FROM THE PASTOR
   “Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;” Psalm 95:6
   One of my goals this year is to reread The Institutes of the Christian Religion. John Calvin would be 500 years old this year. Besides his many fine commentaries, The Institutes are an in-depth summary and apologetic for faith. Early in Book one, Calvin discussed the Biblical words worship and bow down almost to the point of splitting hairs. The two words were at the heart of a debate about the posture of religious people while worshipping. The words were part of the debate about whether images and icons were helpful, permitted, or even to some people essential in church buildings.
   Here in America where we have been allowed more than 200 years of freedom to be Protestants, some parts of our religious experience may be limited. Posture in worship is mostly stand up and sit down. A few of us have learned to pray and praise with holy hands lifted up. But few of us know the consistent experience of bowing down and kneeling. I recall the imaginative description of the Pentecostal pastor prayer partner some years ago. He said he had spent most of his work day sucking carpet. Surely he was bowing prostrate before the Lord his Maker. If holy hands lifted up are the posture of praise and holy rejoicing, then lying face down before God is the posture of humility and submission.
   Scripture intends for us to worship and bow down before the Lord our Maker. John Calvin saw too many people giving these acts of reverence to what were in his estimation the creations of men rather than the Creator of men. Genuflection is a slight bow or bending of the knee. Some religious Christians genuflect before images and icons, before the cross or before the consecrated elements of the Lord’s Supper. Our question and answer 80 of the Heidelberg Catechism calls the Roman Catholic mass an accursed idolatry, strong language, because worshippers bow down or genuflect when the bread and wine are before them. These Christ appointed symbols are not Him in the flesh. They do not require worship due to the person of the Son. They require taking and eating.
   It is our duty to sort out our works of art and even our bread and wine as objects that are unworthy of praise lifted hands or knee bending submission. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth. Posture is important. If we have forgotten how to lift up holy hands in praise or we have forgotten how to humble ourselves before God, even suck carpet, then listen again to David, our worship leader. “Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;”   Seek such worship practice without embarrassment. God is worthy of our love expressed with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.   Pastor Al DeVries