God created us to worship him. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism explains the meaning of life,
our "chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever."
Our hearts are naturally moved to praise greatness, whether the
starry heavens or the wonders of the world.
The Triune God only, immeasurably greater than all of these,
can bring our hearts to exult joyfully for all eternity.
The Lord's Day worship is about rest. We call it "Divine Service" because
we rest from our service while God meets and serves us through Word and Sacrament.
Here is the covenant dialogue between God and humanity, as God calls
us out from sin and self to fix our eyes on him. The Old Covenant rested on the seventh day in anticipation;
now in the New Covenant, we rest on the first day, the day of Christ's resurrection from the dead,
the firstfruits of the restoration of all creation.
Worship is not a means to an end; it is the end in itself. Here on earth,
the Holy Spirit, by Word and Sacrament, dislocates us from a broken, weary world,
uniting us in mystical communion with Christ and all the saints transcending time and space.
In heaven, when all toils have ended and all is at peace, unceasing worship will endure to
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
