You can find the music set lists of many other churches who participate, as we do, in the worship music blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com. Photos here by Ryan Harvey.
1. How Long, by Sojourn’s Rebecca Dennison and Mike Cosper, inspired by Isaac Watts’s metrical version of Psalm 13. “How Long” is cut #3 on our soon-to-be-released Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. There’s no telling how many times I’ve listened to this track already. I’ll say this: it’s a great song for cranking up the volume in your car radio and cruising down the highway. And like all of Watt’s’ songs that we chose to work with, the lyrics express biblical realities that the modern church often fails to address in praise and worship music.
After “How Long” we heard the Call to Worship, from Psalm 95:1-3,6-7. Not clear on what a Call to Worship is, why we do it, or whether such a thing is relevant in modern churches? Hear my short interview with worship leader Lorie King where we discuss the Call to Worship as part of our “Worship: Why We Do What We Do” series.
2. My Maker And My King, hymn text by Anne Steel, arrangement and music by Mike Cosper. You can hear the mp3 and view the chord sheet for this great song of adoration on our Before The Throne page. You can order the album from that page as well.
We followed “My Maker And My King” with a corporate prayer of confession. Remember that you can read, use and adapt many of our worship readings and prayers at theopensourcebook.org, a collaboration between Pastor Mike and Nathan Bierma of the Calvin Institute For Christian Worship.
3. Nothing Without You, by Bebo Norman. This is a song of petition that confesses our utter dependence on God, and desire for Him to use us:
Take my body and build it up
May it be broken as an offering of love
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
4. In The Shadow of the Glorious Cross, by Sojourn’s Brooks Ritter and Rebecca Elliott. This is another song from our Before The Throne record. Like “My Maker And My King” you can hear the mp3 and view the chord sheet from our Before The Throne webpage. If you’re a regular blog reader but have not heard our recordings, remember that you can always check out various mp3s in the Music section of sojournmusic.com.
Following this we engaged in the Passing Of The Peace. Then Teaching Pastor Daniel Montgomery led our Old Testament sermon series into one of my favorite sections of the Bible, the time of the Kings. He taught on “Give Us A King” from 1 Samuel 8, where Israel says they want a king “like all the other nations.” As always, you can catch our pastors’ further reflections on the Old Testament in the B.C. Blog section of our online journal, TravelBlog. You can also read up on why and how we’ve decided to launch a second campus and become a multi-site church in a series of five TravelBlog posts in our Stories From The Road section.
5. When The Savior Reached Down For Me, by G.E. Wright, in the height of the shaped-note singing era (1921). This old quartet song has been a staple of southern and rural churches for nearly a century, and is worth checking out even if you’re a metropolitan mega church:
I was near to despair when he came to me there
And showed me that I could be free
Then he lifted my feet gave me gladness complete
When he reached down his hand for me.
We sang this as our communion song of the week, and followed it with a corporate reading, from Colossians 1:10-13.
6. Faithful, by Mike Cosper. This one is from our 2005 album, These Things I Remember. We’ve got the mp3 and chord sheet available in our Music section, on the These Things I Remember page.
7. Our Great God, by Mac Powell and Fernando Ortega. Always a good way to end our time of gathered worship, preparing to be sent back on mission in our neighborhoods, employment centers and schools:
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God
After our announcements, we closed the service with this Benediction:
Walk in the footsteps of the true King, Jesus Christ, who rules over his people with Love and Mercy. Go now in the name of the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.
Worship band for the 9:30am and 11:15am services:
Megan Shaffer — vocals
Dave Moisan — vocals and keyboard
Justin Shaffer — guitar
Mike Cosper — guitar
Dony Erwin — bass guitar
Ryan Harvey — drums
Scott Slucher — liturgy readings
Worship band for the 5pm and 7pm services:
Rebecca Dennison — vocals
Brooks Ritter — vocals and guitar
Jamie Barnes — vocals, guitar, banjo, liturgical readings
Mike Cosper — guitar
Eddy Morris — bass guitar
Matt Harris — drums
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Our Great God is a beautiful song!
Yeah, it’s one of the songs that has been in our rotation the longest. Always a good choice.