Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 0-197

From ‘Sunrise Sunset’ (HarperCollins/Harper San Francisco), Rowland Croucher’s book of daily meditations. Feel free to use or adapt it.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind… One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer… Acts 2:1, 3;1.

The New Testament nowhere prescribes a detailed order of worship. The worship of the early church comprised teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers: God meets his people in the Word, in each other, in holy communion, and in prayer (Acts 2:42), and also in the more formal Jewish worship in the Temple (Acts 2:46, 3:1, 5:12). The mission of the early church was the fruit of worship.

Paul, in his regular worship, teaching and missionary work, chose a close fraternity with the synagogue. The synagogue service consisted of an invitation to prayer, the prayer itself, the reading of scriptures, a homily based on the scripture reading and concluded with the benediction.

At the end of the first century there was a move toward a more structured and formal service of worship. Most churches move in this direction over time: but does that mean such ‘predictable’ worship has to be ‘dead’? Not necessarily.

Forgive me, Lord, if I have been too critical of the worship-styles of churches other than my own. Amen.