October 31: 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 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

Responding To Current Events

We know that part of living in a fallen world is experiencing pain and suffering. We feel the weight, and taste the bitterness of sin every day. But what about the days when we are deeply aware of the brokenness of the world, and we are more conscious of our own fragility? Natural disasters, national tragedies, global crises, and local upheaval - every one of those are the results of the fall. Even in the past several years, we have seen outcries against police brutality, racism, sexism, sexual abuse, political unrest, and COVID-19. What role does the corporate worship gathering play in speaking to, and addressing current events in the world?

If we acknowledge that the corporate worship gathering is formative, we must see the chance to engage with current events as an opportunity to form, and counter-form our people to look at the world biblically. The rate at which we consume information about current events from social media, the news, our relationships, and are filtered through our own experience can feel dizzying. And if sin has distorted, warped and broken everyone and everything - that would also include our minds - which may lead us to feel anxiety and fear, anger and rage, apathy and indifference, or chaos and disconnection. Like a loving parent, like a Good Shepherd with a non-anxious presence, I believe that the corporate gathering should be a place where we acknowledge the reality of the world, while inviting people to lift their eyes to the Maker of heaven and earth who does not slumber or sleep. And in this way, point to the peace that passes all understanding, the Prince of Peace - Jesus Christ.

When it comes to responding to current events in the corporate gathering, the first step is to respond. Because when we do not respond to the obvious pain, brokenness, and suffering in our world, our nation, our states, our cities, or in our congregation we are subtly communicating that the corporate worship gathering is disconnected from the rest of life. We are saying that what we do in this room, has no bearing on who we are meant to be when we are sent out.

Give people language. When I think about having ‘the talk’ with my children, I do not want them to learn about sex from the internet, their friends, or their school. I want my wife and me to give them language, shape their framework, and form their understanding. I believe the same is true with current events in the gathering: we want to shape our people more than they are being shaped by the world. By giving them an understanding which helps them make sense of a senseless world, through the Gospel, and through Scripture.

Prepare in advance. This could mean conversations ahead of time about how you will respond in the service - what are the tipping points for you body? At what point do you acknowledge, at what point do you change songs, at what point does the entire service look different than you had planned? But being prepared also means forming people before tragedy. It means connecting the corporate gathering to everyday life, so that when it is time to engage a specific tragedy in the gathering, there is a language for pain, familiarity with lament, prayer, trusting in the sovereignty of God, and seeing the world biblically.

Give space. Maybe there needs to be a time of quiet personal prayer, or guided reflection in the service. Perhaps you should make volunteers available to pray and process with people after the gathering. What kind of communication, training, and equipping do you need to provide for community group leaders to lovingly shepherd and care for those they serve? There can be many questions that accompany grief and loss, and processing those realities does not have a neat timeline, or endpoint. We have a responsibility to loving lead, not hurry people through pain, and tragedy.

Ultimately, we cannot prepare for everything. We are as sinful and broken as the world, and we will pass over opportunities to speak to current events that may hurt and wound some of our people. And we may choose to engage some current events that anger and frustrate others. But in all things, let us be aware of the formative power of the corporate gathering, and the formative power of engaging with - or not - current events of the world.

October 24: Liturgy + Set List

• HOLY HOLY HOLY

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]

• KING OF KINGS

• IS HE WORTHY

SERMON: John 13:31-35

Scripture tells us, ‘greater love has no one than this than they lay down their life for their friends.’ But when Christ died, we were not God’s friends - in fact, Scripture says that we were enemies of God, hostile toward Him. The love that we have received from Christ is a sacrificial, self-giving love. This is not a ‘I’m southern, we’re nice to everyone, bless your heart’ kind of nicety. No, this is a love that dies to self for the good of another, and this is the love Christ models for us, and the love that we are commanded to give to one another. In response to the love that is ours, would you stand and sing.

• RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)

• REVIVE US AGAIN

Form The Gathering, Form The People

The past few weeks I have written about the corporate gathering as being primarily about the spiritual formation of God’s people. The corporate gathering is counter-formational for the individual, but we are also being formed as a people. But how does spiritual formation (discipleship) actually occur in our corporate gatherings?

Ultimately, the true formation of God’s people cannot happen apart from the empowering and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. We may be able to inspire, uplift, encourage, and exhort people - but we possess no power to change people. This is why before we seek to lead, we must be led. Any attempt at trying to form people in our own strength will inevitably lead to malformation at least, and manipulating of people into our own image at worst. The goal of spiritual formation is to see people become more and more like Jesus.

Formation happens when Christ is glorious. We become what we behold, so again and again, over and over we must look to Christ, treasure Christ, celebrate, worship, and behold Christ. We lift up His heart, His completed work, His character in our songs, in our transitions, in our sermons, and in the movement of our gatherings.

Formation happens with a long view. Cultivating any new habit or disciple happens over time, never in an instant. This is how we have to view our gatherings they are habit-forming over the long haul.

Formation happens in community. We have not been saved to be an individual, we have been saved into a family, into a body, saved to be a part of the community of God, His Church local and global. Iron sharpens iron. We are being formed as we die to ourselves (our preferences and our comforts) and count others as more significant than ourselves.

Formation happens with intention. We are being formed passively by our culture, as followers of Jesus we must be counter-formed as we gather as the people of God. As leaders, we must be intentional in our approach to the corporate gathering. To do this we must acknowledge the cultural currents that are shaping our people, and continually call them back to the beauty of the Gospel.

Our people are being formed, and we are forming our people. Do not resign the responsibility of formation to the culture, or abdicate your role by being unwilling to put in the hard, deep, slow, often unseen work of spiritually forming the people of God in the corporate gathering.

October 17: Liturgy + Set List

• ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK

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]

When the Church gathers, we do so not as a collection of perfect people. No, when Jesus followers gather, we do so recognizing that our only hope in life and death is Jesus. We gather to remind ourselves of who Jesus is, what He has done, and who we are. That is the Gospel, and it is good news for me, and you this morning. Let’s sing.

• GLORIOUS DAY

• GOODNESS OF GOD

SERMON: Hebrews 13:17

Following Jesus is not a solo sport. If you’re here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you have not been saved to be an individual, you have been saved to be a part of the body, a part of the family, a part of Christ’s Church. We need one another. Throughout the New Testament we see calls to ‘one another,’ to love one another, to pray for one another, to serve one another to encourage one another. And in Colossians we are called to sing to one another. Yes, we sing to God, but we also sing to one another, we sing over one another. We build up our brothers and sisters through our singing. Whether these songs are familiar to you or not, at the very least would you speak aloud these words - let your brothers and sisters hear these truths proclaimed. Do not withhold your voice from sharing these truths - because I need to be reminded of what is true, you need to be reminded of what is true, we need to be reminded of what is true. Would you stand and let’s sing to God and sing to one another in response to what we have heard.

• COME THOU FOUNT

• STAND IN YOUR LOVE

BENEDICTION: Ephesians 3:20-21

The Corporate Gathering Forming One Another

There is perhaps nothing the modern, Western, American loves more than personal rights and freedoms. We love our independence and the idea that we are self-made, capable of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, and are self-sufficient. Is it any wonder that this kind of cultural value embeds itself in the local Church as well?

When our lives are marked my individuality, why would we desire to…

…give of ourselves in service?

…die to our preferences?

…be inconvenienced?

…consider others more significant than ourselves?

…attend church when we don’t feel like it?

The corporate worship gathering is - in large part - for the spiritual formation of God’s people. And forming people spiritually is forming them counter to the currents of our individual culture.

One of the reasons we gather is to be reminded that we are a part of a story bigger than ourselves. That we belong to the family of God, made up of people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language on the planet. This is a family that stretches throughout time, and history and will last into eternity. This family has existed before us, and will continue once we return to the dust. When we gather, we are once again caught up into the larger story, and find our place as one member of the body. The corporate gathering is not just for the individual, it is for the family.

And as the family gathers, we each contribute as many members of one body, as the Apostle Paul reminds us:

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” - 1 Corinthians 12:14-27

As members of this body we represent Christ to one another as a kingdom of priests:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” - 1 Peter 2:9

“and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” - Revelation 1:6

One of the ways we represent Christ to one another is by putting on…

“…as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” - Colossians 3:12-17

All of this is why we should not neglect…

“…to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” - Hebrews 10:25

We are forming the community, and the community is forming us.

October 10: Set List + Liturgy

• THIS IS AMAZING GRACE

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]

My theology tells me that you are not here by mistake, my accident, or by fate. You are here because God has purposed it to be so. The One who spoke the universe into existence is speaking now through His Word, through His Spirit among His people. And we gather to listen to His voice, and to respond. Let’s listen and respond together:

• HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US

Scripture tells us that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. But confession and repentance are not always things we do well as followers of Jesus. But if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, the starting point for confession and repentance for you is not guilt, or shame, or condemnation. The starting point is the deep love of God. Let’s since this next song as a prayer of confession, a prayer of repentance, a prayer of dependence, while remembering that the starting point is always the deep love of God.

• LORD, I NEED YOU

Sermon: Ephesians 4:11-16

Martin Luther said God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. I think the same is true with our spiritual gifts. God does not need us to accomplish what He purposes in His Church and in His world. But He gifts us to participate with Him in the work of co-laboring to build up and mature His Body. We look to Christ the One who condescended, took on flesh to ransom us. We serve in response to the way God in Christ has first served us.

• COME BEHOLD THE WONDROUS MYSTERY

• BE THOU MY VISION

Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21

The Corporate Gathering As Counter-Formation

Nashville has a lot of churches. I once heard someone describe churches in Nashville like gas stations: one on every corner. And truthfully, this description is not inaccurate. When my wife and I were getting ready to move to Nashville we had a few churches that we wanted to visit. Before we moved, I spent time watching set lists and sermons from the church we ultimately called home. I remember being impressed that this particular church had a number of gifted worship leaders on staff and quickly had arranged them in order of my personal preference. But something interesting happened as we began attending the church. My ordered list of worship leaders inverted.

I think this is because what I read as ‘slow’ or ‘bland’ online, I saw clearly as loving and pastoral in person. Matt Smethurst speaks to this reality when he said, ‘In a world forming us to be addicted to spectacle, healthy corporate worship will often feel simple and slow. That isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of countercultural strength.’ Although our home church in Nashville was by no means a loops and lasers kind of production, my mindset was the same: impress me.

Whether you are currently leading and serving in an environment that is simple and stripped back, or with high production value, we do ourselves and our congregations a disservice when we think ’spectacle’ rather than ‘slow.’ Spectacle is more concerned with week-to-week execution, slow is more concerned with spiritual formation. Spectacle short-sightedly asks the question ‘what is the best thing for this moment?’ Slow asks the question, what do we need to do now to form our people over the next twelve months, five years, fifty years?

The culture forms individuality, the corporate gathering should form a people.

The culture forms personal preference, the corporate gathering should form those who consider other more highly than self.

The culture forms personal authority, the corporate gathering should form people who surrender their own will, die to self, and follow Christ.

The culture forms a view of personal assets, the corporate gathering should form people who know all we have is gift and grace, entrusted by God, stewarded by us, and ultimately belongs to Him.

The culture forms people to think first of self, the corporate gathering should form people who first seek to serve.

The currents of culture are strong. But the Gospel is stronger. How can we as worship leaders ensure that the way we lead is counter-formational?

October 3: Liturgy + Set List

• BEFORE THE THRONE

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.

• GRACE ALONE

• I LOVE YOU LORD

Sermon: Romans 12:3-8

We love because God has first loved us. We serve because God has first served us in and through Christ. We belong to the family of God because we have been adopted by God. We belong to the Body of Christ where Christ Himself is the Head. The entirety of our lives is lived in response to God. Let’s respond together:

• MY JESUS I LOVE THEE

BAPTISMS

COMMUNION

• HIS MERCY IS MORE

BENEDICTION: Ephesians 3:20-21

The Corporate Gathering As Spiritual Formation

Every church on the planet has wrestled through more than a year of COVID restrictions, shutdowns, and online church. Our world has changed, and continues to change. As churches and leaders continue to navigate what ministry looks in 2021 and beyond, questioning the purpose of the corporate gathering should continue to shape the decisions we make, as well as the way we lead and serve the people of God. If we can safely and comfortably consume all of the spiritual content necessary for the maturity of our faith online, why would we meet in person? But do we believe that attending church is about more than consuming spiritual content?

Scripture certainly seems to think so… When we gather together, God is uniquely present with His people (Ps 22:3, Matt 18:20), we are reminded of the family to which we belong (Eph 2:19, 1 Pet 2:10), we are mutually built up and edified (Eph 2:11-12, Col 3:16), we grow in love for one another as witnesses to a watching world (Eph 4:3, Jn 13:35), we grow in strength for our mission (Eph 3:14-18, Matt 28:19-20), and so much more. All of this points to the reality that the corporate gathering is not as much about consuming spiritual content as it is about being formed spiritually - discipling the people of God. We are not just singing songs, not just hearing sermons, not just chatting with friends, we are slowly being formed as a people again and again, over and over, week after week, year after year.

Everything is formative (James K.A. Smith, lays out this idea beautifully in ‘You Are What You Love’). Part of being human is being formed and shaped in subtle and significant ways by an endless array of relationships, history, work, free time, social media, news, and our culture. Standing in contrast to the currents of cultural formation is the corporate worship gathering. In the corporate worship gathering we are re-formed, reoriented, as we recenter the entirety of our lives around the person and work of Christ. In the gathering we are being reminded of who Jesus is, what He has done, who we are, and who He has called us to be. We are being invited to behold Him once again, and to live in response to Him by laying down our lives as we are sent out on mission to love and serve Christ and His world.

As worship leaders, pastors, and church leaders we must see the corporate gathering as one of the most essential components of spiritually forming God’s people in their mission, in their understanding of the Scriptures, in their theological development, and in the cultivation of affections and desires for Christ. This is not a work that we can undertake alone, the deep, long-lasting spiritual formation of God’s people is only possible by the empowering work of His Spirit. But if we are to see our corporate gatherings spiritual form a malformed people, we must see a bigger vision, and be patient as we partner in the long, slow, deep work of discipleship.

Songs As Prayers

Our songs are doing more than filling space before a sermon.

Our songs are forming us, shaping us, giving us language.

Our songs speak to us and speak for us.

Our songs instruct us as little pieces of portable theology.

But our songs are also prayers.

Prayers that say:

‘This is what I believe!’

‘This is what I desire to believe!’

‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!’

Our songs are confessions of sin, and professions of faith.

Our songs remind us of who we are, and who God has always been.

As worship leaders we must choose songs with wisdom and discernment.

As congregations we must sing out - not mumble - these prayer songs.

We must sing our prayers like we believe they are true.

We must sing our prayers like we are trying to believe they are true.

‘The one who sings, prays twice.’ - Augustine

September 19: Liturgy + Set List

• REVIVE US AGAIN

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.

• GREAT ARE YOU LORD

• PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY-GOOD GOOD FATHER

Sermon: Ephesians 2:18-22

There is a passage in Isaiah, where God, speaking of His people, Israel says, ‘This people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.’ I am struck every time I read that passage, every time I think of that passage how easy it is to do the right things, to think the right things, to say the right things, to behave in the right way, all the while having a heart that is far from God. Having a heart that is hardened and calloused toward God. If you and I are to display the invisible power of the Gospel to a watching world, that will never occur when we simply do or say or act the right way. We must be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit to look more like Christ, the One who has welcomed us to God the Father. We’re going to sing a song now that is a reminder of the new identity that we have in and through Christ. And what I hope this does for you, and for me is fuel in us a desire to walk in a manner worthy of the call of God. Walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel.

• Who You Say I Am

If you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, every word that we just sung is true of You. Not because you have earned it, deserved it, or accomplished anything, but simply because God is kind, gracious and merciful to give you a new identity in and through Christ. We’re going to read responsively a passage of Scripture that we have referenced throughout our morning, a passage that reminds us who we were, who we are, and Who God has always been.

Responsive Reading:

LEADER:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you

once walked, following the course of this world,

following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is

now at work in the sons of disobedience—

ALL:

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,

carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were

by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with

which he loved us, even when we were dead in our

trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—

LEADER:

by grace you have been saved—

ALL:

and raised us up with him and seated us with Him in the

heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages

he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace

in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

LEADER:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this

is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of

works, so that no one may boast.

ALL:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for

good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we

should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

• Raise Up The Crown (All Hail The Power)