October 26, 2017 My dear Friends: Last week, I began talking with you a bit about our Sunday evening praise. I wanted to answer some basic questions that you may have, but also try to help us understand how our worship services work together. In particular, last time I wanted to suggest that Sunday evening worship isn’t an “add-on” service for the really spiritual people, but instead is a way of keeping Sabbath and enjoying community together. Too, I wanted to dispel any notion that Sunday evening praise is “the JV service.” Far from it—this service involves our best efforts and planning, just like Sunday morning. But there are other things to say. One is that I view our Sunday morning and evening services as complimentary, not in competition. There are some things that happen Sunday morning that don’t happen Sunday evening: sacraments and pastoral prayers, especially. There are some things that happen Sunday evening that don’t happen Sunday morning: passing the peace and weekly testimonies. Also, I use both services together to balance my preaching of God’s Word. Right now, I’m preaching New Testament (Revelation) in the morning, Old Testament (Song of Songs) in the evening; in the spring, we’ll reverse and preach Old Testament in the morning and New Testament at night. As a result, if you come to one or the other but not to both, you are missing out on the full-orbed ministry of the Word, fellowship, and praise. But morning and evening are also complimentary in terms of style—and I want to suggest to you that you need both kinds of styles in order to broaden your diet of worship expression. While there are a few people in the world who like to eat breakfast for every meal, it is probably not best to eat eggs and bacon every meal every day. Likewise, a well-balanced diet requires all the food groups—and some may prefer one particular food over another while recognizing that it is all worthwhile. The same applies to our worship. As we worship together using a classic style and an acoustic one, as we sing psalms, sixteenth-century hymns, nineteenth-century Gospel songs, and twenty-first-century new tunes and hymns, we will come to appreciate the breadth of the Christian tradition, both doctrinally and ascetically. Above all, my hope is that we will live out the basic principle that “the whole church worships with the whole church’s worship”—because Jesus has given all this to us richly to enjoy. That’s also why more recent hymnody and tunes show up on Sunday morning within the classic style of that service. While some of us might prefer one tune more than another, there are actually a range of good tunes in our own hymnal that we have never sung before (we are singing one this coming Sunday) as well as new tunes that are more “singable” than what’s in our hymnal. In all of this, our primary goal is to be a singing congregation—because, as we’ve seen in Revelation, the church’s work is to watch, worship, and witness; and the church worships by and through songs of praise. Finally, it is important to remember that the most important part of any worship service is the ministry of the Word. While we affirm a range of gatherings where God’s Word is taught, discussed, reflected upon—especially, small groups and one-on-ones—there is something unique about God’s covenant people gathered on God’s day around God’s Word. God promises to be present with us to transform us through the ministry of the Word. And so, if we absent ourselves from one service or another because “we don’t like the music” (whatever “style” the music might be), then we are actually absenting ourselves from the very means of grace that God uses to make us new people. I hope that this explanation makes sense. There is more that I can say, but hopefully this is a start toward thinking about how our services work together in this place for God’s glory and our good. In the grip of God’s grace,
Rev. Sean Michael Lucas, PhD Senior Pastor Independent Presbyterian Church Memphis, TN