Rock Presbyterian Church (EPC)

Our Worship

There are many discussions and debates in what has been called the "worship wars." There are strong opinions and arguments for traditional, "historic" worship (with attention to traditional liturgies, prayers, use of the church calendar, etc.), and for contemporary, "relevant" or "blended" worship (with attention to contemporary music styles, tastes, and culture).

Equally important is the Reformed argument for the Puritan so-called "Regulative Principle of Worship," that is that the Scripture alone should be our sufficient guide for worship and where it speaks to worship, we should definitely say "Amen!" and where it is silent, should we likewise be. This approach to the elements of Christian worship is typical of Mennonite, Congregational and historic Baptist churches. This is in contrast to the Anglican and Lutheran position on worship that what is not forbidden in Scripture is allowable for worship.

The Covenantal Principle of Worship

Rock Presbyterian Church takes a moderating position between the Puritans and Anglicans. Our philosophy of worship is called the "Covenantal Principle of Worship." This approach recognizes the sufficiency of Holy Scripture to guide our worship and inform our worship, but it does not view Holy Scripture as a legal text with which to deduce the form of new covenant worship. For example, the Puritans eschewed observing the church calendar precisely because there is no command to observe it. However, Paul commends those who observe special days "unto the Lord" (Rom. 14). Equally, the Lord Jesus observed a Jewish day of remembrance--Hanukkah-- a day neither mentioned in the Law of God, nor anywhere commanded to be observed (See John 10:22ff).

The Minister is Not a Priest

The Presbyterian faction in England as well as the Second Reformation in Scotland was distinctly Calvinist with regard to the sacraments and hence, with regard to the understanding of the vocation of clergy. The Teaching Elder is not a mediating priest, but one set apart by the presbytery with authority to guard and distribute the sacraments (hence, he is a “steward of the mysteries,” cf. 1 Cor. 4.1) and to proclaim the Gospel, perform marriages, funerals and pronounce the Benediction.

This self-conscious understanding of ordination drives the reformed minister to see himself as under the authority of the Word of God; himself in need of an assurance of pardon, as much as anyone else. The authority of the presbytery has been imputed or given to the Teaching Elder; he is under the covering of the presbytery as much as he is under the covering of Christ’s finished work for his sin.

The Geneva Gown verses Vestments

The Reformed movement, based upon John Calvin’s lead, preferred the simple dress of the academic gown to identify the Teaching Elder. His vocation is imputed to him by his presbytery and he wears the "habit" of his office. Many in the Reformed tradition, wear the traditional Scottish "habit": the cassock (the parish "house-coat") underneath the academic gown, academic hood, tippet (black preaching scarf) and preaching bands (two white strips of cloth on the collar, symbolizing the Law and the Gospel)-- this is typical dress for ministers at Rock Presbyterian Church. In addition, many Reformed ministers use the preaching stole (identifying ordination) instead of a tippet.

The Order and Flow of Our Worship Liturgy

Following the lead of the ecumenical and liturgical renewal movement of the 1960's, we follow the Biblical-Temple worship pattern of:

A. Prelude/ Introitus

1) Synaxis: Gathering

a) Salutatio (Scriptural greeting)

b) Call to Worship

c) Adoratio (prayer of Adoration to the Trinity)

d) Reciting of the Law of God

e) Call to Corporate Confession

f) Kyrie ("Lord have mercy")

g) Absolution

h) Pax--Passing of the Peace

2) Kerygma: Liturgy of the Word

a) Reading of the universal Word (Lectio selecta, the lectionary)

b) Preaching of the particular Word (a portion of Scripture)

3) Eucharistia: Liturgy of the Table

a) Litany of Intercession & The Lord’s Prayer

b) Offertory/ Doxology

d) [Baptism, Confirmation, reception of New Members]

e) Confession of Faith (Apostles’, Nicene or Athanasian Creed)

f) Gloria Patri

g) Communion (Eucharist)

i) Sursum Corda ("Lift up your hearts")

ii) Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy…")

iii) Musterion ("Christ has died, Christ is risen...")

iv) Homily

v) Anamnesis (1 Cor. 11: "Words of Institution")

vi) Epiclesis ("Prayer of Consecration")

vii) Fraction/ Distribution

viii) Great Thanksgiving

4) Apolysis: Sending & Benediction

a) Nunc Dimittis ("Song of Simeon" from Luke 2)

b) Benedictus

B. Postlude/Missus

Our Theology of Worship

     Covenant theology is Biblical theology, in that it emphasizes that God has worked in human history by means of covenantal relationships (with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David) and those covenants have been updated and finalized in the giving of the New Covenant by Christ Jesus, the Lord of the Covenant. One of the chief assumptions as noted below is that New Covenant worship that is truly worship should reflect the pattern of Temple worship analogically. The Temple in Scripture is the Body of God in the Earth and becomes a motif in the New Testament scriptures for describing the Church as the people of God.

     When the people of God gather on the New Covenant Sabbath (Heb. 4.9), we come to the fulfillment of the hopes and realities of the Temple institution; to heaven, to the presence of the Trinity, to adore and worship as His Word sufficiently dictates to renew the covenant that God made with Abraham, with a sacrifice much superior to his or any lamb or goat, we meet at the Table of the Lord, the very peace offering made by Christ Himself to be nourished by Him, a picture of the heavenly banquet in heaven

    We are the sacrifices of the new covenant; sacrifices are not abolished--they are transformed; sacrifices are still made, in the presentation of our bodies for worship every Lord’s Day in the heavenly Jerusalem. Our bodies, unlike the sacrifices of the Old Covenant are not consumed in fire, but offered wholly and renewed mind, body and spirit by God for His service. (Rom. 12.1-4). Paul tells the reader that this new covenant worship is reasonable, that is, Christian worship is intelligible, orderly and specifically mirrors that of the Old Temple. Jesus as mediator of a new and better covenant has established the form of new covenant worship:

A New Temple: Jesus, as the new and final Temple of God; and His Body the local church.

New Jerusalem: worship is not tied to the physical Jerusalem, but Hebrews 12 says that we are brought to heaven on the Lord’s Day for worship to meet with God, the angels and martyrs as the Temple of the Lord in heavenly places.

New Sacrifices: of praise, discipleship, of giving and service to others

New Sabbath and Feast days– the Lord’s Day is the proper day of worship and rest in the new covenant. (Heb. 10.24).

New Passover: “as often as you celebrate it, do this in remembrance of me” – this new Passover is about a new exodus from sin through a new law-giver Jesus the King Messiah.

New Covenant Sign: circumcision was limited to male Israelites who represented their families to God; baptism is universal, given to all who profess Jesus as Lord and is to be given as the sign of the new covenant to their children, replacing circumcision; it is now therefore the Biblical requirement for access to the new covenant Passover, the Eucharist.

Signs, Seals & the Covenant of Grace

Moreover, there is a covenantal structure to baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Marriage, church membership, church discipline, ordination, etc. All of these rites and services assume a covenantal connection between the sign and the thing signified; between baptism and salvation; between the Eucharist and the presence of the Lord Jesus; between marriage and the Trinity; also between baptism and the visible church; between the Lord’s Supper and the visible church. These are not just symbols: God does meet us by faith in the discipline of prayer, the Scripture, baptism and the Eucharist, for these are real means of grace—the gifts of God for the people of God.

But the covenant itself does not guarantee the relationship of the believer to God; it defines it and our responsibilities. God’s relationship to the believer is by His sovereign grace. He chose a people for himself, the same for whom Christ died and who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and given faith to believe, repent and do good works. The covenant is objective, but the benefits are appropriated by faith.

A Light in the Darkness

As the trends in worship continue in pop-Evangelicalism, Rock desires that her worship and liturgy serve as a beacon of light to those getting tossed around by the changing fads and worship wars. Protestant worship has not changed much with regard to form in 400 years. Some see this as just being "traditional." When people come to understand what happens spiritually on the Lord's day, historic worship makes much more sense. We at Rock Presbyterian Church believe God meets us to transform us as we seek to renew our covenant with Him--come join us!

We desire to keep and maintain that tradition of historic, reformed worship as we seek to glorify God in Christ-centered worship by celebrating the Christian year, expositional preaching, regular use of the sacraments and magnifying the doctrines of grace.

*Worship Renewal at Rock Presbyterian Church* In recent days there has been interest in a recovery of the Christian tradition of liturgical worship among Presbyterians. John Calvin's desire was a reform of the Mass, not it's abolition; Calvin's "Geneva Liturgy" was modified by his student John Knox, who developed a worship book (The Book of Order) for the emerging Scottish Presbyterians. This liturgy of worship, what has now become the Book of Common Order in the Church of Scotland, was replaced by the Westminster Directory of Worship (1647), a document of suggested forms rather than fixed prayers. The worship of American Presbyterianism worship is very close to the Puritans in England, who had a great influence in the development of the American Presbyterian tradition. In the 1960's, there was a renewed interest in the mainline churches for "high-church worship" in recovering historic fixed formularies and the Christian calendar. Efforts were made at a common collection of texts for a “revised common lectionary” in the mainline churches, based upon the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the ecumenical innovations of Vatican II, 1965. There was equally renewed interest in returning to the wearing of clerical dress and the use of vestments for high church Episcopal priests, Anglo-Catholics, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, and Congregatational ministers. During her era of re-organization (1950's), the leadership of Rock Presbyterian desired to return to the traditions of Scottish Presbyterianism in their worship and identity as a Presbyterian and Reformed church. The year that the original building burned at Rock Church, the congregation began construction of her present building (1959). The architecture of the building itself is a statement of the worship at Rock Church. The building was designed by WL Bross and Albert Withers in the shape of the traditional Roman house church, that is, in the fashion of a cross, not like the rectangle Puritan or Mennonite "meeting house." The chancel is elevated and split with the pulpit to the right and lectern on the left and the Communion Table in center to demonstrate the necessity of both Word and Sacrament as presenting the whole Gospel.