In past services we have confessed our faith together using words from the church of all ages. The words of these confessions, creeds and catechisms are available on the site, so that you can reflect on them in your private and family devotions. You can listen to some of the songs we use in our worship, including some of the ones' we've recently learned.
The Augsburg Catechism:
Article 4 (2 Nov 2008).
On the first Sunday of 2009 we sang Eleanor Henrietta Hull's versification of Be Thou my vision as our closing hymn. You may find it helpful to meditate on the words.
We have been singing David L. Ward's song The Cross Still Stands, based on Arthur Bennett's prayer "The Dark Guest" in The Valley of Vision. We learned it on Palm Sunday 2010, and it certainly is suitable for singing at Easter time, but it's theme of the mortification of sin is appropriate at all times of the year, for the dark guest invades our lives daily. But, by the mercy of God, the cross still stands and meets our deepest need.
Philip Ryken's Faithful God sets a good tone for our anniversary celebrations. As a church, we owe our first fifty years to one thing above all else: our God is faithful, and we give him all the glory.
The prayer “The Gift of Gifts” from Arthur Bennet's The Valley of Vision is a prayer that forms a fitting meditation at Christmas. (added 26 Dec 2009)
Better known for the hymn “Amazing Grace”, John Newton wrote many hymns, including our closing hymn on Sunday 5 September 2010 — “Great Shepherd of Your people, hear”. The hymn is an encouragement to pray, which is what David did in his sermon that morning (listen again).
The Heidelberg Catechism:
Question 1
Questions 35 & 36 (7 Dec 2008)
Question 60 (27 Jan 2008).
You can read the whole of the catechism in various places, but the Canadian and American Reformed Churches have a version with Scripture references linked online. You can also learn something about the catechism at Wikipedia.
In December 2007 we sang Philip Ryken's Grace Carol. You may find it helpful to meditate on the words.
As an aid to your meditation, we provided a selection of hymns and prayers for the Holy Week 2010.
To end morning worship on 18 January 2009 we sang Graham D. S. Deans's paraphrase of Psalm 119:1-8, ‘How blest are those whose way is pure’.
Timothy Dudley-Smith's 2006 hymn “Jesus Christ is Born Today” is a fitting meditation for every Christmas morning. (added 24 Dec 2009)
One of the hymns we've been learning as we study 1 Corinthians 15 is ‘Jesus lives! your terrors now’ by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, 1715–69; tr. by Frances Elizabeth Cox, 1812–97. We've been singing it to a modern tune by John Barnard. The sheet music can be downloaded from the page with the words of the hymn.
Another hymn we've been learning as we study 1 Corinthians 15 is ‘Mighty Christ from time eternal’ by Titus Lewis, 1773-1811 (vv. 1 & 3; v.2 is anonymous). We've been singing Graham Stuart Harrison's translation set to the tune Groeswen. The sheet music can be downloaded from the page with the words of the hymn.
In December 2008 we sang Derek Thomas's hymn Not in regal robes of grandeur. You may find it helpful to meditate on the words.
The London Baptist Confession (1689):
Section 8 Paragraph 4 Of Christ the Mediator.
Section 10 Paragraphs 1 & 2 Of Effectual Calling.
My song is love unknown, by Samuel Crossman
During morning worship on 3 January 2010 we sang together Philip Ryken's hymn “Now I make my good confession”. The words express true Christian commitment, and are worth meditating on.
O Love divine, by Charles Wesley
“O perfect life of love”, by Henry Williams Baker
During evening worship on 18 January 2009 we learned Peter Gagnon's song ‘The Precious Blood’. If you were not with us, or would like to refresh your memory of the tune, you can listen to a short extract online and download sheet music free of charge from Sovereign Grace Ministries.
During evening worship on 26 April 2009 we started to learn the Stuart Townend & Andrew Small song ‘Loved before the dawn of time’ (Salvation's Song). If you were not with us, or would like to refresh your memory of the words and tune, you can watch a video of Stuart Townend singing it. Sheet music can be obtained from Kingsway Songs.
Spurgeon's Catechism: Q 1-3, 27
Time, by moments, steals away is a helpful reflection on the coming new year by John Newton.
As an aid to your meditation, we provided a selection of hymns and prayers for the 12 Days of Christmas 2009–2010.
For all our Polish neighbours in Northern Ireland, here are the words to the well known Polish Carol “W zlobie lezy!”
Mark Johnston [info] has written a helpful article, ‘Who Needs A Creed?’ (reformation21, April 2008) where he suggests five ways in which learning and using a creed can help us articulate our Christian conviction about the essentials of Scriptural teaching.
He has followed this up with several articles dealing with specific parts of the Apostles' Creed: ‘The God of the Creed’ (May); ‘That God Should Come As One of Us!’ (June); ‘He Descended into Hell’ (July); ‘Jesus Christ: Risen, Ascended, and Enthroned’ (October); ‘When Jesus Comes Again’ (2008); ‘I Believe in the Holy Spirit’ (December 2008); ‘Glorious Body, Radiant Bride’ (January); ‘Salvation in Shorthand’ (February); and ‘Resurrection and Restoration’ (March 2009).
In ‘A Good Creed Seldom Goes Unpunished’, Carl Trueman reflects on two extremes that people can go to when they consider the need for creeds (reformation21, January 2008).
Iain Campbell has a challenging blog about the blessings of gathering for worship with the people of God that is well worth pondering: The assembling of ourselves together, reformation 21 blog, 14 Nov 2008.
John Sampson [info] has posted a very helpful means of preparing for worship on the Lord's Day: ‘A Sample Daily Prayer in Preparation for Sunday’, Reformation Theology, 13 Aug 2006.
Carl R. Trueman's article "A Lesson from Peter the Barber" ((Minority Report), Themelios, 34:1 (April 2009): 3-5) has some helpful and encouraging advice on prayer in a corporate context. Luther encouraged Peter, his barber, who was having difficulty praying, to attend church meetings as a means to help resolve his problem. "The corporate aspect of worship is important." writes Trueman, "Church is not somewhere where Peter should go once he has sorted out the problem of this lack of enthusiasm; it is the best place to go precisely to sort that problem out. . . . If Peter was struggling with prayer but was not present himself in church, then, guess what? He could expect prayer to be precisely the difficult chore which it had become."
At our morning service on 16 December 2007, the Sunday School gave a presentation called “The Hoity-Toity Angel”. You can see some photographs of that presentation.
SIDEBAR
We run Christianity Explained groups regularly. Curious about Christianity? This is an ideal opportunity to find out more—totally free, with no strings attached.
The Cyber Hymnal is a great resource for all kinds of hymns, known and new. It contains "thousands of Christian hymns and Gospel songs from many denominations — lyrics, MIDI files, scores, pictures, history and more. Searchable, advanced Auto-play feature, free downloads. New entries every week. User friendly. Biggest site of its kind on the Internet." Well worth a visit.
You can listen below to some of the modern songs we use in our worship. Please note, that if you go to Last-FM's site we cannot endorse all of the site's contents.
