Tag Archives: Communion

Dialogue with God in Corporate Worship

Dialogue with God in Corporate Worship

This entry is part 11 of 15 in the series Fundamentals of Corporate Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Over the past several weeks I have been developing the biblical idea of the dialogical structure of corporate worship. Historically, church worship services have been designed in such a way to both display and nurture this kind of communion by being structured as a dialogue. God speaks, we respond. God calls us to worship him… Continue Reading

Dialogue with God

Dialogue with God

This entry is part 9 of 15 in the series Fundamentals of Corporate Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Jesus’s conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4 illustrates well the essence of worship with God as a relationship of communion with him. But where this passage helps us further is that it explains the nature of this all-satisfying communion with God. After Jesus uncovers the fact that the woman is seeking for satisfaction in… Continue Reading

Living Water

Living Water

This entry is part 8 of 15 in the series Fundamentals of Corporate Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

For the past several weeks I have been building the case for a biblically-founded theology and practice of corporate worship. The first few posts established the bedrock foundation for all theology and practice of worship, the inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient Word of God. God’s Word leads us to understand the goal of worship, communion… Continue Reading

Why “Virtual Lord’s Supper” Is Impossible

Why “Virtual Lord’s Supper” Is Impossible

This past Monday I turned 40, and because of “stay in place” requirements, my wife hosted a surprise Zoom birthday celebration. About 20 people logged on, they sang “Happy birthday” (which didn’t go well, but was hilarious), and it was a really nice brief chance to see a lot of friends and family since we… Continue Reading

Lukewarm

Lukewarm

He spewed the water from his mouth. Disgusting! He had recently come from his home in Colossae. There he regularly enjoyed cool, refreshing water from the spring. He had often taken it for granted. I should have remembered, he thought picking up the cup he had dropped to the ground. I’m not home anymore. The… Continue Reading

Tax Collectors and Sinners

Tax Collectors and Sinners

There was commotion at the windows. What are they doing here? he thought. He had not expected to meet this famed teacher, let alone dine with him at his table. He had been minding his own business, collecting taxes for the Romans. It was his job; sure, he took a little off the top, but… Continue Reading

Abide

Abide

It was a strong vine, surging with health and life. The vine dresser moved along the length of the vine, carefully fingering each branch. He had come to know these branches through the years. He knew their needs, and tended to them with the love of a father. He stopped. He reached in and fingered… Continue Reading

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper is a unique Christian addition to corporate worship, though it finds roots in the Passover meal. The book of Acts describes the meal as “the breaking of bread” (2:42, 46; 20:7–11), and Paul says that he passed on what he calls “the Lord’s supper” (1 Cor 11:20) to the church, having received… Continue Reading

An Unlikely Invitation

An Unlikely Invitation

The man was a scoundrel, certainly not worthy of the invitation he had just received. He had stolen before—he had even stolen from the king’s treasury. And now he was eyeing the fat purse on the richly-dressed nobleman headed his way on the main road, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Oh no,… Continue Reading

Do This in Remembrance of Me

Do This in Remembrance of Me

The observance of the “Last Supper” by Jesus and his disciple appears in all four gospels, though John does not give details of the meal itself (Matt. 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; Luke 22:19, 20). The particular elements of the meal mentioned in the gospel records (and repeated later in 1 Corinthians) each become significant for the… Continue Reading

Drawing Near to God as the Essence of Worship

Drawing Near to God as the Essence of Worship

In order to grasp the essence of Christian worship, we must start in the beginning. Creation provides the foundation for understanding not only the nature of God and mankind but also the substance of their relationship in worship. God, the sovereign Initiator, publicly revealed himself through what he made. The creation itself displays his nature… Continue Reading

The Lord’s Table as an important doctrinal distinctive

The Lord’s Table as an important doctrinal distinctive

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Worship and Doctrinal Distinctives You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Last week I began a series in which I will show the relationship between worship theology/practice and doctrinal distinctives. I plan to show how some aspects of worship necessarily divide, while other aspects preserve appropriate unity. I mentioned last week how in many respects, differences over worship theology lead to the division of denominations during… Continue Reading

A Modest Proposal: One Loaf in Communion

A Modest Proposal: One Loaf in Communion

In 1 Cor 10:17 Paul says, Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. For many Christians, Paul’s words in that verse do not make as much sense as they might otherwise, because they break the their Communion bread before they see it.1 While I… Continue Reading

Online Communion?

Online Communion?

The United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry met recently in Nashville to discuss the relative merits of offering Communion online. You can find detailed background of the meeting here. Here is a portion of that article: The meeting follows growing discussions about online Eucharist in local churches around the globe, particularly in Europe, said the… Continue Reading

Where did all that pomp and circumstance come from?

Where did all that pomp and circumstance come from?

Have you ever wondered how Christian liturgy developed from the simple meetings we see in the book of Acts to the smells and bells of Roman Catholicism? Here’s a brief snapshot of what happened: Stage 1: Word + Table Most scholars would agree that the earliest church services began as a natural extension of Jewish… Continue Reading

Four Commitments of the Infant Church

Four Commitments of the Infant Church

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a fervent defender of the Regulative Principle of Worship. However, today I’d like to set that debate aside and address something that both sides of the issue should be able to agree on. (For non-regular readers, allow me to summarize the principle briefly: the regulative principle states… Continue Reading

The building blocks of worship

The building blocks of worship

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series The Building Blocks of Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Synthesizing an essential definition of worship is a perennial problem. Many have tried, several have given us very helpful definitions, yet few are fully satisfactory. Part of the problem is trying to develop an understanding of worship that encompasses the essence of worship regardless of religion but that also incorporates a particularly biblical/Christian flavor as well. One… Continue Reading

An argument for weekly Table observance

An argument for weekly Table observance

We are having some enjoyable discussions this week about the meaning and significance of the Lord’s Table in Christian worship. I have been suggesting that part of what the Table pictures is the communion we have, not only with Christ, but also with other believers because of our unity in Christ. This is why I… Continue Reading

Christian fellowship as part of corporate worship

Christian fellowship as part of corporate worship

Yesterday I suggested that some kind of expression of union between brothers in Christ should be part of corporate worship, particularly as part of the observance of the Table, which is a celebration of our union with Christ and each other through him. I suggested that in the early centuries this was a kiss of… Continue Reading

A biblical defense of the handshake chorus

A biblical defense of the handshake chorus

OK, so I’m not really going to defend the handshake chorus as it’s practiced today. But I did want to address the importance and tradition of expressing fellowship among believers in the context of a worship service. Those with a more God-centered philosophy of church services (as opposed to a seeker philosophy or one more centered… Continue Reading