1. Leading worship - song list & planning

5 leading worship 17/08/08 - resources for public prayer 4. Leading worship 17/08/08 - types of public prayer 3. Leading worship 17/08/08 - Planned prayer 2. Leading worship 17/08/08 - video intro

18th August 2008
We'll return to our series 'Why Glenabbey is not a cool church' soon. Meantime, here's some insight into the planning that went on for leading worship 17/08/08.

Passage: Matt 7:1-6 Don't judge!
Matt7:5 says 'You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.' This is a stark warning to us - before we think to speak into the lives of others (as we must if we are to show discernment and speak the truth in love), we must be careful to search our own hearts. It's a reminder to us that we too are in need of mercy. As I reflected on this, I thought it would be helpful to spend some time considering the mercy that has been shown to us. I think if we were to grasp even a tiny fraction of the mercy that has been shown to us in Christ, then we would be very slow to jump to conclusions about others and very rich in the mercy we would show them. And I think we would be more gentle, patient and compassionate with others during those times when we must lovingly speak truth into their lives.

So I wanted to pick some songs would allow us to remember the mercy that we've received in Christ. We started with
- Even when we turned our backs on you (Thank you for the cross)
- No eye has seen
Both these songs are great at setting the mercy we've received into the context of the wrath we deserve because of our sin and rebellion. They also happen to be the the same key, so we were able to flow them together nicely! I actually started with the second verse in 'No eye has seen': 'Objects of mercy who should have known wrath'

At this point I wanted to transition into more reflective songs. I used a simple reading from Romans 5:8 'God showed his love for us in this - whil we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' It very simply yet very profoundly reminds us of the costly, mercy-filled initiatve that God took with us in saving us.

- How deep the Father's love (we do a heavily Coldplay influenced version of this song. I'll post a full piano score of our arrangement in the next few days on the blog).
- Amazing grace

I wanted some space for self-reflection here, so I wrote a prayer of confession. I'll upload it in the next blog entry.

- Merciful God, O abounding in love - this is a relatively new song by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Musically, I love the gentle swing of it. Lyrically, I think it's really rich. The phrases reward reflection and I think this is a song that will grow in meaning as we sing it more. Also, we really need songs that can voice our confessions! You can find the words here and I have copies of the music if you'd like them. The song finishes looking forward to heaven with the line 'Then we will stand overwhelmed by the mercy of God'. Overwhelmed is the word - when we see him in his undiluted holiness, then we'll realise just how incredible is the mercy that has been lavished on us.

After Davy spoke, we'd been looking for a song to wrap up and give space for people to reflect on the challenge. We chose 'Beneath the cross of Jesus' as it not only brings us back to the mercy of God towards us, but it also allows us to consider how that mercy must spill out into the lives of others. You can find the lyrics here. We built in a reading from 1 Cor 13 into the song. It seemed very appropriate to finish with the challenge and inspiration to us all of what true Christian love looks like in action in the body of Christ.

Alistair Hamill