Worship Notes for Sunday, October 30, 2011
Last week we saw how sin causes separation and estrangement from God, others, and ourselves. This week in Genesis 3, we consider the consequences of Adam’s sin in the curses that God pronounces as well as the anticipation of Christ who would eventually break that curse. We also recognize the anniversary of the Reformation as well as All Saints’ Day. We are grateful for the “great cloud of witnesses” that God has used throughout history and our own lives that point to His grace and glory.We begin with the Call to Worship from Psalm 37 asking that God would give us right desires and bring forth righteousness. “For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.” We reiterate the fact that God is our refuge and stronghold as we sing Martin Luther’s hymn, A Mighty Fortress. The Old Testament Reading from Isaiah 24 is a clear picture of the curse of sin as it describes the way the earth mourns, withers and languishes because the people have “transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” “A curse devours the earth, and its inhabitant suffer for their guilt.” We turn to God in our Prayer of Confession from Jeremiah 17 as we recount the ways that we trust in ourselves instead of God and have “forsaken the Lord, the fount of living water.” The Assurance of Pardon from Isaiah 35 beautifully speaks of the “steams in the desert” reversing the effects of the Fall and of the “Way of Holiness” on which the redeemed and ransomed of the Lord come to Zion.
During Communion we will first sing Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed—speaking of Christ’s willingness to die on our behalf for man’s sin. We continue with What Wondrous Love is This that Christ would “bear the dreadful curse for my soul.” We conclude by singing For All the Saints and rejoicing in the testimony of the saints to the glory of Christ who has redeemed us from the curse, set us free, and called us to live in holy obedience to the praise of His glory.
