Liturgy Lessons: February 5, 2017
Call to Worship: Revelations 4 (selections)
Song of Adoration: Be Unto Your Name
CTW(continued): Revelations 5 (selections)
Hymn: Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim (#165)
Confession of Sin: Psalm 38:1-4, 15-18, 21-22
Assurance of Pardon: John 6:28-40
Hymn: How Firm a Foundation (#94)
Catechism/Congregational Prayers
Tithes/Offerings
Doxology: #733
Sermon: Rev. Eric Irwin
Meditation
Supper: Just As I Am (#501); The Lamb Has Overcome
Closing Hymn: Jesus Shall Reign (#441)
Benediction
“Worthy are you, Our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
For you created al things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Rev. 4:11
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain,
and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Rev. 5:9-10
What a week of political turmoil. The day after the inauguration, an entire gender flooded the streets of our cities to protest the president and proudly proclaim their reproductive rights. After the women’s marches, there were more mass tantrums over the immigration ban. Facebook became a constant scrolling billboard of fussing and fighting. Debates and divisions deepened, with both sides posturing and positioning for power, crying “foul,” and screaming with moral indignation. I am normally apolitical, but these past few weeks it was impossible to ignore the din.
In our worship this week, we will read passages from Revelation 4 and 5, which celebrates the coronation of Jesus Christ, the Lamb that was slain, at whose name “every knee shall bow, in heaven and earth, and under the earth.” Despite how flooded our culture or countries become with waves of despair, anxiety, or distress, we know that it all amounts to nothing but ripples of time that will crash against the Rock of Ages. Did you know that the word “trump” has its roots in the early 16th-century alteration of the English word “triumph”? What irony. The church need not be discouraged at the current events, for we know that one victory will trump all. That ultimate and eternal triumph of Jesus Christ is the truth that we sing every week. When the final trump sounds, the Lord shall make all things new, and all divisions will be healed as “every tribe and language and people and nation” will sing that new song together.
Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim (#165)
Text: Charles Wesley (1744) Tune: LYONS, Unnkown (attr. Haydn, 1708)
This hymn is a fitting opening to our worship this week because it not only echoes the themes in Revelation, but it was written during a time of political and religious turmoil in Britain. In 1744, the newly formed Methodist societies were under persecution, being suspected of an attempt to overthrow the crown.
“To strengthen and reassure his Methodist followers, Charles Wesley anonymously published Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution (1744). This text, originally in seventeen stanzas, was the first of the ‘Hymns to be Sung in a Tumult.’ Wesley provided an anchor of hope for his people by writing this hymn of thankful praise to Christ for his gift of salvation and victorious reign. It celebrates the cosmic scope of Christ’s kingdom (st. I) and helps us to join our voices with the great doxology to Christ, the Lamb, as foretold in Revelation 5:9-14 (st. 24). In the first stanza, ‘servants’ refers to all Christians, not just clergy, to those made “to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God” (Rev. 5:10).” (Psalter Hymnal Handbook)
The tune LYONS is most famously paired with “O Worship the King,” but it fits equally well with this lesser-known Wesley text. The tune first appeared in William Gardiner’s Sacred Melodies in 1815 with the note “Subject Haydn,” which led to the theory that it was originally written by someone with the surname of Haydn, though this has been a matter of debate. No matter the source, it is a sturdy and optimistic tune that suits the celebratory nature of the text. The genius of Wesley is that his verse was saturated with biblical allusions, images, and quotations. Wesley’s poetry was always the flower that grew from the seeds of scripture. Not surprisingly, this hymn of praise alludes frequently to specific scripture passages. These references are listed below for your further study. I suggest reading them before singing each verse.
Scripture References:
vs. 1: Philippians 2:10-11; Deut. 32:3, Ps. 148:13, Ps. 145:11-13
vs. 3: Rev. 5:12-14, Rev. 7:10
Link to text and piano accompaniment: https://www.opc.org/hymn.html?hymn_id=847
Jesus Shall Reign (#441)
Words: Isaac Watts (1719) Music: Duke Street, John Hatton (1793)
If this week’s liturgy was a movie (let’s call it “The Christ Supremacy”), then the hit theme song would be this hymn. In five memorable verses, it brilliantly encapsulates the hope that we profess in celebrating the final chapter of Christ’s story, his ascension and exaltation. Isaac Watts, famous for his psalm paraphrases, wrote this text based on Psalm 72. It was one of many in his publication, Psalms of David, Imitated. Focused on Christ’s dominion over the whole earth, this is a stately and majestic hymn. The tune is a sweeping line that covers an entire octave in regular, stepwise climbs. I think it is an intuitive and brilliant melody that really “sings” in full sentence phrases, rather than the unfortunate plodding on every syllable that is so common to 4-part hymn settings. In order that the word might “dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16), I encourage you to use the following guide as a devotional tool in learning this hymn. Read the scripture references, and then sing each corresponding hymn verse:
Vs. 1: Ps. 72:5, 8, 17
Vs. 2: Ps. 72:15
Vs. 3: Ps. 72:10-11
Vs. 4: Ps. 72:12-14
Vs. 5: Ps. 72:19, Rev. 5:11-14
One note of clarification. In verse 5, we are told to bring “peculiar honors to our King.” The word “peculiar” is frequently changed to “highest” in some hymnals. It basically means “set apart” or “exclusively for.” It does not mean to bring “odd” or “strange” gifts to worship.
Sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/96123
Suggested recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJYLXUovpjw