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05.19.13 Worship Confessional

May 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Slide1“To me, generosity implies living life with open hands.  Too often though, we tend to hang on to what we have for dear life.  But when our fists are grasping on to our things, in fear of losing control, we are really limiting ourselves.  Hands that are full can’t take any more.  Hands that are full and closed to new gifts. On the contrary, open hands imply a posture of trust.  We have what is needed, and we can hold it loosely, believing that the Lord is in control. We can both give to others, and receive gifts from others. Generosity requires this second posture.” (Katherine Sikma)

This morning was the second week in our series on Generosity and our director of young adults and campus pastor, Katherine Sikma shared a potent talk on the possibilities that come when we open up our hands. During the  message we viewed a video from International Steward of how generosity changed the war-torn village of Bundibugyo, Uganda. Spurred on by one man’s conviction that even in the poorest community, that people could embrace generosity, Bishop Hannington asked, “How soon can my people rise to the challenge? God has given us everything we need to rebuild our community.  What He needed was for us to make ourselves available to Him.  He was going to use us.” And indeed God did.

Katherine challenged our community of faith with these words:

How soon can we rise to the challenge? This kind of generosity is already very much a part of the fabric of this community.  Time and time again I have witnessed and experienced the grace of giving from members of this community of faith.  We are not trying to move out of inertia; we are already rolling.  People give money, make meals, bake cookies, crochet blankets, share stories, volunteer their time, and invite one another to do life together. This morning I want to pour gasoline on the fire. What would happen in our community, in our world, if we pushed ourselves to give even more?

Here is our complete worship flow:

  • Praise the Invisible (Daniel Bashta)
  • Great Are You, Lord (All Sons and Daughters)
  • Our God Is Mercy (Brenton Brown)
  • Reading from Acts 2:1-21
  • Burning in My Soul (Matt Maher)
  • Prayer
  • This Is How We Know (Matt Redman)
  • Children, Youth and Family Update
  • Announcements and Offering
  • Message (Generosity)
  • Great Are You, Lord (All Sons and Daughters)

You can learn what other communities of faith experienced this weekend in worship at The Worship Community.

Stay connected

Filed Under: sunday setlists

05.12.13 Worship Confessional

May 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

generosity-revolution-revisited-graphicRemember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

This morning we began a mini-series on generosity. During worship we viewed a video, A Handful of Rice, that present the compelling story of how one community in India demonstrates their generosity through everyday activities. Make sure you check it out!

We introduced a new song to our community these morning from All Sons and Daughters called, “Great Are You Lord.” A simple chords progression that encourages the people of God to pour out their praise to the Lord.

You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
And great are you, Lord

It’s Your breath in our lings
So we pour out our praise
we pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only

And all the earth will shout your praise
Our hearts will cry these bones will sing
Great are Your, Lord

Here is our complete worship flow:

  • Great Are You, Lord (All Sons and Daughters)
  • Awake My Soul (Passion)
  • Burning in My Soul (Matt Maher)
  • How Great Is Our God (Chris Tomin)
  • Unison Prayer of Adoration
  • A Prayer for Mothers
  • Dwelling in the Word Update
  • Announcements and Offering
  • Message (Generosity)

You can learn what other communities of faith experienced this weekend in worship at The Worship Community.

Stay connected…

Filed Under: sunday setlists

05.06.13 Worship Confessional

May 6, 2013 By 2 Comments

being_doing_pate_zoomThe Christian life is directed toward a City, a place in which God’s redemptive purposes for God’s creation will be realized. If we think of the future life as a disembodied existence in an ethereal realm – which is not, I have suggested, our ultimate goal – then it is difficult to think of our present cultural affairs as in any sense a positive preparation for our heavenly existence. But if we think of the future life in terms of inhabiting a Heavenly City, we have grounds for looking for some patterns of continuity between our present lives as people immersed in cultural contexts and the life to come. (Richard Mouw)

Yesterday as we concluded our series, “Being and Doing,” we created a liturgy of Scripture, prayer and song that walked us through the narrative of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. Here’s what it looked like:

Creation

  • All Creatures of our God and King (Traditional)
  • Reading from Psalm 24
  • The Earth Is Yours (Gungor)

Fall

  • Prayer of Confession – Almighty God, we lower our heads before you and we confess that we have too often forgotten that we are yours. Sometimes we carry on our lives as if there was no God and we fall short of being a credible witness to You. For these things we ask your forgiveness and we also ask for your strength. Give us clear minds and open hearts so we may witness to You in our world. Remind us to be who You would have us to be regardless of what we are doing or who we are with. Hold us to You and build our relationship with You and
    with those You have given us on earth.
  • Wholly Yours (David Crowder Band)

Redemption

  • Words of Assurance: 1 John 1:5-2:2
  • At the Cross (Daniel Renstrom)

Restoration

  • Revelation 21:1-4
  • Where the Streets Have No Name (U2)

What story did you tell through your liturgy yesterday?

You can learn what other communities of faith experienced this weekend in worship at The Worship Community.

Stay connected…

Filed Under: sunday setlists, worship, worship gatherings

04.28.13 Worship Confessional

April 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

being_doing_pate_zoomYesterday we continued in our series, “Being and Doing” by exploring the possibilities of redemption. I love the way the Apostle Paul captures the scope of God’s redemptive work for us in Christ:

“So Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence” (Romans 4:17, CEB).

Where do you need the redemptive work of God in your life? What dead thing needs life breathed back into it? What currently doesn’t existence that you need to thrive, flourish and be a source of blessing and life to others?

On occasion, our music team enjoys focusing on the music of one particular worship artist. This week, in honor of Matt Maher’s latest project, “All the People Said Amen,” all of our songs came from his catalog. I love Matt’s heart for the church and his commitment to serve the people of God with accessible songs that help give voice for their worship.

If you were going to feature the work of one worship artist, who would it be and why?

Here is our complete worship flow:

  • Turn Around
  • Reading from Psalm 130
  • Alive Again
  • As It Is in Heaven
  • Burning in My Soul
  • Announcements and Offering
  • Message: Being and Doing – Redemption
  • Your Grace Is Enough

You can learn what other communities of faith experienced this past weekend in worship at The Worship Community.

Stay connected…

 

Filed Under: sunday setlists, worship, worship gatherings

A Vocare Gathering

April 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

RomanceTable_0What’s becoming clearer and clearer to me is that the most sacred moments, the ones in which I feel God’s presence most profoundly, when I feel the goodness of the world most arrestingly, take place at the table. The particular alchemy of celebration and food, of connecting people and serving what I’ve made with my own hands, comes together as more than the sum of their parts. I love the smells and sounds and textures of life at the table, hands passing bowls and forks clinking against plates and bread being torn and the rhythm in the energy of feeding and being fed. (Shauna Niequiest, Bread and Wine)

Recently, I gathered with members of our faith community for a Vocare Dinner. Over the past months we have facilitated a number of these gatherings where our people break bread and engage in a reflective conversation designed to better understand how our daily work serves the common good and promotes human flourishing.  We have two primary goals for these gatherings:

  1. To help people think about and discuss the unique challenges, tensions and opportunities for serving God and others in their everyday, ordinary.
  2. To encourage Christ followers in the inherent value of the work they do each day.

(I am grateful to both Amy Sherman and Steve Garber for the vision and structural framework to create these environments).

The two hours we spent together were sacred moments and the presence of God was palpable around the table. ” Maybe it was the spiritual overflow from our morning worship gathering. Perhaps it was the incredible meal – Cajun seafood gumbo, cheese puffs and a bananas foster bread pudding that would have caused even God to say “Amen.” Most of all, it was a willingness of those around the table, to engage in heart-felt conversation around the issues that impact the way we seek to reflect the image of God in both our work and our relating.

I love how Os Guiness describes the dance between our work and our call: “A sense of calling should precede a choice of job and career, and the main way to discover calling is along the line of what we are each created and gifted to be. Instead of, ‘You are what you do,’ calling says: ‘Do what you are.’ (The Call).  And amidst the smells, sounds and textures of life at the table, it brought me great delight to hear people describe their work as:

  • The dance and drama that can take place in the deli department of a local grocery store;
  • The permission to play with God’s creation through one’s work as a biologist in a local university;
  • The freedom as a retired person to spend more time in the express line of the grocery story and the ability to provide some grace and space to people who are legalistic about the item count and hostile toward anyone who doesn’t play by the rules;
  • The opportunity to help people tell a better story through the creative use of words and pictures;
  • The privilege of being with people in the midst of pain and loss and the wisdom to know that fewer words and more presence are the greatest gifts one can offer another.

It’s the hearing of stories like these that has prompted me to paraphrase the words of the Apostle Paul: “In response to the amazing grace and mercy of God in Christ, take your heart, mind, soul and strength, take all your relating and all your work, in the places you live, work, learn, serve and play – and offer it all as an act of worship to God” (Paraphrase of Romans 12:1).

Surely the presence of the Lord was in this place, around the table, in the words and in the stories. I knew it full well. And for that I give thanks.

Stay connected…

Filed Under: vocation
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