Worship Together
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” (Rev. 1:10)
Times are changing, and many good things have been cast into the waste bin of history. Though we praise “progress” today, not all progress is good. As a pastor whose aim is your holiness and your happiness, I see one great thing that has been lost – evening worship. To understand this simple statement, let me clarify two things: what makes evening worship great, and how we plan to bring it back?
One, evening worship is great because it is a gift to God’s people. For starters, the psalmist says, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!” (Ps. 122:1) Likewise, the exiled John celebrated the Lord’s Day not the Lord’s hour. Furthermore, the Old Testament is riddled with examples of beginning and ending the day with God. This practice did not arise out of some arid legalism, aiming to curry God’s favor by subjecting ourselves to rigorous demands. Rather, God redeemed His people from slavery so that they could spend the day with Him (Ex. 20:1-2, 8ff). This pattern of morning and evening worship did not exist to earn God’s favor; instead, this was the very place where God displayed His love to His people. On this day, He meets with His people, sanctifies His people, blesses His people. How does He do this? Worship. By hearing His Word (1 Th. 2:13; 2 Cor. 3:18). The Bible spends far more time telling us to “hear” than telling us to “read,” and we hear Him most in worship (Rom. 10:14). By prayer, hearing us when we call to Him (Is. 59:1; Ps. 120:1, 121:1).
Two, evening worship is great because it strengthens our Christian growth. We speak of the “means of grace” as those tools by which God gives grace to His people. Typically, we would name four such tools – the Word, prayer, sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and the church. Where do we see these most but in worship? 95% of our problems would disappear with regular worship patterns. A life of morning and evening worship orients all of our life around Christ, as a weeping willow will wrap all of its roots around the nearest water supply. Orienting our lives around morning and evening worship would orient our hearts around Christ, our habits around Christ, our families around Christ, our schedules around Christ. The more we wrap our roots deeper and deeper around Christ, the more fruit we will grow in Christ. I would be bold enough to say that our families, our churches, and our community would grow exponentially in holiness and usefulness if we worshipped together more, not less.
Three, evening worship is great because it strengthens our Christian community. The Christian life is not an individual affair; rather, the Christian life involves our families, our churches, and our community. Our greatest fellowship comes when we fellowship with Christ alongside our wives and our children, with our neighbors and our friends. Thus, Paul speaks of “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil. 1:27) This unity is not one of mere words, but one of worship. We may affirm all the great Christian doctrines with our minds, but we will have no unity of spirit if they are not united together in worship. The bulk of our current mental health crisis stems from a loss of belonging to a people and to a place. What better way to belong than to worship? To lock arms and voices around the cross of Christ and His Word of promise? To be called into fellowship with the triune God and His people? Worshipping together would wipe away many of the problems we face alone and deepen the love within our homes and across Hinds County.
What are we going to do about it? Starting in January 4, 2026 at 5:00pm, Raymond Presbyterian Church will be holding an evening worship service on the first Sunday of every month. The sermon series for 2026 will be drawn from Hebrews 11: “The Hall of Faith.” After worship, we will have a short Q&A where you can ask any question pertaining to the sermon, the Bible, theology, or anything related. I would personally be thrilled to see all of Raymond and the surrounding areas come, for we want to foster a community where we can worship together and grow together. For our holiness and our happiness, let us worship God together.
