Over the past several years, I have taught seminary courses on the theology and practice of worship in the Reformed tradition. The syllabus requires students to interact with worship services posted online, evaluating the elements, coherence, and execution of the liturgy. The services are not pre-screened and represent different styles, but they are all from PCA churches.

The assignment requires students to critically engage worship services, cultivating a conscious interaction with matters that frequently fly under the radar. After reviewing many worship services, I have noticed several consistent liturgical themes that deserve comment. This essay focuses on the call to worship by exploring its historical roots, analyzing modern liturgical practices, and concluding with several theological reflections.

Prior to “The Directory for the Public Worship of God” (1645), the service of Morning Prayer from “The Book of Common Prayer” (1559) opened with a Scripture sentence, such as Psalm 143:2, Joel 2:13, or Matthew 3:2, to prepare worshippers to confess their sins to God. After confession, the minister declared an absolution and led the congregation in a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. Then, the minister guided the congregation through a responsive portion of the liturgy, culminating in a brief call to worship: “Praise ye the Lord.” The congregation subsequently sang Psalm 95—a psalm resonant with commands from God to worship him.

Therefore, Anglicans were not without a call to worship, but the command to worship God was subordinate to the corporate confession of sin, absolution, and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. This order, along with the use of Psalm 95, reflects ancient church traditions that Thomas Cranmer revised from the Sarum Rite in “The Book of Common Prayer” (1552).

Following the liturgical practices of John Calvin, John Knox opened corporate worship with a recitation of Psalm 124:8: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” This verse served the dual function of ascribing praise to God and professing dependence on God. After this recitation, the pastor promptly transitioned into a public prayer of confession. The opening quotation of Psalm 124:8 was used to prepare the congregation for confession but wasn’t a call to worship.

To open a service with a call to worship is a liturgical development of the Westminster assembly. In the “Directory,” details regarding the call to worship are sparse: “The congregation being assembled, the minister, after solemnly calling on them to the worshipping of the great name of God, is to begin with prayer.”

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Chuck Colson | “The History of the ‘Call To Worship'” | December 4, 2024

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