"LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS" St. Francis Addresses Scripture's Instruction
on the What, When, Where, and How We Should Worship.
Christians who understand Who it is they worship, and the where, what, when and how of worship, are the most in-touch and well-grounded people you will ever meet precisely because they are plugged in squarely with the Source of all Truth. People like Joni Eareckson Tada and R.C. Sproul are testaments to how doctrinally sound Christian devotion renders lives that champion the strength and constancy of God's Love and God's Truth, and at the epicenter of their relationship with God is their worship of God.
St. Francis Radio Show Archive (If you're in Houston, listen to FM 100.7, Sunday night, 6:00 p.m.)
Lift Up Your Hearts Radio: The Power of Worship
Episode 34: Morning by Morning
February 5, 2012 The service of Morning Prayer, in the Book of Common Prayer, provides Christians with a Biblical, and time-tested way to approach God in daily prayer, confession of sin, meditation in Scripture, adoration, and supplication. For centuries, God’s people have used this form to begin their day in God’s presence.
Episode 33: Pray Without Ceasing
January 29, 2012 The Apostle Paul instructs us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray without ceasing," or "pray continually." How do we engage in prayer? Too often Christians think that prayer is bringing a laundry list of needs to God, but is there more to prayer than that? Is there a Biblical form which enables us to proceed in the proper manner, so that we might fully enjoy this great privilege?
Episode 32: Word Made Flesh
January 22, 2012 It doesn’t matter what you do with your body in worship, it’s only the inner, spiritual attitude of your heart that matters. After all, worship is spiritual, and our body has no part in this activity. Is that right? Does the Bible have anything to say about our physical posture in worship? Would the Faith that celebrates the Son of God made flesh for us, ignore the physical dimension of our spiritual life?
Episode 31: On Earth as It Is in Heaven
January 15, 2012 For 2000 years, Christians have been praying the prayer that Our Lord gave us to pray, the so-called “Lord’s Prayer.” In that prayer, there is one sentence that goes right to the heart of God’s grand purpose for the ages—His whole plan executed in creation and in rescuing that creation when it went bad. So why is the Lord’s Prayer used in worship? How does this prayer help us to understand what worship is all about, and what God is up to in our world?
Episode 30: O Lamb of God
January 8, 2012
Long ago, the children of Israel escaped from bondage in Egypt, through the Red Sea, and up to God’s mountain. It was the Exodus! The Bible teaches that this account is a picture of an even greater escape: God’s people are on Exodus from the bondage of sin as they make the great ascent to God’s Presence through the blood of the Lamb. How is worship like the Exodus? How do we recapitulate and celebrate our great escape and redemption when we celebrate the Eucharist?
Episode 29: Covenant Renewal
January 1, 2012 God’s gracious and unbreakable bond with His people is called a covenant. It’s God’s oath, God’s promise. And while God’s covenant never changes—because He never ceases to be faithful—we need to be renewed on a regular basis. Discover how God renews and refreshes us in worship, how He renews His covenant, and applies its benefits to us as we come before His gracious Presence.
Episode 28: Song of the Angels
December 25, 2011 Early in Church history, the very words which the angelic choir sang over the plains of Bethlehem when they announced the birth of the Savior to the startled shepherds, were placed in the liturgy: “Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men.” Do these words merely express a sentiment of cheer and happiness for human beings, or is there something more here? Why would we sing this song, the song of the angels? And how do these words celebrate the full scope of God’s great plan of salvation?
Episode 27: Mystery and Majesty
December 18, 2011 Is worship a simple activity of reading the Bible, singing some songs, and listening to a sermon? Or is there mystery here, is our sense of wonder to be expanded and explored? Is worship a supernatural event? Can worship set our hearts aflame and lift our souls to the One Who can inspire our wonder and adoration without ceasing?
Episode 26: Foretaste of Glory Divine
December 11, 2011 Past, present, future. They all come together in the great Feast of Christ’s Supper. We enter into the finished work of Christ in the past. We ascend to Christ and partake of Him in the present. We anticipate the final Feast of eternal glory which we will enjoy in the future. It’s all here in the Holy Supper where Jesus feeds us.
Episode 25: This Is My Body ... This Is My Blood
December 4, 2011, “This is My Body . . . This is My Blood.” These are the words which Jesus spoke at the Last Supper when He instituted His Sacrament, a Supper which the Church has been celebrating for 2000 years. What did Jesus mean? Are His words just a metaphor, or did He invite us to truly partake of Him when we ascend to His Presence to worship Him?
Episode 24:Banquet at God's Table
November 27, 2011 As we conclude our three-part series on the liturgy of Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer, we come to the high point of the service, where we obey our great High Priest’s command to offer His remembrance in the celebration of the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper. Here we enjoy the benefits of His passion, and our union with Him. Here, on the mountaintop, we banquet at God’s table and revel in God’s glorious presence.
Episode 23: Drawing Even Closer
November 20, 2011 We continue to explore the way the Book of Common Prayer takes us before God’s Throne to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, from the point where we offer ourselves to God in tithes and offerings, through the great ascent, “Lift up your hearts / We lift them up to the Lord,” where we join angels and archangels, and all the host of heaven before God’s Presence.
Episode 22: Ascending God's Mountain
November 13 In this episode we explore the first part of the service of Holy Communion as it stands in the beautiful and Biblical Book of Common Prayer. Following the ancient, and Biblical pattern set down centuries ago, we first hear God’s voice speaking to us in Holy Scripture, culminating in the reading of the Gospel of Christ, before we respond to Him in faith. Join us as we begin the ascent to God’s life-giving presence.
Episode 21: Living Sacrifice
“A Living Sacrifice” (November 6, 2011) The third sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist, is that we, the Church, are the sacrifice that is offered to God through Jesus Christ our great High Priest. The Apostle Paul exhorts Christians to offer themselves as living sacrifices to God—their whole being, body and soul, dedicated to God to live for Him. How do we offer ourselves to God in worship, and how should that offering affect our daily lives?
Episode 20: Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving
October 30, 2011 The second way in which the Eucharist is a sacrifice, is that it is our response to God for creating us and redeeming us. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we offer to God the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Join our special guest, the Rev. Wayland Coe, former president of the Prayer Book Society, as we explore this vital part of worship.
Episode 19: In Remembrance of Me
October 23, 2011 When Jesus instituted His Supper on the night before He died, He commanded His Apostles to perform the ritual “in remembrance of Me.” Many people assume that they know what these words mean. They assume that we are the ones doing the remembering. But what if something far more profound is happening when the Lord’s Supper is celebrated? What if God is the one remembering? What does that mean, and why would it matter? Join us as we explore one of the most fundamental aspects of the Eucharist. It just might transform the way you understand worship.
Episode 18: Do This
October 16, 2011 On the evening before He went to the cross, Jesus sat at table with His disciples, and instituted His Holy Supper, the sacrament of His body and blood. Taking bread and wine, He performed specific actions and spoke specific words, commanding His Apostles to “Do this.” Why would we not regularly observe Jesus’ command, and do what He commanded we do? Why would the Church ever push the Supper to the periphery of her practice? Join us as we explore how the Lord’s Supper is the culmination of worship on the Lord’s Day.
Episode 17: Signs and Seals
October 9, 2011 God’s relationship with His bride, the Church, is a union of communion and communication. God speaks to His bride, He shares His life with His bride. And He uses signs, sacraments, which are visible representations of His invisible grace, and the means by which he conveys that grace. If sacraments are God’s Word to us, what are we supposed to say back?
Episode 16: Word and Sacrament
October 2, 2011 When you embrace someone, you wrap your two arms around them. God embraces His bride, the Church, with two arms, the arm of Word, and the arm of Sacrament, when He exalts us to His presence. Join us as we explore how God ministers His grace through the means which He has ordained.
Episode 15: Write It Down
September 25, 2011, Have you ever heard the phrase “Read prayers are dead prayers?” Have you ever assumed that the only way to be sincere is to be spontaneous? With C.S. Lewis as our guide, we explore the value and benefit of using a prescribed liturgy in prayer and worship. Come with us!
Episode 14: Synagogue & Upper Room
September 18, 2011, Ever wonder how the early Church worshipped during the time of the Apostles? Ever wonder how the next generation of Christians immediately after the Apostles worshipped? We are not left in doubt. We have written evidence that early Christian worship was a happy marriage of two rites. Continuing the tradition of Synagogue prayer, reading of Scripture and preaching, the ancient Christians wedded to this service the celebration of the Lord’s Supper which Jesus instituted in the upper room. How has this happy marriage of rites been the enduring way of approach to God through the centuries?
Episode 13: Trees Have Roots
September 11, 2011, The great “tree” of historic Christian worship came from somewhere, it has “roots.” Those roots lie in the forms and liturgical expressions of worship which already existed long before the time of Christ in the Temple ceremonies and Synagogue service. Far from rejecting this liturgical heritage, the early Church inherited, and adapted these forms to show how Christ is the fulfillment of all that has come before.
Episode 12: A Pilgrim People
September 4, 2011 In the story of the Exodus of Israel, we read how God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt and took them on a journey through the hostile desert of Sinai on the way to the Promised Land. How is this story a picture of the pilgrimage of God’s Church, worshipping her Lord on the way to her glorious destination?
Episode 11: A New and Living Way
August 28, 2011 Hebrews 10:20 tells us that Jesus, our great High Priest, has paved a new and living way for us so that we may boldly enter God’s Throne room.If this “way” is new, what was the old way to God, and how is the new superior?And what does it mean that this new road to God’s presence is a living way?
Episode 10: Once for All Sacrifice
August 21, 2011 What exactly did Jesus do when He died on the cross? How did His death benefit us? What did God accomplish? How did Christ’s work of death and resurrection make it possible for us to worship God truly once again?
August 14, 2011 Before the coming of Christ, only one man was permitted to have access into the Most Holy Place of the Temple, access to God’s Throne Room. What do the ceremonies of that high, holy day teach us about what Christ has done for us, and the great privilege we enjoy in worship today?
August 7, 2011 Reading the Old Testament, one discovers that the Temple in the Promised Land stood at the center of the life of Israel and her relationship with God. What was the Temple’s function, and what does it mean? How does the Temple of Israel reveal the importance of worship?
July 31, 2011 When God reached down and rescued His people from the slavery of Egypt, He did so only to bring them into a sacred bond with Himself. At the center of God’s great work of redemption was the divinely ordained system of worship, a way God paved for His people to come back into fellowship with him. Right worship of the true God is at the center of salvation.
July 24, 2011 How far back does worship go? To understand the nature of worship, we have to begin at the beginning, when God communed with man in unbroken fellowship in the sanctuary of the Garden of Eden. We learn there, that's man's central purpose is the worship of God.
July 17, 2011 As sinners, we are fixated on ourselves, and this myopic vision affects our view of worship. Do we concentrate on our felt needs, what we get out of the service, how much fun we had when we gather on the Lord's day? In the worship of Heaven, as described in the Bible, who is the center of attention?
Episode 4: A Crowded City
July 10th, 2011, We are lifted up in worship, to God’s majestic presence. We arrive in God’s city—that’s what Hebrews 12:22-24 tells us point blank. And when we get there, it’s not an empty wasteland, but a metropolis crowded with citizens of heaven. We set ourselves right alongside of them as all together we focus on God and direct our worship to His Throne.
Episode 3: Location, Location, Location
July 3, 2011, Location matters, right? If we go somewhere in worship, where is it that we arrive? Turns out, according to the Bible, into God’s Throne Room in heaven itself!
Episode 2: Who Cares?
June 26th, 2011, The New Testament tells it straight: we enter into Heaven when we worship, we go on a journey into God’s life-giving and beautiful presence. So, who cares? Does that matter? Is God’s presence that vital, that important to us?
Episode 1: Starting with the Right Question
June 19th, 2011. Introducing "Lift Up Your Hearts!" Discussions about Christian worship often start in the middle of things, questions about what we should do when we worship. The fundamental question, the right question is often not even asked, and it’s a question of location. Where do we go when we worship?
