Afterthought
Puritan Board Senior
What is the call to worship: A circumstance or element? And why?
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The call to worship is a divine summons. Think "subpoena," but in the way of privilege.
Bottom line, we come because God is commanding it, he's initiating worship; we don't initiate our acts, but react.
We couldn't have any fruition of our relationship with him, apart from his condescending to us in covenant.
The Call is a Covenant-act. It is definitely an Element of worship.
"Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word: and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed."
Thank you. I don't see the proofs you have offered as convincing as making the call to worship a separate element of worship, such as what we have today (but you weren't offering proof for that anyway), but they do seem convincing as part of the "general rules of the Word" by which circumstantial matters are decided (which is what you were actually offering proof for), unless I misunderstand what "general rules" refers to: the circumstance in this case being the order in which we perform actions of public worship. So that seems good to me, unless others have an opinion on the above?Contra_Mundum said:I'm willing to grant Rev.Winzer's point, that in terms of "structure" separating out the Call and identifying it distinctly as a separate element from other uses of the read Word (clearly an element) is multiplying elements unnecessarily. Let's stick with those designated by confession.
I say that the beginning of worship theologically is the divine summons. So as we plan the structure, prudentially, using divine elements, it belongs at the outset.
In the back of my Bible I have made a list of scriptures that have the summons
in them.