Is there a standard, structured way to worship God on Sabbath?

*Disclaimer - this article was written in response to what is happening in the at Mission College, Thailand and is in no way directed to any other SDA church around the world.

"Our church is going back in time" I overheard someone mention on Sabbath just two days ago. Why so? I took a look at the bulletin in my hands and figured it out in about two seconds... It was really structured. Really structured. There was a start time and an end time, with everything that was going to happen in the service documented; from hymn numbers, song leaders, preacher's name, elder's name to the time. I haven't seen a bulletin like that in a while.

Bulletins nowadays just put in the main outline of the service... ie:


Worship
Welcome and introduction
Praise (name)
Prayer (name)
Offering (name)
Song "title" (name/s)
Scripture "text" (name)
Sermon "title" (name)
Benediction/Prayer (name)


They don't have time or details included and such. The last time I remembered seeing something like that was a really old bulletin that someone had kept from the 1980's, and that's over 20 years ago (presuming it was from the years between 1980-1984).

A question I'd like you to ponder over as you read this article is "Is there a standard, strutured way to worship God on the Sabbath?"

Word Definitions:
1) Standard: A basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated

2) Structure: The manner of construction of something and the arrangement of its parts

For years this has been a hot topic for debate in the Adventist church. Traditionalists are all for hymns, pipe organs, silence and reverence in the church. The more liberal contemporaries are all out for choruses, guitars, drums, the clapping of hands and shouting for joy; all in the name of Jesus. Those in-between with one foot on either side have trouble deciding which side they're on because people from either side are pulling them by each arm to be on their side. Is there a way, a biblical way to worship? What will God accept and what will God not accept?

Lets have a look at what the Bible has to say about worship. In the book of Leviticus, where pretty much all the rules and regulations and commands can be found, we can find all the 'rules' that the Israelites had to abide to when worshipping God. There were three basic types of worship..

1. Sacrifice (5 types, 3 groups)
2. Festivals (7 festivals)
3. Mass Assembly on Sabbath

SACRIFICE OFFERINGS
There were a variety of sacrifices that could be offered (5 in total, distinguished in three groups or kinds). Burnt, Meal, Peace, Sin, Tresspass offerings as commanded by God.

1) The first two (that is, the burnt and the meal offerings) are forms of dedication by which the surrender of the offerer to God's perfect service is expressed.

2) The third (the peace offering) is really an offering of thanksgiving by which the offerer expresses his praise to God and communion with Him.

3) The last two (the sin and the trespass offerings) are those of expiation, and deal with the removal of sin and pardon of its guilt.

Festivals
There were 7 festivals that God commanded the Israelites to observe. These festivals were all different and they were considered worship. They had to be done as God had specifically commanded.

1) The Festival of the Passover of the Lord
2) The Festival of Unleavened Bread
3) The Festival of Firstfruits
4) The Festival of Pentecost
5) The Festival of Trumpets
6) The Festival of the Day of Atonement
7) The Festival of Tabernacles

Note that God had specific details and rules to follow for the two types of worship mentioned; sacrificial and festival type worships.

Mass Assembly on Sabbath
There is much spoken abou Sabbaticals in Leviticus, but the Bible employs what is known as narrative silence when it comes to how the people of Isreal were to observe the sabbath. There is no specific order on how to observe the sabbath other than to observe it, which was (and is) a command from God.

Notice how God has directions for how sacrifices were to be made, what could and could not be used in sacrifices, how festivals were celebrated, including the number of days they should last... but He did not give any directions/instructions to how the Sabbath should be observed. Should we then limit our worship by having a standard structure in our services? Don't get me wrong here, I am not against structure, for without structure comes chaos. What I am questioning is the need to standardize the way we worship God on sabbath. Is there only one right way to do it? If God didn't have any ground rules for us to follow, apart from "Observing the Sabbath", why are we limiting ourselves week after week with the same structured format that is apparently so "HOLY" that we cannot change it?

To cite an example... I recently visited an Anglican church and they still use a little book of prayers which was written some 600 years ago. There have been updates over the years, but simply to update the english, not the liturgy or structure. Everything is read from the book straight out during the service and there is no room for anything out of the ordinary. (Are we limiting the Holy Spirit from working in the congregation as we worship if we too are 'too structured' in our worship?) After the service, it was a good service, my professor had a chat with the reverend of the church and we learnt that there were three services that the church held each sunday.

7am - Traditional Service
11am - Contemporary Service
5pm - Youth service

This pastor preached in all three services and he explained that the contemporary service was catered to those who prefered contemporary styled worship.

The youth service was more casual (as the word 'youth' implies) and was a lot louder than the traditional service that we had sat through.

Sitting in the *traditional service, everyone was silent, noticeably 'reverent' and very very very cold - to some extent. We didn't have a chance to experience the other services, but this was what we were told... and I quote "if you want to see the real christians, come at the 5pm service". It was quite a surprise... but, enough said. He saw the difference in the people he preached to. Sure, he did mention that there were really sincere worshippers in each of the services, but the most sincere ones came where there were "no rules" on how they should worship God, or what God expected of them in worship.

So, is there a standard, structured way to worship God on the Sabbath? I've made my decision. Now you decide...