Rehearsing the Gospel Story Pt. 2

Ok, so it’s taken a few months, but here’s the “what does this look like” post I promised.

No excuses, but if you’ve been around my church lately, you know it’s kinda been a roller coaster as of late, and keeping you all up to date has not been at the top of my list.

So, let’s walk through a Sunday morning service and see how this whole thing plays out, shall we? (The 4 parts of the Gospel story arc are in bold, see the last post if you don’t remember). This was our 2/8/15 Sunday service.

Creation – Celebration of the Magnificent Creator God
Call to Worship – We begin and end each service with scripture. The verses read here are about pointing our hearts and mind to the greatness of God, and to turn our attention to corporate worship. Some days, this is the first thing we do in church, so don’t be late!
Song – How Great is Our God – Again, the focus is on who God is. Holiness, greatness, glory, creator, (and similar) are all adjectives we like to explore during this first section.
Welcome of Guests – We don’t really announce much here anymore. This is more about welcoming people in the joy of the Lord and giving a few next steps to our guests.

Fall – In light of the Greatness of God, we see ourselves as fallen sinners
Prayer of Confession – We know that while forgiven for our sins, we need to remember that we still fall short of God (humility) so we confess our sins to Him. Many times, we will also do a song here, but this week, just the prayer (from the Worship Sourcebook, below).

Eternal God, you do not change.
You have revealed yourself to us in your Word.
You call us to worship you in spirit and in truth.
But we confess that we often worship
not your true self but who we wish you to be.
We too often ask you to bless what we do
rather than seeking to do what you bless.
Forgive us for seeking concessions
when we should be seeking guidance.
Forgive us when our worship shapes you into what we want instead of shaping us into what you want.
Help us to meet you here, that we might bow
before your unspeakable majesty
and so live for you now and ever, in Christ. Amen.

Redemption – God has a plan to forgive and redeem fallen humanity!
Song – At the Cross (Love Ran Red) – We sing the story of the cross, where God’s love was poured out for a sinful people so that we could now be in relationship to Him. “There’s a place where mercy reigns and never dies.” We are redeemed!

Message – The message won’t always be in this spot in the service, but this week’s message was a little hard to place. Basically, it was about our response in worship to the redemption of God.

Restoration – Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are now restored to right place with God

Communion – what better picture of restoration than communion? Not only did Christ sacrifice Himself for us, but now His Spirit dwells inside of us empowering us to live a life of Restoration.

Song – Holy Holy Holy – Some songs work in multiple categories, this one would be great at the beginning as well. We sang this during communion, keeping our focus on God, and not on us (where it tends to drift all too often). I am also careful to reference each member of the Trinity every Sunday (we are Trinity Baptist Church, after all) which is more about the formation process (see other posts).

Song – Revelation Song – Part of the “restoration” area in our service is a looking to the future. This could include a sending on mission, a mention of upcoming service opportunities, or looking towards our ultimate future in Christ. Sometimes, you will see the word “Restoration” substituted with “Consummation.” This song is about the final consummation of the world when Christ returns.

Benediction – We begin and end each service with Scripture. Here is a final Scripture usually said over the congregation as a blessing or as a commissioning for the work of the Gospel.

So, there you have it. In under 700 words even!

Thoughts?

Comments?

I would love to hear them!

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