“According to the Scriptures”: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Wednesdays, January 15 th through February 26 th, at 7 o’clock Join with us as explain how our expression of worship is rooted and grounded in the texts of the Holy Bible.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Calendar of the Bible Study January 15 th —The Foundation January 22 nd —“Eat First With the Eyes” January 29 th —“Sweet, Sweet Music”

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Calendar of the Bible Study February 5 th —“The Cheerleading” February 12 th —“Every Week? Really?” February 19 th —“The Eucharist” February 26 th —“Q&A”

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Why Does Your Church Sound Like It Does? Or “Sweet, Sweet Music”

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship One Word of Warning: Personal Preference is just that. A style of music which you happen enjoy better than another has no inherent superiority over music you dislike just because you prefer it over another.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship First Question: Why do you have a “Rock n’ Roll” band performing with your choir?

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship First Question: Why do you have a “Rock n’ Roll” band performing with your choir? Why don’t you have an organ?

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In Psalm 150, we are told to: “Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!” Psalm 150:3-5

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Psalm 98 tells us that we should: “Sing to the Lord with the harp, With the harp and the sound of a psalm, With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.” Psalm 98:3-4

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship We may not have lutes, harps and timbrels anymore, but today we use guitars. They are our “stringed instruments.” We still use drums; they are just not quite the same kind as they were in Solomon’s Temple.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship “And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the L ORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped. 2 Chronicles 29:25-30

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question: Why do you play that new fangled music? Or Why do you play that old fashioned music?

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Then Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” Matthew 13:52

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Luke 5:37-38

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship We cannot force ourselves to worship with a style of music that is simply not who we are, trying to keep on singing along to the same tune for century after century when we’ve long since let a old hymn “overstay its welcome.”

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship We cannot force ourselves to worship with a style of music that is simply not who we are, trying to keep on singing along to the same tune for century after century when we’ve long since let a old hymn “overstay its welcome.” That’s forcing our new wine into old wineskins.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Nor can we simply reject every song or hymn that is old as being worthless or out of date.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Nor can we simply reject every song or hymn that is old as being worthless or out of date. Similarly we cannot jump onto every new ditty that comes out as “the next big thing.”

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Nor can we simply reject every song or hymn that is old as being worthless or out of date. Similarly we cannot jump onto every new ditty that comes out as “the next big thing.” We must be the householder who brings out the treasures old and new.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question: What about those weird songs you play every week in the same place?

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Those would be: The Gloria in Excelsis, The Sanctus et Benedictus, The Kyrie Eleison, and The Agnus Dei.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Those would be: “Glory (to God) in the Highest” in Latin, The Sanctus et Benedictus, The Kyrie Eleison,and The Agnus Dei.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Those would be: “Glory (to God) in the Highest” in Latin, “Holy and Blessed” in Latin, The Kyrie Eleison, and The Agnus Dei.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Those would be: “Glory (to God) in the Highest” in Latin, “Holy and Blessed” in Latin, “Lord, Have Mercy” in Greek, and The Agnus Dei.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Those would be: “Glory (to God) in the Highest” in Latin, “Holy and Blessed” in Latin, “Lord, Have Mercy” in Greek, and “Lamb of God” in Latin.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Number One Guiding Principle:

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Number One Guiding Principle: As we arrange and order our worship, we want our worship here on earth to reflect, as much as humanly possible, the celestial worship in Heaven!

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Gloria in Excelsis, or just “The Gloria,” begins our time of praise and worship because it was the very first hymn of praise ever thanking God for the birth of Christ. It was a hymn of praise the Host of Angels proclaimed to the shepherds on the night of Our Lord’s birth.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2:13-14

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Gloria continues with a variety of lines that are all taken from different scriptures and truly worships God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Sanctus et Benedictus is composed of two different hymns: The first comes from two different visions of Heaven. Both Isaiah (chapter 6) and St. John (Revelation 4)

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The first part of the hymn comes from two different visions of Heaven. Both Isaiah (chapter 6) and St. John (Revelation 4) have vision of angels bowing before the L ORD and crying out “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The second part of the hymn comes from our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalm where the people cried out saying, “‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L ORD.’ Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship We sing this song as we begin our Eucharistic prayer because we are beginning our worship “with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven who forever” proclaim the majesty of Christ and with Christians who have adored Him throughout all ages with those very words.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In Lent, a time of penitence, we scale back on the exultation of the Gloria and start our praise and worship with the more somber Kyrie Eleison. Some form of the phrase appears 4 different times in Matthew’s Gospel (15:22; 17:15; 20:30,31).

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The nine-fold pattern is a “Trinity of Trinities” for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we are trying to prepare our hearts through prayer and fasting to truly celebrate Easter each year, it is especially appropriate to ask for God’s mercy and favor.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Agnus Dei is drawn straight from the words of St. John the Baptist when he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship While some churches use the Agnus Dei every Sunday, it is our local custom to use it during Lent as a way of still keeping some kind of celebratory aspect in the Eucharist even when we are not saying the “Alleluia’s” as part of the Lenten discipline.

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship And finally, as we already mentioned, there are far too many Scriptures to list that involve God’s people singing and praising God with musical instruments. But what about this Scripture?

According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem,… “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:16,17