Here are the last 2 quotes by Tim Keller, about how John Calvin thought about corporate worship. I hope these make sense, and that you're encouraged by looking at the wisdom of some of the church fathers in how they went about planning corporate church gatherings. Keep in mind that by "worship," Keller and Calvin are talking about everything that goes on in a church gathering (music, but also preaching, prayer and reading of Scripture).
[F]or Calvin, the goal of gathered worship is to make God "spiritually real" to our hearts. That is where truths (that we may have known intellectually) now by the Spirit's influence become fiery, powerful, and profoundly affecting (e.g. Rom 8:15-16). They now thrill, comfort, empower (or even) disturb you in a way they did not before (Eph 1:18-22; 3:14-21). It was not enough, for Calvin, to be told about grace. You had to be amazed by grace.
And I love this next quote, about what we should be doing when we sing together in church:
Because professional musicians could turn the congregants into an audience instaed of a community, [Calvin] chose not to use choirs or soloists. Instead, [...] [Calvin's] practice was to turn the congregation into a well-trained choir under trained "singing masters" (emphasis added).
So I hope you're looking forward to reading the Scriptures together this Sunday, and praying together, and singing together as we worship together the God who has brought us to Himself by the death and resurrection of His Son.
Stay tuned for a "Preparing for Sunday" post!
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