The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship

by Jeffrey Meyers

Publisher:

Canon Press

, 2003

Overview

Begun as a practical pastoral guide to worship, this book balances theory and praxis to create a compelling case for a biblical, aesthetic, and covenantal worship service as the place where the Triune God and His people renew the bonds of love and loyalty. Jeffrey Meyers begins laying out a case for a covenant renewal service by means of Old Testament sacrificial liturgics, biblical typology, and covenant theology. He then guides us through the stages of a covenant renewal liturgy, explaining from Scripture the meanings of each step of the service. The final section addresses miscellaneous issues in worship, such as the use of creeds, the “regulative principle,” and ministerial clothing. Jeffrey Meyers provides not only a compelling biblical, theological, and historical case for covenant renewal worship, but also shows that it is beautiful, profound, edifying and liberating.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Here at the outset I should emphasize that the end or goal of God’s covenant is always a feast. God invites us to a meal. We come to church on Sunday to eat with Jesus and one another, to feast in His presence.” (Page 34)

“there is a distinctive way of renewing covenantal relations in the Bible, and that is by way of sacrifice” (Page 55)

“Sacrifice describes the essence of the Church’s mission in the world” (Page 65)

“If the synagogue in the old world derived much of its liturgical structure from applying the details of the animal sacrifices to the gathered communities’ ritual worship, the post-Pentecost Church now understood herself to be the fulfillment of both temple and synagogue. In her worship all the sacrificial types of the old world were fulfilled.” (Page 59)

“What we do on the Lord’s Day in God’s presence defines who we are. We are most authentically the Church when we gather around the Word, the Table, and the ordained minister on the Lord’s Day in corporate worship.” (Page 122)

Product Details

• Title: The Lord’s Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship
• Author: Jeffrey Meyers
• Publisher: Canon Press
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 448

About Jeffrey Meyers

Jeffrey Meyers is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and the author of Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography, Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy, Hemingway: Life into Art, and Gary Cooper: An American Hero, (all available from Cooper Square Press), in addition to biographies of Humphrey Bogart, D. H. Lawrence, Edmund Wilson, and George Orwell. He lives in Berkeley, California.