Worship

City of Joy

Mark Johnston
Feb 27, 2018
The theme of joy in Scripture finds its focus in the joy of knowing God as our God and Saviour. As we seek his glory (as opposed to our own) we experience a joy that is utterly different from all the joys of earth combined. Nevertheless, amazingly, this joy can be found and experienced on earth...

Martin Bucer and the Reform of Worship

Terry L. Johnson
Feb 8, 2018
If Martin Bucer (1477-1548) is not an un sung hero of the Reformation, he is certainly an under sung hero. This particularly is the case when it comes to public worship. Bucer's fingerprints are all over Calvin's Form of Church Prayers (1542) as well as the Book of Common Prayer (1552, 1559, 1662...

John Bunyan on Prayer (3)

Amy Mantravadi
Feb 1, 2018
A my Mantravadi joins us this week to discuss John Bunyan's A Discourse Touching Prayer. Read her third post below: W hile John Bunyan spent much time dissecting the Apostle Paul’s statement that “I will pray with the spirit”, he by no means ignored the second part of that phrase: “I will pray with...

John Bunyan on Prayer (2)

Amy Mantravadi
Jan 30, 2018
A my Mantravadi joins us this week to discuss John Bunyan's A Discourse Touching Prayer. Read her second post below: “There is no man nor church in the world that can come to God in prayer, but by the assistance of the Holy Spirit." “Prayer, without the heart be in it, is like a sound without life...

How to Discourage Your Minister in the New Year

Paul Levy
Jan 7, 2018
I recently had someone come to see me who was struggling in their church. In all honesty it would have been hard to be more depressed by what they had to say. I had very little sympathy with their complaints and told them if they wanted affirmation I was the wrong man to whom they should come...

The Quest for Biblical Worship (Part 2)

Terry L. Johnson
Sep 18, 2017
Reformed churches not only have the regulative principle worship (RPW) to guide them regarding elements and forms, but they also, throughout their history, have had liturgies and directories. The liturgies were the more restrictive ( e.g. Strasburg , Geneva , Amsterdam), the directories (...

The Family Altar (4)

Amy Mantravadi
Aug 9, 2017
I n Oliver Heywood’s The Family Altar , he spends most of his time addressing the heads of household whom he presumed would institute family worship. However, not every 21st century household takes the same form as Puritan households in the 17th century. Indeed, it seems unlikely that even in that...

The Family Altar (2)

Amy Mantravadi
Jul 27, 2017
I n The Family Altar , the Puritan writer Oliver Heywood makes the case for family or household worship. We have already discussed Heywood’s belief that family worship is essential for the proper functioning not only of the family, but also the Church and wider society. We must now consider exactly...

The Quest for Biblical Worship (Part 1)

Terry L. Johnson
Jul 27, 2017
Which is more likely today, liturgical sameness or liturgical strangeness ? Which is more damaging to the integrity of Protestant denominations? Are we suffocating from liturgical uniformity--encountering the same old predictable things in the Reformed churches we attend? Or, are we unsettled by...

Liturgy, Priesthood and Genuine Worship

Mark Johnston
Jul 13, 2017
The debate over worship and liturgy has been both long running and many faceted. Its spectrum ranges from the ultra-free self-expression of certain types of contemporary worship through to the high liturgies of traditional Roman Catholicism and its Episcopalian counterparts. A debate that is very...