order of worship 9/28/08

Hey all -

Here are my thoughts for this Sunday.  

Most weeks we tend to move from upbeat to more down tempo as we transition towards communion.  This week, however, we're moving in a bit of the reverse.  The first three songs are reflective but thankful and joyful.  You will notice a trend in the themes.  Before the throne puts our eyes on Christ's interceding work for us in the throne room of heaven.  It reflects on his work to pay for sin, to rebut Satan's attacks through condemnation, then turns to raw praise in the final verse, proclaiming him to be the King of Righteousness.

From there we'll move to Blessed is the one which is based on Psalm 32 and spends time dwelling on how simply good, and how secure we are to be covered by the blood of Christ.  "Blessed is the one, whose sins are overcome, Whom God has sheltered deep within his grace...Jesus, Your blood covers all my sin, Jesus, Your love draws my heart to sing, what a Savior, Jesus."  It's a new one from Sovereign Grace's Psalms cd (again, highly recommend it). 

It's natural at that point to move to What a Savior, Devon Kauflin's version of Man of Sorrows.  "Savior, you showed your love, defeated our sin, poured out your blood.  So, we praise you, Lamb that was slain.  We offer our lives to proclaim, What a Savior!"

Finally, from there, proclaiming What a Savior and referring to Jesus as the Lamb, though the tone shift may seem abrupt, it works to move to We will dance.  At this point, three songs reflecting on how great a savior, how effective a mediator Christ is, how great to turn and remember that these are the reasons why we will be (and are) his bride!  "And we will dance on the streets that are golden, the glorious bride and the great Son of man, for every tongue and tribe and nation will join in the song of the Lamb."

The whole progression has really struck me as I've been thinking through the songs.  And I'm praying that it will be effective on Sunday morning to proclaim the glory of Christ and how completely sufficient his work is.

So, if any of you have any suggestions on how we can make those themes and that progression more apparent (even if it means substituting songs), let me know.  Happy to shuffle things around and make some changes.

All that said, here it is:

 

Sunday, September 28, 2008

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	Before the throne (click here for audio and click here for lyrics/chords)
Scripture reading
Song 2	Blessed is the one (click here for audio and click here for lyrics and chords)
Song 3	What a Savior (click here for downloadable guitar charts/lyrics - for this one you have to download all of them from the album.  click here for audio - again only the entire album.  for the individual song, download from iTunes.  not sure why the SGM site has them as album only)
Song 4	We will dance (click here for a "video" that will give you a feel for the audio.  i'll try to post a chart)
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	Alas and did (click here for audio and lyrics/lead sheet)
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6 (during offering)	May the mind of Christ, my Savior (i'll try to post a chart as the week goes on)
Message

For a printable copy, right click here

order of worship 9/21/08

Hey everybody.

This is guest Sunday so we're gearing up to have - God willing - a slew of newcomers.  I tried, with some direction from TMS, to make the choices simple (musically and lyrically) to make things as smooth as possible for those who might be unfamiliar with church.

Let me know if you see any ways that the Gospel can be made more clear and more easily accessed by newcomers.  And, if you have any other thoughts, send them along.

Natsuko - are you available to sing this week?

Thanks all,

tw

 

Sunday, September 21, 2008

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	Indescribable (right click here to download the lyrics/guitar sheet.  audio is available on iTunes)
Scripture reading
Song 2	My Savior my God (right click here to download the lyrics/guitar sheet.  audio is available on itunes)
Song 3	You are the way (click here to find downloadable audio and lyrics/guitar sheets)
Song 4	Jesus my only hope (click here to find downloadable audio and lyrics/guitar sheets)
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	The Gospel song (during the bread) (click here to find downloadable audio and lyrics/guitar sheets) Instrumental during the cup
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6 (during offering)	Isn’t he good (click here to find downloadable audio and lyrics/guitar sheets)
Message

For a downloadable copy of the order, right click here.

thoughts on sunday - 9/14 - from tw

A good morning with a great word of hope.

Our goal was to guide people towards the theme of Christ's sufficient righteousness in light of our great sin.  It seemed as though people were prepared to hear the good news after reflecting on last week's message.  Response to the themes of the initial songs, the scripture readings, etc. seemed to be quite enthusiastic.  Then the message - Steve, thanks for opening up the passage for us and showing us the light and joy of the Gospel.  After that message, I was glad that Steve had insisted that we sing.  During the sermon, Arise came to mind - it seemed to capture the core points of the sermon and provide the joyful response that I think many in the congregation were experiencing.

Thanks to everyone on the team for being flexible and ready to jump in at that last minute.

We had a ministry conflict that made it so that we couldn't have the lyrics projected for that last song (by no fault of our projectionist).  So we had to wing it.  But I think it was familiar enough that, with some cues, people were able to participate.

I'd love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on the execution of the theme for the morning - where it worked, where it could have been more effective.  Leave a comment and let me know.

A few technical items - great to have Doug back.  Thanks, Doug for playing through pain.

It was fun to have both the set and the aux perc.  It offers some fun possibilities for arranging and let's us work with some additional layering that we can't always get otherwise.

Sorry for trying to start on a wrong key for Here is Love.  I started in singing where I knew the note should have been but I had thrown a capo on, for some reason.  Once I remembered the capo issue, we squared it away.  That whole deal was a big distraction for my own heart.  I hope it wasn't as much for others.  I need to remember to take notes about my own directions during the rehearsal.  I forgot a couple items this morning that I had planned.  Not good.  These are the types of distractions that are easily avoidable and I didn't take the few steps needed to get there.

We experienced the difference in playing style between Doug and Dick this morning right from the get-go during practice.  Doug, thanks for being willing to tone it down just a bit so that we wouldn't have too much on the drum front.  If you add the oomph that you took off your stroke and toss it onto Dick's typical stroke, we'd probably have a roughly even tone no matter who was playing!  Maybe we need to think Doug a little less, typically, and Dick a little more when it comes to volume and presence.

I think that's all I've really got for the morning.  Again, any thoughts regarding theme and execution of it are welcome.

Thanks all.

tw

order of worship 9/14/08

Hey all, better late than never.

We'll reflect back to the bad news of the Gospel from last week and look forward to the gift of Christ's righteousness in this week's sermon.

Let me know if there are any questions.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	Come you saints (click here for downloadable music and lyrics/chords)
Song 2	A debtor to mercy (click here for downloadable music and lyrics/chords)
Scripture reading
Song 3	Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
Song 4	Here is love (click here for downloadable music and lyrics/chords)
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	I will glory in my Redeemer (click here for downloadable music and click here for downloadable lyrics/chords)
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6 (during offering)	The glory of the cross (click here for downloadable music and lyrics/chords)
Message

 

delays

hi all - sorry for the delays.  i'm still figuring out the schedules for work, family, care group, and music.  it'll all get it, i'm just having some trouble moving the pieces around until they all fit together.

until i sort it out, things might be a bit delayed (as they have been).  as for this week, i'll be working on the order this evening and will get it up ASAP.

i'm sorry for the delays.  thanks for the patience and for your commitment to serve the church and to proclaim God's glory.

tw

order of worship for 9/7/08

Hi all 

We're embarking on a new sermon series this week - God's Glorious Gospel - that will take us through the book of Romans in 12 weeks.  An ambitious task!  The first sermon will be on Romans 1 - the bad news of the Gospel.  Though the message is likely to focus on sin and our need for a Savior, I thought it would be good to begin the series with a bit of celebration for the salvation that we've been given and the hope that we have.

So, we'll start the morning off with some upbeat stuff and trend downward in tempo and feel towards communion.  Between the verses of the first song we may pause so that I can explain exactly what we're doing in the new series and why I think that it's important that we begin by celebrating.

The Jaegers and the Cromwell/Bowditch team have trades places.  So, Alan, Janet, and Alexis will be on for this Sunday.  During communion we'll be singing Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted - a hymn the was frequently sung during the younger years of the church but that I don't remember having done for quite a while.  I'd love it if we could do an arrangement of this vocally that would draw the congregation into the somber, reflective nature of the song before we have them join us towards the end.

That's pretty much it - I may have thoughts over the next two days.  Pretty simple all things considered.  Let me know, as always, if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions.

No links at this point - I think we're all familiar with the stuff.

tw

Sunday, September 7, 2008

 

Prelude	Music from 9:50 until 10:00
Song 1	The glories of Calvary
Scripture reading
Song 2	O for a thousand tongues
Song 3	Beautiful Savior
Song 4	The glory of the cross
Communion
Song 5 (during communion)	Stricken Smitten and Afflicted
Welcome & Announcements
Offering
Song 6 (during offering)	A debtor to mercy
Message

 

 

thoughts on sunday - from tw

Hi all - 

Not many thoughts here - such a simple morning, really.

Natsuko, great to have you on board!  Thanks for your eagerness to serve and for your willingness to jump in at a moment's notice.  I'll keep you posted on your final place on the team.  Be planning for either the 3rd or 4th Sunday of each month.  I'll let you know for sure in the next week or so.

Alexis - thanks for being ready to jump in with a solo at the very last, mid service minute.  I think it was helpful in setting the first verse apart and allowing people to prepare their hearts and to make the transition from singing about the greatness of the triune God to singing of his humble sacrifice and his great intercession for us.  Thanks for doing that.

Dick - good work on the hand drums.  I'm looking forward to getting Doug back into the mix so that we can have a Sunday with him on the set and you on the aux perc.  I think that'll add some great stuff to the mix.  You've picked up on it really well - and I really appreciate your flexibility and humility during the process.

All things together, I thought that the morning went really well.  It'll be good to have the whole team back together in a few weeks and really get back up and running.  I think that the Lord has been gracious to us over the last couple months.  We haven't "missed a beat" so to speak.

It goes back to the fundamental truth that it's not about the music - really.  Our goal as a team is to make Christ clear in the way that we lead and sing and play.  I think that we've managed to do that, by God's grace, this summer even while the team has been a bit shorthanded.  He can be praised with few as well as with many.  While ultimately we enjoy having the whole team around because it allows more flexibility and potential for arrangements that can be effective in pointing out different lyrics and themes through the way that we play, simple is not bad.  It doesn't take a full band to reveal Christ to the congregation and to help them praise him for who he is and what he's done.

God is good.

One thing that I'd like to work on over the next few weeks and months is having everyone become more familiar with the songs that we're playing and singing.  Doing so will allow for more freedom as we're playing.  I want to be careful that we're not projecting an attitude that we don't actually have - that we're concerned primarily about the music.  It's possible that at times, since we're so focussed musically that musicians aren't able to sing and singers aren't able to physically engage, that we may project the idea that we're more concerned with getting it right than we are with praising our Savior.  So, what I'd like to do over the next couple months is work on musicians becoming familiar enough with the songs that they can sing along - not into a mic or anything, just vocally join in the praise.  Along with that, I'd like for the vocalists to become familiar enough with the songs that they're not bound tightly to the lyrics and are more free to let their gaze by physically upward, or their eyes be closed, their hands be raised, their feet be dancing.  If we're all staring at our lead sheets, we tend to stand still and just "do" rather than participate.

I think that will be the next step, for many of us, in leading the church effectively.  The more we engage and act as examples of praise, the more we will be able to freely lead the congregation.

Just some thoughts, but I think they might be important.  I'd love to hear all of your thoughts along those lines - let's start the discussion.

Thanks all.

tw