Worship Ministry at Living Hope | Values of Worship

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”  Revelation 4:11

All things, great and small, are created for worship. We are our most true selves when we are enjoying the grace God has given us in our lives.

But worship can easily be distorted, pointed in the wrong direction. In his teachings, Christ commanded us to follow him and his gospel; this can be understood as a command to align our loves and longings with his. If we are to pursue God’s vision of how the world ought to be and bring his kingdom to fruition, then we need to follow this command. For if what we love is absorbed into material things, then this love will be a weight that drags us downward to inferior, material things. “But when our loves are animated by the renewing fire of the Spirit, then our weight tends upward.” (James K Smith)

It is in our outward practices of discipleship that re-form our desires and align our hearts with God’s heart. At Living Hope, we call what we do each Sunday morning, what we say and sing in worship, a Liturgy. Liturgy is a way of formation. It can be translated to, “the work of the people.” We often do the same things each week; and while some might call this restrictive or limiting, we view it as creating habits. Creating these habits keeps our heart’s compass focused on God, reorienting ourselves to what he loves and desires.

Worship Values at Living Hope

All of life is worship, but what we do on a Sunday morning starts off each week with us recalibrating our hearts to God. At Living Hope, we have a number of values that direct us as we plan Sunday services, to help us focus in our daily lives for the coming week.

“Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.”  1 Corinthians 10:31

  • The Triune God

    In worship we address the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – one God in three persons. We give glory, honour, and praise to the Father, whom we have come to know through the mediating work of Christ the Son, prompted by the internal working of the Holy Spirit. It is this Triune God who guides all our planning. It is this Triune God who initiates and invites us to worship, and we respond by participating through the tangible things of the sacraments – water, bread, wine. Through the intangible things of melodies, rhythms, and harmonies. And interpersonal activities of gestures, smiles and handshakes. God comes to us, and we move towards him and he uses all these things we do in worship to speak to us as we carry our praise and prayer back to him. And this is all possible because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; it is what we proclaim when we worship and why we each have a song to sing.

    “It’s not a song we originated or created. We can’t add to it, change it, or improve upon it. It’s the song of the redeemed for their great Redeemer.”  

    Bob Kauflin, True Worshippers

  • Biblical

    Scripture reveals to us who God is. It is centered on his name and glory, his character and actions. Having our worship centered around the Bible means we are focused on God’s story, and it keeps us from worshipping worship itself – yes, we strive for excellence in our worship for it is a rich outpouring of our love and adoration to the God who has redeemed us – but it’s not about all the lights or guitar riffs. Our worship should focus where the Bible does: on the Gospel story. God, through Christ’s redeeming work on the cross, is redeeming all of creation, making everything new. Each part of the service is meant to draw us into this big story of God’s salvation. We believe that the Bible speaks into our current context. Even though the words that were written long ago still, they still have an impact on what we are experiencing today. That even though we live in a very different cultural context and use different musical devices, the Bible is still profoundly integral in shaping our worship.

    “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.”  Romans 12:1

  • Participants

    Our worship services should be like a spring, a place where water originates from, it is a source of life that flows through to the rest of our week, shaping all our Christian practices and the life of the whole church. We need the fellowship of the whole church to participate in this communal worship. John Witvliet says, in The Worship Sourcebook, that worship is a first-person plural activity: your participation in worship, is forming my worship, and vice versa. We give and receive from one another. God created people to reflect his glory, nature, and character on this earth; to lead, create, care, and love. This is a song we were never meant to sing alone – while we sing and make melodies from our heart, we also address to one another in song. While our worship is horizontal, it is also vertical. Our liturgy in our worship services reflects this dialogic nature – there is a conversation between God and the gathered community. God speaks and we respond. God invites and we participate. Every person attending the worship service is absolutely essential and should be actively involved in corporate worship, not only for the glory of God, but for the building up of the entire body.

    “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Ephesians 5:18-19

What’s Going On When We Gather

When you visit Living Hope CRC church, perhaps you’ll encounter a way of worshipping that you have never seen or heard before, but maybe it will be very familiar. John Calvin said, everyone should be able to know and understand what is going on when we gather for worship. We do our best to explain parts of the service that may be unfamiliar. Here is what you can expect when you join us in corporate worship:

  • Readings

    We use written or extemporaneous (not written) prayers and readings that derive from scripture, creeds, reformed peers, or Christian tradition. What we say matters in our corporate setting. It shapes our language and how we talk about God. We want to learn from our spiritual ancestors and build on their models of worship. Together we offer praise, confess our sins, make known our needs and the worlds needs and give thanks. It may be through a call and responsive reading or through the lyrics of songs. We work to create an environment that is marked by accessible and reverent ways to come to the Lord and participate in worship.

  • Songs

    We sing songs that honestly express what our community has felt and experienced but also needs to stretch us in our engagement with God and the world. Some songs may have been sung repeatedly for the last 50 years in our community; some may be sung for the first time that Sunday. We sing songs of praise, adoration, and thankfulness. Songs of confession and lament. Songs that offer our lives, gifts, and prayers. We strive to sing songs that align with a reformed theology of worship.

  • Volunteers

    Sunday morning worship is led by worship leaders, instrumentalists, vocalists, and A/V techs, but the real responsibility rests with the congregation. The worship team does not act on behalf of the congregation but prompts the church to participate with them. Each week a worship leader has the joyful task of imagining how worship can be truly biblical, dialogic, trinitarian, hospitable, and excellent. They work with the worship coordinator and pastor to create and design the service. We have several unique worship teams with a variety of instruments, talents, and abilities, who strive to learn from one another with respect and love as they rehearse and prepare for Sunday morning. We are not perfect, but we strive to offer nothing less than our best to our Redeemer.

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the people.”  Psalm 96: 1-3

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