Psalm 103 – Responsive Reading

The Case for Blended Music in Worship

The following is a responsive reading that uses two readers with congregational responses.  Soliciting Lay readers once in a while helps to build their faith and encourages others to use their gifts in support of the ministry.

 

Pastor: Praise the LORD, O my soul;

Congr:with all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

 

Pastor:              Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-

Lay Reader:      who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

                                Pastor:              who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

                                Lay Reader:      who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 

Pastor:              The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Congr:He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:

 

Pastor:              The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

Lay Reader:     slow to anger, abounding in love.

 

Pastor:              He will not always accuse,

Lay Reader:    nor will he harbor his anger forever;

Congr:             he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

Pastor:              For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

Congr:             so great is his love for those who fear him;

Pastor:              as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 

Pastor:             As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

Congr:             for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

Pastor:              As for man, his days are like grass,

Congr:             he flourishes like a flower of the field;

Pastor:              the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Congr:             But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children-

Pastor:              with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

 

Lay Reader:      The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Pastor:              Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding,

                        who obey his word.

Lay Reader:      Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.

Congr:             Praise the LORD, all his works, everywhere in his dominion.  Praise the LORD, O my soul.

 

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

 

Ash Wed – Responsive Reading

Pastor:              Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.  The date is set by counting back forty days from Easter (excluding Sundays), which takes us to the Wednesday seven weeks before Easter.  Why forty days?  Each day symbolizes one of the forty days when Jesus fasted in the wilderness, before Satan tempted Him.

Congr:At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.  He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.  –  Mark 1:12-13

Pastor:              Ashes are a reminder, in Scripture, of our mortality and frailty resulting from the curse of the Fall.

 

Congr:”Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, – Genesis 18:27b

Pastor:              The Bible also uses ashes as a sign of sorrow or repentance.

 

Congr:Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing.  She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went. – 2 Samuel 13:19

Men:               We are to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  – Matthew 3:8

Women:          We must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.  Acts 20:21

Men:               We are to Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.  – Matthew 3:2

Pastor:            The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  – 2 Peter 3:9

Congr.:            We are to Repent and be baptized, all of us, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.  And we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  – Acts 2:38

Pastor:              If we repent, and turn to God, so that our sins may be wiped out; times of refreshing may come from the Lord,  – Acts 3:19

Scripture text NIV (Emphasis mine)

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

A Concentrated Description of Christ’s Glories

A Concentrated Description of Christ’s Glories

Intro Read by Pastor:

 

Paul has just prayed for the Colossians that they would “be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (vv. 9-10).  In verse 14, he begins a litany of amazing truths about Jesus Christ that are probably the most concentrated description of the glories of Jesus in the New Testament.  Our scripture readings this morning will be read by our teens and our youth groups.

 

Reader 1:       In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Reader 2:       He is the image of the invisible God.

Reader 3:       He is the firstborn of all creation—that is, the specially honored, first and only Son over all creation.

Reader 4:       By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

Reader 5:       All things were created through him.

Reader 6:       All things were created for him.

Reader 7:       He is before all things.

Reader 8:       In him all things hold together.

Reader 9:       He is the head of the body, the church.

Reader 10:     He is the beginning.

Reader 11:     He is the firstborn from the dead.

Reader 12:     In everything he is preeminent.

Reader 13:     In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

Reader 14:     He reconciles all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven.

Reader 15:     He makes peace by the blood of his cross.

 

Closing Remarks read by Pastor:  This list is worth memorizing.  If your heart ever wavers and grows cold, go here; memorize this litany of glories and ask God to give you affections that correspond to the measure of this greatness.  If any person or any power or any wisdom or any love awakens any admiration or any amazement or any joy, let it be the greatest Person and the greatest power and the greatest wisdom and the greatest love that exists—Jesus Christ.

 

Source:

1.  Taken from: (John Piper Aug 12,2007) – Adapted by S. Brown

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2007/2305_All_Things_Were_Created_Through_Him_and_for_Him/

2.  All Scripture is NIV