Home > Events > Symposium

Calvin Symposium on Worship, January 24-26, 2008

With Every Good Thing

“May the God of peace ... equip you with every
good thing for doing his will.”
Hebrews 13:20,21

As we gather for the 2008 Symposium on Worship, we turn to the Book of Hebrews as a focal point across the six worship services at this year's conference. For many in the church, Hebrews is a strange and daunting book. No one knows who wrote it or to whom it was addressed. Many people find the theology and imagery of the book to be complex and at times a little quirky. In more recent times many scholars have concluded that Hebrews is not actually a letter at all but rather an extended sermon.

Thomas G. Long observes that if you read between the lines, it appears that the people for whom this sermon was written were tired. As Long puts it, whoever the preacher of this sermon was, one thing is sure:

“His congregation is exhausted. They are tired—they are tired of serving the world, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being peculiar and whispered about in society, tired of spiritual struggle, tired of trying to keep their prayer life going, tired of even Jesus” (Thomas G. Long, Hebrews. Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997, page 3).

Perhaps some of us gathered for this Symposium are tired, too. Planning and leading worship, conducting choirs, composing music, creating art, and preaching sermons is exhausting work (and not infrequently underappreciated work at that). So for us, the inspiring words of the preacher to the Hebrews may be just the Word of the Lord we need. Weaving in and through this book's sometimes perplexing arguments and analogies are some of the New Testament's most encouraging exhortations. These are words designed to rejuvenate the vigor of the faithful by returning us to our first love: our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ. For it is Jesus' once-and-for-all sacrifice that brings hope and joy to our hearts, that endows worship with a splendor and glory the world can but dimly guess at, and that sustains us on the often bumpy road of discipleship.

Our great God truly has equipped us “with every good thing” because of the person and work of Christ. As we savor the preacher's words at the 2008 Symposium on Worship, may we all return home with new energy and zeal to do his will so that God may “work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”