Those of you who were in the services when we started at 9 and 10:30 will remember that I explained the call to worship.<\/p>\n
Those of you who arrived late, we’re praying for you. And fighting our self-righteousness. Anyway, I just came across a helpful little note on The Call to Worship. I’ve put an excerpt below and the whole thing<\/a>\u00a0is worth reading.<\/p>\n Why the Call to Worship is so important.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>First, we live in a society that teaches us to think highly of our own ability.\u00a0 Americans are a fiercely independent, self-motivated people.\u00a0 The Call to Worship puts us in our place.\u00a0 We come to worship because God has a summons on our lives.\u00a0 We come to worship because God initiates with us, not the other way around.\u00a0 So the call to worship reminds us of God\u2019s sovereign reign over us.<\/p>\n Second, the earliest word used to describe the Church in the Bible was\u00a0ekklesia.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>(It\u2019s where we get our words \u201cecclesiastical\u201d and \u201cecclesiology.\u201d)\u00a0 Its root is the Greek word\u00a0kaleo,<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>which means, \u201cto call.\u201d\u00a0 The people of God, as the\u00a0ekklesia<\/i>, are \u201cthe called-out ones.\u201d\u00a0 When we hear the Call to Worship, we are being reminded of our identity as those called out and set apart by God for His holy purposes.\u00a0 We are reminded that we are not our own.\u00a0 We are reminded that we are \u201cresident aliens\u201d in this world.\u00a0 We are reminded that we are treasured and loved by God.\u00a0 So the call to worship reminds us of our identity in Christ.<\/p>\n