Sing to the Lord a new song...

This past Sunday was Presbyterian Heritage Sunday.  The following is a reprint from our bulletin...

For most Protestants, singing praises to God has taken the form of psalms or hymns.  Early Presbyterian governing bodies in America left the decision of what to sing up to individual congregations.  As a result, Presbyterian churches across the young United Sttes used a variet of psalters and hymnals in their worship. 

Early Presbyterian governing bodies overtrned all efforts to form a sanctioned hymnal commitee, but in 1918 the PCUSA General Assembly finally granted approval.  After much work and several revisions, Psalms and Hymns  Adapted to the Public Worship became the first official American Presbterian hyumnal in 1831.  Other Presbyterian denominations continued to sing only psalms.

As musical tastes and worship practices changed, new hymnals and collections of sacred songs were compiled and used, providing Presbyterians with a rich heritage of ways to "sing to the Lord a new song."  (Psalms 96:1)

The order of service for October 31 was based on John Calvin's liturgy of 1545, (although Rodney assured us that his sermon would not be as long as John Calvin's which was about 2 hours long!)

We had BAGPIPES on Sunday!  It was wonderful.

The sermon was from Habakkuk: 1:1-4 and 2:1-4 and Luke 19:1-10. 

The words from Habakkuk could have come from any of us...
    "O Lord, how long shall I cry and You will not hear?
But God answers the tough questions.  He invites us to probe and ask about things that trouble us.  The book of Habakkuk ends with a wonderful prayer, full of hope, trust and reliance--
                          "...yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
                            I will joy in the God of my salvation.

                         "The LORD GOD is my strength;
                         He will make my feet like deer's feet,
                         And He will make me walk on my high hills."