Come,
everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy
and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1, ESV). What a great invitation! “Come!” “Come everyone”.
We receive invitations all our lives. My wife and I often receive invitations for
card parties, for meals and coffee. It’s
all wonderful. When our daughter got
married we invited many of our friends to join our celebration. But there is no
invitation – not one – that can compare to the invitation of our Lord. “Come,
come everyone, come to the waters.”
I’m from a non-traditional, non-liturgical church
experience. Only in the last few months
have I sensed a deep value and worth to what some churches do in the beginning
of our shared worship. They have a “call
to worship”. Our hymnal in our church identifies
both spoken and sung “calls to worship”.
Why is it important to include a “call to worship” in
corporate worship? How should we respond
to it?
When our church musicians prepare for the service they make
sure that all the instruments are tuned up. “When Robert Robinson penned the words, ‘Come
Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace,’” he knew too
well that our hearts are such that it needs tuning before we sing. The call to
worship serves as a tuning of our hearts.[1]
Another reason that we “call people to worship” using God’s
Word is to remind us that we are entering into shared worship because God is
calling us. It’s God’s idea. God is in charge, not a singer and not a
pastor. God is calling. We need to remember that. “But the hour is coming, and is now
here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for
the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23, ESV) [Emphasis
mine].
Bob Kauflin writes, “The church is the ekklesia,
the “called out ones.” When we gather as God’s people we are being called away
from other pursuits to worship God together in a specific place and time.”[2]
Kauflin reminds us that the “call to worship” is a reminder that we the “called
ones” and we are “called” away from something. The call to worship reminds us: “Turn your
eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”
Kauflin quotes Bryan Chapell writes in his excellent
book, Christ-Centered Worship:
“With a scriptural Call to Worship, God invites us by his
Word to join the worship of the ages and angels. God does not simply invite us
to a party of friends, or a lecture on religion, or a concert of sacred music –
he invites us into the presence of the King of the Universe before whom all
creation will bow and for whom all heaven now sings.”
Why should you be sure that you don’t miss the “call to
worship”? How should we respond? Again, quoting Kauflin, he writes, “A
typical church has about half its members there when the meeting actually
starts. We want to do everything we can to help people see that both the church
and they themselves are affected negatively when they’re not present at the
call to worship.“
The appeal of this
article is for the health of your soul.
We as worshippers need to hear the call to worship. We need to be reminded that we are the “called
ones”. What a humbling honour to be
recipients of Christ’s call! We need to
be reminded that although we are the redeemed, we are yet being saved. We need our hearts tuned. Most importantly we need to be reminded that
it’s not a musician, not a pastor, not a worship leader calling us to worship –
it’s our great and mighty Saviour calling us.
When you miss hearing the “call to worship” you lose. Please don't lose.
