsels are to be followed, prayers must be prepared. This does not mean that they are necessarily written and read. Part of this preparation is in personal devotion. "In order to pray well, it is necessary already to have prayed." Part of the preparation consists of devotional reading, part of it in thought and concern regarding the people in whose behalf he will pray. In some way the preacher should fix in his mind the major points that he wishes to cover in his prayer. This will ensure that he does not forget that which is important, and at the same time he is free to add as the Spirit guides. Preparation should be directive, not restrictive. The prayer should grow out of life, devotion, and thought. Williamson says:

"Probably the most effective method would be for the minister to pray extempore following careful preparation. Let him plan the prayer, outline it, think it through carefully, perhaps write it in full. But at the time of worship let him lay aside the manuscript 

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and, with perhaps only a few notes at hand, offer the prayer from his heart. It might not go quite so smoothly as if it were read. He may occasionally hesitate for a word or phrase. But it will not sound like a recitation or a reading. It will sound like prayer.

"This is not at all to cast aside the careful preparation that has been made. Through the planning, the meditating, the outlining, the writing that the minister has done, his own heart is being filled that he might better lead his people as they pray.

"One should remember that in public prayer when heads are bowed and eyes closed, the only contact that the minister has with the congregation is through the ear. He must then endeavor to use his voice to the fullest advantage. Since the mood is one of deep devotion, the minister will speak quietly and in a low key. A middle key is acceptable, but if the voice becomes high and shrill, it can grate terribly upon those who listen. The minister should not be hesitant and uncertain in his speech, but neither should he be vehement and dictatorial. Let him remember that he is not giving orders to God but beseeching God's grace."—Pp. 108, 109.

Williamson's final chapter is an inspiring treatment of the fruits of effective public prayer. He points out that serious attention to this phase of a minister's work will, first of all, deepen his own spiritual life. He says, "If the minister will not take time to prepare his prayers for his people's sake, he should do so for his own."—P. 136. He also stresses that good public prayer will enrich the worship service. It will help to avoid the idea that nothing matters but the sermon. It can strengthen the prayer life of the people. "Ministers are forever blaming their members for not praying more than they do. Perhaps at least a part of the difficulty is that when the members come to church they often do not hear any real praying there."—P. 138.

"What would happen to our members if every Sunday they heard some genuine, urgent, expectant praying? If each week they had a heart-searching experience of the confession of sin, who can say that they would not go home and spend more time on their knees? If in public prayer each Christian were led to see anew the fulness of God's grace and to pour out his gratitude to him, would 

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it not be that in time he would be characterized by the grateful heart so that he would eventually, as Paul says, `in everything give thanks'? If as the minister draws his people to the throne of grace and voices their desire to be done with careless and self-indulgent living and in its stead to have their lives conformed to the image of Christ that they might share in the purposes of his eternal kingdom, who can say with finality that in time they would not come to look upon each day as an opportunity for a new dedication and begin it with the sincere prayer, `Not my will but thine be done'?"—P. 139.

I cannot add a great deal to these quotations except to urge you again to read the book. My reaction when I first read it soon after it was published was a profound dissatisfaction with my public prayers. Here is an area where we need improvement. This change will come only as a result of determined, dedicated personal effort. It is something that cannot be voted or legislated. Only as we, individual ministers of the gospel, improve our public prayers will this part of the worship be enhanced.

I am sure many of you are thinking, "But ministers don't do the praying in public. Elders, visitors, and others perform this function." This is true to too great an extent. It is proper for our elders to offer the pastoral prayer at times, but not always. The minister should not completely delegate this function of his ministry. Neither does courtesy demand that a visiting minister spotted in the audience should be impressed into service to offer the prayer.

If an elder is to offer the prayer, he should be told several days before Sabbath. Perhaps some education in public prayer might be worthwhile in some places for the elders. A copy of Williamson's book might be a valuable addition to the church library.

Let us remember one thing: The pastoral prayer can be just as important a part of worship as the sermon. Let us try to make it such.

The next area of concern is one where angels fear to tread—church music. I approach this subject not as a musician but as a pastor. I am aware that much conflicting opinion exists in this area. Some hold that only the finest in church music, as evaluated by 

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professional musicians, should ever be used in the church service. This standard would exclude many of the numbers in our hymnal and much that is commonly used for preludes, offertories, postludes, and responses. Others hold that the musical taste of the congregation should be the deciding factor, that such music should be provided as the majority will enjoy. This definitely tips the balance in the direction of the gospel hymn and the more rhythmic, sentimental type of music. What is the pastor to do, especially if both viewpoints are championed by influential groups in his church?

I recognize that my suggestions on this subject are not going to please either group. I am afraid I may be like the Civil War soldier who wore a gray coat and blue trousers and was shot at from both sides. I am not seeking a compromise position, but I honestly object both to a steady diet of Bach and a steady diet of George Beverly Shea. I cannot help but feel that both have their place.

Jones, in his section on music, lays down three principles which I believe are worthy of consideration. The first will be sharply challenged by some musicians: "Music is an adjunct to worship, never an end in itself."—P. 253. He expands this principle as follows:

"One of its main functions is to produce the moods and stimulate the emotions conducive to the spirit of worship. If it falls short of doing this, or if it produces moods and emotions contrary to the spirit of worship, it fails. If it is detached from the purposes of worship and made a means for the improvement of the general musical taste of the congregation or for training musical artists and displaying their abilities, it loses its religious values."—Ibid.

As an adjunct to worship, some of the best music is represented in the great worship hymns. In an article in the December Ministry, 1959, Professor Harold Hannum recommended twelve of these hymns as being of unusual excellence. They were: "Now thank we all our God" (No. 90); "O God, our help in ages past" (No. 81) ; "Come, ye thankful people, come" (No. 496) ; "Jesus, still lead on" (No. 676) ; "All things bright and beautiful" (No. 421) ; "All glory, laud, and honor" (No. 15) ; "We gather together to ask 

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the Lord's blessing" (No. 8) ; "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation" (No. 12); "Rejoice, ye pure in heart" (No. 17) ; "All praise to Thee, my God, this night" (No. 53) ; "When I survey the wondrous cross" (No. 118) ; and "Go to dark Gethsemane" (No. 122). Hymns like these promote the spirit of worship and should be learned and widely used.

But this raises a serious question. Suppose you are leading a congregation of unlettered people in an area with a low cultural level. A few of the easier of these hymns might be learned. Some of them would never strike a response. And this brings us to Jones's second principle: "Music should be within the appreciation range of the worshipers."—P. 254. He goes on to say:

"They should be able to understand and comprehend it, musically speaking, and respond to it spontaneously. It should fit their needs. They should be able to use it enthusiastically as an expression of their feelings. Otherwise it is meaningless, worthless, as a vehicle of worship."—Ibid.

It is here that the battle is joined. The purists cannot accept this viewpoint. They consider it as a compromise with degenerate popular taste. In 1961 the Associated Press circulated an article entitled "Pastor in Plea to Retain Old Gospel Songs." It read as follows:

"Comes now a voice from the hinterland to protest the moves by church music specialists to eliminate the old gospel songs from the hymnbooks.

"The process has been going on for some time now, in various denominations.

"With a commission now working to revise the Methodist hymnbook, the Rev. Roy Delamotte, a circuit pastor in Kentucky and Tennessee, has unleashed a plea for preserving the simple gospel numbers.

" `While music may be a matter of principle with the classes, it's a matter of taste with the masses,' he writes in the current issue of the church magazine, Christian Advocate.

"Most denominational hymnbooks already have dropped many gospel songs, such as `The Old Rugged Cross' and `Bringing in 

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the Sheaves,' and substituted more classical hymns, many based on medieval chants and chorales.

"Rev. Mr. Delamotte, a young minister who holds a Ph.D. from Yale, maintains that while gospel songs may not be musically the best, ordinary people sing them with relish, and that's better than `a resentful silence.'

"'If a devout Methodist gets a bang out of belting out "In the Sweet Bye and Bye," I for one shall not insist that he sing instead that good, old-fashioned hymn of A.D. 1336 "Alla Trinita Beauta," ' he adds.

"He says the hymn preferences of common folk need to be recognized `if we still have hopes of preventing our once dynamic denomination from being strangled forever in a white collar.' "

Whatever our personal bias, we must respect this viewpoint. I believe every minister should try to choose the music of his church in such a way that it will be definitely above the median of the appreciation range of his worshipers. He should try with tact and patience to lift this appreciation range, but he should recognize this cannot be done by getting so far ahead of the people that communication ceases. He should try to move away from contentment with the inferior, but without creating the "resentful silence" which results from too rapid introduction to the unfamiliar. I believe also that we have many hymns that are both musically acceptable and "singable." From this category most of our selections should be made. Jones states this principle well:

"The effort to lift the musical level of hymns is laudable, but if made an end in itself, it can easily and quickly defeat the purpose of the hymns, which is to sing the gospel into the lives of the people. It is not necessary that all the hymns in worship be great hymns, worthy of being handed down from generation to generation. Much serviceable music dies with the generation that produced it and found it satisfying."—Pp. 258, 259.

Jones's third principle is that "church music should be the medium for the development, the expression, and the transmission of the evangelical faith."—P. 254. Music that is out of harmony with the theology of those who use it should not be chosen.

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Helmut Thielicke, in his The Trouble With the Church, tells of accompanying some of his students to a refugee camp to minister to the poorest of the poor. In the evenings meetings were held with those who were to be "shipped out" the next day. After a sermon, members of the congregation were asked to select a hymn. Almost invariably they selected gospel hymns not considered suitable for church services by professional musicians.
Thielicke states that he was a "bit edgy" at first, thinking that his students would be suffering "aesthetic torments" as a result of having to sing these hymns.

"But then they saw how these people were gripped and moved; they began to see what these hymns could mean to these people in their hard situation. They even saw tears and they could not bring themselves to dismiss it all as `sentimentality.' They were also touched by the devotion with which the very ones whom they knew to be believing Christians sang. And suddenly these young liturgical aesthetes suffered a change: they began to like these hymns. Not because their aesthetic judgment about them had suddenly changed! This had not changed at all. But because they saw that the aesthetic category is inappropriate here or that this category is not capable of elucidating the mystery of what was happening here.

"These hymns were suddenly freighted with the faith, hope, and devotion of those who sang them. Therefore, all at once they were not just sentimental chaff, but had weight and consequence. It was as if they had been justified by the faith of those who were edified by them, as if they had received a kind of `alien righteousness' (and therefore not their own aesthetic righteousness)."—Pp. 87, 88.

When a minister loses the ability to identify with people whose aesthetic tastes are inferior to his, when he can no longer enter into their experience and enjoy the expressions of worship which are meaningful to them, he has lost one of the characteristics of a pastor. High aesthetic standards are commendable. I see no reason why a group of ministers at a ministers' meeting should choose less than the best of hymns; but these same ministers should be able to enter with understanding and appreciation into the singing of those 

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hymns that bring comfort and hope to people who have lived on a different cultural level.

Much more could be said about music. We may summarize by saying that the same principles of spontaneity, spiritual warmth, and meaningfulness that govern Adventist worship as a whole should govern the choice of music for the Adventist worship. Hymns, anthems, responses, introits, should be appropriate to the occasion, understandable to the majority of the congregation, and performed for the glory of God rather than the ego of the performer. Let us have enough flexibility to take individual differences into consideration and enough rigidity to avoid that which could be better.

This will require great wisdom and tact on the part of the minister. He can weaken his worship service by erring in either of two opposite directions. Only by a knowledge of music, of people, and of the objectives of Adventist worship can he make the right decisions.

The other component of worship, the sermon, will be discussed in the final chapter. One more area demands our attention as we consider the effectiveness of Adventist worship, and that is the Communion service. We will not discuss in detail its conduct, but a discussion of public worship is not complete without some attention to the worship aspects of this important service.

At the Communion service worship should reach its highest peak, because here the symbols of Communion can make the presence of God most real. And yet no service can degenerate more completely into lifeless formality than the Communion service.

Adventists celebrate the ordinance of foot washing prior to the Communion service. This ordinance may be very worshipful if it is understood as the memorial of Christ's humiliation and a symbol of cleansing. It can be completely self-defeating if the participants are intent on congratulating themselves that they are "humble" enough to do something their Baptist or Methodist brethren would hesitate to do. The worship value of this service will be influenced by the carefulness with which it is planned, by the quietness and reverence with which it is performed, by the appropriateness 

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of the instruction given by the pastor, and by the condition of the equipment.

The Communion service, likewise, must be made meaningful by the leader of worship. If a sermon on this service is desirable, it should be preached the Sabbath previous. On the day of the service, the sermon can well be limited to ten minutes, and should deal with one pertinent aspect or implication of the service. While certain standard scriptures are applicable, why not vary the scriptures from time to time? The Gospels and the Epistles are full of scriptures that are appropriate, especially the Epistle to the Hebrews. I once watched Dr. Harold John Ockenga conduct a Communion service at the Park Street Congregational Church in Boston. As he distributed the trays and the plates to the deacons, he quoted appropriate scriptures, one after another. This was most effective.

One of the problems incident to Communion services is timing. To have it last an hour and a half or two hours detracts from its effectiveness. With careful planning everything can be done, with out rushing, in an hour and fifteen minutes. This will include ten minutes for the sermon and adequate time for transition. One great help in shortening and enhancing this service is the installation of Communion cup holders on the backs of the pews. In cases where the church is seated with opera chairs, a removable aluminum holder can be purchased. Between services all that appears is a bracket that is nearly flush with the back of the seat.

Throughout the service, a spirit of joy should prevail. The theme of the service is salvation through the sacrifice of Christ. It is a memorial of our deliverance from the power of sin and a re minder of our eternal redemption. Sometimes we are satisfied merely to do everything correctly. We are careful in our handling of the bread and the wine. We fold the linen neatly and distribute the elements with precision, yet the spirit is lacking. We do not discern "the Lord's body." If we did, we would be radiant.

Like all services of worship, this one must be planned. The leader of worship should spend long hours meditating, preparing, renewing his own appreciation of its meaning. With this kind of 

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planning, the attendance will grow. The church will soon need to add to its equipment. And, most important of all, the church members will be brought into a closer fellowship with Christ and with one another.

Harold Fey, in his book The Lord's Supper, says:
"Once a church which possessed no paid ministry, no priesthood, no cathedrals or church buildings, no endowments, no salaried bishops or secretaries, and no publicity except the lies told by its enemies, held a disintegrating world together and laid the basis of a new civilization. Its power was not its own. What it had was a gift. The gift was given it in meetings of little groups who assembled before dawn in houses on back streets and in caves under Rome. Those who gathered heard sermons only infrequently, when men like Paul the sail-maker came their way. But whenever they met they broke bread with gladness and singleness of heart and shared the cup of their covenant with Christ. What did that church have that we do not have today?"—P. 8.
As we come to the end of this discussion of the form and content of worship, I am reminded of a brief but striking quotation from Testimonies, Volume 9, page 143:

"The evil of formal worship cannot be too strongly depicted, but no words can properly set forth the deep blessedness of genuine worship."

We must have form, but we do not want formalism. And the form must take on its significance from the content. When every Scripture reading interprets the true meaning of the passage, when every prayer is a masterpiece of disciplined devotion, when every hymn is an expression of a dedicated soul, when every sermon brings men to the foot of the cross—then worship will fulfill its purpose. God will be glorified, and His people will be edified.

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            For present beauty and fragrance 
            For the joy of hope
            For the harvest of a distant day.

"To be all this it must grow in a warm climate: 
      In loam enriched by death
      In love like the all-seeing and all-cherishing sun 
      In trust like the sleep-sheltering night
      In pity like the rain."—Pp. 15, 16.

Now we are coming to the end of our brief quest for deeper insight into worship. In an effort to focus what we have said about worship, I wish to summarize an evaluation of worship found in the final chapter of Dobbins' book, The Church at Worship. He introduces his series of tests of the validity of the worship service as follows:

"Destiny hangs on the outcomes of worship. Are unbelievers confronted with Christ and his claims so persuasively that they accept him as Saviour and Lord? Are lives so remade that they withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, the devil? Are families so bound together that they resist the forces of disorganization? Are young people sent out into the world with strength of character to make their lives count for Christ? Are men and women dismissed from the worship services to go into politics, business, industry, the professions and occupations, having put on the whole armor of God that they may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand? Can it be truthfully said of those who participate in the services of worship that they are the salt of the earth, the light of the world?"—P. 132.

Then Dobbins suggests the principle of readiness. This involves preparation, order before the beginning of worship, and a spirit of reverence on the part of the worship leaders and people.

His second principle is unity. By this he refers to a pattern in the worship service that makes the various parts of the service fit together with a controlling motif. This involves coherence and concentration.

Third, he invoked the principle of movement. The worship 

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service contributes to the performance of the functions of the church. It recognizes the church as an organism, not merely an organization, and it rules out dullness, lethargy, and purposelessness.

Next, Dobbins presents economy. None of the hour of worship should be wasted. The unnecessary and irrelevant should be eliminated. Though unhurried, the service should begin on time and close on time.

The principle of dignity is important. Dignity does not imply "stiffness, formality, unnaturalness, aloofness," but rather, "merit, worth, genuineness."

Another principle is beauty. The relation between "beauty and goodness, ugliness and evil" is made clear. "Ugliness in worship is intuitively repulsive," he says. Beauty does not demand wealth or extravagance, but taste and planning.

And then the author suggests the principle of mystery. God is to be approached with awe. Cheap music, light poetry, political prayers, jocular ministers, violate this principle.

The final test is that of democracy. Do the worshipers feel wanted and included? Have their needs been considered? Does the congregation participate? Does the service indicate respect for persons?

After each of these tests, Dobbins asks the question, "Tested by this principle, how would a given worship service rate?" These and other criteria may be applied with profit to our services. If the reader of this book is a leader of worship, the time to begin applying these tests is not later than next Sabbath. The words of Jesus to the woman at the well have not lost their immediacy: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." John 4:23.

The Father is seeking worshipers, true worshipers. He has entrusted to us the privilege of leading in such worship. May God give us grace to accomplish this mission with continually growing effectiveness.

References Cited

Bader, Jesse Moren, The Method and Message of the New Evangelism. Round Table Press.
Bayne, Stephen F., Jr., Enter With Joy. Seabury Press.
Blackwood, Andrew W., The Fine Art of Public Worship. Used by permission of Abingdon Press.
Broadhurst, Allan R., He Speaks the Word of God. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 
Broadus, John A., and Weatherspoon, Jesse B., On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. Harper and Row.
Christianity Today, April 13, 1962. Reprinted by permission. 
Davis, H. Grady, Design for Preaching. Fortress Press.
Dobbins, Gaines S., The Church at Worship. Used by permission of Broadman Press.
Fey, Harold, The Lord's Supper. Harper and Row.
Jones, Ilion T., A Historical Approach to Evangelical Worship. Copyright, 1954, by Pierce and Washabaugh. Abingdon Press.
Niebuhr, R., and Williams, D., editors, The Ministry in Historical Perspective. Harper and Row.
Noyes, Morgan Phelps, Preaching the Word of God. Scribner's. Thielicke, Helmut, The Trouble With the Church. Harper and Row. Tillich, Paul, Dynamics of Faith. Harper and Row.
Time. Copyright, Time, Inc., 1961.
Toombs, Laurence E., The Old Testament in Christian Preaching. The Westminster Press. Copyright, 1961, W. L. Jenkins. Used by permission. Underhill, Evelyn, Worship. Harper and Row.
Williamson, Robert L., Effective Public Prayer. Used by permission of Broadman Press.

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