Confession

10 March: Liturgy & Set List

in ,

  • TRISAGION

    Call to worship: Psalm 150

    Welcome to this fourth Sunday during Lent, and this family worship weekend. Throughout the Psalms, the Psalmist speaks to his own heart reminding it of what is true, because our hearts do not always tell us the truth we need to tell them what to believe. This next song is a new one that speaks to our hearts about who God is, what He has done, and who he has called us to be…

  • GOOD GOD

  • HOLY FOREVER

    Every week during the season of Lent we have taken time to confess our sins to God and to one another. Many times people believe they only need to confess their sin to God when they first accept they need a rescuer in Jesus. But the act of confession is not a one-time act, but the continual act of followers of Jesus. The Bible tells us that we are to confess our sins to God so that we might be forgiven and to our brothers and sisters so that we might be healed. Let’s confess our sins to God and one another:

LEADER:

Merciful God, for the wrong things that we have done,

ALL: 

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the right things that we have failed to do,

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the times we have acted without love

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the times we have reacted without thought

ALL:

Forgive us

LEADER:

For the ways we have not loved You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength

ALL:

Forgive us

A prayer of confession, especially mindful of Children, The Worship Sourcebook

Brothers and sisters, hear the Good News: if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise the Lord, amen.

Sermon: John 17:24

In the 1700s, Jonathan Edwards said:

God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light.

The apostle tells us that "God is love"; and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love.

Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing, an inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love.

There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual and eternal love...

And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of

the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love.

Would you stand if you’re able as we sing to the fountain of all love…

  • DOXOLOGY (English/Spanish)

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

    Benediction

7 January: Liturgy + Set List

in ,

  • PROMISES

    Call to Worship: Psalm 16

    Good morning and welcome to worship on this first Sunday of the new year. We are here to set the Lord always before our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection. We look to the one who leads us in the way of life, and regardless of the year ahead will not abandon you. Let’s sing of his heart and character together:

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

  • ABIDE

    Sermon: Mark 13:1-37

    Christ has come, and he is coming again. Let’s not grow indifferent toward our sin, but use this time to once again set Christ before our gaze, and confess our sins to God and one another. Would you stand if you’re able:

    BCP Corporate Confession

    Brothers and sisters, hear the good news. God does not treat you as your sins deserve. Christ has come and He is coming again. Let’s sing to him now…

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

  • YET NOT I, BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME

    Benediction

30 July: Liturgy + Set List

in , ,

  • ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

    Call to Worship: Psalm 19:8-14

    This is my hope and prayer for you and me this morning - that our words and our hearts would be aligned. That we would sing of the things we have seen - that God is great, good, and kind. Let’s sing together:

  • GOD YOU’RE SO GOOD

  • KING OF KINGS

    Sermon: Exodus 20:16

    God created the world by His word - and sustains it by the Word of His power. When you and I speak, it is one of the most obvious ways we display that we bear the image of God. Scripture tells us that the power of life and death is in the tongue, and confronts us with the reality that we use the same mouth to bless God and curse our brother. All words - those spoken aloud, and those uttered only in the quiet of our hearts and minds - all come from the overflow of our hearts. You and I do not merely need better control over our tongues, we need new hearts. And as we continue in worship we are going to use our words to confess our sin to God and one another, would you stand if you’re able:

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [Book of Common Prayer]

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

  • RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)

    Benediction

26 March: Liturgy + Set List

in ,

  • BEFORE THE THRONE

    Call to Worship: Psalm 16:7-11

Welcome to worship on this fifth Sunday in Lent. I learned this week that Eastern Orthodox Christians call Lent the Season of Bright Sadness. It is bright because we know that the tomb is empty. It is sad because we know that it is our sin that Christ took upon Himself at the cross. The majority of the American Church is really good at the brightness - really good at the celebration. The majority of the American Church is not as good at sadness. We don’t like to sit in the loss, grief, lament, and mourning. But I think that is one of the gifts of the season of Lent to us - that we are forced not to rush the Resurrection. We spend these forty days considering our sins, confessing our sins, and repenting of our sins - looking ahead to the hope of the life of Christ. But truthfully, bright sadness is not just true of how we live during the season of Lent, but it is how we live every moment of our lives. Because we know that Jesus has defeated satan, sin, and death - but we still live in a fallen and broken world. We still feel the effects of sin in our lives. But we sit in this sadness knowing that there is a day coming when Christ will fully banish all darkness and sadness, and it will always, only, and forever be bright - because the Lord Himself will be our light. And this morning we’re going to teach you a new song that I think will help us acknowledge the bright sadness of this life, but also how we will respond on that day, and today. This is All Hail King Jesus - we’ll teach you the chorus first:

  • ALL HAIL KING JESUS

  • GREAT ARE YOU LORD

    Sermon: Mark 6:1-13

    Corporate Confession:

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer]

Communion

  • IS HE WORTHY

Benediction

12 March: Liturgy + Set List

in ,

  • GLORIOUS DAY

    Call to Worship: Psalm 24:7-10

    We get to do this as we gather - lift our eyes, lift our hearts, lift our lives to behold the King of Glory. But that only occurs when the Holy Spirit does what only the Holy Spirit can do - lead us in all truth, and reveal more of the character and identity of Jesus. We have been in the Gospel of Mark for several weeks, and we have seen the question about Jesus’ identity come up several times - ‘who then is this…’ this is the King of Glory. And this morning we will learn a new song that both asks and answers the question of Jesus’ identity - the one and only, the Holy God. We’ll teach you the chorus first, it goes like this:

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

  • COME THOU FOUNT

    More than words we sing, that song is really the testimony of every follower of Jesus, because we all are prone to wander, we all are faithless. And still, God always remains faithful. We are entering the third week of Lent. And if the whole of your journey of faith has been as a part of churches that look and feel like ours, the season of Lent and its rhythms may feel unfamiliar to you. Because in Lent we pause, we reflect on our sins, we look to the cross, we confess our sins to God, and one another, we repent and turn from our sins, and turn to Christ. These rhythms and practices do not belong to a specific denomination, but they belong to the people of God. So we are going to spend some time now in quiet reflection, as you find your story in those words we have just sung - prone to wander - and we look with joy to the cross. Then we will confess our sins to God and one another:

    Corporate Confession

Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You
in thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

In Your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us amend what we are,
And direct what we shall be,
So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. [From the Book of Common Prayer]

Brothers and sisters, hear the good news - God does not treat us as our sins deserve. He is faithful when we are faithless.

Sermon: Mark 5:1-20

No true encounter with Jesus ever leaves us the same. And if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you were not a good person made better by Jesus, you were not even a demon-possessed person freed by Jesus, you were a dead person who has been made alive in Christ. Let’s behold the power, wonder, grace, mercy, and kindness of the Lord. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together:

  • RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)

  • GRAVES INTO GARDENS

    Benediction: Jude 1:24-25

3 April: Liturgy + Set List

in , , ,

  • YES AND AMEN

Welcome to this fifth Sunday of Lent. Let’s hear God call us to worship through His Word:

Call to Worship: Psalm 50

My hope and prayer in this season of Lent are that we are awakened afresh and anew to the deep darkness of our own sin and brokenness, and awakened afresh and anew to the glory of God and His grace and kindness toward us in and through the work of Jesus. Because of what Christ has done for you, you are adopted into the family of God, with God as your Father. If you are here this morning as a follower of Christ, God is not apathetic or indifferent toward you, He is not distant or an acquaintance, you are an adopted and redeemed child of God. Not only has God reconciled Himself to us through Christ, but he has also reconciled us one to another. We were once enemies of God, we were once enemies of one another, now we are a part of the new family of God. Let’s celebrate those truths as brothers and sisters this morning.

  • IS HE WORTHY

  • MY JESUS I LOVE THEE

Sermon: Joshua 22

If we truly grasped the depth to which Christ descended to redeem us from our sin, how quick we would be to confess our sin to God, and to one another. How quick we would be to pursue one another in our wandering and sin, and walk together toward repentance and faith. All sin is first and foremost against God, but we also sin against one another. Your spiritual stuff is my spiritual stuff, my spiritual stuff is your spiritual stuff because we belong together as the family of God. So let’s practice our repentance and faith together, would you stand as we confess our sin to God and to one another.

Corporate Confession:

Almighty God, we confess how hard it is to be Your people. You have called us to be the church, to continue the mission of Jesus Christ to our lonely and confused world. Yet we acknowledge we are more apathetic than active, isolated than involved, callous than compassionate, obstinate than obedient, legalistic than loving.

Gracious Lord, have mercy upon us and forgive our sins. Remove the obstacles preventing us from being Your representatives to a broken world. Awaken our hearts to the promised gift of your indwelling Spirit. This we pray in Jesus’ powerful name. Amen.

[From the Worship Sourcebook]

Brothers and sisters, family of God, hear the good news: there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let your brothers and sisters in Christ be living markers of God’s faithfulness and redemptive work to you as His people.

  • COME THOU FOUNT

  • LION AND THE LAMB

Benediction: Romans 15:13

Learning To Lead During COVID-19 (Two Years On)

in , ,

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote about learning to lead worship during COVID-19. Two years on I am still learning. Maybe you are too. I hope these brief reflections can at least make you feel less alone, and hopefully encourage you to keep going…

I believe that hard things do not change us as much as they expose us. And our hearts and lives have been exposed by COVID-19 in ways that many of us have previously been able to avoid or ignore.

What do we value?

Whose lives matter?

Are masks a sign of fear, and going maskless a sign of faith?

Are vaccines helpful and useful, or reckless and untested?

Are there only ever two sides and two options?

Is everything black or white?

What is selfish and self-serving, what is foolish and careless?

Can I be friends with people who think and believe differently than me, or must we now become enemies?

Are we going to be discipled by culture and politics or by the Gospel?

The ugliness of my heart has been exposed in the pandemic: my tendency to judge other people, other followers of Jesus against myself and my own decisions. To look for specs through a log.

When I am attentive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit within rather than an outward condemnation of the pharisee within, I can see these places of friction as opportunities for repentance and prayer.

If we are willing these are opportunities for iron to sharpen iron. For the Church to truly be what we already are - one people, one body, made up of every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. This is an opportunity for us to image to the world our unity not through ideology, politics, or socioeconomic brackets, but by the unifying blood of Jesus.

This truly could be an opportunity to display the beauty of the Gospel.

To make obvious our adoption as sons and daughters of God.

My prayer as I look out on the faces of the congregation,

as I run into people as they stumble over why they have not been serving or attending,

as I field questions about why we are doing this, and why we are not doing that,

as we wrestle with what it looks like to love and honor God and care well for His people,

as we stumble forward,

and as I become more aware of my own sin, is:

God give me Your eyes to see these people. Let me grieve over my sin more than over the differences of my brothers and sisters. Keep me close to You, and tender toward especially those who are loud, vocal, and combative in the opposite direction from my own convictions. Give me the compassion of Christ, who ‘When He saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Matthew 9:36).

May our divisions be an opportunity for repentance. May our divisions turn us to Christ, the One who has torn down the dividing wall of hostility between God and man, who has reconciled us to become people of reconciliation, who has comforted us to be people of comfort. Amen and amen.

January 23: Liturgy + Set List

in , ,

  • HOLY HOLY HOLY

Call to Worship: Psalm 8

We have just sung about the holiness of God. How He is other than us, He is great, glorious, and set apart. And we have just read about how this same God is mindful of humanity - made from the dust humanity. When we face up to the glory of God, we will always find ourselves facedown as we see our own sin. Let’s remember who God is and who we are as we confess our sins to God and one another as we read this together:

Corporate Confession:

Merciful God, We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, By what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In Your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, And direct what we shall be, So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. (from the Book of Common Prayer)

Brothers and sisters, hear the good news from Psalm 103:

He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103:10-14

  • WHO YOU SAY I AM

    Sermon: Joshua 2

  • I SHALL NOT WANT

    Communion

  • STAND IN YOUR LOVE

    Benediction

October 31: Liturgy + Set List

in , , ,

  • ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

CALL TO WORSHIP: To all who are weary and need rest

To all who mourn and long for comfort

To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares

To all who fail and desire strength

To all who sin and need a Savior

This church opens wide her doors with a welcome from Jesus Christ, the Ally of

His enemies, the Defender of the guilty, the Justifier of the inexcusable, the

Friend of sinners, welcome.

[10th Presbyterian Call to Worship]

  • DOXOLOGY

Scripture tells us that we are to confess our sins to God and to one another. Confession is telling the truth about who we are and what we’ve done. We confess our sins to God not because God doesn’t know what we’ve done, He knows all things. We confess our sins to God to receive forgiveness. We confess our sins to one another because we need to be reminded that we are not alone in our sin. The Bible calls us to bear one another’s burdens, that is why we confess one to another. Together we are going to read a prayer of confession - telling the truth, and repentance - turning away from our sin and turning to Christ. Let’s pray together:

Merciful God,

For the wrong things that we have done,

Forgive us,

For the right things that we have failed to do,

Forgive us,

For the times we have acted without love,

Forgive us,

For the times we have reacted without thought,

Forgive us,

For the ways we have not loved You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength,

Forgive us.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON:

Brothers and sisters in Christ, remember today, That you were once dead in your sins, And, carrying out the desires of your flesh, You were by nature a child of wrath. But God, being rich in mercy, Because of the great love He has for you, Made you alive together with Christ, And raised you up and seated you with Jesus! We are His people; saved for good works, Which God has prepared for us to walk in! 

  • GREAT ARE YOU LORD

Sermon: 1 Peter 5:1-4

  • I STAND AMAZED (HOW MARVELOUS)

COMMUNION

  • RAISE A HALLELUJAH

BENEDICTION: Ephesians 3:20-21

Creating Liturgical Rhythms

in , ,

Last week I wrote about liturgy. All worshipers are in fact liturgists, but worship leaders carry a unique responsibility to intentionally form the liturgy of our gathered time to form worshipers holistically.

How do we begin to think and plan intentionally in regard to the liturgy of our services?

IDENTIFY YOUR CURRENT LITURGY.

Do you have a set flow of service or number of songs? Do you share communion weekly, quarterly? What is the time allotted to each portion of the gathered service? As you think about worship as formation and discipleship, what elements would like to see more/less during the service? Even if your structure changes frequently as you look back you will see specific patterns emerge in the liturgical life of your church.

SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE OF…

…The People. Spiritual formation and discipleship does not happen overnight. Part of moving people in this journey of formation is identifying where they are right now. Is your church full of new Believers? Intellectuals and academics? Young families? What is the overall spiritual maturity and understanding of those you are leading?

…The Service. To begin integrating more liturgical rhythms into a weekly service we have to think outside of the weekly service. What is the current sermon series? What has been taught over the last six months? Where are the leaders headed after this sermon series? What themes are emerging in our churches, cities, cultures, and the world which need time to be absorbed deeply into the weekly rhythms?

…The Church. The Church is a body made up of many individuals. Being actively involved in the life of your church (apart from your role on a Sunday) as well as being in relationship with others in your church will help you have a sense of the overall direction of the Church. What things are your leaders noticing and wanting to pursue for the health of the community? Are there themes or patterns occurring at the moment? Where do the leaders of the church see the church in five, ten, twenty years?

INTEGRATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

As you begin to identify your church-specific liturgical rhythms in view of the bigger picture, you can begin filling in the places of formation. Scripture and prayer are two easy entry points for those new to intentional liturgy. With limited service time, worship leaders may be tempted to view Scripture and prayer as mere transitions as you tune an instrument, change a CAPO, or move from one element of the service into another. But crafting an intentional liturgy asks you to view the use of Scripture and prayer with as much thought as song choice.

The following are a few traditional liturgical elements that can begin to give some shape for the way you structure your service:

Welcome/Call to Worship

Instead of just shouting ‘Good morning! Please stand!’ how can you use Scripture, and prayer to invite people to join their lives of worship into the worship of God that is already in progress? We join our hearts, lives, and songs with the saints and angels, the Church global, and all of creation responding to who God is and what He has done.

Confession of Sin/Assurance of Pardon

Our congregations are filled with people who are both casual and flippant toward God’s grace, forgiveness, and mercy, and those who feel their sin has pushed them past God’s ability to save and restore. What a gift to give both of those people - and everyone in between - the ability to acknowledge all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that God in Christ has forgiven us and called us to go and sin no more? This is the beauty of times of Corporate and Individual Confession, and being assured of our pardon.

Confession of Faith

Corporate confessions of faith are at once a reminder to the believer and clarity for the non-believer about who we are, what we believe about God and self, and why it matters. Whether we are using traditional confessions handed down through the centuries like the Apostle’s or Nicene Creed, or a simple call and response like ‘God is good, all the time, God is good,’ we are forgetful people who need to be reminded of who we are and who God is.

Responsive Readings

Responsive Readings can take many forms - a simple call and response, reading Scripture in unison, having a phrase repeated by the congregation, etc. This is another way to put truth in our mouths, minds, and hearts in a way that allows us to hear and be united together as the people of God.

Scripture Readings

As the Western world grows more and more Biblically-illiterate, our people will never be underserved by intentionally hearing the Old and New Testament, the Psalms, and the Gospels read over and over again in our services. Statistics indicate that for some, what the hear from God’s Word during a weekly church service may be their only interaction with Scripture in the week.

Disciple-making is the long-game. Be thoughtful and intentional, move slow, serve well.

Dive deeper into the role and world of liturgical rhythms through these resources:

The Worship Sourcebook (my go-to resource for following the church calendar, prepared readings, and prayers).

Doxology & Theology Podcast (Their series on ‘Read, Sing, Pray, See the Word’ is incredibly helpful).

Know the Creeds and Councils (A book on Church History and the formation of the Creeds which have been passed down through the centuries).

Ancient Future Worship (A book that looks specifically at the liturgical practices of the Church throughout history and up until present day. An excellent resource for anyone new to the world of liturgical rhythms).

A Handbook to Prayer (Although this is intended for personal devotions, I have found it to be helpful in using these Scripture prayers in the corporate gathering as well).