Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

favorable results are observed. The that the minister often takes the Psalms toglorious morning of the resurrection willmark the consummation of the earthlyjourney. Jesus will then say to those on Hisright hand, "Well done, thou good andfaithful servant. Thou hast been faithfulover a few things; I will make thee rulerexplain in order each week. See if yourminister does this now! This method helpsus to learn new Psalm words and musicthat perhaps we have overlooked before.Have you ever thought of the way thePsalms are suited to different occasions,over many things. Enter thou into the joy too? (Such as, for Thanksgiving, funerals,of thy Lord.""Lesson based on International Sunday Schoolweddings, communion services, etc.)We need to have the Psalms explainedLessons: the International Bible Lessons for and try to study them ourselves with aChristian Teaching, copyrighted 1967 by the Division purpose to find Christ in them. Christ saysof Christian Education, National Council of Churchesof Christ in the U.S.A."Junior TopicFor April 11,1971UNIT: OUR PUBLICWORSHIP AND SACRAMENTSExplanation of the PsalmsBy Mrs. John RussellProbably many of you boys and girlshave learned some of the Psalms of theBible. Could you answer some of thesequestions: (1) Have you always understoodthe words in the Psalm you havelearned? (2) Do you have a favoritePsalm? (3) Do you know one that willhelp you when sad, or one when happy?(4) Do the Psalms tell us about JesusChrist and salvation?The explanation of the Psalm is a partof the public devotional worship in ourchurch, usually coming toward the firstpart of the service. The minister will helpto answer some of the questions we haveabout the Psalms, and show us the depth ofmeaning and beauty in them. The childrenand young people and adults all can learn anew truth to help in their Christian lives ifthey give attention in this part of theservice. The Psalms need to be explainedbecause they cannot be seen or felt in alltheir power without it. Some of the wordsand sentences are different from what weare used to or are like word pictures of athought. We can think of the Psalms aswells of salvation out of which we maydraw water with joy, and this well is deep!This means that the Psalms are lasting andthe more familiar, or known to us, theybecome, the more they are loved!This part of the service leads into theother parts of worship, is short, and shouldcontain the main ideas, lessons, challengesfound in the Psalm. The minister will showhow the Psalms: speak of Christ andsalvation, speak of sorrow for sins, of hope,courage, of faith, of joy in knowing we areforgiven, of thanksgiving, of reverence inthe presence of our holy God.Many of you who regularly go tochurch on Sabbath mornings may notice12Himself that He is in the Psalms; they areChrist-centered. And yet some people saythere is not enough of Christ in them.Let's look up a few verses about theperson and work of Jesus listed in thePsalms.1. His divine nature — Ps. 45:6, Ps.110:1; 2. His being the Son of God — Ps.2:7; 3. His birth — Ps. 2:5, Ps.40:7; 4. As prophet — Ps. 40:9,10, Ps.22:22; 5. As priest — Ps. 110:4; 6. Asking — Ps. 45:6; 7. His betrayal — Ps.41:9; 8. His suffering in the Garden —Ps. 22:2,11,19; 9. His trial — Ps.35:11; 10. His rejection — Ps. 22:6, Ps.118:22; 11. Crucifixion— Ps. 22 and Ps.69; 12. Burial and resurrection — Ps.16:9-11; 13. Ascension — Ps.47:5; 14. Second Coming — Ps. 50:3-6.Places in the New Testament could begiven that show Christ or one of theapostles saying the same words found inthe Psalms. After His resurrection, Jesuswas explaining to His disciples why He hadto suffer and He said, "These are the wordswhich I spake unto you, while I was yetwith you, that all things must be fulfilledwhich were written in the law of Moses,and in the prophets, and in the Psalmsconcerning Me" (Luke 24:44,45). He meantthat all the words spoken of Him in the OldTestament and Psalms were true and hadalready, or would, come to pass.TO THE LEADER:1. Catechism questions — 1,4,5.2. Memory Psalms for Unit: Ps. 95, p. 231;Ps. 122, p. 316. Review.3. Sing in meeting: "The Guiding Psalm"— Ps. 25, p. 57, 3-6; "Prayer Psalm" — Ps.143, p. 347, 4,5; "Psalm of Love" — Ps. 103,p. 246 or p. 247; "Psalm of Salvation" — Ps.40, p. 102, 1-4; "Sabbath Psalm" — Ps. 118,p. 285, 17. (Leader can explain each Psalmbriefly.)4. Worship Verse — Romans 10:13 (writein notebook).5. "Worship Notebook" — a) Draw a smallpicture of Psalm book at top of page. HaveJuniors take to church and take mainthoughts and verses of Psalm the ministeruses for a Psalm explanation. Give outlinefor Juniors to follow and secure help ofparents in taking these notes, b) Labelone page: "The Shepherd Psalm" — 23rd.Cut out pictures of shepherd, staff, sheepto include. Leader can explain how this is apicture of Christ, our Saviour, and His carefor us. (If available, use "Taught of theLord," page 11, by Anna McKelvy to readbefore singing.) c) Pictures may be put innotebook to illustrate Ps. 8, 149, orothers, d) Ask each Junior to findpromise in the Psalms beginning with theinitials of his name. Label these "PersonalPromises" in notebook.6. Handwork — During this Unit we willbe talking about different "ships" in ourspiritual fleet of "ships." Make a small shipout of construction paper and label eachone. The first one is Wor-ship. Falseworship is a black pirate ship, but trueworship is a beautiful, fleet-winged vesselthat carries our thoughts to God and Hisblessings to us. In its cargo are found theBread of Life and perfume of prayer. On itsdeck is heard happy praise to God. Inorder to sail in this ship, we must worshipthe true God. Rev. 4:10,11. The Shipmasterof the whole spiritual fleet is Jesus,the captain of our salvation. Because He isthe bright and morning star, we call ourBible Fleet, the Bright Star Line. No otherline carries life boats. None other will takeyou safely to the heavenly harbor. Juniors,sail forth on the sea of life, ridingthe Biblefleet with Jesus at the helm! (See "Taughtof the Lord" — page 35) Set up ships ontable as a group project.7. Question: Can you tell of any Bible menor women singing Psalms?Prayer MeetingTopicFor April 14,1971PRAYER FOR THE NATIONBy Rev. G. M. Robb, D.D.Scripture: Psalm 147:12-20That our nation needs our prayers, whowould dispute? The space that is availablefor the prayer meeting comments could befilled with the simple naming of problemsthat have our statesmen walking the floor.With a disconcerting number of our majorproblems we appear to have given up anyhope of finding solutions: we are trying tolearn in a hurry how to live with them. Ifwe should ever have time to sit down andcatch our breath, we would do well to mullover those words of General DouglasMacArthur at the close of World War IIwhen he commented, "Our chief problemstoday are theological." Let us be remindedthat theology is "the study of the existence,COVENANTER WITNESS