Dykstra Leads Prayer at WCRC Service

Rev. Jerry Dykstra, executive director of the Christian Reformed Church, offered the intercessory prayer on Sunday afternoon before some 3,000 people attending "The Unity of the Spirit in the Bonds of Peace" worship service at Calvin College.

Dykstra was one of several church officials from a range of denominations who participated in the two-hour service held in Van Noord Arena at the college in Grand Rapids, Mich. The service marked the merger the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) into the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

"We are joint heirs with Jesus," said Dykstra. "We come into your holy presence with our hopes and dreams and your grace. We are helpless and hopeless without it …May we become a grace-filled people who serve a broken world."

Dykstra is a delegate to the Uniting General Council, at which the merger occurred. The CRC is one of the denominations hosting the event that takes place throughout this week. About 1,000 delegates, observers and guests from around the world are attending the event.

"All too often we are defined by the differences between us," said Dykstra. "Grant to us understanding, Lord. Give us wisdom and the clarity of heart and mind so we might understand the issues in front of us...May your name (Jesus) be praised and lifted up."

WCRC delegates spent much of Sunday taking part in worship services, first in the morning at West Michigan-area churches and then they attended the 4 p.m. service at Calvin College.

In the afternoon service, choirs sang, children reflected on the significance of unity in Christ, a drama team acted out the gospel reading, and Rev. Yvonne V. Delk, a United Church of Christ pastor, gave the sermon.

The main thrust of her sermon was to try to answer the question "What Are We Doing Here?" at the meeting in Grand Rapids.

"This is a historic moment. The world's largest network of Protestant churches in the Reformed tradition has gathered in a celebration of Christian unity," she said. "We have come following the call of God, united by the spirit of God, and deeply rooted in the bonds of peace."

At the same time, she reminded worshippers that "we exist in a world that is not yet free. Each and every day there is a struggle for the dignity, justice, freedom, and well-being of every human being in every place of the globe."

Freedom was the theme of the sermon on Sunday morning as well at Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids.  That message was given by Olav Fykse Tviet, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

Several African delegates to the newly constituted WCRC were there inside the stately, white-and pale-yellow-painted sanctuary of the church as the WCC official preached.

The service itself began with a full-bodied organ prelude, accompanied by a powerfully played trumpet finale.

Delegates from Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Zambia, Indonesia, Switzerland and Malawi were at the service. Other WCRC delegates attended services in a range of churches across the area, mainly to get an idea of how the Reformed faith is practiced and celebrated in this part of the United States.

As the music faded at Central Reformed Church, bells chimed and a procession of pastors and others in robes slowly made their way up the central aisle of the church. One of the men carried a larger banner. Another a cross. Others bore candles. They were greeted in the front by Daniel Meeter, a former pastor of Central Reformed Church who now serves a congregation in Brooklyn, New York.

Once everyone was settled, Meeter gave the Call to Worship. The liturgy was fairly formal and was an example of a traditional Reformed Church in America service. It included hymns, the Prayer of Confession and Assurance of Pardon, as well readings from the Bible and a sermon by Tviet.

Preaching from Galatians 3: 23-29, the WCC official said the passage is sometimes referred to as the "MagnaCarta of the Bible, the declaration of freedom." In the passage the Apostle Paul writes: "For freedom in Christ has set us free, stand fast therefore, and do not submit to the yoke of slavery."

The words of this passage always open the doors of his heart. In fact, they have changed him, making him much more aware of the need for freedom for all people in the world.

"For me, there are almost no more powerful words than we have just heard from Galatians," said Tviet, pastor of a Lutheran church in Norway.

"They convey freedom to all people, freedom to people to be themselves. Freedom to be something very different than others have supposed them to be; different also from what others have forced them to be."

Also in his sermon, he said: "Nobody can save herself or himself. Nobody can fulfill what the good law of God requires. We are all alike in our relation to God. We are free, free to serve one another as we are, as you are, as I am."