Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers Association

Phil Magee (Dingwall)

“With Jesus help, let us continually offer sacrifice of praise to God by proclaiming the glory of his name”. Hebrews 13:15, New Living Translation

This is where the chorus we sing “We bring a sacrifice of Praise” comes from. We come to church with a weight on the mind or being buried in the business of the week and in need of  coming back to the focus of keeping Jesus centre. For me at the start of the Service and right throughout a service it is important that we recall the promises of God. We can do this through the singing of songs. Bringing our praise is not a warm up for sermon for praise in itself as you can see from above is really costly to bring for it is take us out of ourselves and into his presence. As the hymn says “Count your many blessings and it will surprise you what the Lord has done” It is good then at start of the service to have a song that declares God’s promises eg “Great is they Faithfulness” based on Lamentations 3:21-23:

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s Great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions, they never fail. They are new every morning Great us thy faithfulness”

Or we could sing a more modern song like My Jesus, My Saviour. With phrases like “Tower of refuge and strength” in the song we are taken back to the psalms, we are reminded of the awesomeness of God who is creator. We may even wish to read a Psalm as we open up the service. It is in the psalms, the “hymn book” of the Bible that we see how the Psalmist begins with a difficulty but as he declares the praises of God he is given a new outlook on the situation. Yes the situation may not have changed but he is reminded that he does not go the journey alone, his “tower of refuge and strength”, “his shield and defender”, the shepherd goes with him. Or we could read from an early church hymn in the New Testament eg Colossians 1:15-20 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” This reminds us that Christ is in sovereign control and is important to remember however we are feeling on a particular morning. What a joy to be united in Christ and is something worth celebrating and again.
It is important that the songs sung bring us back to Jesus and His Word. It is encouraging then to see song writers Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend whose songs have a Biblical focus and their songs such In Christ Alone and the modern rendition of the Lord’s my shepherd has spoken to lives as the worshipper has faced tragedies in their lives.
At the centre of the Lord supper is recalling what the Lord has done for us. We often say “do this in remembrance of Him” It something which he has given to help us remember him until he returns. 1 Corinthians 11: 26 says: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you remember the Lord’s death, until he comes”. Again like the people of Israel did in the Passover we have an opportunity here in the communion to recount what the Lord has done for us.
In this article I have looked at one important aspect of a service. We don’t only want to recall what God has done but we also want to sing songs that relate to all ages; encourage Intercession; help us look outwards to our community; include Confession, and help us to respond to what he has said to us through the course of the service.