"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:105)

In chapter four of Dr. Godfrey's short treatise on worship, he considers the importance of the Bible in our weekly gatherings. I used to travel quite a lot in my work and had the unique vantage of seeing many churches. One of the odd characteristics about 75% of the churches I worshiped in was the fact that the Bible was never read. It may have been alluded to in the sermon to get some helpful hints at better living, but you didn't get the idea that the word of God played a central role in the lives of the worshiping community.

Dr. Godfrey discusses the several roles the Scriptures can and should play in worship:

1. The Bible should be Read. This is sort of a no-brainer, but it needs to be said because of what I stated above. Do we believe God's word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path? Paul encouraged Timothy to "devote himself to the public reading of Scripture and to preaching and teaching" (1 Tim. 4:13).

2. The Bible should be Prayed. The Word of God should fall off our lips in prayer throughout the public service as we recount his promises and blessings, confessing to him as the psalmists of old once did. Our prayers should be informed by Scripture. Like Bible-reading, I think public prayer has probably suffered, too.

3. The Bible should be Sung. If you've read this blog for long, you know how much importance I put upon the content of the songs we sing in worship. The church's songs should be filled to the brim with God's word. And the thing that gets me about this is that the Bible is not lacking in content. We have a song-book of 150 songs in the Psalms.

4. The Bible and the Sacraments. There is a strong link for us reformed believers between word and sacrament, since we find the promises attached to the Lord's Supper and Baptism in the written word as spoke by Jesus. Augustine called them the "visible word," reminding us of the cross and the new life in our union with Christ.

5. The Bible should be Preached. Dr. Godfrey (and the entire reformation movement, both old and present) is big on this one. The word of God must be preached each week, exposited so the community comes to know and serve God in a deeper way. Dr. Godfrey quotes a nice section of the Cambridge Declaration, "The Bible, therefore, mus be taught and preached in the church. Sermons must be expositions of the Bible and its teachings, not expressions of the preacher's opinion or the ideas of the age."