PART I ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP In endeavoring to list the elements which enter into a devotional service there are two ways in which we can proceed. One is to examine personal experience and find what has proved most helpful. The difficulty with this method is the limited experience which any individual, no matter how wide his acquaintance, can have. The other way is to examine the experience of the past and find what has proved helpful in all lands from the earliest Christian times to the present. This has the advantage of universality, though it is beset with the dangers of formality. The earliest forms of Christian worship which are preserved for us bear the names of the great leaders of the Church, such as St. Basil or St. Chrysostom. Even if they are not from the pens of those whose names they bear, they undoubtedly express their spirit. Later the liturgies began to differ according to the characteristics of the national churches. Thus we have the Syrian, the Egyptian, the Persian, the Byzantine, the Hispano-Gallican, the Roman, and the British liturgies. At the Reformation some churches quite naturally endeavored to free themselves from all form and to give the spirit of worship free utterance. Other churches kept those portions of the liturgies of the past which in the enlightenment of the time were thought most helpful. These Reformation liturgies have been still further revised and are the best source from which to discover the elements which enter into worship. In addition, various modern attempts have been made to construct forms of service for special occasions. Selecting the elements of worship which are more or less constant in these liturgical collections, and testing them by the manner of worship in services and meetings where liturgical forms are not used, it appears that the following elements in whole or in part constitute public worship: silence, introductory appeal or invocation, exhortation, confession, united petition, praise and thanksgiving, reading of Scripture, statement of belief, call to prayer, prayer, and blessing or benediction. Some might be inclined to list the singing of hymns as a separate element in worship, but each hymn can be classified under some one of those already given, according to its thought and form. The sermon manifestly does not come within the scope of this manual. The leader will make such a combination of these elements of worship as may best suit his purpose in arranging a brief devotional service. The following discussions may serve to show the value of each as the voicing of a fundamental spiritual desire, and their interrelation in the expression of the instinct for worship. The discussion of the types of meetings, which constitutes the second part of the manual, will show how selection of all these elements can be made so as to give the service unity and consistency. Silence It might seem odd to begin a discussion of the elements of audible worship with a section on silence. Yet silence plays a very real part in worship, for by means of it we can cause our hearts to be still and to realize the presence of God. By it also can we attain to the fullest sense of fellowship with other worshipers. One of the common faults of our devotional meetings is the way in which we rush into the presence of God without pause for preparation. To overcome this fault we should school ourselves to maintain silence and a prayerful attitude immediately on entering the room in which the devotions are to be held. Equally important is it to remain for a moment of silent worship after the service is concluded, in order that there be a final petition for oneself and others. These are not the only occasions for silence. A wise leader will provide many, even though they are not customary. Indeed, so much are we slaves to ceaseless activity, that if a pause occurs in a service the congregation cranes forward |