The Call To Worship

“When the instrumental prelude for the service has been played and the congregation has had an opportunity to prepare for worship through contemplative thought and prayer, the actual corporate worship begins. The minister sends forth a call to worship.

The call to worship summons the people to a consideration of that exalted purpose for which they have assembled. The minister calls them on behalf of God, and this introduces the divine-human dialogue. We must always remember that no one is fully ready for the high and holy experience of united corporate worship. The people who gather on the Lord’s Day in the house of God are a miscellaneous group of individuals much bound to the things of this earth. They have diverse interests and passions and must be welded together in a common experience in the body of Christ. They have come to the service with a wide variety of mental attitudes. The call to worship must, just as far as possible, secure their attention for the all-important activity of the precious hour of corporate communion with God in which it is each one’s individual privilege to participate. Therefore, the Scriptures are the best source of words designed to call men to contemplate the greatness of God and to worship Him.”      

Source: O Come Let Us Worship by Robert G. Rayborn