Gathering and Call to Worship - Christian Reformed Church

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Gathering and Call to Worship

The gathering encourages God's people to join in praise and also establishes the reason for worshiping God. Does our gathering celebrate God's love, mercy, and justice? Is God's justice proclaimed as a reason to come together and worship?

Here are a number of suggestions:

• Many psalms calling the people to worship begin with an exhortation to praise and then give God's love and justice as the reason to praise. Psalm 33 is a good example:

Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Too often we use only the opening verses and leave out the "for" part, the reason for praise—in this case that the LORD is faithful in all he does, the LORD loves righteousness and justice. Psalms can be divided to form a litany, with the leader giving the call to praise (vv. 1-3 above) and the people responding with the reason for praise (vv. 4-5).

• The new hymnal Sing! A New Creation (SNC) includes a setting of Psalm 146 from Cameroon in which a refrain of praise responds to the recitation of the psalm. This psalm both calls God's people to practice justice and celebrates God's own concern for the oppressed.

• A number of songs open worship with justice. The song "Gather Us In" (SNC 8) celebrates the unity of all people in Christ and proclaims that God draws all of us, no matter our gender, social class, age, or physical abilities, into worship together. This song also calls for worship to commission us to be salt for the earth. "O Praise the Gracious Power" (SNC 35) praises the power of Christ to break down barriers and transform the brokenness and injustice of our world.

Listen to the songs

Psalm 146
Gather Us In
Praise the Gracious …

• Opening litanies can also proclaim God's justice and envision a new creation or emphasize God's will for justice as an act of worship in our own lives:

Litany 1

In the midst of a world where people hunger and thirst . . .
come worship a God who feeds the hungry.
In the midst of a world where people are abused and oppressed . . .
come worship a God who calls for compassion and justice.
In the midst of a world filled with wars and rumor of war . . .
come worship a God who desires nothing less than peace for the world.
In the midst of a world of spiritual emptiness . . .
come worship a God who gives life meaning.
Come worship a God whose grace and love know no end.

–Taken from Sacraments and Seasons: Peacemaking Through Worship from Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. Call 800-524-2612 to order.

Litany 2

With what shall we come before the Holy One,
and bow ourselves before God on high?
God has shown us what is good.
What does the Holy One require of us,
but to do justice,
and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with our God?

• The greeting of God should also embrace and communicate justice. We can accomplish this by naming God as “the God who desires all people to be free” or using other justice-themed titles for God. How is our worship different when the “God of deliverance” as well as the “God of love and mercy” greets us each week?