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Posts tagged ‘worship sets’

Dec 28

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Worship Reflections 12.27.09

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!

Dec 20

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Worship Reflections, 12.20.09

It was big music Sunday.
We have one every once in a while, but mostly around Christmas and Easter.
These are Sundays where we combine our music and musicians and offer identical services, rather than our customary classic style and contemporary style services.

Today, we walked back through our entire ‘Light’ series and landed on a strong message about being ‘light bearers’… carrying the light of God’s truth everywhere we go.

Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy) (Tomlin) -  congregational song led by band, vocals
welcome
O Come All Ye Faithful – congregational song led by orchestra & choir
recap: the light of creation and the light foretold
Let There Be Light (recorded by Point of Grace) – orchestra, band, choir, kids’ ensemble
recap: the light arrives (Jesus’ birth)
Hallelujah (Light Has Come) (by Barlow Girl) -  women’s trio, choir, orchestra
scripture: excerpts from John 1 and Luke 2
Tonight – choir, soloists, orchestra
prayer
Hark the Herald Angels Sing – congregational song led by orchestra & choir
Advent narration: Light Bearers
message, including a first hand story of a light bearer
Carrier (Jared Anderson) – congregational song led by band, vocals
wrap-up
Go Light Your World soloists, orchestra, choir

Big music Sundays bring with them a different set of logistics, rehearsals, and technical needs of every stripe. Our team rose to the challenge and we had three very smooth worship experiences because of people who prepared well and allowed their gifts to shine.

If servants can make the day shine, they are heroes, right? The servant-heroes of today:
Bethany, who did ‘candle surgery’ on an obstinate Advent candle between services in order to keep it burning.
David, who created a powerpoint presentation containing all the words of every song, along with guides and prompts, projected to a rear screen so that all vocalists could be ‘off book’ with confidence.
Dave, who ran the aforementioned powerpoint flawlessly… a bit of a tedious job.
Jerry, who spent hours Saturday working through visuals for the entire service.
Adam, who was up until ? moving our projection screen, bringing in extra audio gear, and performing miracles on our PA system.
Nick, who agreed to run lights despite his stated lack of experience, but did a beautiful job and helped craft an atmosphere
Ryan, Brittany, and Kaitlyn, who have done a great job with narration pieces over the past four weeks.
Susan and Lyndon, who read beautifully.
Greg, Melanie, Kayla, Danni, Tanya, David, Kim & Wendell, who sang beautifully.
ushers who threw down lots and lots of extra chairs in little time to accommodate a packed 9:45 service
and an entire orchestra, choir, and band who did their part well three times over.

A live orchestra brings magic to almost any song.  But our goal wasn’t magic. Our goal was to celebrate this great story, this great rescue, this thing of God becoming human to save us. And our goal was to remind ourselves that the story doesn’t stop there, at this tiny barn with a tiny baby, but continues with us.  We are charged with carrying the light forward.

I come away from this morning grateful for all those people who participated, inspired to join the historical stream of light-bearers, and, through tears, adding a new song to my ‘favorite songs from Mary’ list,  ‘Hallelujah (Light Has Come)” by Barlow Girl.   Check it out.

And Merry Christmas!

This post is a part of Sunday Setlists… where you can read about other worship experiences. Check it out!

Dec 14

Advent week 3 Light Arrives

Advent sermon series: Light
week 3: Light Arrives

Order of worship
O Come O Come Emmanuel (traditional hymn)
recap of series, story of the birth of Jesus
O Little Town of Bethlehem (traditional carol)
‘Light of Creation’ narration
message part one: Mary & Joseph… trust & obedience
No Sweeter Name (Jobe)
message part two: Shepherds… message for everyone
The First Noel (hymncharts arr)
message part three: Wise Men… faith
Center (Hall) / Silent Night (traditional carol)
prayer
Glorious (Tomlin, Reeves) (offering)
church news

Notes
week 1 of this series
week 2 of this series

This week, our pastor pulled observations out of the story of Jesus’ birth, looking specifically at a few people we hear about every time the story is re-told. The overall takeaway was one of having faith… of trusting… of accepting God’s truth.

Best moment of the day: singing ‘No Sweeter Name’.  This is a simple song of worship sung to Jesus and seemed like a sweet choice following a focus on Mary and Joseph.  While I was listening to our pastor speak, it occurred to me that the words of the song could be sung from the perspective of Jesus’ parents.  I mentioned something about this as we began the song… and then that idea completely broke me down as we sang it.  Can you imagine THESE parents singing to their newborn baby ‘no sweeter name than the name of Jesus, no sweeter name have I ever known… you are the life to my heart and my soul, you are the light to the darkness around me’?  Good grief.  I’ve been thinking ever since that someone should write this into a drama… Mary sitting alone with the baby Jesus singing this song acapella, like a lullaby.

Have mercy.

‘Glorious’ by Chris Tomlin was a new song for us today.  I first heard this song at a Passion conference in 2006; this song was featured during one of the most powerful moments of that experience. Neil suggested I think about using it during Christmas.  It isn’t specifically a Christmas song, but it seems like anything that declares Jesus to be reigning, ‘glorious over us’, should be used to celebrate his birth. I was proud of how our band worked it up and how my friend Wendell sang it. It has the potential to be powerful once our church becomes familiar with it.  Thinking about bringing it back on Christmas Eve…. hmmm…

Next week, our story continues:  Light Bearers: we carry the light into the world

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

Dec 6

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Advent week 2 Light Foretold

Advent sermon series: Light
week 2: Light Foretold (or Darkness)

Order of worship
O Come All Ye Faithful (Kim Hill version)
welcome… reintroduce series and this week’s theme
(lighting to black)
Genesis 2-3 excerpts (reader in back of room)
“Light of Creation” narration part 1 (sin enters the world)
Lord Have Mercy
“Light of Creation” narration part 2 (the promise of light to come)
O Come O Come Emmanuel (traditional hymn)
Message: Light Foretold
-artist creates images on black canvas under blacklight during message
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus’ (band arr. from hymncharts)

Notes
read about week 1 of this series

Light was created, chasing away the uncreated darkness… humans were created and offered a beautiful life of freedom and creativity… darkness re-entered the world through a destructive choice. Light of salvation is promised.

We spent most of this service with the lights out in the room.  This is rare for our church (specific factors are described here).  It’s amazing how this changes the atmosphere, focuses everyone, creates expectation. You can almost hear people quieting themselves.

In darkness, we heard about Adam & Eve’s story of choice and vulnerability. In darkness, 3 high school students spoke beautifully about light and darkness. In darkness, we sang a song of confession, and a song of expectancy.

Then, with a single light on our pastor, we heard about this cycle of darkness & light.  And watched as a breathtaking work of performance art was created under a blacklight with paint and canvas, accompanying the progression of the message.  A swirl of light became a tree bearing fruit, then was overcome by darkness, then swirled into images of redemption and hope.

It was like an ‘art score’ under the sermon and it was stunning. (I hope to have video that can be shared soon.) There were some beautiful moments… when the artist’s work and the pastor’s words converged completely… watching people of all ages watch the painting… watching the crowd of kids swarm the artist and the painting at the end of the service… realizing my son was drawing his own version of the painting that was being created.

This was the most collaborative worship experience we’ve had in a long time. The actors & director working on the narration… the tech crew… the musicians… and my dear friend Christi who brought her heart, her faith, and her talent to share with the church. Lots of people doing their thing to bring glory to God. I am awed and grateful to have been a part of it.

In the coming weeks, our story continues:
week 3: Light Arrives: Emmanuel…. Light with us.
week 4: Light Bearers: we carry the light into the world

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

Dec 3

Advent week 1 Light of Creation

Sunday marked the first week of Advent.
Our sermon series for these four weeks is ‘Light’. We are tracing God’s story using Light as the thread weaving throughout.

This week, Light of Creation

Order of worship
welcome
kids’ songs: 3-4-5 year olds
ministry highlight: Thailand trip (in Feb we’re sending a group to Thailand where we support a few missionaries)
intro to theme
“Light of Creation” narration / advent candle
Creation video: gorgeous artistic representation of creation
‘God of Wonders’ (Mac Powell/Caedmon’s Call)
‘O Come Let Us Adore Him’
‘Your Name‘ (Baloche/Packiam)
Message: Light of Creation
(offering) Since the World Began (from Glory Revealed II): a truly beautiful song.

Notes
Our current auditorium is a multi-purpose room with large halogen lights in the house, and a few theatrical lights hitting the stage. House lighting is either ON or OFF (no dimming), goes OFF immediately, and comes ON gradually.  There are also windows on 2 sides of the room.  So it’s a bit of an action to have a dark room and arrange lighting changes effectively. Nevertheless, we are going to play with light throughout this series, so we have to be able to control it.

We covered the windows, and prior to the narration, went completely black. We lit the narrators, but mostly had very minimal lighting until the message. To accomplish this, my brilliant husband wired our musicians’ stand lights and our giant Christmas tree to dimmers, so even those elements are  now controllable.

The narration and video come from a Christmas production by Willow Creek church.  We will be using their narration pieces every week as our customary Advent readings. We have asked a few high school students to present these narrations memorized; Ryan & Brittany were the actors this week and they did a truly great job.

In the coming weeks, our story continues:
- Light Foretold: Darkness, and the message of light to come
- Light Arrives: Emmanuel…. Light with us.
- Light Bearers: we are to carry the light into the world

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