Moment of Meditation: Orderly (1 Corinthians 14:26)

To sum up, my friends: when you meet for worship,
each of you contributes a hymn, some instruction, a revelation,
an ecstatic utterance, or the interpretation of such an utterance.
All of these must aim at one thing:
to build up the church.
(1 Corinthians 14:26 NEB)

Orderly

The shape godly worship has been summarized as a "W". It begins with God coming down to us with His blessings in the Invocation and the Confession and Absolution of sins. Then we return back to Him with prayers and praise. He comes back with His Word and we return with prayers and praise. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, He comes back to us with His Son's body and blood for the strengthening of faith and the forgiveness of sins. We receive God's benediction. Then we go out into the world to live out our faith.

In the continuous back-and-forth of this "W", we find that order is necessary. If we invert the order, making the shape an "M", everything will begin and end with us. We'd be worshipping ourselves. Not being worthy of worship, worship cannot revolve around us. Therefore the Church melded together a liturgy, a worship order, over the centuries so that everything might be done "to build up the church."

Who can build up the church? Only God. Who can keep the billion-plus Christians around the world together in one heart, mind and purpose? Only God. Who should we accept as the author of the order for worship? Only God.

Order is necessary for godly worship. Let us strive to keep that order as God builds us up together as the body of Christ. Amen.