Loving the Lord Through the Liturgy
The Call to Worship (#3)
© 2006 Daniel R. Hyde

In worship we stand on holy ground in the presence of The Holy. This is communicated to us in the opening words of our worship, the baptismal words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19. These words set the tone of our worship as we are gathered as a baptized, set apart, holy community under the name and authority of our Triune God. It is as this baptized community of faith, then, that we are summoned by Christ himself, through his minister, to worship our all-glorious God in the call to worship.

A Sovereign, Covenant God
The first thing we need to know about the call to worship is that it makes clear to us that God is a sovereign, covenant-making God. In the beginning God created, Adam sinned, then God rescued. God in his sovereign, irresistible grace made a covenant of grace with his people beginning in Genesis 3:15, which was brought to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Having a call to worship right at the beginning of worship emphasizes these biblical teachings that God is sovereign, we are horribly blinded by sin, and that God takes the initiative to condescend to us in grace and mercy. When you hear the minister’s voice exclaim the call to worship you are hearing the voice of Christ say to you, “Now that I have rescued you and despite your ongoing sin, I am now going to do my work of re-creating you by calling you into my presence.”

The Role of the Holy Spirit
The call to worship also makes it clear that God the Holy Spirit is the initiator of worship. Christ calls us to worship using the very words the Holy Spirit inspired. As well, since it was the Holy Spirit who called us from death to life in regeneration, faith, and conversion, it is he who continues to call us out of our sins and spiritual slumber to worship the Father through the Son in the Spirit. We must never forget as a people that because we are still tainted by original and actual sins we still need to be called out from the world and from ourselves, to worship the Lord. As we hear the call to worship we ought to be thankful that the Holy Spirit has called us because left to ourselves we would worship our own “gods” in our way.

Transcendence in Worship
Finally, the call to worship makes it clear that our worship transcends all times, places, and cultures. Our worship is shockingly different than most churches. This should be no surprise to you. Most services today open with an extended time of “worship” in which we initiate worship. This type/style of worship is by nature focused upon the worshipper and his/her problems. The opening words of Jesus and the call to worship transform our thoughts of worship as it is God who first speaks, calling us to be a spiritual kingdom, which is “not of this world” (John 18:36). From the very outset of our worship Scripture is set before us, whether from the Old (e.g., Ps. 95, 100) or New Testament (e.g., Heb. 10:19-22), focusing our minds and hearts upon the glory of God in Christ, while taking our minds off of ourselves; taking our focus off of this world and onto the hope of the next. This is why D.G. Hart and John Muether, in their book With Reverence and Awe, say,

Worship is a subversive and counter-cultural act of an alien people who, forsaking the world, listen to the voice of her master saying, “follow me.” True worship, then, will be odd and perhaps even weird to the watching world. This oddness is not lamentable but essential to the church’s faithfulness and witness…when the church assembles for worship she is not at all like the world (p. 34).

The call to worship, then, is God’s summoning of his church, his “called out ones” (Greek, ekklesia), from the world and into his presence to participate in the worship of heaven. Having a biblical call to worship impresses upon us the God whom we worship, the One who has called us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, out of the darkness of our sins (Ex. 20:1; 1 Peter 2:9) and who continues to call us out of the world and our sinful, selfishness selves (Rom. 3:10ff; 7) to participate in something larger than ourselves. This is what worship is, a coming-out-of-the-world and into the presence of God. This is why our worship must be counter-cultural, transcendent, and different than the entertainment and consumerism of the world. So hear the Lord’s call and respond joyfully!