Many churches have planned their own versions of a Worship 101 series. In fact, this series is a blend of Worship 101 series from two very different congregations with different needs and approaches to such back-to-basics reflections on worship. The one goal they shared was a desire for the series to bring greater unity to their congregations...The following Worship 101 series is easily adaptable to your context and available time. If your congregation needs theological reflection on worship and you have just a few weeks, focus on the major movements of worship. If you have more time, dive more deeply into specific worship practices, applying theology as you go.
Resources by Joan DeVries
When I first began preaching and my chosen text for a Sunday was a psalm, I would simply preach about the psalm at the prescribed section of the liturgy, seeing myself as the one who was called to explain and expound on the psalm as a piece of biblical text. Of course, liturgists and I would also include other elements in the litany that connected to the psalm’s language or meaning, and we would search for a great song of response to “seal the deal,” but the psalm itself remained intact as the preaching topic.
Imagine standing in the arrivals area at the airport, your heart pounding. Your beloved has been away on a long trip, and any second he or she is going to walk through those doors. In your mind you can already see the dear, tired face lighting up as your eyes meet.
What a sense of excitement there is when something eagerly anticipated finally arrives! That same kind of anticipatory joy characterizes our waiting for Jesus in Advent. In fact, our sense of joy during longed-for events in our lives is mild compared to the joy of what God has done, and is still doing, in Jesus.
