Service

23 April: Tuesday Refocus

in

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” - Romans 12:3

God has uniquely gifted and wired every follower of Christ. We are given gifts by the Holy Spirit not for selfish ambition, but for building up the body of Christ. For God’s glory, and for the good of His people and His world. Thinking of myself with sober judgment means I can celebrate the gifts of others without despairing of the gifts I perceive I do not possess. It means that I can also acknowledge the way God has gifted me without boasting in myself or belittling others.

Each of us is more than our gifts. But we are given gifts to spend selfishly but to invest selflessly.

Father, may we use the gifts you have entrusted to us for your glory and the good of your Church and your world. Amen.

Amen,

AB

Intentional Silence

in , ,

Within and without our world is full of noise. And our churches are no different. One of the things I see and hear increasingly is a complete lack of silence. Pads running the entire service, the band playing behind a call to worship or announcements, piano during the sermon, and on and on.

Our tolerance for silence is dwindling.

Truthfully, I do not mind a little musical cover for the elements of the service - our Good Friday service had wall-to-wall pads when we were not preaching or singing. I think that sometimes a little music helps people focus, and avoid being self-conscious. But as is true for many things, it can be taken to an extreme.

If our gatherings are forming our people, how is our perpetual space-filling forming our people? Where are the places where we are inviting our people to remember and practice the reality that “…the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” - Habakkuk 2:20

"I Can't Worship": Worship Leader Edition

in , ,

“I can’t worship…” If you’ve been leading worship for any length of time, you have probably heard that statement. But perhaps, you too have felt the same way. There are endless lists floating through my mind as I am leading worship - am I distracted? There are endless realities (and alternate realities) floating through my heart as I am leading - am I worn down, frustrated, hurt, steeling myself? Airtight theology is good, but it is of little use if we are not transformed by its presence in our lives. We can believe and teach that all of life is worship, and still struggle to ‘enter in’ to worship in this moment as we lead.

But what do we do in this moment when we are leading but in fact do not feel that we are able to worship?

Pray. Ask that God would unite your heart to fear his name (Psalm 86:11).

Think of the throne room of heaven. Day and night the saints and angels and living creatures never stop singing, saying, and shouting - the holiness, glory, and worth of God. This present reality will be an eternal reality for all who are in Christ. View the temporal in light of the eternal.

Think of my brothers and sisters around the world. We are a part of a diverse, global body of believers stretching through generations into eternity. We are caught up in a story larger than this moment, and many of our brothers and sisters face real and acute danger from their families, friends, neighbors, and governments for gathering with the people of God or professing faith in Christ at all. May the perseverance of the saints fuel your own perseverance.

Think of someone else worshiping. One of my youth pastors told a story about how when he would struggle to fully enter into worship, he would think of a specific family member (who expressed outright hostility toward faith in Christ) face down, arms raised in worship… The reality is this will one day be the posture of all people (Philippians 2), but does it stir your heart, does it fan the flame of wonder in you when you consider enemies becoming worshipers?

It is all normal. It is normal that some days our worship flows freely and easily - from a heart and cup that overflows. It is normal that some days our worship is labored and mismatched to the worth of the One whom we worship. Worship is costly, and Christ is worth the cost - press on.

You may also like…

When you don’t feel like serving.

When others don’t feel like serving.

Serving.

7 April: Liturgy + Set List

in ,

  • 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

Post-Easter Expectations

in , , ,

One of our church staff's conversations in preparation for Easter is that Easter (for us) is another Sunday. We celebrate the same truths on Resurrection Sunday that we do every Sunday. We open God’s Word, sing God’s Word, pray God’s Word, read God’s Word, apply God’s Word, and live in light of God’s Word on Resurrection Sunday like we do - hopefully - every Sunday. But certainly, we can feel the pressure of trying to cultivate greater meaning or intentionality into this one day - for those who call our churches home, and for those who may walk through the doors for the first time.

Hear me, Easter is not unimportant. The whole purpose of the incarnation, the whole purpose of the season of Advent and Christmas is to lead us to this moment - celebrating the resurrection. The resurrection is of eternal importance.

But often as worship leaders, we can believe that it is our efforts - song choice, skill in leading, our team’s ability to execute with excellence, unique articulation of truth, and creative and artistic prowess - that makes the day special and set apart.

Here is the good news: you are not that powerful. We are not so powerful that our skill and ability - or lack thereof - can make or break the truths we celebrate on Easter or every week. That means whether you sit on this side of Resurrection Sunday feeling the swell of pride in a flawless set list, or the drop of disappointment that what you executed did not live up to the vision in your head and heart, neither reality is the truest thing about you, about the team, about the church, and the resurrection. We bless God for flawlessly executed set lists knowing that was his kindness. And we bless God for unrealized visions knowing that this too is his kindness.

And we lay down what we have been carrying, and serve faithfully into the next Sunday and beyond.

You may also like:

Every Resurrection Sunday 2023

Easter Recovery 2022

Good Friday

in , , ,

Lent is the season of bright sadness. And perhaps we feel the sadness most acutely on Good Friday. We take the bread and wine, behold the cross, read of the suffering Savior, and recognize the severity of our own sin. And still, on this side of the cross, we know that resurrection has come - and is coming - brightness - life, hope, return. So whether you gather with the people of God, or reflect silently and individually today, lean into the sadness and feel it give way to brightness.

Here are a few other Good Friday reflections:

Good Friday - 2023

Good Friday - 2022

17 March: Liturgy + Set List

in ,

  • GOOD GOD

    Call to Worship: Psalm 68:4-6, 19-20

    Good morning and welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this fifth Sunday in the season of Lent. During Lent, we remember our death and the sin that has won for us death. But more than that, we remember the life of Christ - the life that is ours through Christ - because God is a God of salvation.

  • GRACE ALONE

  • TRISAGION

    BCP Corporate Confession

  • Sermon: Galatians 4:4-7

    If you want to know what God the Father is like - look to the Son. Scripture says we see the glory of God in the face of the Son, and Jesus says in the gospels: if you know me you know the Father, because I have done nothing that I have not first heard and seen from the Father. And if you want to know the Son, look to the Spirit - who leads us into all truth, which is Jesus, who seals and guarantees our salvation, and who reminds us of who we are. Let’s use these next few songs as prayers of invitation, inviting the Spirit to move the truth we may know in our heads, down into our hearts, and to be embodied in our lives.

  • HOLY (JESUS YOU ARE)

  • HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US

    Benediction

10 March: Liturgy & Set List

in ,

  • TRISAGION

    Call to worship: Psalm 150

    Welcome to this fourth Sunday during Lent, and this family worship weekend. Throughout the Psalms, the Psalmist speaks to his own heart reminding it of what is true, because our hearts do not always tell us the truth we need to tell them what to believe. This next song is a new one that speaks to our hearts about who God is, what He has done, and who he has called us to be…

  • GOOD GOD

  • HOLY FOREVER

    Every week during the season of Lent we have taken time to confess our sins to God and to one another. Many times people believe they only need to confess their sin to God when they first accept they need a rescuer in Jesus. But the act of confession is not a one-time act, but the continual act of followers of Jesus. The Bible tells us that we are to confess our sins to God so that we might be forgiven and to our brothers and sisters so that we might be healed. Let’s confess our sins to God and one another:

LEADER:

Merciful God, for the wrong things that we have done,

ALL: 

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the right things that we have failed to do,

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the times we have acted without love

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the times we have reacted without thought

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the ways we have not loved You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength

ALL:

Forgive us

A prayer of confession, especially mindful of Children, The Worship Sourcebook

Brothers and sisters, hear the Good News: if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise the Lord, amen.

Sermon: John 17:24

In the 1700s, Jonathan Edwards said:

God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light.

The apostle tells us that "God is love"; and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love.

Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing, an inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love.

There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual and eternal love...

And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of

the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love.

Would you stand if you’re able as we sing to the fountain of all love…

  • DOXOLOGY (English/Spanish)

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

    Benediction

3 March: Liturgy & Set List

in ,

  • TRISAGION

    Call to Worship: Psalm 119:25-34

    Good morning, welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this third Sunday in the season of Lent. Often one of the ways people observe this season is through fasting. Giving up temporary pleasures, small comforts, little places we seek to find life - but we also feast on the place we find true and abundant life - God’s Word. So let’s sing God’s word, read, pray, preach, and live God’s Word…

  • THE SOLID ROCK

  • KING OF KINGS

    BCP Corporate Confession

    Sermon: 2 Peter 1:16-21

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Communion

  • I STAND AMAZED (HOW MARVELOUS)

    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.