As the Pastor Speaks, So Does the Church

 By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts From Parson Farms:

The Lord's Purposes in the Conviction of Sin in Public Acts of Worship

Good Morning,

As we continue to look at the DPW’s thoughts on the doctrine of fasting there is an important principle of Presbyterianism that would be worth our time to start with. The role and call of the pastor in his verbal leading of the congregation is sacrosanct. When we complete our time in the Directory of Public Worship our next step on Thursdays will be to spend time in another document from our founding days, the Directory on Church Government. We can think that learning more about the structure of the church is a waste of time, however, structure is the form from which the food and drink that fills our hearts and souls with the nourishment of life comes to us, and so it matters much that we know the how’s and why’s of our daily walk.

Many people today believe that the church is either not necessary or is at best a confusing institution that exists just kind of out of inertia. That idea is wrong. The church was established by Christ in the days of Adam and Eve, and reaffirmed throughout the Bible as His Bride for who He cares a lot. There are times the DPW assumes some things that may have been self-evident in the day when it was written that are not so self-evident in 2025. The authority, and calling of preachers can certainly be one of them. I recognize that writing about this could be seen as a bit self-serving, given my particular role here. However, I want you to be able to read the directions below and understand them in context, and with the encouragement of men and women seeking help in fulfilling some of the basic aspects of our life.

To that end as the section on fasting that we are going to get to here in a second opens up it says that the minister is a mouth for the people. The aforementioned DCG (a new acronym) in its section on preachers says, “To pray for and with his flock, as the mouth of the people unto God, Acts 6:2, 3, 4, and 20: 36, where preaching and prayer are joined as several parts of the same office”. So as we think about the actual service of the church in fasting we need to keep this in mind as it is materially important to what God has in mind for this spiritual service.

Continue here...