Journey of Worship

Sorry for missing last week. We continued the series in 1 Peter this week. Many Christians live today as if the world were our final destination. We pour our life resources and energy into things that will barely last 50 years, let alone eternity. We frequently cave in to the old sinful desires. We struggle to remain faithful in the midst of great suffering. We’ve lost sight  of the glorious inheritance waiting for us.

God calls us to live as “strangers” in this world, spiritual sojourners that are just passing through. As children of the living God, our focus should be on eternity as we point people to the living Christ who paid it all for us. Our priorities and lifestyle should undergo a radical transformation.

In 1 Peter, Peter unpacks what this transformed life looks like and how it should interact with this world. In 1 Peter 2:4-10, Peter reminds us that as we are to be a spiritual community with Christ as the cornerstone. This community is different than anything that exists in this world, and is something that requires the participation of everyone involved to be healthy.

Service flow:

Welcome/Announcements
Call to Worship (from Psalm 118:25-26,28-29 by one of our college students)
Our God Saves (Baloche/Brown)
Jesus Messiah (Tomlin, Carson, Cash, Reeves)
The Church’s One Foundation (Stone/Wesley arr. Chapman via HymnChartsBand.com)
Prayer
Offering w/ video “March of the Unqualified“
Volunteer Recognition and Thank You
Prayer
Message (with video of many people sharing the impact of serving in ministry)
Antiphonal Reading based off the hymn “We Are God’s People”
To God Be the Glory (Crosby/Doane arr. Chapman via HymnChartsBand.com)
Sharing about service projects done on previous day
Blessed Be Your Name (Redman)
Transition
Ministry Expo

This service had a number of different elements in it that were all designed to reinforce the idea that we are a spiritual community that needs to have everyone involved. We took time to recognize and thank the many people who have served in ministry over the past year. There were a lot of people who stood up as we recognized different groups. Thanks for being involved!

The message focused on what it meant to be a spiritual community as we live in this world with our eyes on the next. As we concluded, we had people do an antiphonal reading. We divided the congregation into two groups, and had them alternate in a reading that reinforced what we had just been preached about to encourage one another. We then sang the chorus of  “To God Be the Glory” accapella.

After that, we had some sharing about the different projects that were done the day before as part of our “Time to Serve” community service initiative day. This is something we are trying to do a couple of times a year as a focused way to get people serving together on projects to benefit our community. It was great to hear people share about what they had done and what it meant to be able to serve.

We left time at the end of the service for people to go around the sanctuary to see and talk about some of the different ways that they could get involved in the fall with ministry. In the past, we’ve done this kind of thing in the fall, but decided to do it earlier this year to try and get more people engaged earlier. We had a lot of good conversations happen, and some new people express interest in getting involved in a ministry.

It was a good day, although a very busy weekend. There was a lot going on in the service, but it seemed to work together well to help people engage with the idea of being a spiritual community.

For more service orders from churches all over, check out Sunday Setlists at fredmckinnon.com.

Thanks!

Related posts:

1. Sunday Setlist: 5/31/09
2. Sunday Setlist: 6/14/09
3. Sunday Setlist: 10/04/09

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