The type of worship that Casa Chirilagua and other ministries allow us to engage in is so close to the heart of God.  Scripture is riddled with passages that show God’s desire for us to care for the orphan, the widow, the alien, and the poor.  I used to equate this type of service with worship seeing them as inseparable.  As I reread Richard Foster’s chapter on worship, I think I was wrong.  Yes, God can receive glory from anything he chooses to receive glory from, but I think that may be different than worship.  I’ll let Foster explain:

If the Lord is to be Lord, worship must have priority in our lives.  The first commandment of Jesus is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).  The divine priority is worship first, service second.  Our lives are to be punctuated with praise, thanksgiving, and adoration.  Service flows out of worship.  Service as a substitute for worship is idolatry.  Activity is the enemy of adoration.

Now I don’t know if I agree completely with this last sentence, but activity definitely can be the enemy of adoration.  The staff at Casa Chirilagua can share how difficult it is to try to make everything “work” by their own strength and can distinguish it, at times more easily than others, from relying on the Spirit and giving him glory and adoration as they move into whatever act of service they are called to.  I admire the Casa Chiri staff and volunteers for their desire to worship the Lord through their acts of service.

This Sunday we will be singing, “Hallelujah!  Our God reigns forever, all my days.  Hallelujah!”  As you do whatever act of service you are called to do, I encourage you to make every effort to do it with a “hallelujah (Praise the Lord)” on your lips.

Well, I’m off to go work with the middle schoolers…Lord, help me to make this service an act of worship to you.

restorationmusic.wordpress.com - Scriptures and Songs for this Sunday’s service
www.casachirilagua.org – learn more about Casa Chirilagua’s ministry

The thought process:

“I Sing the Mighty Power of God” will start us out reflecting and proclaiming the power of God as Creator, Provider, and Sustainer.  Only once we have some context for the one whom we are praising can we rightly sing “Blessed Be Your Name.”  Because he is our Creator/Provider/Sustainer we can trust him even in the most difficult circumstances.

In the midst of suffering, Job expressed, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)  Job knew the context of God as Creator/Provider/Sustainer or he would have been surprised by the Lord’s rhetorical questions through the last chapters: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding…” (Job 38:4), and Yahweh goes on and on describing his own sufficient actions and character to Job.  It’s as if he is saying, “Job, in the midst of these horrific times, I am more than enough for you!  I am more awesome than you could ever know!”

As we sing our opening songs this Sunday, feast on the greatness of our God and respond by blessing his name and proclaiming him as more than enough for he is our Creator, our Provider, and our Sustainer.  May his name be praised as we gather this Sunday.

The songs:

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I sing the mighty pow’r of God,
That made the mountains rise;
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
The sun to rule the day;
The moon shins full at His command
And all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord,
That filled the earth with food;
He formed the creatures with His word,
And then pronounced them good
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed
Where’er I turn my eye;
If I survey the ground I tread
Or gaze upon the sky!

There’s not a plant or flow’r below,
But makes thy glories known;
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee
Is ever in Thy care,
And ev’ry where that man can be
Thou, God, art present there.

Blessed Be Your Name

Blessed be Your Name in the land that is plentiful,
Where your streams of abundance flow…Blessed be Your Name
And Blessed be Your Name when I’m found in the desert place,
Though I walk through the wilderness…Blessed be Your Name

Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say

Blessed be the Name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious Name

Blessed Be Your Name when the sun’s shining down on me,
When the world’s “all as it should be”… Blessed be Your Name
And blessed be Your Name on the road marked with suffering,
Though there’s pain in the offering…Blessed be Your Name

You give and take away, You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, “Lord, blessed be Your Name.”

Blessed be the Name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious Name

Enough

You are my supply, my breath of life, still more awesome than I know
You are my reward worth living for, still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me, for every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love, and all I have in You is more than enough

Your my sacrifice of greatest price, still more awesome than I know
You’re my coming King, You are everything, Still more awesome than I know.

More than all I want, more than all I need, You are more than enough for me.
More than all I know, More than all I can see, You are more than enough for me

Closing suggestion:

If you desire to meditate on this concept before Sunday, I would encourage you to read from Job 38 to the end of the book.  Simply scan it and find a portion of it to meditate upon in preparation for our time of proclaiming/singing this Sunday.  I’m looking forward to worshiping our God with you!

Legalities:

“I Sing the Mighty Power of God” words by Isaac Watts and music by William H. Monk ©1868 Public Domain CCLI License #11026168 “Blessed Be Your Name” words and music by Beth Redman and Matt Redman ©2002 Thankyou Music CCLI License #11026168; “Enough” words and music by Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio ©2002 worshiptogether.com songs | sixsteps Music CCLI License #11026168

In my last blogpost, “Bonfires and Taylor Swift,” (weigh in on it if you haven’t yet), I mentioned that there are many purposes for having music on Sunday morning.  One of these purposes is to make communal proclamations.  So the last song of Sunday communal worship is a really important song.  As you sing it, please know that it is intentionally designed to be a part of the communal benediction.

This week I want to give you the words to the modern hymn that will be our closing song so that you can meditate on some of its truth proclamations and yearnings that are rooted throughout the Scriptures (especially the Psalms).  Copy and paste it into a Word document and put it on your bathroom mirror, evening bedstand, or in your Bible.  It is my hope that these words can truly reflect the desires of your heart.

O Great God

O great God of highest heaven, occupy my lowly heart.
Own it all and reign supreme.
Conquer every rebel power.
Let no vice or sin remain that resists Your holy war.
You have loved and purchased me.
Make me Yours forevermore.

I was blinded by my sin.
Had no ears to hear Your voice.
Did not know Your love within.
Had no taste for heaven’s joys.
Then Your Spirit gave me life; opened up Your Word to me.
Through the gospel of Your Son, You gave me endless hope and peace.

Help me now to live a life that’s dependent on Your grace.
Keep my heart and guard my soul from the evils that I face.
You are worthy to be praised with my every thought and deed.
O great God of highest heaven, glorify Your Name through me.

(Bob Kauflin 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise)

Before voting below, a bit of background:

When leading worship, connecting to God is just really, really hard.

It’s hard enough being in the congregation to truly feel like I’m worshiping the Lord; but it’s even harder when playing. However, in both those settings (leading and not leading) I find it often takes at least two songs before my brain calms down enough to feel a connection with the Lord. To ignore the distractions, to calm my spirit, to stop thinking about work, to stop wondering about what’s for lunch,to really get into my instrument…it just takes some time for me.

So, I’m proposing more worship music. Now, before you gasp thinking “Church is going to be longer?” hear me out.

Right now, our service is about 75 minutes. Making the service longer isn’t really an option, and yet we don’t want to remove any parts of the service as each part is carefully planned and very meaningful. So, what about this:

Start an optional musical worship time around 9:15 or 9:20. We’ll sing 2-3 songs before church officially begins in which those people who desire more worship will have the opportunity to come early and worship. It will be no pressure, nothing required, just space for those of us who need more than two songs in a row to engage, to do just that.

There are a few possible down sides (and my rebuttals):

1. Newcomers might feel late: If we tell the greeters to reassure people it’s just optional worship and they’re not late, that would help. Also, if on the projector screen 2/3 of the screen has the lyrics while 1/3 of the screen has a countdown to 9:30 (or a clock) with the words “Welcome to Restoration!” that could be another way to reassure people they’re not late.
2. Pre-service time is designed for meditation, music will be distracting: Right now, most of us are hanging out and talking right up until service anyway (which is probably a good thing for the newcomers), so I wonder if playing and singing worship together might actually be less distracting for those who want to meditate. And, it might allow those who desire fellowship to do so more freely without feeling that they’re distracting those who are silent.

I’ve been to churches that do this (I think I have anyway) and I always liked it.

So, here are the next steps:

Vote! Tell us what you think by voting. And, if you’ve seen this work well, or fail miserably, let us know by commenting.

Should we begin optional worship around 9:15?
( surveys)