A Reformed Theology Of Worship

Reformed worship focuses on the majesty of God's transcendence and the frailty and sinfulness of humans. Reformed worship captures, proclaims, and enacts the gospel. Two somewhat contradictory images might be used to introduce the theology of Reformed worship: the majestic vision and call of Isaiah in the temple (Isa. 6:18), and the depiction of the high-pulpited Congregational church in Melville's Moby Dick. Disparate as these images might seem at first glance, both, like the depictions of the worship of the redeemed in the book of Revelation, assume the majesty and the transcendence of God, even in the white simplicity of a New England church. The historic trail of Reformed and Presbyterian worship has always emphasized God's majesty and power and the frailty of humanity in approaching him. Central to Calvin and his followers was the proclamation of the Word. The Word declared through Scripture and even more than for Luther, stood at the center of worship. God was transcendent, a…