Worship Notes for Sunday, November 4, 2012
Today we celebrate All Saint’s Day and are reminded of the Great Cloud of Witnesses that has gone before who are arrayed around the throne of God and who join in worship as we gather on the Lord’s Day as His called people. Again and again in Scripture we are called to remember the goodness of the Lord and His kindness to His children. Part of the assurance of our faith is built on the reality of a God who keeps His promises, whose mercies are new every morning, and whose faithfulness is indeed great. This gratitude also refocuses our attention away from our own situation and on our God who decrees His “eternal purposes according to the counsel of His will [and] has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass” (Shorter Catechism #7). We recall God’s faithfulness and His power in working in and through the saints that have gone before and His instruments for His glory.
This week in Luke 8 we once again see the power of God revealed through Christ as well as the exercise of that power on behalf of those who would have been considered outcasts—the ceremonially unclean. In an act of substitution, Jesus takes on their uncleaness and restores them as clean. The Call to Worship from Psalm 106 recalls the blessing of observing justice and doing righteousness even as God remembers His people and shows them His favor. We continue by singing Praise to the Lord “for He is our health and salvation.” All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name not only reminds us of the power of God in Christ but also the “yonder sacred throng” of those who fought the good fight and eternally sing God’s praises.
The Old Testament Reading from Isaiah 11 is a familiar passage that highlights the Messiah upon whom the Spirit rests in wisdom, understanding, might and the fear of the Lord to judge with righteousness the poor and meek. The Prayer of Confession from Psalm 32 encourages us to fight the urge to stay hidden and to hide our hearts from God and from ourselves.
The Hymns of Communion include Psalm 9: O Lord Most High as the Psalm for November and a sung version of Psalm 32. 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.
