The Cypress
Bayou Church of Christ, P.O. Box 98, Jefferson, Texas,
75657-0098
Our Worship Style:
Our worship is simple. We rely on the Bible
as our only creed. We are autonomous (independent) from all other
congregations. We try to respect the silence of the Bible and add nothing
to it. We strive to call Bible things by the Bible's own vocabulary.
We strive to do Bible things by Bible ways.
Our gathering is to encourage one another to love
and good deeds and study God's Word.
Worship to the Lord is from the heart, yet it also
involves a certain form which includes teaching, praying, singing, and
weekly partaking of the Lord's Supper every first day of the week.
A cappella Singing: One aspect
of our simple worship which some consider peculiar is our singing which
is a cappella (voices only with no instruments), so this deserves
a bit of explanation. History records that in the early centuries
Christians sang only a cappella, even though prior to their conversions
they once had used instrumental singing in their pagan worship. The
first record where Christian a cappella singing was breached was
not until the sixth century. In fact, the literal Latin meaning of
the phrase a cappella is "as in the chapel" or "in chapel style."
This adherence points to the early Christians striving to maintain a certain
form. (We follow this same simple practice of the early Christians.)
Today, other religious groups that adhere to a cappella singing
in their worship include the Greek Orthodox Church and the Conservative
and Orthodox branches of Judaism. Instrumental accompaniment in today's
Protestant churches is a relatively new practice compared to the centuries
before.
The early Christians were
well trained in the Old Testament and understood God had set forth to Israel
forms and patterns of worship that were to be carefully respected.
Such careful respect was likewise observed by Christians in their worship
to God in their teaching, singing, praying, and the weekly partaking of
the Lord's Supper. The act of worship is distinct from ordinary
behavior. For example, in the case of the Lord's Supper, they
partook of the bread and the fruit of the vine every week (cf. Acts 20:7),
but never did they add additional food items or alter these. One
is not to add beyond or alter what the Lord has set forth. This is
distinct from a time of ordinary behavior, for one would never allow this
to become a full meal with salads, casseroles, or soft drinks. The
case of singing in worship was similarly followed whereas nothing was added
beyond the voices, and history records this practice lasted many centuries.
Examples of Scripture Passages Reflecting Needful Care
in Worship:
Leviticus 10:1-3. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed
incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had
not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the
LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses
said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying,
'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,
And before all the people I will be honored.'"
2 Chronicles 26:16-20. But when he [King Uzziah] became
strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful
to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense
on the altar of incense. Then Azariah the priest entered after him
and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men. And they opposed
Uzziah the king and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense
to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated
to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful,
and will have no honor from the LORD God." But Uzziah, with a censer
in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged
with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests
in the house of the LORD, beside the altar in incense. And Azariah
the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was
leprous on his forehead; and they hurried out of there, and he himself
also hastened to get out because the LORD had smitten him.
[Comment: King Uzziah was not a priest and was unauthorized by God
to worship in the way he had attempted.]
For Further Reading:
Ferguson, Everett. Early Christians Speak
Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 1981.
Ferguson, Everett, ed. Worship in Early Christianity.
Garland Publishing, Inc., 1993.
Shelly, Rubel. Sing His Praise! A Case for A Cappella
Music As Worship Today. Nashville, TN: 20th Century Christian,
1987.
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Bayou Church of Christ, Jefferson, Texas.