Getting Ready For Sunday: How To Prepare For The 8/30/09 Sojourn Gathered Service

This Sunday we dive into one of the most unique and referenced books in the Old Testament — Job.  This book is often categorized as Wisdom literature, along with Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.  But unlike those books, Job is all narrative.  It explores the problem of suffering, and mankind’s quest to understand “why bad things happen to good people.”

Victor Hugo said “The Book of Job is perhaps the Greatest Masterpiece of the Human Mind.” 

Thomas Caryle said, “I call this book, apart from all theories about it, one of the Grandest things ever written.  Our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem:  Man’s Destiny, and God’s Ways with him in the earth.  There is nothing written, I think, of equal literary merit.”  This will be a fun book to dig into, and I’m sure our pastor’s sermon will help us to see this book with fresh eyes.

We’ll be singing several Sojourn originals this week.  If you have our new Over The Grave CD, you can practice up on “Refuge.”  We’ll also sing “In The Shadow Of The Glorious Cross” and “There Is A Peace” from Before The Throne, and “From The Depths” from These Things I Remember.  We’ll sing “Blessed Be Your Name” and the modern hymn “In Christ Alone” as well.

A book like Job is a great time for reflection and for acknowledging the reality of evil and suffering in the world, and in our midst.  But it’s also a great time to acknowledge the victory over evil and suffering that our risen savior won for us.  As you prepare your heart and mind for worshiping together this Sunday, think on these words from scripture, which we’ll recite together:

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! – Romans 5:6,9-10