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ORDER OF SERVICE for Reformation Sunday |
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| 1. INTROIT: TO GOD BE THE GLORY |
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6. CONGREGATIONAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP THROUGH SONG AND DANCE |
To God be the glory, great things He has done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives |
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Masithi - Amen, siyakudumisa!
Masithi - Amen, siyakudumisa,
Masithi - Amen, Bawo,
Amen, Bawo, Amen, siyakudumisa!
Chorus
Sing Amen - Amen, sing praises to the Lord!
Sing Amen - Amen, sing praises to the Lord,
Sing Amen - Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen , sing praises to the Lord.
A re re, - Amen, re a u rorisa!
A re re, - Amen, re a u rorisa,
A re re, - Amen, Ntate, Amen Ntate,
Amen, re a u rorisa!
Sing Amen - Amen, sing lof aan God die Heer!
Sing Amen - Amen, sing lof aan God die Heer,
Sing Amen - Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen,
Amen, sing lof aan God die Heer!
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| 2. CALL TO WORSHIP |
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7. GREETINGS, SHARING THE PEACE, NOTICES, BIRTHDAYS, OFFERTORY, PRAYER REQUESTS. |
Leader: Greetings in the name of the Lord our God, Amen! Cong: With what shall we come and bow before the Lord?
Leader: The Lord has shown you O people that you should do justice Cong: And that we should love mercy and walk humbly with the Lord
Leader: For the Lord our God is just, merciful and full of compassion!
Cong: We shall sing and dance to the Lord, the Rock of our Salvation |
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8. HYMN: Blessed Assurance |
3. PRAYER OF ADORATION AND PRAISE
4. PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: Let us confess our sins before God and ask for healing: We have afflicted, by own power and by silent support of systems that oppresses and enslave; [FORGIVE US O GOD]
We have struck down others, casting stone on their dreams and hopes, until they are destroyed; [FORGIVE US O GOD] Lord, we are the clay; You are the potter, we are the work of your hand;
MINISTER: Through the broken body of Christ we are broken, through the breath of the Spirit we are re-made. The Spirit challenges us to live as the forgiven, joyful people of God, doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with the Lord our God
Response by the Congregation:
Ungu Thixo onenceba
Engazang' iphele
Ngako ndiya lila, ndithi
Bawo! Ndixolele |
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Blessed assurance - Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchased of God;
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood
CHORUS: This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Saviour all the day long
This is my story, this is my song Praising my Saviour all the day long
Perfect submission, perfect delight
, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight:
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love
Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Saviour am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness lost in His love |
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| 5. CONFESSIONS IN SILENCE FOLLOWED BY THE LORD’S PRAYER IN OUR MOTHER TONGUES! |
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9. Scripture: Isaiah 1: 10-18; I Thessalonians 1: 1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1 - 10 |
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10. SERMON/MEDITATION : |
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Meditation for Reformation Sunday |
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On this Reformation Sunday, the Lectionary takes us to a well known story that took place in the border town of Jericho. Jericho tends to host some of the most dramatic events recorded in the Bible.
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The story of the spies who were sent to check the defences of the Promised Land by Joshua, and how they were helped by Rahab the harlot, and its subsequent fall in a very dramatic fashion, are some of the stories that took place in Jericho. (See Joshua chapter 2:1ff).
Closer to our story today is the incident of the healing of the blind beggar, who, incidentally is named Bartimaeus, in the gospel of Mark, (See Mark 10:46-52). Jericho was a border town and hence the presence of a prominent and hated tax-collector named Zacchaeus. Tax-collectors worked for the Roman government and also for themselves.
They collected all sorts of taxes from the people and took extra for the pay of a whole range of middleman in a loosely defined tax system.
Taxation is one of those trades that will probably never find universal acceptance. It is worse in those cases where taxes are collected for illegitimate regimes. Some regimes ignore the plight of the poor who continue to languish in abject poverty, disease and squalor and lack of infrastructure.
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Zacchaeus was a well-known and hated tax-collector. Jesus on the other hand was seen by the common people as their ‘liberator’ and one understood his mission as “anointed to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim release to the captives; recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”. Luke 4:18-19 NRSV.
It was therefore unimaginable even for the liberals among his followers that he could choose to be a guest at a tax-collector’s home, let alone his opponents among the ruling elite. The visit was a scandal as far as they were concerned. The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed!
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Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. |
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Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover.
Zacchaeus had probably heard about the Galilean Teacher who was popular with the ordinary folk and was also friendly disposed towards the so-called sinners and tax-collectors. He was desperate to “see” this man. He never dreamt of having him at his home!
When the majority began to grumble at this visit, Zacchaeus stood up to plead his case pledging: To give half of his possessions to the poor; To repay four times as much to those he had defrauded!
Total transformation of the man! He now understands that he has to be in compassion with the poor. His destiny is inter-twinned with that of the poor.
And to all this Jesus has one of the most encouraging statements made when he says: “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a child of Abraham. ‘For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost’”.
And what does this mean for us on this Reformation Sunday? Reformation Day commemorates a movement of re-discovery of the meaning of the Christian faith. It involved answering the question of human destiny, an issue that rested with Paul’s words of ‘justification by faith’.
We want to add that this is not faith as a mere accent to some sets of dogmatic statements but faith as relational activity. It is action in solidarity with the poor, despised and all those that the world considers as “nobodies”. There is need for every church to strive to re-discover for itself the meaning of discipleship.
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For Zacchaeus it meant new alliances and solidarity with the poor and with those he had defrauded. Previously he had seen them as ‘fodder’ for exploitation but now he can relate with them as brothers and sisters in a common struggle for the betterment of life.
And that is what Reformation should challenge us to be: That we should always be reforming. Church membership and participation in the struggle for life should mean that we are never a finished product to be displayed but rather one that must always be doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with the Lord our God. |
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To God be the Glory! |
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Click on the image to download Order of Service for Reformation Sunday |
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