Liturgy

27 October: Liturgy + Set List

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  • A THOUSAND SHORES

    Child Dedications

  • HOLD HIM HIGH

  • ABIDE

    Sermon: 1 Peter 5:1-4

    We live in a time when every person is hostile toward any authority that is from outside of the self. But if you are here as a follower of Jesus, you serve a Savior who said to His Father, and our Father, ‘Not my will, but Yours be done.’ When you live in joyful submission to authority in the Church, in the home, at work or school, even in the government, you give evidence to whom you belong. You give evidence that Your Chief Shepherd is your true Keeper, and He is good, and kind. Would you stand if you’re able lets sing about who Jesus is and what He has done.

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

  • A THOUSAND HALLELUJAHS

    Benediction

6 October: Liturgy & Set List

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  • CREATOR

    Call to Worship: Psalm 61

    One of the functions of the modern world, especially the West, and maybe America in particular is that we can keep pain, suffering, sin, and death at a distance. Don’t like what is on the news? Turn off the TV. Don’t like what is on social media? Put down your phone. We can even keep the sin and suffering in our lives at arm’s length by avoiding it, numbing it, distracting ourselves, or ignoring it. And these strategies work until pain, suffering, and death move close. Until a hurricane rips across our state leaving significant devastation in its wake. But if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus and your heart feels faint, you can have confidence that God hears your cry. You can cling to the Rock that is higher than I. Because He is good and does good…

  • WHAT YOU SAID

  • HOLY FOREVER

    Sermon: 1 Peter 4:1-6

    If you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you have a new heart. Your heart of stone has been replaced with a heart of flesh, and along with it, new desires and affections. You have also been given the Holy Spirit who indwells you and enables you to put sin to death and live with self-control. But you are also called to have your mind renewed daily through the Word of God. This is part of what we do when we sing, to put the Word of God in our minds, mouths, and hearts, and by it, our minds are renewed. Would you stand if you’re able and let’s sing…

  • ‘TIS SO SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS

  • 10,000 REASONS (BLESS THE LORD)

    Benediction

Collaborative Set List

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The thought of collaboratively building set lists gives me indigestion. But in practice, I always walk away so grateful for the opportunity to serve together. To find small ways to die to myself, and learn alongside of others who desire to serve the Lord and his people.

One of the things that has surprised me is how often I’ve met worship leaders who can lead songs but have never been taught how to build a set list. They know how to lead a song but not how to run a rehearsal. They know how to choose a key, but can’t lead the liturgy of the gathering.

At the end of the day, I believe that part of a leader’s main responsibility is to grow other leaders - I hope that regardless of your context or experience you are intentionally pursuing opportunities to develop other leaders. And I think that find a few people who can work together to collaboratively build a set list is a great place to start.

A few things that I have learned along the way:

  • People are more eager to serve, and take responsibility than you might expect - just ask.

  • You need to have clarity on your philosophy of worship.

  • It is easy to become frustrated and pull in different directions when you are not working from a shared understanding of the purpose of the corporate gathering - have you articulated this generally at your church, as well as specifically for this day?

  • You need to articulate the rhythms of how to build a set list - particularly for those who have never had the opportunity to do this before, help them understand the why, not just the what.

  • There are benefits to co-leading, but the more ownership you can give your fellow leaders, the more we all will grow.

  • Recognize that we all have preferences, don’t throw your weight around to get your way. Allow space for others to learn, and allow their own personality, skills, and gifts to shine through.

What would you add?

7 April: Liturgy + Set List

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  • HOW GREAT THOU ART

    Call to Worship: Psalm 63:1-8

    If you are here this morning with a heart like the Psalmist - desiring God, clinging to God - that is not something that you have created in and of yourself, that is a gift of God through the Holy Spirit to reshape your loves and desires, to aim your affections toward the person and work of Christ. And if you’re here this morning maybe for the first time, maybe you have been dragged here against your will, maybe you’re here because for as long as you can remember you go to church on Sunday, maybe you’re here feeling indifferent or apathetic to the things of the Lord - you too cannot create in yourself greater desire and affection for Christ. Let’s all use these next songs as prayers, asking the Holy Spirit to lift our eyes to treasure and love Jesus more deeply. This next song opened our gathering last week on Resurrection Sunday. We’ll sing these truths again about who Jesus is as ruling, reigning King.

  • FOREVER NOW A CROWN

  • GOD, YOU’RE SO GOOD

    Sermon: John 16:4-15

    Truth without feeling is cold and brittle. Feeling without truth is soft, We need to fill our minds with truth - but we also need our affections stirred for the person and work of Christ. Again, that is not a work that you can accomplish in yourself - that is the work of the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see more of who Jesus is and to live in light of who he is and what he’s done. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together.

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

  • ONLY A HOLY GOD

    Benediction

Pastoral & Prayers of the People

Often when our church is exploring the addition of new liturgical rhythms in our corporate gathering, I will be tasked with creating a one sheet for our elders and staff to review. Most recently we’ve been looking at incorporating a Pastoral Prayer - also called, Prayers of the People - during worship. What follows is a one sheet ‘On Pastoral & Prayers of the People’

People do not know how to pray. Even the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-13). If one of the primary aims of the corporate gathering is the spiritual formation of the people of God, we must learn to incorporate prayer intentionally; and not - as seems to be all too common - use prayer as a transition between various elements of the gathering.

Overview:

  • The Pastoral Prayer or Prayers of the People is a form of intercessory prayer.

  • Offered on behalf of the congregation with varied levels of participation and involvement from the congregation depending on the goal.

  • Structured and purposeful in aim and scope, but can be extemporaneous, with the freedom to engage the unique cultural moment, as well as the needs of the congregation.

  • Shepherding happens in obvious and subtle ways that outlast the moment.

  • People are taught a framework to know how to pray, and how to move through prayer.

  • People are allowed to give voice to the parts of their hearts, lives, experiences, struggles, and joy that they may find difficult to place within any other part of the corporate worship gathering.

Format: 

  • A general, guided framework: (BCP, The Anglican Church in North America #140)

  • The universal Church, the clergy, and people

  • The mission of the Church

  • The nation and all in authority (local, state, federal)

  • The peoples of the world

  • The local community

  • Those who suffer and those in any need or trouble

  • Thankful remembrance of the faithful departed and of all the blessings of our lives

  • If guided: The leader reads each framework prompt (e.g.: Lord we pray for the elders of our church: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…), pausing to allow the congregation to offer prayers silently. To conclude the section the leader offers something like: ‘Lord in your mercy…’ The congregation responds with something like, ‘Hear our prayer.’ These guided prayers rely heavily on the framework, but the content can be adjusted, or added to on the spot (e.g.: ‘We pray for there to be peace between Israel and Gaza…’)

  • Written: said in unison with the congregation, or as a call and response.

  • Extemporaneous: the leader prays using the framework as the guide to their extemporaneous prayer offered on behalf of the congregation. Like lines on a highway, the framework is used to shape the direction of this kind of pastoral prayer, without drawing attention to the framework itself - while still keeping the prayer ‘in its lane,’ and intended purpose.

25 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • GLORIOUS DAY

    Call to Worship:

    Welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this second Sunday in the season of Lent. During Lent we reflect upon and repent of our sin, we reflect on te cross, and look with joy to the hope of the resurrection. So if you are here as a follower of Jesus you can sing words like ‘I ran out of the grave…’ not because of something you have done, but because of Christ’s completed work on your behalf. Let’s celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done as we sing:

  • O PRAISE THE NAME (ANASTASIS)

  • TRISAGION

    Take a few moments now to name and confess your sin to the Lord, turning from your sin, and turning toward Christ…

    Let’s confess our sin to God and to one another:

  • Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

  • Sermon: Mark 15:40-16:8

    Would you stand if you’re able? Buried with Christ in baptism into death, raised to newness of life - this is what we witness in baptism. And if you’re here as a follower of Christ, we are going to confess what we believe about our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Baptism Affirmations

    Baptisms

  • NO BODY

    Benediction

18 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • REJOICE

    Call to Worship: Psalm 24

    Welcome to this Lord’s Day and this first Sunday in the season of Lent. Lent is the forty days leading up to Resurrection Sunday - a time of reflection, repentance, and renewal where we consider our sins and the cross. So every week in the Lenten season we will confess our sins to God and one another in prayer and in song. Let’s sing these truths together:

  • TRISAGION

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

    When we glimpse the glory, holiness, and otherness of God, we become all the more aware of our own sin, brokenness, and unholiness. So let’s take a few moments now to confess our sins to God and one another:

    Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

    Would you take a few moments in the quiet of your own heart to confess your sin to God…

    Brothers and sisters, hear the good news: God does not treat us as our sins deserve.

    Sermon: Nehemiah 8

    Baptism

    We have seen our sister confess and profess her faith through Baptism, and now together we will confess and profess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed:

    The Apostles’ Creed

  • I SHALL NOT WANT

  • BE THOU MY VISION

    Benediction

Liturgy: Start Here

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The longer I lead worship the more heavily I lean into liturgical rhythms and practices. I have seen in my own life how deeply formative these practices slowly, consistently, and over time transform my affection and attention. But if you say ‘liturgy’ or ‘liturgical’ in some contexts, they immediately think Catholic. But liturgy has nothing to do with style, nothing to do with denominations. The word liturgy is Latin for ‘the work of the people.’ Every gathering is formative whether it is shaped by smells and bells, or loops and lasers.

When I served on staff at a church in the UK, apart from the Church of England and the Catholic Church there really was no context for liturgical rhythms and practices. So when I started bringing up the idea of corporate confessions, responsive readings, and scripted prayers, I had to spend time helping our people grasp the purpose and intention behind incorporating elements that were immediately associated with churches to which they intentionally did not belong.

But discipleship is the long game, so just because you serve in a context where there may be misunderstanding or immediate resistance to incorporating new rhythms does not mean you should not try. If you are looking to create liturgical rhythms within the community you serve, I think the church calendar is a great place to start. Engaging the seasons of Lent and Advent. So if you’d like to dip your toe in the water of more intentional liturgy, here are a few things I’ve written that can get you started: