Strengthening Your Weak Knees

Reformed worship is often described as dialogical: God declares something to us from His Word, and we respond with prayer and song; we confess our sins, and God responds, assuring us of His pardon. This emphasizes the vertical aspect of worship, the relationship between God and humanity. But we shouldn’t neglect the horizontal aspect, the relationship of believers to one another, addressed in this morning’s sermon text from Hebrews (“Strive for peace with everyone,” “See to it that no one fails”). Notice how many times the psalms and hymns we sing this morning address ourselves with encouragement or warning, suggesting Paul’s command in Colossians 3:16 to teach and admonish “one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Throughout the service, we’ll be reminded to “lift up your voice and with us sing,” to do our part by “forgiving others,” to “do good” and “seek peace,” to “love the house of God,” to “fret not” and “dwell faithfully.” Even our final hymn, which describes the kingship of Christ, concludes with a refrain addressed to us: “Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!” —Henry C. Haffner