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 by Chuck Heeke, from Sojourn New Albany, which celebrated their one-year anniversary with worship service and lunch fellowship:
Prelude Songer: Deep In Our Hearts written by Sojourn’s Mike Cosper, Brooks Ritter, based on the work of Isaac Watts. We recorded this on The Water And The Blood, The Hymns of Isaac Watts, Volume Two.
Call to Worship
Each week when we gather together we remember the simple truth that God is God, and we are not. In His word, He sets the stage and shows us how life is meant to live- by faith in what Jesus has done for us. Here’s the good news- we aren’t mere spectators watching this unfold, but He has invited us to be participants in life with Him.
Hear the word of the Lord:
Sing a new song to the Lord,
who has worked wonders,
Whose right hand and holy arm have brought salvation.
The Lord has made known salvation;
Has shown justice to the nations;
Has remembered truth and love for the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
sing out your joy.
Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp,
with the sound of music.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn acclaim the King, the Lord.
—based on Psalm 98:1-6 from the Worship Sourcebook
Let’s sing to our God who saves!
Song: God Who Saves
Confession
When we come before God, we must be honest with ourselves about who we are, about our sinfulness, and about how poorly we care for others. In this spirit, let’s pray together:
Merciful God,
In your gracious presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world.
Although Christ is among us as our peace,
we are a people divided against ourselves as we cling to the values of a broken world.
The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas.
The fears and jealousies that we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation.
We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and turn them into bonds of oppression.
Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us.
Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ. Amen.
-Worship Sourcebook
Song: Be Merciful to Me
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
-Hebrews 10:19-22
Song: Only Your Blood written by Neil DeGraide, recorded on our Over The Grave: The Hymns of Isaac Watts, Volume Two.
Peace
We were once at odds with God and one another, but because Christ lived the life we couldn’t, died the death we deserved, and rose from the dead, we now have peace with God and one another. In that spirit, let’s greet one another.
Giving
Then our preacher taught from Titus 3:1-8 – Engaging Culture. You can hear Sojourn sermons in theSojourn Church iTunes podcast or in the Sermon Resource library at sojournchurch.com.
Song: What Wondrous Love is This, our Communion song of the week.
Song: Here Is Love
Reading
Because of God’s grace we are able to love Him and one another.
Let’s read this together:
What is the great and first commandment?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
What is the second commandment like it?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Why do we love God and our neighbor?
Because He first loved us.
To what does this call us?
To a life of faith working through love.
—based on Matthew 22:37-40 adapted from the Worship Sourcebook
Song: We Are Changed written by Bobby Gilles, Neil DeGraide and Dave Moisan. We recorded “We Are Changed” on Over The Grave: The Hymns of Isaac Watts, Volume Two.
Benediction
Go now, and let the peace of Christ rule your hearts and minds as you leave this place.
Go in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.
Are “God Who Saves” and “Be Merciful to Me” you used the same as the ones on the Caedmon’s Call “In The Company Of Angels” CDs (1 and 2)?
Yes!