David’s Prayer

Leader:             Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. All:                   Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Leader: Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom;You are exalted as head over [...]

Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit The following is a responsive reading that uses scripture passages, hymn lyrics and commentary.   Worship Leader: The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” He has knowledge. Pastor: For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the [...]

A Responsive Reading for a Thanksgiving Worship Service

Pastor:              Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – PHILIPPIANS 4:6 All:                   I will GIVE THANKS to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. – PSALM 17:7 Lay Leader:       We are [...]

God is Love

This past Sunday I was delivering a children’s message on Jesus’ parable of the fig tree (Luke 13:6-9) and I made the point with the children that Jesus is like the gardener because he is patient with us.   This was unplanned, but the next thing that I said was that I know this because:   [...]

Psalm 71 – Generational Responsive Reading (Selected Verses)

Psalm 71 – Generational Responsive Reading (Selected Verses)   According to our Liturgical calendar the “Psalm of the Day” for 12/14/2008 is Psalm 71.  Rather than read this Psalm responsively between the Pastor and the Congregation; try reading it according to age groups.  Our church is fairly small so we will use two age groups.  [...]

Enhanced Bible Reading

Here’s an idea that you can apply to almost any scripture reading used in worship.  Take your favorite commentary and splice the commentators thoughts into the scripture text weaving them into a back-and-forth reading.   In the following example we used “the People’s Bible on Revelation” (ISBN #075860453X), together with some of our original thoughts on Rev 5:11-14: [...]

Moses Parts the Seas

Sometimes, Scripture lends itself nicely to a multi-part reading.  This helps the congregation follow the story, especially the children.  In our church, when one of the characters is the “Voice of God”, we have this person read his lines from the back of the church and speaking through a microphone to separate and amplify his [...]

All Creatures of Our God and King / Psalm 104

Responsive Psalm Reading (from Psalm 104) spliced together with the hymn: “All Creatures of Our God and King” (sung to CW #171 – “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing”)   Here’s an idea using a hymn (both spoken; then sung) spliced together with a Psalm read responsively.  The hymn is first read so that [...]

Layered Scripture Reading

The beauty of this reading is the fact that its’ God word, but also, it uses three readers where there is an overlap between parts.  This is a nice affect that really draws attention to the Word.  It is helpful to practice this technique with your readers before the service. Introduction: There are many references [...]

God is !!! – A Dramatic Call to Worship

Call to Worship: Instructional Note: This is a dramatic reading involving four readers.  Each reader is to place a special emphasis on the words “is” and “will” when underlined.  The scripture references are not to be recited and are for reference only.   PASTOR: God is!   READER 1: (Deut. 4:24) the Lord your God [...]