The 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.

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Yesterday 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…

“Culture—making something of the world, moving the horizons of possibility and impossibility—is what human beings do and were meant to do. Transformed culture is at the heart of God’s mission in the world, and it is the call of God’s redeemed people. But changing the world is the one thing we cannot do. As it turns out, fully embracing this paradoxical reality is at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian culture maker.”  –Andy Crouch

Yesterday as we continued our series on “Being and Doing” we explored the middle space between creation and fall, raising the question, “How does the biblical narrative inform who we are and what we are supposed to be doing?”

One biblical text that describes in vivid terms this middle space is Romans 8. Take a few moments to dwell in God’s Word and live in the tension between the ought and the is and the what will be:

I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us. The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice—it was the choice of the one who subjected it—but in the hope that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children. We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see?But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:18-25, CEB

 Here is our complete worship flow:

• A Movable Feast (Sue Puhala)
• Awake My Soul (Chris Tomlin)
• White Flag (Chris Tomlin)
• Dwelling in the Word
• Announcements and Offering
• Message (Being and Doing – The Fall)
• Wholly Yours (David Crowder Band)

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

Stay connected…