Ten Yearly Questions

As 2022 comes to a close, it can be helpful to remember, celebrate, and reevaluate. I don’t know about you, but there is something about the end of a year that draws me toward reflection and vision more than any other time of the year. But often I need parameters that help shape the questions I ask, the way I consider the previous year, and the things I hope, pray, and dream for the next. That is one of the reasons I found Mike Cosper’s Ten Yearly Questions he shared on the Doxology and Theology podcast so helpful:

1. Who is here?

2. Who needs to be here?

3. Who has been here before us?

4. Is it comprehensible?

5. Is it with the cost?

6. Is it true?

7. Who is the hero of the service?

8. Is it participatory?

9. Does it speak to rich and poor alike?

10. Does it prepare people for their encounter with death?

What questions are you asking as you remember, celebrate, and reevaluate?

May 29: Liturgy + Set List

• GOD SO LOVED

  Call to Worship: Psalm 24:1-6

  We gather to be reminded that God is the creator and sustainer of all things. We gather to be reminded weekly, because we forget daily, to seek the face of God. The One who has revealed Himself in many ways - most clearly in and through Jesus, and through God’s Word. So let’s seek God together this morning, let’s sing…

• CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED

• WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NAME

  Sermon: James 1:26-2:13

  The truth is every one of us is more comfortable with people that look, think, believe, vote, live like us. But as followers of Jesus we know that the distance between one sinner and another sinner is nowhere as wide as the distance a holy God crossed toward sinful people. Let’s be reminded of what Jesus has done:

• Philippians 2:5-12

• LIVING HOPE

• Baptism

• Benediction

Lent Preparation

Lent is a season of preparation. From Ash Wednesday the following forty days (excluding Sundays), we fast and pray as we ready our hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits to treasure Christ in all things - the gore of Good Friday and the glory of Resurrection Sunday. Even if your church does not follow or celebrate the seasons of the church calendar outside of Easter and Christmas, I believe there is still benefit in personal preparation, and leading our teams to prepare as well.

Easter and Christmas are some of the busiest times in the life of any church. If we do not prepare practically we run the risk of being scattered and frantic. If we do not prepare spiritually our lives are emptied of opportunity for meaning and significance. And that is why we prepare. Because preparation builds meaning and significance into our lives. Because preparation is never about the preparation itself, but making space for something else. We exercise not for the sake of exercise but for making space for a healthy body. We study not for study's sake, but to make space for learning and becoming. Preparation creates space for us to focus on the right things. So as we spend time fasting and praying, turning inward with the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and lives, and turning outward toward Christ in repentance and faith we are preparing our hearts not just for another Sunday, but for deeper levels of gratitude and thanksgiving for the cross and resurrection.

Whether it is adding a spiritual discipline in this season (like fasting, or silence) or spending more time in prayer and Scripture, how might you prepare your own heart for Easter this Lenten season? Whether it is pulling back on the production of your team, doing fewer upbeat songs, leading a Lenten devotional, or giving your team the opportunity for prayer and silence during rehearsals, how might you prepare your team for Easter this Lenten season? Whether it is through a weekly corporate confession, changing the visuals on the platform, or simply acknowledging and encouraging people to spend the next forty days in preparation for Easter, how might you prepare the congregation for Easter this Lenten season?

December 23: Liturgy + Set List

• COME AND STAND AMAZED

  Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7

  Reading: John 1:9-14

• HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING

• ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH

  Reading: Luke 1:26-38

• O COME, O COME EMMANUEL

  Message: Hebrews 1:1-4

• COME THOU LONG-EXPECTED JESUS/JESUS WHAT A FRIEND FOR SINNERS

  Reading: Luke 2:1-14

• SILENT NIGHT (SON OF GOD, SON OF MAN)

Silent night, holy night

Ages past, heavenly height

Before the fall salvation was planned Son of God is Son of Man

Christ our Rescue is here, Christ our Rescue is here

Silent night, holy night

God is near, not by might

God with us the Word made flesh

On His shoulders, all kingdoms will rest

Jesus, King of kings, Jesus, King of kings

Silent night, holy night

God from God, Light from Light

For our pardon, He lived and died

God and man now reconciled Christ,

Himself is our peace Christ, Himself is our peace

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother, and child

Holy Infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace

Reading: Luke 2:15-21

• THE KING IS COMING PRELUDE

September 12: Liturgy + Set List

• 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 Church]

The human heart is one prone to forget. So we mark days that have marked us to remember. One of the reasons the Church globally gathers on Sunday is to remember the day that Jesus rose from the grave. Every Sunday is a mini Resurrection Sunday, a mini Easter celebration remembering that Jesus was dead but now is alive. Yesterday we remembered it has been 20 years since September 11, 2001. A day that has marked us as a people, a nation, and the world in subtle and significant ways. It is good to remember. When we walk through these doors we remember that we live in a broken world and we ourselves are broken. We do not take a break from reality for an hour or so, we carry these remembrances with us and remember a deeper truth, a deeper reality - and that is that Jesus is alive, ruling, and reigning. Seated at the right hand of the Father. The One who created the universe sustains it by the word of His power, there is nothing that has ever happen that has surprised Him, nothing has threatened to topple His rule as King, and there is nothing so broken that He cannot redeem and restore, that He cannot turn for His purpose and plan, for His glory and our good. So we remember that Jesus is alive. We remember September 11th. We remember the brokenness of the world and the brokenness of our sin, and we remember that Jesus is alive, sovereignly ruling, and reigning. Let these songs be songs of remembrance, remembering the heart and character of our Savior and King.

• IS HE WORTHY

• GOODNESS OF GOD

Message: Ephesians 5:25-27

Christ cares and cared enough for His Church to lay down His life for Her - She may be bruised, but She has never been and will never be a lost cause. We are going to sing ‘Jesus Paid It All’ - and I want you to sing this as someone who has sinned, and someone who has been sinned against. And I want you to remember the blood of Jesus is enough to cover the sin you have committed, and it is enough to cover the sin against you. We sing not hoarding forgiveness, because the blood of Christ is not just for me, not just for you, but for His Bride. We sing as the sinner, the sinned against. We sing as the forgiven Bride of Christ.

• JESUS PAID IT ALL

• IN CHRIST ALONE