WORSHIP NOTES Volume 18, Nr. 4 (April 2023) “Easter” is the period of eight Sundays [until Pentecost], comprising fifty days, often called as a unit “the Great Fifty Days.” For the explosive force of the resurrection of the Lord is too vast to be contained within a celebration of one day. The recovery of Easter as “the Great Fifty Days” of the year can move the church along toward …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 17, No. 10 (October 2022) THE BEGINNING The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is usually traced to October 31, 1517, the date on which Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. The 95 Theses were questions, points of disputation and disagreements that Luther had with the established church of his day. THE DEBT WE OWE The Reformers, at …
“. . . of whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38): THE REFORMATION Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 16, No. 4 (April 2021) INTRODUCTION How small and distant God can seem when we’re discouraged! Two of Jesus’ disciples faced that kind of disappointment and discouragement as they wearily made their way from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus on the Sunday afternoon after their Master had undergone a horrible execution on a Roman cross, as related to us in Luke 24. THE WALK Two …
The Road to Understanding: A Post-Easter Meditation (Luke 24:13-35) Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 15, No. 11 (November 2020) † A Scriptural Meditation † But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 15, No. 10 (October 2020) Reformation Day, October 31, is celebrated in Protestant Europe (and in many of our churches: see Worship Notes 2.10, 5.8, 11.10, 12.8, and 12.10) as the anniversary of the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, touching off what we now know as the Protestant Reformation. In honor of Martin Luther, who along with the other Reformers risked …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 14, No. 11 (November 2019) As, we look ahead to another Christmas celebration, I really have no new thoughts on the wonder of the Incarnation, so I thought I would direct you back to some previous issues’ reflections on the subject: Worship Notes 1.12 (December 2006): God with Us Worship Notes 2.12 (December 2007): The Canticles of Christmas Worship Notes 3.12 (December 2008): Christmas in Unexpected Places Worship …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 14, No. 5 (May 2019) The Great Fifty Days of the Easter season (Eastertide) will culminate in the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 14, No. 4 (April 2019) In my years of teaching internationally on worship, I have had the opportunity several times to be in different parts of Eastern Europe during the Easter season (specifically Ukraine and Moldova). I was struck and moved by the intense nature of their celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is interesting that the Baptist churches (which, along with Pentecostals, are the largest …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 14, No. 3 (March 2019) Almost all of us go through life constantly suppressing the truth from our own minds that death is coming for each of us. The mortality rate is 100%! The Bible says that something is not right with the world, in fact is terribly wrong: and that is the problem of sin, and of death that comes as a result of sin. …
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 13, No. 4 (April 2018) We are approaching the celebration of Jesus’ Ascension (Acts 1:9-11; Luke 24:51) (40 days after Easter, this year May 10; churches will observe Ascension Sunday on May 13, followed by Pentecost Sunday on May 20). For more on the significance of the Ascension and how (and why) we should celebrate it in worship, see Worship Notes 2.5 and 9.5. This is an …
