Worship Ideas You Can Use

One of the most powerful and inspiring examples of congregational worship in the Bible is contained in 2 Chronicles, chapters 5 to 7.

 

In these chapter we read that the work for the temple had all been done, and in an amazing procession, they brought the ark of the Lord into the temple.  It was an occasion that those present would never have forgotten for the rest of their lives.  There were 120 priests sounding trumpets, cymbal, singers, and other instruments.  It must have been the best band they’d ever heard!  The trumpeters and singers joined in unison and sang, “He is good; his love endures forever.” (5:13)

 

It would have been an amazing sound.  And yet, that wasn’t the thing that impressed itself upon their hearts the most that day.  The life-changing event that day happened next: “… the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” (5:14)

 

The priests were totally overwhelmed by the cloud of God’s presence, so much so that they couldn’t continue to perform their services.  Solomon went on to pray a powerful prayer of dedication.  But that’s not the end of this awesome encounter. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the burnt offering and sacrifices.  The glory of the Lord fills the temple again (7:1), yet this time seemingly even more powerful, because not only can the priests not carry on ministering, they can’t even enter the temple of the Lord (7:2).  The people worshiped again, sang the song again, made more sacrifices, and the trumpets started up once more. 

There’s a great contemporary song that captures this encounter called “Lord, let your Glory Fall” by Matt Redman.  It’s recalling that ancient day where God met his people so powerfully, and asking that we might see something of that here and now, as God’s people in church.  That we might know what it really is to bring meaningful sacrifices before Him, and that we might also know what it really means to be enveloped in the cloud of God’s presence.  These chapters show congregational worship as an exciting, powerful encounter.  It’s a 2-way event.  Notice the cycle that seems to happen – God’s people respond to who He is, and then the cloud of His presence comes down.  They can’t help but respond again, and He seems to inhabit their praises even more powerfully.  Again, this makes them want to worship Him even more, and they throw their hearts into yet more songs, music and sacrifices.  This is the wonderful, gracious pattern of worship that God invites us to enter into as His people.

 

Source: http://www.worshiptogether.com/resources/bibleStudy.aspx?iid=215760

 

Lord Let Your Glory Fall

 Chorus:

You are good, You are good; And Your love endures.

You are good, You are good; And Your love endures today.

 Verse 1:

Lord let Your glory fall, As on that ancient day.

Songs of enduring love, And then Your glory came.

And as a sign to You, That we would love the same.

Our hearts will sing that song, God let Your glory come.

 Verse 2:

Voices in unison, Giving You thanks and praise.

Joined by the instruments, And then Your glory came.

Your presence like a cloud, Upon that ancient day.

The priests were overwhelmed, Because Your glory came.

 Verse 3:

A sacrifice was made, And then Your fire came.

They knelt upon the ground, And with one voice they praised.

 BRIDGE:

Your anger lasts a moment, But Your favor lasts a lifetime.

 CCLI Song No. 2526728, © 1998 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing), Matt Redman

 As in the days of King David, Solomon and Nehemiah, the order of worship is of utmost importance.  Our traditional worship services are carefully laid out in our hymnals, but this raises the question, “what order of service should we consider when using a blended format with contemporary music and contemporary instrumentation?”

 Here is the typical Order of Service for the blended services that we hold on a monthly basis at Messiah in South Windsor, CT:

 Pre-Service Music

Pastoral Greeting

Opening Congregational Song of Praise

Call to Worship

Spoken Confession of Sins and Assurance of Forgiveness

Silence for personal reflection

Congregational Song of Praise

Prayer of the Day

OT Lesson

Psalm of the Day (usually read responsively and sometimes includes contemporary music)

Epistle Lesson

Verse of the Day

Gospel Lesson

Children’s Message (based on one of the readings)

Hymn of the Day

Sermon

Offering (accompanied with music)

Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Blessing

Closing Song of Praise

(The service time is approximately 60 minutes in length)

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 Isaiah 6 reflects another biblical framework for corporate worship.   God initiates and we respond throughout the model.

God reveals himself:

 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  (Is 6:1)

 Worship & Praise responds by the Seraphim:

 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another:  ”Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  (Is 6:2-3)

 We confess:

“Woe to me!” I cried.  “I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”   (Is 6:5)

 God expiates:

 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.   With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”   (Is 6:6-7)

 God Proclaims:

 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Is 6:8a)

 We Respond:

 And I said, “Here am I.   Send me!” (Is 6:8b)

 God commissions:

“Go and tell this people”  (Is 6:9)

 Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of International Bible Society

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 Here is another blended order of service obtained from: http://blendedworshipresource.wordpress.com that is used at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in DePere, WI:

 Gathering for Praise:

Opening Praise Songs (2)

Greeting

Gathering for Forgiveness:

Forgive Us, Renew Us, Lead Us

Response song

Gathering around the Word:

Scripture readings

Mission Statement

Praise song/hymn

Sermon/message

Creed

Gathering for Thanksgiving:

Offering

Prayers

Praise Song

Q & A period or The Supper

Gathering for Dismissal:

Announcements

Benediction

Closing Praise Song

(approximately 75 minutes based on the gatherings used in worship in the early church 150-300 AD)

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 And here is a third order of service, used at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, also found at:

 http://blendedworshipresource.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/blended-worship-liturgy/

 1. Service information

a) Theme

b) Welcome and visitor information

c) Today’s worship paragraph

 2. Come, Let Us Worship the Lord

a) Greetings/silent prayer

b) Opening song of praise

c) Invocation

d) Responsive reading

 3. We Confess our Sins and Rejoice in God’s Forgiveness

a) Confession options

b) Response song

c) Prayer of the Day options

 4. God Speaks to Us Through His Word

a) Three readings, including introductory line

b) Statement of Faith

c) Song of the Day options

d) Today’s meditation

 5. We Offer to God our Thanks and Praise

a) Sermon response (if no communion)

b) Offering and friendship register paragraph

c) Lord’s Prayer

 6. God Comes to us Through His Holy Supper

a) Responsive intro and song response

b) Words of institution and response

c) Distribution song

d) Thanksgiving

e) Prayer

 7. God Sends Us With His Blessing

a) Responsive theme closing

b) Benediction

c) Closing song

(from “Blended Worship: Where Do We Start?” by Pastor Rob Raasch.)

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 And finally, here are two orders of service recently used at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Middleton / Waunakee , WI

 Example 1 (with Communion)

 Gathering

Pre-service music (piano)

Pastoral greeting

Congregational song of praise

Pastoral prayer of confession

Silence for personal prayers of repentance

Spoken assurance of forgiveness

Congregational song of response/praise (additional stanzas/refrains of opening song)

Time for worshipers to greet each other

 Word

Old Testament reading

Gospel reading

New Testament reading

Children’s devotion (based on sermon text/theme)

Sermon

Nicene Creed

 Sacrament

Spoken sursum corda (“The Lord be with you…”)

Sanctus song of praise (“Holy, holy holy…”)

Words of Institution

Words of Invitation

Agnus Dei song (“Lamb of God, you take away…”)

Distribution of the Lord’s Supper

Two congregational songs during distribution

 Thanksgiving

Offering

Prayers of God’s people

The Lord’s Prayer

 Sending

The Lord’s Blessing

Congregational sending song

Announcements

Time for greeting each other

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Example 2 (includes the WELS Connection Video)

 Gathering

Pre-service music (woodwind ensemble, piano)

Pastoral greeting

Opening congregational medley of praise

Pastor prayer of confession

Congregational song of confession

Silence for personal prayers of repentance

Spoken assurance of forgiveness

Congregational medley of response/praise

 Word

Gospel reading

Children’s devotion (based on Gospel reading)

Congregational “sermon hymn”

Sermon

 Thanksgiving

Offering (with WELS Connection video)

Prayers of God’s people

The Lord’s Prayer

 Sending

The Lord’s Blessing

Congregational sending song

Announcements

Time to greet each other

 I would like to thank Kristen Koepsell of St. Andrew’s, John Kehl and Pastor Robert Raasch of Mt. Olive, and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church for providing their orders of blended worship.

 It’s very interesting to me that these are all similar and keep many of the elements that are contained in our “traditional” service even though they use contemporary music.