O Sacred Head, Now Wounded: A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Pascha to Pentecost by Jonathan Gibson. Crossway. 444 pages. 2023
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This is the third of book of liturgies from Jonathan Gibson, following 2021’s Be Thou My Vision and 2023’s O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, books that I hope to read in the future. This volume is designed to help us prepare better for meditating on the great work of God in the person of his Son from Pascha (more commonly known as Easter), to Pentecost.
The author tells us that remembering Jesus is a divinely inspired, apostolic imperative. The remembrance of Jesus has been expressed in the liturgy of the Christian church for over two thousand years through the simple preaching of the gospel and the faithful administration of the sacraments. Since the days of the early church, Christians have also observed times in the church calendar for a more focused remembrance of key moments in the life of our Lord.
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The author tells us that remembering Jesus is something we do each Lord’s Day, but there is also spiritual benefit in setting aside a period in the church calendar each year to meditate more deliberately on the key events of his redeeming work.
The aim of this devotional liturgy, designed for daily worship from Pascha to Pentecost, is to prepare us better for the season in which we remember the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, as well as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—all while we wait for his return.
This daily worship devotional consists of forty-eight days of set liturgy for the season of Pascha to Pentecost. The order of the elements in the liturgy is fixed and repeated each day, while the content of the elements changes except for the Lord’s Prayer and postlude. The elements included are:
- Meditation: Forty-eight meditations from church history
- Call to Worship: Forty-eight Scripture readings (alternating Old Testament and New Testament daily)
- Adoration: Forty-eight hymns or psalms from church history relevant to the season of Pascha to Pentecost
- Reading of the Law: Seven Scripture readings (repeated weekly)
- Confession of Sin: Forty-eight prayers from church history
- Assurance of Pardon: Forty-eight Scripture readings (alternating Old Testament and New Testament daily)
- Creed: Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed (3 parts)
- Praise: Gloria Patri (traditional), Doxology (traditional), Gloria Patri (alternative 1), Doxology (alternative), and Gloria Patri (alternative 2)
- Catechism: Select Q&As from Heidelberg Catechism and Westminster Shorter Catechism related to the work of Christ to save us from our sin
- Prayer for Illumination: Seven prayers from church history (repeated weekly)
- Scripture Reading: Select readings from Old and New Testaments relevant to the season of Pascha to Pentecost:
- Prayer of Reflection: Liturgical prayers or praises from church history
- Prayer of Intercession: More than fifty prayers from church history
- Further Petitions: Personal, Church and World
- Lord’s Prayer: Traditional or modern version
- Benediction: Seven benedictions
- Doxology based on Psalm 72:17–19
This liturgy of daily worship from Pascha to Pentecost aims to help us worship God by meditating on the great work of his salvation as revealed in the person of his Son.
This is unlike any other devotional book that I have previously read. My wife Tammy and I enjoyed using it for our daily worship.
The book includes three appendices:
Appendix 1: Tunes for Hymns and Psalms, Gloria Patri and Doxology Versions
Appendix 2: Pascha to Pentecost Bible Reading Plan
Appendix 3: Author, Hymn, and Liturgy Index
- Keep Calm and Stay Friends. Tim Challies reviews Gavin Ortlund’s new book The Art of Disagreeing. He writes “Fallen humanity has always been disagreeable and always will be until the Lord returns. Until then, we can serve him best by disagreeing well. That is to say, we can serve him best in our disagreements if we follow the wisdom of a book like this one.”
- Study, Savor and Share Scripture: Becoming What We Behold. My wife Tammy has published a book about HOW to study the Bible. The book is available on Amazon in both a Kindle and paperback edition. She writes “Maybe you have read the Bible but want to dig deeper and know God and know yourself better. Throughout the book I use the analogy of making a quilt to show how the Bible is telling one big story about what God is doing in the world through Christ. Quilting takes much patience and precision, just like studying the Bible, but the end result is well worth it.”
Won’t you read along with us?
We are reading through Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith by R.C. Sproul. From the Ligonier description:
“The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the most precise and comprehensive statements of biblical Christianity, and it is treasured by believers around the world. R.C. Sproul has called it one of the most important confessions of faith ever penned, and it has helped generations of Christians understand and defend what they believe.
In Truths We Confess, Dr. Sproul introduces readers to this remarkable confession, explaining its insights and applying them to modern life. In his signature easy-to-understand style and with his conviction that everyone’s a theologian, he provides valuable commentary that will serve churches and individual Christians as they strive to better understand the eternal truths of Scripture. As he walks through the confession line by line, Dr. Sproul shows how the doctrines of the Bible—from creation to covenant, sin to salvation—fit together to the glory of God. This accessible volume is designed to help you deepen your knowledge of God’s Word and answer the question, What do you believe?”
This week we look at WCF 25: Of the Church and WCF 26: Of the Communion of Saints. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapters:
WCF 25 Of the Church
- The invisible church exists substantially within the visible church but cannot be identified with it. It refers to the elect, to those who make genuine professions of faith.
- When we behave in a just manner in our place of work, we bear witness to Christ.
- According to the Bible, the only people who seek after God are believers. We do not and cannot begin to seek after God until He has found us and brought us to Himself.
- Unbelievers seek the benefits that only God can give them but they aren’t seeking God.
- Our worship is for Christians and should be designed to enhance the growth and the development of the believer.
- Our election is always in Christ, and it is effective and effected through Christ.
- The church can become impure if it crosses the line into apostasy. Then the believer not only may leave but must leave. We are not to be visibly identified with an apostate body.
- Some theologians today refuse to say that justification by faith alone is essential to the gospel. Luther said it was the article upon which the church stands or falls.
- Without the gospel, there is no church. There can be a religious institution, but without the gospel, it is no church.
WCF 26: Of the Communion of Saints
- When we suffer for the gospel’s sake, we fill up the full measure of the sufferings of Christ by virtue of our communion with Him.
- Anyone who is united with Christ is at the same time united with all others who are united with Christ.
- We must rid ourselves of the cavalier, casual attitude that we who bear the name of Christ can fail to participate in worship or in the fellowship of the body of Christ.
