Welcome to sojournmusic.com’s weekly worship music set list review & service recap. You’ll not only read a list of the songs we led, but also the readings and prayers from our liturgy. You can find links to the set lists of this church and many other churches each week in the Worship Blog Carnival at theworshipcommunity.com. And you can learn about some of the songs we sing at Sojourn Gathered each week in advance of the Sunday service by reading my “Getting Ready For Sunday” post each Thursday at Sojourn’s online journal, TravelBlog.
Photos this week by Matt Herp, from the last Sojourn Midtown service at 930 Mary Street.
Next week, Sojourn Midtown begins worshiping two blocks away, in the newly restored St. Vincent’s. This is a former Catholic church built in the 19th century, which will double the seating capacity for this campus.
Prelude: Let Justice Roll Like A River written by me and Rebecca Elliott. We haven’t recorded this song yet, but … one day.
Call to Worship:
Crowds gather for a reason. At a political rally, they’re gathering around a candidate. At a mall, they gather around shopping and spending. At a restaurant, they’re gathering around the food.
Here in the church, we gather for a pretty unique reason. We don’t gather to earn anything from God, and we don’t gather to impress one another. We don’t gather to spend, and we don’t gather to consume. Instead, we gather to worship God and remember all that he’s done for us in Jesus.
We gather for his sake – his fame, his glory – not our own. Hear the Word of the Lord.
Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.
The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. – Psalm 95:1-7
Song: Praise to the Lord the Almighty
Confession:
When we look at our God, we can’t help but feel the gap between his perfection and all of our flaws. The God we worship is perfectly loving and gracious, but we stand before him and feel how cold and loveless our hearts can be. So we cry out together for his mercy and grace. Pray with me:
Almighty God,
You have called us to be the church, building one another up
and reflecting Christ to a lonely and confused world.
But we confess that we are more apathetic than active,
more callous than compassionate,
more rebellious than obedient, more legalistic than loving.
Gracious Lord, have mercy upon us and forgive our sins.
Remove everything in our hearts that prevents us
from loving each other and displaying you to a broken world.
Awaken our hearts to the gift of your Spirit.
By His power, may we make you known in our homes, neighborhoods, and places of work.
This we pray in Jesus’ powerful name. Amen.
-Adapted from the Worship Sourcebook
Song: Lead Us Back written by me and Brooks Ritter. We recorded this modern hymn of repentance on Before The Throne.
Words of Assurance:
Lord, we ask that you lead us back to you. Your word promises us that and more. Hear the word of the Lord.
Through Christ we have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. - Ephesians 2:18-22
Song: Fellowship So Deep
Passing of Peace:
As God’s adopted family, let’s warmly greet each other today.
Giving
Then our preacher taught from Romans 12:9-13. You can hear Sojourn sermons in theSojourn Church iTunes podcast or in the Sermon Resource library at sojournchurch.com.
Song: All You Saints, Adopted Ones written by Isaac Watts, Brooks Ritter, Jamie Barnes and Mike Cosper. We haven’t recorded this one yet, but … one day.
Song: O Church Arise
Reading:
Let’s be reminded of who we are in Christ. Let’s say this together:
We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. – Based on 1 Peter 2:9-10
Song: We Are Changed written by Neil Robins, Dave Moisan and me, and recorded on our Over The Grave album.
Benediction:
Brothers and Sisters, go now as members of Christ’s body, reconciled to the Father, unified in the Spirit. Peace be with you.
