Impressions of a PCA Service

July 7, 2010 at 10:13 pm · Filed under Instruction/Torah, Lifestyle/Halachah, Reviews, Theology

by torahgirl

I had the opportunity to visit a church recently – a traditional Presbyterian one, no less, part of the PCA {Presbyterian Church in America}. Their service took place at the standard hour of 11am on a Sunday morning, bringing back a few childhood memories. {trivia: I was born during the 11am church service. Perhaps that’s why it’s always had a special place in my heart…}

We were given bulletins, which prompted another wave of nostalgia, and found our seats during the prelude. The stated purpose of this prelude was to “provide a few moments for the silent and prayerful preparation of our hearts to worship Almighty G-d.” This is exactly what the Pesukei d’Zimrah is for – praying silently through the Psalms to prepare for worship. We have common ground with the Presbyterians when it comes to the importance of preparation in demonstrating our reverence for the King.

Next was a call to worship from Psalm 33, “blessed is the nation whose G-d is the L-rd, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” In other words, blessed is Israel… right? No argument there! So far, so good.

The pastor proceeded to give an invocation. Invocation is an interesting term, defined as “a form of prayer invoking G-d’s presence, especially one said at the beginning of a religious service or public ceremony.” No problem with asking G-d to be present, although… isn’t He omnipresent? Just a thought. It’s curious that worshippers at the original “sanctuary,” and even Solomon’s Temple, didn’t have to ask for G-d to meet them – He was already there. I suppose that’s because HaShem placed His Name in Jerusalem, the city of His dwelling place. Even today, wouldn’t it be strange to stand at the kotel and ask G-d to be with you? Anyway…

We continued with a liturgical Call to Confession and then Confession of Sin. The Call to Confession was again directed to Israel {“O Israel, hope in the L-rd, for with the L-rd there is mercy and with Him is abundant redemption…” a verse which, incidentally, is a great comeback for replacement theology. I assume these Presbyterians have joined themselves to G-d’s people.}. You would have guessed the Confession of Sin was straight out of a siddur. I’m confident a Presbyterian would be comfortable with much of the Shacharit service in my Artscroll siddur, if they’d give it a chance.

A verse from 2 Chronicles 7 {“If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves…”} was entitled Assurance of Pardon. I get the impression this verse is recited every week in the PCA. We do serve a G-d who is merciful, who shows mercy to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. This is a good reminder.

At this point we sang the hymn “Great King of Nations, Hear Our Prayer” {…but what is our prayer?}, read a chapter from the Old Testament, and then did a Confession of Faith from Psalm 136 {“His love endures forever”}. Next was G-d’s Tithe and Our Offerings, which brings up the question “what is G-d’s tithe?” And of course the follow-up question, “what are our offerings?” If your answer is money, think again. Check out What About Tithing from FFOZ.

Next we sang the Doxology {Gloria Patri}. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia: “A doxology (from the Greek doxa, glory + logos, word or speaking) is a short hymn of praises to God in various Christian worship services… The tradition derives from a similar practice in the Jewish synagogue, where some version of the Kaddish serves to terminate each section of the service.” Wow, what do you know…

Finally we reached the sermon. It was short and timely – the service ended at precisely noon. I think this pastor’s been practicing. He spoke about prayer, from 1 Timothy 2. I’m doubtful about his conclusions from the passage, since he started by saying that we shouldn’t give G-d a wish list of our wants but then concluded that all we need to do is trust. He explained that prayer is not thinking, feeling, or doing; it’s simply trusting. That sounds a little “Greek” to me… in our action-based faith, wouldn’t prayer be considered a verb rather than a noun?

We closed with a Prayer of Application, a final hymn, and then a Benediction. Again, from Wikipedia: “Judaism developed ritualised benedictions (Berachot) for use at the Temple of Jerusalem, and the home. These Berachot often took the form of a blessing upon the fulfillment of a mitzvah (divine commandment). The most important benediction was the Priestly Blessing pronounced by the kohenim (priests descended from Aaron), as found in Numbers 6:23-27. From the earliest church, Christians adopted ceremonial benedictions into their liturgical worship, particularly at the end of a service…” Ah but when was the “earliest church“? Certainly not until after the cross, according to Presbyerians! So this is another traditional element they’ve taken straight from Judaism.

This congregation gathers “to worship the true and living G-d.” Their hope and desire is that their worship would be “a joyous time that draws us to G-d as we fulfill our purpose – to glorify G-d and enjoy Him forever!” Well, I can agree with those statements, particularly that our purpose is to draw closer to HaShem, to sanctify His Name within the world, to bring glory to our Creator, the G-d of our Salvation. I raise my eyebrows at parts of the PCA service, but apparently our purpose is the same. Baruch HaShem!

When was the last time you visited a church? Did you see similarities to Judaism?  I believe our job, when it comes to other religions, is to 1) know the truth, 2) recognize the differences, and 3) emphasize the common ground.

=)

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