How We Worship
Here is an overview of what you will see at Resurrection Presbyterian Church:
Lively Liturgy: We believe that our worship each Lord’s Day should be orderly in reflection of the God we worship (1 Cor 14:40). Thus our worship is structured to be a glorious and beautiful offering of passionate praise to the Triune God by which we ascend His holy mountain to draw near to Him through the Spirit (Hebrews 12:22-24). In worship, we weekly rehearse and remember the promises and obligations of God’s covenant with us as His own chosen people, holy/royal priesthood, and holy nation (1 Peter 2:4-10), offering ourselves afresh to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him as our reasonable service of worship, being transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:1-2)
Prayer: We believe we must pray together (Eph 6:18) for all things as our good and gracious Father’s appointed means by which He fully intends to pour out His blessings on earth as in heaven for the glory of His name and the joy and blessing of all people, especially the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). Therefore we prioritize corporate prayer, speaking forth our words of praise, thanksgiving, petitions, and supplications to our heavenly Father in/by the Spirit for the outpouring of His visible blessings, the overcoming of spiritual darkness and evil, and the advance of His righteous kingdom in all spheres.
Confession of Sin: We believe we are called by God to seek forgiveness for our offenses against Him (I John 1:9), so we declare the Gospel and confess our sins as a people.
Preaching: We also hear the words and will of God proclaimed through robust teaching and preaching of God’s inspired Word for the building up and stirring up of our faith and love in the Spirit. The just will live by faith (Romans 1:17), and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the spoken word of God (Romans 10:14-15, 17).
Participation: We are a covenant people, a community of disciples, united in one body through Jesus Christ. Because we are one body, we believe we should worship as a body, as a family, rather than just individuals. Thus, we sing together, we pray together, and we consider the Word together. As we sing, as we pray, as we confess our faith, we encourage one another to do so with enthusiasm in heart and voice as we look beyond the words on the page to seek the will of the Lord.
Creeds, Confessions and Catechisms: Our church rests on the bedrock of the historic faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Christ’s Church throughout the centuries has professed this faith through creeds, confessions, and catechisms. These confessions are apostolic, catholic (Greek for universal), Protestant, and evangelical. We encourage our members to study these and to teach their children to memorize the catechisms (Greek for teaching). We believe God gave the Church sound and true doctrines so that we might know Him and live in victory (Rom 6:17), and therefore we confess the content of our faith through reciting the historic creeds corporately.
Children: Scripture clearly teaches that children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward. Because we are to bring up our children in the Lord’s nurture and admonition (and not our own nurture and admonition) our children are also Christ’s disciples (under His discipline) and worship God with us. Yes, it is true that this requires greater effort and patience by the parents to train the children to learn self-control and how to participate in worship, but the church body is very understanding and supportive in achieving this goal. It is a joy to see our little ones actively participating in the worship of God as their God. And it is a blessed responsibility for parents to raise their children to know the Lord.
Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs: In our worship, we strive to do all we can to proclaim the wonder, beauty, and majesty of God. Our worship is intended to be an acceptable offering of praise before the Throne of Heaven. We believe God has given us music for our instruction (Eph 5:19), and thus we sing the psalms and the great hymns of the faith together. This includes, as we read in Colossians 3:16, teaching and admonishing one another with “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” Our praise is communal, representing the unique giftings of the Church, where people have different voices and abilities. Many of our families have learned to sing in four-part harmony, adding richness to our worship. Hymns and psalms also connect us with the history of the Church—and with successive generations.
The Celebration of the Lord’s Supper: Worship is an invitation by God for all of His people to draw near to commune with Him (Matt 26:26-29). Therefore each week we celebrate Communion together at the Lord’s Table. All baptized disciples, regardless of denominational affiliation, are encouraged to come in repentance and faith and gladness to partake with us. Also, with their parent’s permission, baptized children are welcomed to commune at this Table with the adults because we believe the Bible teaches that this Meal is for the family of faith, the Church – and the Church, as the disciples of Christ, includes the baptized children, who are also His disciples (Matt 18:3-6, 10-11; 19:13-15). God has called and claimed our covenant children as His own and as set apart (lit “holy ones”, “saints”) to Him (1 Cor 7:14). Partaking of the Lord’s Supper with the rest of the Body of Christ is a true means of grace by which all of us have our faith, hope, and joy in God strengthened by the Spirit. So each Lord’s Day the children, together with their parents, hear the Word preached (Rom 10:17) and then “taste and see that the LORD is good”; thus, they come to believe and embrace for themselves that “blessed is the man who trusts in Him” and “fears” the LORD (Psa 34:8-9). Through the Word and Supper we all remember and rejoice that “blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” and “blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” before the LORD (Psa 32:1-2). We also remember and rejoice that “we, though many, are one bread and one body (in/of Christ), for we all partake of that one bread.” (1 Cor 10:17), and that we thus must love one another (John 13:35).
The Sacrament of Baptism: Celebrated any Lord’s Day after consultation and instruction by our Elders, baptism with water, which represents our washing/cleansing by Christ and renewal by the Holy Spirit, is administered by pouring or sprinkling. Baptism does not save, but rather baptism marks the recipient as a disciple of Christ, a member of the visible Church, and therefore a partaker of the covenant promises of the household of God. The salvation that is promised in the covenant is appropriated by faith when one is born again by the work of the Holy Spirit. We only baptize disciples of Christ (Matt 28:19-20). Baptism is given to our children because parents vow to bring them up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (as disciples of Christ (Ephesians 6:4). Parents are to trust God in faith and appropriate by obedient faith the covenant promises of God for their children, especially the “promise” of the “gift of the Holy Spirit” to be poured out upon them (Acts 2:33, 38-39). God is a rewarder of all those who diligently seek Him, keeping His covenant and steadfast love for a thousand generations to those who love Him and keep His commands.