The Word of God is central to the Christian life. We do not worship according to vibes. We do not center ourselves through wordless trances. Our worship services are noisy and wordy. That’s a feature, not a bug.
God is a God who reveals Himself. He is not hiding. A common way to describe His revelation is that of the world and the word. Nature reveals the invisible God, leaving mankind without excuse. But the Word, when accompanied by the Spirit’s blessing, is a life-giving seed.
The Word begets life in us, granting us saving faith. The Word dwells in us richly, and this is the content for our songs of praise. The Word washes us as it is applied in our baptism. The Word nourishes us in the Lord’s Supper. Even in the relatively quiet moments of our service, when we kneel in silent confession, it is the light of the Word which shines into our hearts. In this light we meditate on how our lives are out of conformity to its truth. And then confess our sin in words of repentance.
However, a common mistake in Reformed circles is to think that making the Word central means making our brains central in our worship. Your body isn’t merely a vehicle to carry your enormous brain to church. Our God is free to do as He pleases. The Word will do what He always does: make light out of darkness; make life out of death; make enemies into friends. The Word gives content to muse upon, but He also gives us orders to do with these bodies which the bleeding Word has redeemed for His service.
Hearing the Word and not doing it is a great folly. Here we are gathered before the Word, by Word. So open your ears, prepare your hearts, and let the Word have free reign in you.
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