Worship reflections are my musings about the worship services at First MB Church.

This was the third installment of our ‘Amazing Race’ series, which is a blaze through the entire Bible in seven weeks.  This week, our pastor taught about the ‘wisdom & poetry’ books (Job, Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,  and Song of Solomon), spending a little extra time on the story of Job.  We also took the Lord’s Supper together, which is an every-other-month thing for our church.

worship service
welcome/news
‘Blessed Be Your Name’ (Redman)
‘Mighty to Save’ (Laura Story arr.)
Lord’s Supper (songs: ‘You are My King’ and ‘Your Name’)
offering: ‘The Word is Alive’ (Mark Hall & Steven Curtis Chapman)
message

Songs emphasizing the sovereignty of God? the story of Job?  as potential vehicles for processing the many thoughts and emotions we’re all feeling during this week of the Haiti crisis?  Yeah. You can’t plan stuff like that.

In thinking about this series, I searched for songs about the scripture as a whole, which is how I found ‘Word is Alive’, recorded by Casting Crowns.  I had not heard this song before, but it is powerful.  Vocalists Greg & Dani did a great job singing it, and the band did a great job bringing the power.  Projected the words over this video loop, which fit beautifully. (Listen to entire song.)

I leave you with the lyrics (by Mark Hall & Steven Curtis Chapman)…

Looking out from His throne, the Father of light and of men,
Chose to make himself known to show us the way back to Him.
Speaking wisdom and truth into the hearts of peasants and kings,
He began to unveil the Word that would change the course of all things.
With eyes wide open all would see…

(chorus)
The Word is alive
and it cuts like a sword through the darkness
with a message of life to the hopeless and afraid,
breathing life into all who believe.
The Word is alive
and the world and its glories will fade,
but its truth it will not pass away
it remains, yesterday and forever the same
The Word is alive.

Simple strokes on a page, eternity’s secrets revealed
Carried on from age to age, it speaks truth to us even still.
And as the rain falls from the heaven, feeds the earth before it returns,
Lord, let your Word fall on us and bring forth the fruit You deserve
With eyes wide open let us see…

This post is a part of Sunday Setlists at theworshipcommunity.com. Check it out!

Worship reflections are simply my musings about the worship services I lead at First MB Church.

This was week two in our new teaching series, ‘The Amazing Race’, in which our pastor is taking us through the entire Bible in seven weeks.  He is, quite simply, teaching our church to know the overall story of the Bible better. There are charts and hand-outs, which is unusual for us, but I think people are enjoying it. Which is good because we should have some level of understanding of what it is we say we believe and follow.

This week, we reviewed the larger story of the whole Old Testament, but focused on the books of history (Joshua – Esther), specifically, the Israelites’ cyclical relationship with God.

Good thing we’ve all moved beyond THAT kind of thing, right? whew.

See the overview of this series here.

worship service
welcome & news
ministry highlight: compassion international
Love the Lord (Lincoln Brewster)
Glorified (Jared Anderson)
prayer
O God of Mine (Rita Springer)
message
Naive (Chris Rice)

a few notes
Overall, our short set of music went very well and seemed… relaxed. By that I mean, it was an environment of music that people could participate in without anxiety.  But it also did it’s job of pointing us all to God, together. At least, if one were paying attention.

Our pastor asked me on Wednesday afternoon if we could include the song ‘Naive’ because it matched so well with this theme of God’s judgment and our need for Him to come.  I had only a vague memory of the song, which was released by Chris Rice in 1998. We would need to learn it completely at rehearsal Wed night, and it’s an unusual style for us. But I found the music (with a little help from my friends), transposed it for my vocal range (with the short turn-around, I didn’t feel comfortable asking someone else to learn it), and we gave it a whirl. Our musicians nailed it.  I am so SO grateful for people who are willing to give extra time to learning something new.

In the end, ‘Naive’ was the perfect close to this particular sermon.  Like our pastor mentioned to me, it’s a song that expresses almost a desperate anger at God, but it’s wrapped in sweet music so it doesn’t seem arrogant.

Check out the song, and for that matter… check out lots of music by Chris Rice. He’s a great songwriter.

This post is a very late addition to Sunday Setlists on Fred McKinnon’s blog.  Check it out!

We are out of town spending time with family.  I could not stop smiling when my friend James contributed this worship reflection from First MB Church this week. Thank you, James!

Guest blogger:  James Isaac

End-of-the-year / looking forward.

The big idea for this week was a definition and analysis of Faith: belief in God, acceptance of Jesus as the Lord of our lives, and finally the desire to seek after Him and to do His will.

Worship was led by a group of high school and college students, as Kim was off for the holidays. Lindsey Warwick (vocals) and Tara Taylor (guitar) met with Kim to pick the music selections, which turned out to be a veritable Greatest Hits Collection from the Sr. High worship. Ian Allison, another returning college student, brought the power chords and tasteful noodling on his electric guitar. Two high school students – Cameron Calvert on drums, and Jacob Sweat on bass – have stepped up to be regulars in the “big church” Sunday morning scene, and they brought their impeccable timing and locked-in groove to the rhythm section. Sam Klein, a college student, rounded out the vocals with his passionate and soulful talent. The “old guy on stage” (and substitute blogger) was James Isaac, filling the Paul Schaffer role on the keys as producer and musical director.

Intro by trombone chorale + piano
“Perspectives on World Missions” video
Sing to the King (Foote)
Filled with Your Glory (Neufeld)
Scripture
Revelation Song (Riddle)
Prayer / offering
Go Tell It on the Mountain (new arrangement)
Message
In Christ Alone (Getty)

All of these songs are very familiar to our congregation and their ready participation helped our musicians to feel comfortable leading worship. Sing to the King and Filled with Your Glory have been in our setlist for years but are still effective songs for setting the tone of our Sunday morning worship.

Revelation Song is a big, bombastic power ballad and is a particular favorite of Lindsey and Sam from Sr. High worship. Their emotional commitment to the song was plainly visible and helped to create a powerful worship experience.

We came to practice with no clear idea of what to do with Go Tell It on the Mountain. Playing it straight just seemed like a wasted opportunity when we could try something new. Ian quickly came up with a rockin’ guitar riff and we took it from there, with an opening verse nod to tradition.

In Christ Alone is another favorite, with deeply meaningful words. It put the perfect endcap on Pastor Brent’s message. Sam and Lindsey traded melody lines in this arrangement and the quiet underscore allowed the congregation to sing out with full voices.

I’ve played with these teenagers and young adults for several years now in various settings and events, and am constantly amazed at the talent and commitment they have, and how they desire to use their musical skills within the church. For me, it is the greatest joy to do something that I love – to create and perform music – for the God that I love. I’m so excited to see that attitude continuing on in these students.

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