As members trickled in for the later service, folks greeted each other with either short, happy hugs or long and comforting embraces. A musician encouraged the members to join in the songs-accented by bongo drums and electric guitars-when the spirit filled them. A large screen projected the words, but many of the members knew the […]
Thesis I: The Main Purpose of Worship Is to Receive God's Gifts If you were to ask what "worship" is, most people would probably respond, "Worship is praising the Lord"; or "Worship is what human beings do to express their thanks to God"; or "Worship is going to church"; or something like that. While there […]
By the Commission on Worship, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod In Revelation 5 the apostle John records a wondrous vision of heaven in which the whole heavenly host is gathered around the throne of the triune God. (1) In joyous song they proclaim the work of salvation accomplished by the Lamb of God-our Lord Jesus Christ-and raise […]
Proposed: God has promised to save and keep his people through the means he has appointed and through no others; the ordinary means of grace are limited to the preached Word and the administered Sacraments; God's rationale for these means is made explicit in Scripture. This thesis, which was so widely accepted as to be […]
In preparing for a lecture recently, I picked up an issue of Worship Leader, a publication of the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) industry. Having experienced that world, I was not surprised that one of the first articles (written by a minister calling himself "Reformed") was premised on the assumption that music is somehow a means […]
In the worship wars of recent years the nastiest battles have erupted over music. What should we sing? Who should sing? What tunes should we sing? What instruments should accompany the Church's singing-if any? Why do we sing? Most often it seems that the armies arrayed on the varying sides of issues have fought under […]
Blessing and honor and glory and power,Wisdom and riches and strength evermoreGive ye to him who our battle hath won,Whose are the kingdom, the crown, and the throne. Give we the glory and praise to the Lamb;Take we the robe and the harp and the palm;Sing we the song of the Lamb that was slain,Dying […]
Emotions, obviously, are a part of us. The emotional self, along with the physical, intellectual, and social, make up who we are. The Scriptures speak of us as body and soul or body and spirit. All these are parts of what makes us the persons we are; all are therefore gifts of God’s creation. But […]
The last issue of MR was devoted to a critical examination of contemporary evangelical challenges to the classical doctrine of God. To conclude these discussions, we are including in this issue both a review by Paul Helm of John Sanders' attempt to articulate an "Open" view of providence, and the following interview with an outspoken […]
The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence is, to my knowledge, the first book-length treatment of the idea of providence that one gets if one takes the "openness" of God view. (1) As such it is to be welcomed by those who take an opposite view, a view of providence that is, as far […]
