Liturgy

7 April: Liturgy + Set List

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  • HOW GREAT THOU ART

    Call to Worship: Psalm 63:1-8

    If you are here this morning with a heart like the Psalmist - desiring God, clinging to God - that is not something that you have created in and of yourself, that is a gift of God through the Holy Spirit to reshape your loves and desires, to aim your affections toward the person and work of Christ. And if you’re here this morning maybe for the first time, maybe you have been dragged here against your will, maybe you’re here because for as long as you can remember you go to church on Sunday, maybe you’re here feeling indifferent or apathetic to the things of the Lord - you too cannot create in yourself greater desire and affection for Christ. Let’s all use these next songs as prayers, asking the Holy Spirit to lift our eyes to treasure and love Jesus more deeply. This next song opened our gathering last week on Resurrection Sunday. We’ll sing these truths again about who Jesus is as ruling, reigning King.

  • FOREVER NOW A CROWN

  • GOD, YOU’RE SO GOOD

    Sermon: John 16:4-15

    Truth without feeling is cold and brittle. Feeling without truth is soft, We need to fill our minds with truth - but we also need our affections stirred for the person and work of Christ. Again, that is not a work that you can accomplish in yourself - that is the work of the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see more of who Jesus is and to live in light of who he is and what he’s done. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together.

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

    Benediction

Pastoral & Prayers of the People

Often when our church is exploring the addition of new liturgical rhythms in our corporate gathering, I will be tasked with creating a one sheet for our elders and staff to review. Most recently we’ve been looking at incorporating a Pastoral Prayer - also called, Prayers of the People - during worship. What follows is a one sheet ‘On Pastoral & Prayers of the People’

People do not know how to pray. Even the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-13). If one of the primary aims of the corporate gathering is the spiritual formation of the people of God, we must learn to incorporate prayer intentionally; and not - as seems to be all too common - use prayer as a transition between various elements of the gathering.

Overview:

  • The Pastoral Prayer or Prayers of the People is a form of intercessory prayer.

  • Offered on behalf of the congregation with varied levels of participation and involvement from the congregation depending on the goal.

  • Structured and purposeful in aim and scope, but can be extemporaneous, with the freedom to engage the unique cultural moment, as well as the needs of the congregation.

  • Shepherding happens in obvious and subtle ways that outlast the moment.

  • People are taught a framework to know how to pray, and how to move through prayer.

  • People are allowed to give voice to the parts of their hearts, lives, experiences, struggles, and joy that they may find difficult to place within any other part of the corporate worship gathering.

Format: 

  • A general, guided framework: (BCP, The Anglican Church in North America #140)

  • The universal Church, the clergy, and people

  • The mission of the Church

  • The nation and all in authority (local, state, federal)

  • The peoples of the world

  • The local community

  • Those who suffer and those in any need or trouble

  • Thankful remembrance of the faithful departed and of all the blessings of our lives

  • If guided: The leader reads each framework prompt (e.g.: Lord we pray for the elders of our church: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…), pausing to allow the congregation to offer prayers silently. To conclude the section the leader offers something like: ‘Lord in your mercy…’ The congregation responds with something like, ‘Hear our prayer.’ These guided prayers rely heavily on the framework, but the content can be adjusted, or added to on the spot (e.g.: ‘We pray for there to be peace between Israel and Gaza…’)

  • Written: said in unison with the congregation, or as a call and response.

  • Extemporaneous: the leader prays using the framework as the guide to their extemporaneous prayer offered on behalf of the congregation. Like lines on a highway, the framework is used to shape the direction of this kind of pastoral prayer, without drawing attention to the framework itself - while still keeping the prayer ‘in its lane,’ and intended purpose.

25 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • GLORIOUS DAY

    Call to Worship:

    Welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this second Sunday in the season of Lent. During Lent we reflect upon and repent of our sin, we reflect on te cross, and look with joy to the hope of the resurrection. So if you are here as a follower of Jesus you can sing words like ‘I ran out of the grave…’ not because of something you have done, but because of Christ’s completed work on your behalf. Let’s celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done as we sing:

  • O PRAISE THE NAME (ANASTASIS)

  • TRISAGION

    Take a few moments now to name and confess your sin to the Lord, turning from your sin, and turning toward Christ…

    Let’s confess our sin to God and to one another:

  • Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

  • Sermon: Mark 15:40-16:8

    Would you stand if you’re able? Buried with Christ in baptism into death, raised to newness of life - this is what we witness in baptism. And if you’re here as a follower of Christ, we are going to confess what we believe about our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Baptism Affirmations

    Baptisms

  • NO BODY

    Benediction

18 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • REJOICE

    Call to Worship: Psalm 24

    Welcome to this Lord’s Day and this first Sunday in the season of Lent. Lent is the forty days leading up to Resurrection Sunday - a time of reflection, repentance, and renewal where we consider our sins and the cross. So every week in the Lenten season we will confess our sins to God and one another in prayer and in song. Let’s sing these truths together:

  • TRISAGION

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

    When we glimpse the glory, holiness, and otherness of God, we become all the more aware of our own sin, brokenness, and unholiness. So let’s take a few moments now to confess our sins to God and one another:

    Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

    Would you take a few moments in the quiet of your own heart to confess your sin to God…

    Brothers and sisters, hear the good news: God does not treat us as our sins deserve.

    Sermon: Nehemiah 8

    Baptism

    We have seen our sister confess and profess her faith through Baptism, and now together we will confess and profess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed:

    The Apostles’ Creed

  • I SHALL NOT WANT

  • BE THOU MY VISION

    Benediction

Liturgy: Start Here

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The longer I lead worship the more heavily I lean into liturgical rhythms and practices. I have seen in my own life how deeply formative these practices slowly, consistently, and over time transform my affection and attention. But if you say ‘liturgy’ or ‘liturgical’ in some contexts, they immediately think Catholic. But liturgy has nothing to do with style, nothing to do with denominations. The word liturgy is Latin for ‘the work of the people.’ Every gathering is formative whether it is shaped by smells and bells, or loops and lasers.

When I served on staff at a church in the UK, apart from the Church of England and the Catholic Church there really was no context for liturgical rhythms and practices. So when I started bringing up the idea of corporate confessions, responsive readings, and scripted prayers, I had to spend time helping our people grasp the purpose and intention behind incorporating elements that were immediately associated with churches to which they intentionally did not belong.

But discipleship is the long game, so just because you serve in a context where there may be misunderstanding or immediate resistance to incorporating new rhythms does not mean you should not try. If you are looking to create liturgical rhythms within the community you serve, I think the church calendar is a great place to start. Engaging the seasons of Lent and Advent. So if you’d like to dip your toe in the water of more intentional liturgy, here are a few things I’ve written that can get you started:

7 January: Liturgy + Set List

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  • PROMISES

    Call to Worship: Psalm 16

    Good morning and welcome to worship on this first Sunday of the new year. We are here to set the Lord always before our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection. We look to the one who leads us in the way of life, and regardless of the year ahead will not abandon you. Let’s sing of his heart and character together:

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

  • ABIDE

    Sermon: Mark 13:1-37

    Christ has come, and he is coming again. Let’s not grow indifferent toward our sin, but use this time to once again set Christ before our gaze, and confess our sins to God and one another. Would you stand if you’re able:

    BCP Corporate Confession

    Brothers and sisters, hear the good news. God does not treat you as your sins deserve. Christ has come and He is coming again. Let’s sing to him now…

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

  • YET NOT I, BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME

    Benediction

24 December: Liturgy + Set List

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  • WONDER AND GIFT

  • O COME LET US ADORE HIM

  • O COME O COME EMMANUEL

    If you have been with us this Advent season you know that we have been looking at the mothers of Jesus - women in the genealogy of Jesus. And we have said throughout this series, ‘The kind of people Jesus came from reveals the kind of people Jesus came for.’ And what Scripture tells us is that Christ came to win for Himself, to purchase with His blood, a bride made up of people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language on the earth. This is part of what the angels say to the shepherds, ‘This is good news of great joy which will be for all the people.’ And this morning we get to hear some of our people - who call Life Church home - read us the story of this good news in a few of the languages representing the people Jesus came for:

    Luke 2:1-7 (in Spanish), Luke 2:8-13 (in Vietnamese), Luke 2:14-20 (in English)

  • COME THOU LONG-EXPECTED JESUS

    Sermon: 2 Samuel 11:1-27

    I love what the Psalmist says - even the darkness is not dark to you, for the night is as bright as the day. This is Jesus, the Light of the World illuminating the darkness of our sin, the darkness of our lives, the darkness of the world. Let’s sing about Him, and to Him, and to one another - would you stand if you’re able…

  • LIGHT OF THE WORLD (SING HALLELUJAH)

    Reading: John 1:9-18

    We light a candle to remember that Jesus is the Light of the World. And if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you carry the very life and light of Christ in you and with you as you walk into a darkened world.

  • SILENT NIGHT (SON OF GOD, SON OF MAN)

  • O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

Liturgical Resources

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“Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems.” - Donald Kingsbury

I love hymns.

I love that liturgy forms us as disciples.

I love how reading, singing, and praying ancient words remind us that we are connected to a global Church that spans culture, continent, language, and generation.

Although some of my early church experience involved elements of formal liturgy, it was not until I was in college that I began to encounter liturgical rhythms and resources.

Other worship leaders, pastors, and liturgists would talk about the Church Calendar, seasonal colors, readings, prayers, and the intentional movements of the liturgy - but I could not understand how they knew all of that information. As I tried to find my feet in this context, the Worship Sourcebook was one of my most helpful resources. Explaining the seasons, and giving prayers, readings, confessions, and responsive elements for each season, and every service. Even as my understanding of Liturgical rhythms and the library of books has grown - this is always one of the first places I turn as I think, pray, and plan services.

More recently, I have incorporated the Book of Common Prayer into my preparation. A few of the elements I have come to appreciate about the BCP is that many prayers are incredibly succinct. Although I love using the Valley of Vision during times of personal devotion, I value the accessibility in language and the brevity of word count used in the BCP when it comes to corporate worship.

I think it is important to speak to current events in the gathering, but sometimes those events can feel like landmines in a service. But the BCP has a prayer for countless realities of living in a fallen world. When I can’t find my own words, when a topic feels important but delicate - I look for the ways the BCP can guide our congregation’s prayer and response.

How about you? Are there resources you use regularly that you have found helpful in thinking and planning intentionally for the gathering?

29 October: Liturgy + Set List

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  • BEFORE THE THRONE

    Call to Worship: Psalm 27:7-13

    When we gather, we behold the goodness of God in the land of the living. We see in part now what one day we will see in full, we behold the glory of the Father in the face of the Son. We see His goodness. Let’s sing to Him:

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

  • ABIDE

    Sermon: Mark 11:27-12:12

    If you are here as a follower of Jesus, Scripture tells us ‘Your life his hidden with Christ in God.’ And one of the things that means is that when God looks at you - he sees Christ’s perfect obedience, Christ’s perfect righteousness, the song of delight the Father sings over the Son He sings over you, the eternal inheritance which rightfully belongs to Christ, Christ shares with you and me. I hope that makes us humble, grateful, and worshipful. Would you stand if you’re able, let’s sing together:

  • THERE IS A REDEEMER

  • LAMB OF GOD

    Benediction

Tuesday Refocus: October 3

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“I am not in control. I am not in a hurry. I walk in faith and hope. I greet everyone with peace. I bring back only what God gives me.” - Murray Bodo

I am not in control…

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” - Colossians 1:17

I am not in a hurry…

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30

I walk in faith and hope…

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” - 2 Corinthians 5:6-9

I greet everyone with peace…

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:7

I bring back only what God gives me…

“But he gives more grace…” - James 4:6

Amen and amen.

Amen,

AB