Calvin Synod Herald, 2004 (105. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2004-01-01 / 1-2. szám
8 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD The Evening Service A1985 survey of the favorite hymns of British churchgoers placed several evening hymns in the top ten (including The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended [No. 1.], and Abide with Me [No. 7], It is painful to contemplate generations of Christians growing up and not learning to sing these superb hymns so beloved of generations of the saints. But if there are no evening services, it is unlikely that these hymns will retain a place in the church’s mind and heart. The number of the elect who were summoned to faith and life in Christ by preaching in Sunday evening services must be very large. But now there are half as many services in which a man or woman, boy or girl, might hear the words of life. Are there reasons for the church to meet twice on the Lord’s Day? Well, there must be, for the church has done so virtually without exception throughout her history. The arguments for a second Lord’s Day service, that is, an evening service, include these: First, provision was made in the liturgical regulation of the tabernacle and temple for both morning and evening sacrifices and these were explicitly required to be continued on the Sabbath day (Numbers 28:1-10). Second, Psalm 92, which is explicitly identified as a Psalm “For the Sabbath Day,” reads, “It is good... to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night” (cf. Ps. 134:1). Third, in the New Testament we have record of evening worship on the Christian Sabbath, that is Sunday (Acts 20:7) and we have it in a book that very clearly intends to set before us facts representative of the life of early Christianity. Interestingly, what might be called the first Sunday “service” of the new epoch took place at night when the Lord on Easter evening met his disciples gathered in room in Jerusalem. Fourth, just as morning has a special significance in the history of salvation (e.g. our Savior rose from the dead in the morning), so many events have sanctified the evening (such as the Saviour’s birth, the transfiguration, the struggle in Gethsemane). There is something appropriate in the church worshiping at the time that recollects such sacred and important events. Fifth, there is the consistent witness of the Christian tradition, from early Christianity, the English Puritanism and Scottish Presbyterianism’s “afternoon” service, to Anglican evensong. Sixth, there are a variety of practical considerations that, together, strongly recommend the practice of an evening worship service on the Sabbath Day. For example, such a service provides another opportunity for ministers to preach and teach the Word of God. All the more in our day, when the church is not as Biblically literate as it once was, reducing the number of times Christians hear the Word read and taught is hardly a recipe for spiritual prosperity or renewal. I give my own testimony as a preacher that, were it not for the evening service for which I am very grateful - there are many parts of the Bible the congregation would never have had taught to it and many Biblical themes that would never have been taught so comprehensively were I limited to a single sermon each week. Further, the evening service provides a helpful structure to support the sanctification of the Lord’s Day. Christians universally find it much easier to keep the Lord’s Day holy and make proper use of its time if the hours following the morning worship are an interval between two services. In those churches where the Christian family is home from church at 11:00 AM. or 1: PM., with the remainder of the day to its end stretching before them and with no occasion to return to church, the sanctification of the day is provided no support and now depends entirely on the determined exercise of the will. Furthermore, there is a character to the evening that lends to worship a particular character. Generations of Christians have known this from hollowed experience. The special character of evening hymns bears witness to the particular set of holy thoughts that crowd the soul in the evening hours. Christian worship on the Lord’s Day evening gains a special character from the hour. God’s people through the ages have prized the second service. Christian children growing up with Sunday evenings at church remember them with a special fondness. Most Christians have the memory of a special spiritual atmosphere that are attached to evening worship. We are, after all, talking about only another hour or two out of the entire week. Surely we should have a good reason, a very good reason, why we would not make a special effort to be in God’s house, to sing His praise and hear His Word, twice on the Lord’s holy day. A day devoted to His worship and to the refreshment of our souls in Him, surely is very naturally a day that begins and ends in God’s house, among God’s people, with His Word in our ears and His praise in our hearts. Rev. Rob Rayburn Tacoma, WA New Church Youth Group The Fuzzy-Wuzzies are the new youth group at UCC Bridgeport. It is for people in grades seven through twelve. They meet twice each month on the first and third Tuesdays from 7:00 to 8:00 PM at the parsonage. On November 4, the Fuzzy-Wuzzies went to see a movie and discussed it. It was a daytime meeting since there was no school that day. (Election Day). The Fuzzy-Wuzzies and the Bessemer Seniors collaborated to provide food for the hungry during Thanksgiving. On November 18, the Fuzzy-Wuzzies packed Thanksgiving baskets for needy families. Rev. Betsy Reed UCC Bridgeport, CT
