Joyful Worship

In his book The Orthodox Church, the late Bishop Kallistos Ware shared the story of a group of emissaries sent out by Prince Vladimir in search of “true religion.” They make their way through various kingdoms and religions all found unsatisfactory. Finally, they reach Constantinople and worship at the Church of Holy Wisdom. It was there they discovered what they desired, “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendour or beauty anywhere upon earth. We cannot describe it to you: only this we know, that God dwells there among men, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. For we cannot forget that beauty.” (Ware, The Orthodox Church,   Has your Presbyterian or Reformed service moved you to say, “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth”?

Maybe we do not even consider our worship beautiful or joy-inducing. Yet, there is much to appreciate about our worship. I want to share three joys I see every Sunday from the pulpit.

1. The joy of generations. Before and after our service, the sanctuary often thunders with little feet running up to the front to visit our esteemed candy man, or see a friend, or go out to the playground. We are blessed with a large population of children and teenagers. We show no signs of slowing down either as we continue to add young families to our rolls and new babies continue to be born. In fact, we have a baby due almost every month from January 2025 until July 2025. It brings me joy when I hear the children’s voices during our singing. It brings me equal joy to see the many crowns of glory (Pr. 16:31). We are blessed to have so many mature Saints in our congregation who offer encouragement, prayers, and love, and are examples of faithful perseverance. For a community as transient as Savannah, these older saints often fill the role of spiritual parents and grandparents to the younger generations.
2. The joy of singing. Our worship style leans more traditional. We still use hymnals and psalters in our worship. The instruments that accompany our singing are the piano, violin, and occasionally the guitar. Are we just stuffy? Are we set in our ways? We do not want to drown out the primary element of congregational worship - our voices. The true element of music in worship is singing. Commands to sing out number commands to play the harp (Ryan Speck, Trembling Joy: A Biblical Case for Traditional Worship, pg. 96).  Why might this be? First, the singing voice is God’s living instrument available to all believers, “The voice alone is the redeemed person’s un-mediated, living, heartfelt expression of praise to God, which our Lord desires above all other melodic expression. He has not redeemed an instrument unto life; He has redeemed your voice unto life” (Ibid., 97). Second, the voice sings meaningful words and not just notes. Tunes make us feel emotions but words define those emotions and further give power to the tune. I am moved by the tune to Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, my favorite hymn, but it is singing the last stanza, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above” that opens my heart to the Lord as I recall my faithlessness and God’s faithfulness.
3. The joy of gathering. Hebrews 10:25 says, “not forsaking our own assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” We often hear this verse used to encourage participation on the Lord’s Day. It is of course for that but the reason why we are to assemble is often left off - encouraging one another. A benefit of the Lord’s Day, part of its joy, is gathering together as God’s people. I often say from the pulpit that you may be at church on Sunday after the worst week of your life. You still showed up, why? To worship God, to hear His Word, and for the opportunity to be ministered to by fellow believers. We should not be afraid to share when the week was terrible. Avoid the temptation to give a passive, “fine” in response to the friendly, “How are you doing?” Joy may come out of your sorrow over a tearful embrace, a moment of prayer, and the opportunity to be seen by another person. Some of us will arrive on Sunday after the best week of our lives or just a normal week. We need to be ready to bring the joy of fellowship to a struggling believer. We need to be ready to sing joyful praises to our God when the person next to us is overwhelmed. Through our joyful worship, even during more sorrowful and somber songs, help the person struggling in the pew next to us. Do not miss being gathered together because you may miss the opportunity to be used by God to restore someone’s joy.

These are just three joys I see every Sunday. There are more of course. There are some unique to my position as one of the pastors. There is no greater joy than preaching to you from God’s Word. I love seeing how you all respond. I love seeing how you parent the squirmy toddler in the pew. I love seeing the young people sit together and attentively worship. I love you. You bring me joy as we worship our Lord joyfully together.

“Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” (Psalm 95:1-2)