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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

O Worship The Lord

Article 3 ~ March 2006

"Come, let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God. We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand." Psalm 95:6.

"The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration." Horace Ballou.

Christian worship has a legacy of language, forms and ceremonies. It is an unending source of information, education and experience in which there are personal and collective contributions of permanent value to be lodged in the mental and spiritual bank of our minds.

There are long-established and meticulously crafted patterns of worship in which the thoughts and emotions of worshippers are expressed so accurately that we accept them gratefully and use them frequently. They make public worship memorable to worshippers and impressive to observers.

There are, of course, many Christians who choose freer styles of worship to which they are totally committed. But common to most Christian worship is music and song, though the use of them in quality and quantity differs widely from the quite quiet to the very noisy, from classic to pop.

The differences in worship means that none of us should insist that "my way is the way", for there are many ways. God does not ask us to express our devotion to Him in identical terms or set forms, complex or simple, but in sincerity and honesty. For that reason we must not pass judgement on how others worship God. It is the heart of the worshipper which He regards. "If my mind is not engaged in worship - It is as though I worshipped not."

Differences means choices and preferences and that accounts for the commitment of people to ways of worship pleasing, satisfying, to them. It is the reason why there are so many churches to cater for the spiritual needs of Christians and they bear denominational characteristics which distinguish them from others.

Life-long commitment to a church is the experience of many Christians who are satisfied with what they have and they know little of what appeals to Christians in the other churches.

What is important in all Christian worship is the clear understanding of what worship is about - praising God for all that He is; thanking Him for His gifts and goodness to us; asking Him to meet our needs and those of others; offering Him our gifts, ourselves, our services; learning of Him from His Word, read and preached and obeying His voice; telling others of God's worth by public confession and testimony to what He has done for us. (cp. J.I. Packer. "Knowing Christianity" p108.)

The emphases in these reasons for public worship is to recognise our indebtedness to God for who He is and what He has done for us. And to ensure that the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is known to everyone and that he and she may or may not believe in Him, accepting or refusing the benefits of the Gospel.

It is a Christian maxim:
"Worship is essential to persons for their lives will be shaped by what they worship."

Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long

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