True Worship part 3
Over two millennia faithful Christians have praised our God in Trinity.
On 10th and 24th August we looked at Isaiah 1:1, 10-20. The theme of my Word of Hope was “True Worship”. I said that there are two parts to this reading:
1. Real or Ritual Worship – when we gather together.
2. Living True Worship – beyond the Church doors.
We explored these on Sunday 10th and 24th. At our Combined Service this Sunday 31st, we did part 3! We heard from Rachel and Don Neely (Kincumber) and Teresa Read (Umina). Thank you for blessing us, and be assured of our prayers.
I spoke about the first hymn which we have ever discovered: The Oxyrhynchus hymn (or P. Oxy. XV 1786). It is the earliest known manuscript of a Christian hymn to contain both lyrics and musical notation. It is found on Papyrus 1786 of the Oxyrhynchus papyri, now kept at the Papyrology Rooms of the Sackler Library, Oxford. This papyrus fragment was unearthed in 1918 in Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, and the discovery was first published in 1922. The hymn was written down in the late 200s. It is a hymn to the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was sung, and no doubt informed, the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381. These two Councils produced the Nicene (or Nicene-Constantinopolitan) Creed which we still say today.
The Oxyrhynchus hymn has been set to music over 1,800 years. This year a version called The First Hymn was released. Its composers are Ben Fielding (an Australian) and Chris Tomlin. I played this version on Sunday. I believe that it is inspired. An accompanying movie called “The First Hymn” has also been produced. This has been shown in Cinemas, but I missed it. If I find it, I will share it with you!
So, in August we had three parts of a two-part series on True Worship, based on Isaiah 1 and 6. While the series has ended, our True Worship has not! In Ephesians 2:10 we hear from St. Paul: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. Together, may we do good and Godly works, for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom.
With hope and joy,
Rev. Frank (Van Der Korput), Supply Minister