Family Update January 2026
Greetings, Saints of King's Church!
We hope this Christmas Season has been a rich and joy-filled time of reflection, fellowship, and worship of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! As we continue celebrating Christmas (the number and variety of events, locations, ages, and foods involved is quite fun!), we also continue to look at our Sunday morning liturgy in this month's Devotion for Life & Joy. This month we consider the first portion of five called The Call to Worship, and hope that you find our explanation and encouragement to consider these things to be fruitful in your own lives and worship. May the Lord continue to bless your families, homes, celebrations, and faith in Christ the season!
Ben, for the elders
Ben, for the elders
Devotion for Life and Joy
I remember the first time I realized that the opening credits of a movie are indispensable. I had recently watched two very different kinds of movies (one a suspenseful drama and the other a classic musical) and noticed, by contrast, that if the opening credit soundtracks had been swapped (but all the credits preserved), I would have been confused when the movie began. Can you imagine the opening music of My Fair Lady as the opening soundtrack to something like Saving Private Ryan or Star Wars?
Similarly, the Call to Worship prepares us for what’s coming.
When we arrive for worship on Sunday mornings, and the fellowship dies down, and the candles are lit, the worship service begins, we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to take place: we are about to enter into the presence of God. Before we confess our sins, or are consecrated, or commune with our God at his table, or are commissioned by him to live for his glory, we are called to worship. In both the Call and Response and the Prayer of Praise, we are reminded of both who we are and of whose presence we are about to enter.
The Call and Response, you may have noticed, changes from time to time, and this change coincides with the church calendar. Sometimes we volley these words to one another:
M: Tell those who hunger for righteousness to take heart.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Tell the poor in spirit to take heart.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Tell the orphan and grieving widow to take heart.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Warn the tyrant to keep watch.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Warn the unjust to keep watch.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Warn the haughty to keep watch.
P: The Lord our God will come!
All: Amen.
And at other times of the year, these are the words we share with each other:
M: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
P: Amen.
M: You are worthy, Almighty Father, To receive glory and honor and power.
P: For you have created all things, And by your will they have their being.
M: You are worthy, Jesus, Son of God and Lamb of God,
P: For you were slain, And by your blood you ransomed us from every tribe and language and nation.
M: You are worthy, Blessed Comforter, Lord and Lifegiver,
P: For you give life to all flesh, And by your power raise the dead to new life.
M: All praise and honor to You, O Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
P: One God, forever and ever.
All: Amen.
This is not an exhaustive list of the words we use to begin worship, but they do highlight the different ways by which we tune our hearts to sing his praise. As we enter into the presence of God each week, the Call to Worship arrests our attention and focuses our affection so that we are ready to be won over and taught by him. In one way or another, the Call and Response section asserts the authority and greatness of God and in so doing we affirm the loyalty and affection that we owe him. These opening words are important because they interrupt our trains of thought and alert us to the fact that we are about to speak to, hear from, believe, and obey Someone who is incomparable with anyone we’ve ever encountered before. And weekly reminders of this are not too frequent.
The remaining portion of the opening Call to Worship is the Prayer of Praise, and it is perhaps the apex of the Call. Whoever offers it, however long or short it is, whatever Scripture text is used, this prayer is both representative and laudatory.
By representative I mean that it is a prayer that every listener may hear and believe as his or her prayer personally. Even though you may not have written it, in a very real sense it is your prayer, and your “Amen” at the end signifies this. Enter into it with as much fervor and agreement as you can muster because the man praying is doing so on your own behalf as much as his own. In fact, it is a prayer particularly designed to be prayed with and for others aloud and in their presence. It is the collective prayer of a body of people, offered up by one man on behalf of the body. To the degree that you embrace the words as true, they are your words.
By laudatory I mean that this prayer should lead you to laud him. Its purpose is to awaken and invigorate true, glorious, and compelling thoughts and affections within you that lead you to praise and celebrate the grace and kindness of God in Christ! This is no time for mindless patterns or formulas that leave us indifferent; it is the moment when the truths of God’s word and their reality displayed in the man who is praying combine to both invite and impel the congregation to turn its attention and affections willingly, eagerly, joyfully, and expectantly God-ward.
Our prayers are representative and laudatory not just for these practical reasons, but also because they follow how God himself taught us to pray in Psalms 120 - 134. Those Psalms, the Psalms of Ascents, were specifically meant to be sung while walking up Mount Zion to the Temple. Psalm 121, for example, lauds the Lord who delivers his people, and it exhorts both the singer and the hearers – it is a song of representative praise.
By the end of the Call to Worship, the hope is that we have become mindful of God’s great worth and of our deficiencies, both personally and collectively, which is why the second element in our liturgy is Confession. Beginning with God, his greatness, his mercy, and his immeasurable grace to us, we become mindful of our sin, which leads us from being called to worship God directly to confessing our sins, the element in our liturgy which we will take up next time.
Until then, as you enter worship each week, consider the ways in which our worship service is intended to help usher you into the presence and glory of God. Consider the words you recite collectively and their meaning. Rejoice in the script you’re given, both in the responses printed and in the prayers offered, and let them lead you into fellowship with God and with one another, gladly and truly.
Similarly, the Call to Worship prepares us for what’s coming.
When we arrive for worship on Sunday mornings, and the fellowship dies down, and the candles are lit, the worship service begins, we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to take place: we are about to enter into the presence of God. Before we confess our sins, or are consecrated, or commune with our God at his table, or are commissioned by him to live for his glory, we are called to worship. In both the Call and Response and the Prayer of Praise, we are reminded of both who we are and of whose presence we are about to enter.
The Call and Response, you may have noticed, changes from time to time, and this change coincides with the church calendar. Sometimes we volley these words to one another:
M: Tell those who hunger for righteousness to take heart.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Tell the poor in spirit to take heart.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Tell the orphan and grieving widow to take heart.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Warn the tyrant to keep watch.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Warn the unjust to keep watch.
P: The Lord our God will come!
M: Warn the haughty to keep watch.
P: The Lord our God will come!
All: Amen.
And at other times of the year, these are the words we share with each other:
M: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
P: Amen.
M: You are worthy, Almighty Father, To receive glory and honor and power.
P: For you have created all things, And by your will they have their being.
M: You are worthy, Jesus, Son of God and Lamb of God,
P: For you were slain, And by your blood you ransomed us from every tribe and language and nation.
M: You are worthy, Blessed Comforter, Lord and Lifegiver,
P: For you give life to all flesh, And by your power raise the dead to new life.
M: All praise and honor to You, O Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
P: One God, forever and ever.
All: Amen.
This is not an exhaustive list of the words we use to begin worship, but they do highlight the different ways by which we tune our hearts to sing his praise. As we enter into the presence of God each week, the Call to Worship arrests our attention and focuses our affection so that we are ready to be won over and taught by him. In one way or another, the Call and Response section asserts the authority and greatness of God and in so doing we affirm the loyalty and affection that we owe him. These opening words are important because they interrupt our trains of thought and alert us to the fact that we are about to speak to, hear from, believe, and obey Someone who is incomparable with anyone we’ve ever encountered before. And weekly reminders of this are not too frequent.
The remaining portion of the opening Call to Worship is the Prayer of Praise, and it is perhaps the apex of the Call. Whoever offers it, however long or short it is, whatever Scripture text is used, this prayer is both representative and laudatory.
By representative I mean that it is a prayer that every listener may hear and believe as his or her prayer personally. Even though you may not have written it, in a very real sense it is your prayer, and your “Amen” at the end signifies this. Enter into it with as much fervor and agreement as you can muster because the man praying is doing so on your own behalf as much as his own. In fact, it is a prayer particularly designed to be prayed with and for others aloud and in their presence. It is the collective prayer of a body of people, offered up by one man on behalf of the body. To the degree that you embrace the words as true, they are your words.
By laudatory I mean that this prayer should lead you to laud him. Its purpose is to awaken and invigorate true, glorious, and compelling thoughts and affections within you that lead you to praise and celebrate the grace and kindness of God in Christ! This is no time for mindless patterns or formulas that leave us indifferent; it is the moment when the truths of God’s word and their reality displayed in the man who is praying combine to both invite and impel the congregation to turn its attention and affections willingly, eagerly, joyfully, and expectantly God-ward.
Our prayers are representative and laudatory not just for these practical reasons, but also because they follow how God himself taught us to pray in Psalms 120 - 134. Those Psalms, the Psalms of Ascents, were specifically meant to be sung while walking up Mount Zion to the Temple. Psalm 121, for example, lauds the Lord who delivers his people, and it exhorts both the singer and the hearers – it is a song of representative praise.
By the end of the Call to Worship, the hope is that we have become mindful of God’s great worth and of our deficiencies, both personally and collectively, which is why the second element in our liturgy is Confession. Beginning with God, his greatness, his mercy, and his immeasurable grace to us, we become mindful of our sin, which leads us from being called to worship God directly to confessing our sins, the element in our liturgy which we will take up next time.
Until then, as you enter worship each week, consider the ways in which our worship service is intended to help usher you into the presence and glory of God. Consider the words you recite collectively and their meaning. Rejoice in the script you’re given, both in the responses printed and in the prayers offered, and let them lead you into fellowship with God and with one another, gladly and truly.
| Table Talk Question |
As you think about your weekly, weekend, and Sunday morning routines, are there parts of your week or morning that you see working for or against you? Try to think of this question less in terms of mere rules you might be breaking and more in terms of ways you might better prepare yourself to see and hear and receive as more glory and grace in worship. We have both an obligation to offer God his due and an opportunity to receive blessing from him. Is there anything you can identify that might be hindering either of those? And give thanks that the service itself is designed to be helpful in this regard.
Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns...
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written,
'King of kings and Lord of lords'.
~ Revelation 19
For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns...
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written,
'King of kings and Lord of lords'.
~ Revelation 19
Recent
Archive
2025