Preparing for Sunday, 6/19/11 (FATHERS' DAY)!

First of all, make sure you wish your dads a happy Fathers' Day this Sunday!

Hope you'll be with us this this week - it's shaping up to be a great time together as the body of Christ. Pastor Jordan will be preaching on Colossians 4:2-6, focusing on praying for doors to be opened for the Gospel, and the priorities of a Christian's life. Jordan and I had a great conversation yesterday about the sermon, and I'm thoroughly excited for all of us to hear it together on Sunday. Once again, we have the opportunity to meet together for corporate worship; this means that we read scripture, pray, hear preaching, and sing together with the distinct awareness that we're doing it as the gathered church. We do these things together for mutual encouragement and admonishment, and meeting corporately unites us as we share in these different avenues of worship to God.

Pastor John will also be heading up 2 baby dedications, so you definitely want to be there for that as well.

We had a fun, worshipful practice last night gettin' ready for Sunday's music. It was a great time playing and singing the songs, and talking through their lyrics. I'm super excited to sing this set together in corporate worship. Here are the songs - make sure you click on the links below to give them a listen before Sunday. I've included a key quote from each song for us to meditate on - each quote is also key in tying the songs together in the order that we'll sing them. Make sure you know the songs, and that your voice is in top-form too; we want to sing these together well, and sing them loud!

1. Awesome is the Lord Most High
"Where You send us, God, we will go/You're the answer we want the world to know"

2. Glorious and Mighty
"'Majesty' we'll sing with Creation, when You come again in the clouds/Every knee will bow down and worship the one true God!"

3. How Marvelous
"He took my sins and my sorrows and made them His very own, and bore my burden to Calvary"

4. Stronger
Stronger, You are Stronger/Sin is broken, You have saved me/It is written, 'Christ is risen'/Jesus, You are Lord of all!"

Another quote for the pondering!

"As long as we live, there is never enough singing."

~ Martin Luther

Style of music?

The following quotes are from an article on the 9Marks website, entitled "How important is the style of music a church sings?" Go check the whole thing out here - it gives some good perspective on what's really important about church music.

[More important than style] are the truth of the words being sung. Since a church sings music in order to worship God, our songs should function like a musical confession of faith. Those confessions of faith should contain substantial truth about God, or else we’ll hardly be worshiping at all.

Style is passing... It’s only worth paying attention to insofar as different styles may do a better or worse job of helping people properly conform their hearts to the truths being sung.

In short, what we sing is far more important than how we sing it.

The kicker is this: hopefully we can be selfLESS, and prefer our fellow saints as we choose songs and sing them in certain styles, rather than being selfISH, choosing and playing songs based on what we prefer. Or, being selfish by wanting certain songs in certain styles, and being bitter when we don't get to sing them. Singing on a Sunday morning is a corporate opportunity to encourage and admonish each other. So lets do that this Sunday!

Reflecting on this past Sunday, 5/29/11

The past couple of weeks I haven't had the chance to fire off a "Preparing for Sunday" post, but as I've thought about it, I think an occasional post-Sunday reflection might be in order. I often have (along with many of you too, no doubt), new thoughts after Sunday has come and gone; after we've actually sung the songs together as a congregation, and sat under the preaching of the sermon, there just might be unique things to think and talk about that we wouldn't have had leading up to Sunday.

So here goes!

Pastor John brought the sermon to us, preaching from Colossians 3:18-21, on the marks of a spiritually healthy family. I've been struck, as Jenny have become parents recently, by the calling Christ makes on us to be genuine with our kids, and to be concerned about the right things. I'm convicted that we shouldn't be as concerned with their actions as we are with their heart condition before God. And that we shouldn't exasperate or discourage our kids by being false or hypocritical in our living.

The "college/young adult" band led the music, which is always a fun change. We had a longer practice Thursday night, and we threw together all the instruments/amplification. And I'll just say we cranked the volume in the choir room a little more than usual - it was a good, worshipful time. It's also great to have these folks be a more regular part of our corporate worship on Sunday mornings - we've often referred to groups like this as the "youth band" or the "college band," but maybe we actually shouldn't do that. They're a part of our church, and can capably lead us all in singing on Sunday morning, just like the "regular" band can. So really, it was just a version of the "worship team" that led our church music on Sunday.

We sang the following songs together:
1. Blessed Be Your Name - a staple song of our church, that declares faith that only God can give - a faith that will trust and treasure God through good times, and through intense suffering. "You give and take away/My heart will choose to say, 'Lord, blessed be Your name.'"

2. How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art - a blend of favorites that rejoices in the greatness of God as Creator and Sustainer of all things, and also as Savior (the Lion and the Lamb).

3. How He Loves - we brought this song in to share, since it's been an influential song among the college/post-college group at our church over the past year-or-so. We may end up bringing it in more for main service - we'll have to see. The song has some tricky poetry, but it communicates some foundational truths about the Gospel in some fresh, creative ways. For instance: "[God] loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of [His] wind and mercy." Click on the link and give it a listen!

4. Because of Your Love - a great newer tune, expanding on the theme of the love of God in our order of service, helping us think through how the "Maker of the universe" was "broken for the sins of the Earth."

"Engaging with God" in Worship

David Peterson wrote a great book (that I have yet to read in full), on Biblical worship and its implications for us in the New Testament "Church Age." His book is considered one of the best out there on the subject of worship (why have I not read it yet?). Kevin DeYoung quotes some of his thoughts on worship here, which is where the following quote is from. Good stuff! Hope it encourages you and prepares you a little bit for Sunday.

Why would we not sing deep, solid songs about the Gospel every single Sunday?

[T]rue worship is gospel-centered. The gospel–Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection–is what makes worship possible. The gospel is what we proclaim in worship. The gospel is what we sing in worship. The gospel is what calls a people together in worship, arouses a people to praise in worship, and sends a people out in a life of worship. Some churches ignore the gospel. Others reject the gospel. Many churches only touch the gospel tangentially, focusing on nebulous truths like relationships or connecting with God or acceptance or love. But in the best churches, never does a Sunday go by when God’s people don’t sing about the cross or glory in our Redeemer or marvel at substitutionary atonement (emphasis added).

Preparing for Sunday, 5-15-11

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, which is due in-part to Jenny and I entering into the Fost-Adopt program a month ago. As many of you know, we've been busy but super blessed at the same time with the 2 kids God has brought into our home.

But it's time for a "Preparing for Sunday" post once again!

This Sunday Pastor John will be preaching on Colossians 3:15-17, on letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, and letting the word of Christ dwell in us. This passage is also one of those defining places in Scripture for corporate worship gatherings, and for church music (and what its purpose is). I've been learning that the New Testament talks about music as a means of teaching, admonishing and encouraging amongst the gathered church (and not as much about our individual "worship experiences"). Think about that for a little bit - that the music we sing in church is supposed to be done with everyone else in mind, and how we're encouraging and teaching one another through the songs we're singing together! Good stuff.

We also have 2 baptisms this Sunday, so make sure you're on time to take part in that time of celebration and recognition of how God has been drawing hearts to Himself.

Our songs will respond to, and rejoice in God's mighty work of Salvation this Sunday. The list will go as follows:

1. Forever - A great up-tempo tune about God's enduring faithfulness to His people, and that we can have confidence in His faithfulness to do good to us.

2. Mighty to Save - This one doesn't need much explanation, other than it's a song of joy in God's mighty work of Salvation, and His power to keep our salvation secure. The bridge of this song also talks about us taking the light God has produced in our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6), and bringing the light of the Gospel to a dark world.

3. How Great is Our God - A familiar song rejoicing in the majesty of God, and his Lordship even over the powers of darkness. The song says that "darkness tries to hide" from God, which is cause for great rejoicing on our part as we fight our sin and the temptations of the evil one.

4. It is Well - A song about the peace that rules in the heart of a believer, because sin has been paid for in Jesus, we have eternal life secured by Jesus' death and resurrection, and through Jesus we've been reconciled to a holy God. And if you have a few minutes, definitely check out the version of It is Well posted below - it's my favorite.

Hope this helps you in preparing for Sunday morning!

Another quote for the pondering!

The following is from Bob Kauflin, via Twitter. We often need a good word of wisdom like this, that will keep our motivations for planning Sunday mornings on the right track:

Life is too short and eternity too long to lead Sunday meetings that fail to exalt Christ in the power of His Spirit.