John D. Witvliet

This service was prepared by John D. Witvliet to accompany his article on p. II. Gathering for Worship Call to Worship and Greeting Hymn: "Go to Dark Gethsemane" PsH 381, PH 97, TWC 225 Opening Prayer Remembering Prayer for Illumination Scripture Readings

Lament is a sign of both honest faith and resolute hope. When we worship together, we bring with us our experience in the world, from our most profound joys to our most painful sorrows. Like the Old Testament psalms, thoughtful liturgy allows us to express the whole range of our experience in ways that are fitting to the message of the gospel.

John D. Witvliet has been appointed assistant professor of worship and music at Calvin College and adjunct professor of worship at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Two future articles will explore the way in which lament can function in the ebb and flow of weekly worship, apart from times of crisis.

Worship Evangelism: Inviting Unbelievers into the Presence of God, by Sally Morgenthaler. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. 320 pp. $19.99. Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-Century Culture, by Marva J. Dawn. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. 316 pp. $16.99

Dr. James F. White is currently professor of liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, where he has supervised nearly twenty Ph.D. dissertations on worship-related topics. His sixteen books on worship include A Brief History of Christian Worship, An Introduction to Christian Worship, and Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transition, all texts that are frequently assigned in college and seminary courses on worship.

We were buried with Christ through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. —Romans 6:4

Michael Burkhardt. St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1994. Publication no. 99-1433, $39.95

Abingdon Press, 1994-1996.

David Peterson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992. 317 pp., $20.00. The Reformed tradition has always maintained that its worship is regulated sola scriptura, by Scripture alone. Worship is thus never understood to be an act of creative self-expression, but rather an act of obedience to God. We worship God not in ways we dream up, but. in ways that God teaches us in the Word.

BULLETIN NOTE Our guide for worship is Paul's letter to the Colossians. This epistle celebrates the lordship of Jesus Christ, reminds us of our "Freedom to Serve," and calls us to live in the fullness of our union with Christ. The order of worship mirrors the outline of this epistle, with hymns and prayers that serve to help us live into the truth of Paul's message.