High Service to God

“The preaching and the hearing of the Word of God is in the last analysis worship, worship in its most profound sense . . . the proclaiming of the Word of God, simply in itself, is high service to God. The solemn reading and preaching of Scripture in the midst of the congregation is a cultic act, if we may use that term, in continuity with the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Even more it fulfills these ancient cultic acts” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, p. 189).