life’s little stories

Theme:  Heart Rules: Financial Obedience

Worship flow:
welcome & prayer
psalm 104 (video from worshiphousemedia)
Our God Saves (Brown/Baloche)
Your Name (Packiam/Baloche)
scripture: Duet 10:12-13
O God of Mine (Springer)
Message
Offering: My Love For You (Riddle)
Grace Like Rain (Agnew)

How did it go…really:
First of all, to anyone who attended the 9:45 service, the absence of lyrics on screen for the first song was … well, there’s a software glitch that I usually check over before we go live… and, well… yeah it turns out black words on black background don’t work so whippy. Sorry about that.

If you’ve ever listened to ‘Our God Saves’ and you went to college in the late 80’s/early 90’s, you can’t help but hear U2’s ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ progression within it. So rather than using the video soundtrack, the band played an extended ‘Where the Streets…’ intro under the Psalm 104 video which led right into ‘Our God Saves’.  Worked beautifully.

This being one of several weeks where the message hit hard on a theme of obedience, we wanted to ‘build a case’ for God deserving our obedient response.  The music & scripture leading to the message leads through those ideas, including the Deut text, which takes the thought one step further into the obedience theme.  ’O God of Mine’ is a beautiful song that initially sounds like a response to God, but quickly turns into a litany of pure worship. 

All that said, the find of the week was Jeremy Riddle’s ‘My Love for You’.  We have walked through this series of ‘Heart Rules’ for five weeks now, all of which have called us to deeper resolve and obedience.  ’My Love for You’ is a simple song that speaks a reverent, obedient response. You really should check it out. It’s #12 on the player on this site.  Jeremy Riddle sings it beautifully.

‘My Love For You’
This is how I love You:  I obey Your commands
To love truth and love justice and my fellow man. 
To steady the weak, and the hungry to feed.
That Christ might be honored and with me be pleased.

For this is the love, the love You have shown
And to love I must echo the love I have known
So I will be faithful to love as required: a love shown by obedience.
Lord I’ll be obedient. 

This is how I love You:  giving as I’ve received
The blessings You’ve lavished to others in need.
To care for the poor, to free the oppress’d
To stand for the orphan and the widow to bless

And if I have not love
Then I truly have nothing at all.  Nothing at all. 

This post is a part of Sunday Setlists on Fred McKinnon’s blog. Check it out.