Real Worship

Stevenage (am)

I was having the Sunday off from Stevenage this week.  I’ve asked Ali to write a recap; when he sends it through, I’ll update the post.  Meanwhile, if you were there, why not post a comment.  I’m keen to hear how it went.

Exeter (pm)

The songs we sang in Exeter this week were:

• God Of Wonders (Marc Byrd, Steve Hindalong)
• For Who You Are (Marty Sampson)
• Dove’s Eyes (Rick Pino)
• Better Is One Day (Matt Redman)
• Facedown (Matt Redman)

When I’m preparing for a time of corporate worship, there will sometimes be one song which stands out.  When that happens, I will usually build the list around it.  This week, that song was “Dove’s Eyes”.

The first two songs both went well; by that I mean people were connecting with God.  During the next song however, something sweet happened.  The lyrics are quite intimate and as we sang through the chorus, (singing of how much we love Him) I began to get a sense of how much He loves us; it was quite overwhelming and I failed spectacularly to communicate it to everyone present; nevertheless, I knew God was wanting us to know & experience afresh a deep sense of His love for us – and I believe others sensed that too.

We spent some time in “free worship” (improvising our own words and melodies) over the chords of Bb & C; using those chords meant that we could drift in and out of the next two songs which both have the same progression in places.  During this time there was also a prophetic word which I thought confirmed what we sensed earlier and also lined up with the teaching which Mark had prepared.

I love it when different people come with different pieces of the puzzle which fit together to make a beautiful picture.

Links:

This post can also be found in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.com

As a church family, we have been on a tremendous rollercoaster ride over the past few years.  We’ve been rediscovering God’s grace, His passion for His church and His heart for relationships (how we relate to Him & to others).  At the end of his message last Sunday, Mark read out the following statement adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 & Galations 5:22-24 (from The Message translation) as a vision of what church life could be:

Church life never gives up, cares more for others than for self; we don’t want what belongs to others.  We don’t strut and display a swelled head, we don’t force ourselves on others, we are not a “me first” family; we don’t fly off the handle, we don’t keep score of the sins of others, we don’t revel when others grovel, but we take pleasure in the flowering of truth; put up with anything, trust God always, always look for the best, never look back, but keep going to the end.  What is more, we have a growing affection for others, exuberance about life as well as serenity in a mad world.  We have developed a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.  We know that legalism is helpless in bringing this life about; in fact it only gets in the way.  Because we belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good — crucified.

I’m reminded of the verses in I John 4:19-21 where the writer states that we cannot love the God we can’t see if we don’t love the brother we can see; also in John 13:34-35, Jesus said that our love for one another would be how all men would know that we were His disciples.

“Oh God, let the worship I bring be an authentic expression of the love you gave to me; and let that same love flow freely from me to those around me.”

Stevenage (am)

Wow, what an awesome morning!  Mark stood up to pray at the start of the service; the band began to improvise around the chords of A & D; everyone joined in – praying, worshiping (in English, in tongues), singing – a beautiful, harmonious symphony; and that’s where we stayed for the next 30 minutes or so.

There was an ebb & flow of worship, prayer & prophecy; crescendos that were powerful & passionate followed by times of beautiful, quiet intimacy – all interspersed with words of prophecy and encouragements from scripture (4 or 5 different people sharing what God was saying to them).  We would worship, God would say something to us, we would respond & then worship some more… (& so it continued).

There was no script; we communed with God.  Of course, the set list was “thrown out of the window”; of the six songs originally planned, the only one we sang was:

• Mighty To Save (Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan) Mike

Lyrically, the song fitted with the prophetic words that were brought and with parts of the teaching from Mark (though it wasn’t planned that way).

The teaching will probably become the first part of a new series called, “Real Life, Real Church”.  Starting with Jesus’ mandate in John 10:10 to bring us “…life… to the full”, we looked at what He meant when He said “life” (as opposed to our definition); then contrasted John 12:23-26, where Jesus warned against holding on to & loving our own (selfish) lives & how that destroys us compared to living His (selfless) life.

Exeter (pm)

We began with some improvised, “free” worship in the key of E which led straight into the first song:

• You Are Good (Israel Houghton)

We ended the song with a “big finish”; the band holding the last chord while everyone cried out, “You Are Good!” – applauding God, declaring His greatness and shouting His praise.  At the end of the crescendo, I started playing the intro to the next song (which we played in the key of A – making for a smooth transition between the 2 songs):

• For Who You Are (Marty Sampson)

It was a high energy start to the service and people were most definitely engaging.

Wile we were singing this song, a line from the verse stood out to me:

Waiting here patiently

Just to hear Your still small voice again

We quietened the music and I felt impressed to say that God wanted to speak with us and that we needed to spend some time listening – which we did.

Sandra shared a picture she saw; it was of a little child, running care-free through a field, holding her father’s hand; describing the sense of excitement the child felt.  We spent some time in that space.  We sang of our desire to run to Him & hold His hand; He spoke to us about wanting to remove the chains & heavy burdens that hindered us.

We sang two more songs:

• King Of Glory (Brad Avery, David Carr, Mac Powell, Mark Lee, Tai Anderson)
• Your Love Is Like (Rick Pino)

It was funny that after spending time singing about us running to God, the first  line of the next song to sing was:

Who is this King of Glory

That pursues me with His love

The last song was a beautifully intimate response, reveling in His love as we sang:

Your love is like the ocean

I’m drowning in Your presence

Getting lost in the gaze of Your eyes

Getting lost in the warmth of Your smile

Links:

This post can also be found in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.com

Stevenage (am)

This week was “family service” week in Stevenage.  We come together as a whole family to worship – instead of our childrens church holding their own, age-specific service.  What that means practically is usually a shorter time of worship with perhaps a performance oriented song, or dance included and a shortened “preach” – which normally involves tins of chocolates being passed around the congregation at some point (bribery will get you anywhere!).

The set list for Stevenage looked like this:

• Open The Eyes of My Heart (Paul Baloche) Ali
• Be Thou My Vision (Mary E. Byrne & Eleanor Hull) Ali
• Be Lifted Up (Paul Oakley) Ali
• I Run To You (Ali Loaker) Teash

• Take A Stand (Jon Horwood) Jon

I must admit I had a blast this Sunday!  Both our normal drummers were unable to play this week – so I covered.  Interestingly, I had comments from 2 separate people saying how I looked like I was enjoying myself more than I usually do.  Hmm… I hope I don’t look miserable when I’m leading worship (note to self: smile more!).  I think the reason was because drums were my first love (musically) – the first instrument I learned to play.  I don’t have to consciously think about anything when I play drums; I also didn’t have the added percieved pressure of trying to lead any of the songs – wondering where to take the arrangement, or how to engage more of the congregation etc. (2nd note to self: stop trying to lead – relax, worship).

I think I may have relaxed a litle too much though… I dropped a stick 3 times during the service.  It was funny!

Looking from where I was sat, there was a lot of high energy, with plenty of people engaging and looking as though they were enjoying themselves.

We sang “Open The Eyes…” in a U2 “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” style.  The second song started with me playing a driving rhythm on the toms; the bass & guitar joined in & then the vocal, “Be thou my vision…” over the top.  The next 2 songs are anthemic ballads & were really well received.

The last song is a rap written & performed by our bass player Jon.  His brother Joel guested on bass for us.  It’s a really great song, with a driving electric guitar riff over a funky bass & hip hop drum beat.  To me , it sounds like a mixture of Eminem & Led Zepelin – a passionate, (slightly menacing sounding), rock/funk rap.

Exeter (pm)

At the start of the service in Exeter I prayed expressing my heart to get past the lyric of the songs and to connect with God (and by that I meant not in a  superficial way, but in a real, passionate, heart-felt way).  Well, there were plenty of others who agreed with that, so from then on it was a done deal.  We were most definitely NOT having a time of christian karaoke!

The songs that we sang this week were as follows (all in the key of D):

• It Is You (Peter Furler)
• Open The Eyes Of My Heart (Paul Baloche)
• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Helen H Lemmel)
• Be The Centre (Michael Frye)
• Lord You Have My Heart (Martin Smith)
• Revelation Song (Jennie Riddle)

I felt as though we did connect with God.  The worship flowed, with spaces between the songs where there were spontaneous prayers, or applause, or extended times of “free” worship.  Even during the songs, there was still that vital connection; we weren’t just singing the lyric.  I think this was because the theme of all the songs can be summed up from a line in one of them:

“Jesus, be the centre”.

Links:

This post can also be found in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.com

Me on drums (a short mobile phone video clip of Jon’s song, “Take A Stand”)

Here’s Ali’s account of what happened at Exeter this weekend:

We played ‘More than words’ which was well received and then went into a bit of free time at the end. Ali declared that there was freedom and joy in the house and people started dancing and enjoying themselves. Whilst the music was still going, Lola gave a word about God inviting us to ‘Come in into the holy place’

Ali continued this theme by encouraging everybody to ‘lift up’ the name of Jesus in worship and praise and we moved into ‘Be lifted up’, this created an intimate atmosphere in which people were quietly talking to God. Ali shattered that by saying ‘We all go about our lives quite happily and then put on our ‘Church’ face which is serious and glum when it is time to meet with the rest of the body, lets not do that, lets make this a place of celebration and joy’. Ali asked everybody to greet somebody else and say ‘I’m glad you came tonight’, which went down so well that Adrian had to call the meeting to order again as it was decided that the people were having far too much fun (joke!).

Adrian then addressed the congregation about a young Ghanaian man who needed money to stay in hospital and live, without the money he would die as he would be forced to leave hospital. The congregation prayed and saw pictures of a baby being wrapped up in blankets by a loving father. Ali prayed and thanked God for the young man and the fact that God knew him before the dawn of time and that he still sees hi as his child even though the man has grown up and that he would take care of him.

We sang ‘My romance’ and ‘Your love is like the rain’ both of which caused a more intimate setting where Ali whispered down the microphone ‘Come back to me, come back to me, when I look at you I see perfection, when I think of you I smile and I am proud, come back to me and stop running, look into my eyes and feel my embrace, you are loved’ this caused a few teary eyes and the congregation were caught in silent wonder followed by a very quiet version of ‘The more I seek you’

This weekend, Ali chose the lists for both congregations.  He normally chooses the songs for Stevenage, but he was also travelling to Exeter & leading worship there this weekend (I’m staying home to look after the children while Heidi is away).

I’ll post a review of the Exeter service when I receive it from Ali.  For now, here’s Stevenage’s:

• More Than Words (Mike Ellis) Mike
• Heart’s Cry (Mike Ellis) Mike

• Dance

• Holy Is Our King (Rick Pino) Ali
• Facedown (Matt Redman) Ali
• The More I Seek You (Zach Neese) Teash

I particularly enjoyed this morning from a musical perspective.  We played the whole set with 2 acoustic guitars (along with bass & drums).  We normally use at least 1 electric in the band; it was refreshing to change up the band sound.

There were a number of other factors “meeting the need for variety” this week.  Teash got to lead a song for the first time in a while; there was a dance & we also spent some time praying with a family who were spending their last Sunday with us before heading off to Bible College.

The first 2 songs are ones that we haven’t sung for a while – both are mine & in the key of D.  They worked well together & sounded great with the more acoustic lineup.

That was followed by the dance brought by our very own “Set Apart” street dancers.  It was their last performance in their current format.  This is because 2 of the dancers & the lady who runs the group are part of the family that were leaving for Bible College.  The girls do a great job of choreographing their own routines and are always well received (my eldest daughter is also one of the dancers).

We then prayed for the family that was leaving & various people prayed and brought words of encouragement & prophecy.  It was good to see so many participating.

Ali led the next 2 songs, which transition really well; both were played with a capo on the 5th fret and both have a section where an F, G chord progression is played; making it simple to switch between them.

Teash did well with the last song.  She hasn’t led for a while and was thrown back in without much practice.  Blessed are the flexible…

Mark & Sandra are away this week, so Adrian spoke.  He continued in the same vein as Mark; speaking on “Seeing Through God’s Eyes”.  In particular, looking at 2 Cor. 5:14-17 and focussing on v16 about not evaluating others from a human point of view.  He spoke from his heart – it was good.

Links:

This post can also be found in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.com

Sunday Set List 19 July 2009 – Exeter

Writing a Sunday Set List post has got me thinking about the criteria I use for gauging the “success” (or not) of a particular worship service.  Of course, any evaluation is going to be subjective; but, why is it that on one occassion, I can say, “That was good, we met with God today” and on another, “It didn’t go well this week”?  What measuring stick am I using?  Against what am I comparing?

I then began to think about the perspectives of  others, how they might differ.  So, I thought I would ask the question; I’m curious.  What does a successful worship service look like – for you?  What specifically has to happen in order for you to meet together with a group of believers & come away knowing you’ve encountered God?

There is a whole raft of possible criteria.  Is it conneted to the style of the service itself e.g. open & participatory, or led from the front?  Does the tempo or the style of music have a bearing on your definition?  Perhaps more or fewer songs, or liturgy…  or is it something else entirely.  You get the picture.

I’m also intrigued to discover whether there is any correlation between a person’s role or function during worship & their perception of its’ success or their criteria for measuring it.

So, when you leave a comment giving your definition of a successful worship service, please state what role or function you fulfill during worship (these will vary according to your style of service) i.e. whether you play/lead in the band, read scripture etc., or perhaps, you have no specific function.

Join the discussion!

Ali was recovering from illness & injury this week, so I chose the songs for both Stevenage & Exeter congregations.  I kept the list the same for both.  Here it is (though we didn’t actually get to sing all the songs from the list in either congregation):

• Lord You Are Good (Israel Houghton)
• For Who You Are (Marty Sampson)
• Indescribable (Chris Tomlin)
• Dove’s Eyes (Rick Pino)
• Your Love Is Like (Rick Pino)
• The More I Seek You (Zach Neese)

All songs were played either in E or A, which I played capo 2 on my accoustic.

Stevenage (am):

Praise & worship “took off” in Stevenage this week.  Right from the start, people freely chose to give themselves, singing passionately from the heart, raising their hands, focussing their attention firmly on God – celebrating His goodness.  This continued through the second song, “For Who You Are”.

When we reached the third song, however, people began to disengage.  Whether or not this was because we’ve not sung the song for a while, I don’t know; I think, perhaps more realistically, it was because I was a bit unsure of the arrangement .  So, I cut the song short, held the last chord (capo 2 C) & began to improvise lyrically over the top of it – singing directly to God.  Then… Wham! It took off again; only this time, more so.  All around the room, more & more people were crying out to God, engrossed in His presence.

This passion & intensity continued for the whole of the rest of the worship.  We sang Rick Pino’s anthemic “Dove’s Eyes”; repeating the chorus:

“I love Your face

I love Your kisses

I love Your embrace

I love Your presence”

We looped the chord progression for quite a while, allowing people to sing their own words.  Throughout the worship time, we left a lot of space for this to happen.  We flowed out of the extended free worship time, finishing with the beautifully intimate, “Your Love Is Like”.

Exeter (pm):

Though the set list was the same, the flow of the service was different to Stevenage (as you may expect – different band members, different congregation, different circumstances etc.)  For me, it didn’t flow as easily.  Don’t get me wrong, I could see people around the room engaging in worship, obviously meeting with God; it’s just that people didn’t want to go where I wanted to lead.  There’s no criticism in that; there is no obligation on anyone to do what they don’t want to.  The only criticism I would offer would be of myself – should I allow that to be a source of frustration.  That would be wrong; it would mean that I only see people as being there to somehow validate “my ministry” – ugh!

Herein lies my dilemma.  My desire and aim during a worship service is to encounter God & provide a platform that facilitates as many as possible to encounter Him & gives Him the space to move freely.  Within the process, I may feel that we need to sing a certain song or lyric, or I may speak an encouragement or verse of scripture (as can anyone).  With no-one obliged to follow any instruction or encouragement, I can either find myself “out-there” on my own, or I can hold back & choose not bring what I believe God has given.  Neither are desirable.

Bizarrely, the highlight in Exeter this week was the Chris Tomlin song, “Indescribable” (the very one that didn’t do so well in Stevenage).  Oh well!  We only managed to get as far as “Dove’s Eyes” before it was time for Mark to bring part 2 of his teaching on “Discovering the Real You”.

This post can also be found in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.com

Being “real” has always been a desire in my life.  What I mean by that is having integrity in the sense of being open and honest; not pretending or putting up a front, or wearing a mask.  I love the innocence of youth; the beauty of being unashamed and unafraid to say what you think or feel.  Of course, over time I have learned to be selective about whom I allow myself to be real with.  The sad truth is that I have even learned to not be real with myself. (Neither of which is necessarily good.)

While the desire for reality in this sense is perhaps, a noble (though at times, possibly unwise) one; reality (in the sense of what we experience) is, in fact, subjective.  What is real for me my not be real for someone else.  If, for example, someone were to grow up being constantly told that they weren’t good at a particular activity or skill (say: sports, art or music), then they would ultimately believe what they were told; even if it were not actually true – and especially if it were an influential person in their lives that was telling them.  A gifted young artist may never grow to exhibit her creations if, inside she believes that  they aren’t of any worth or value (even though they may be the finest, most exquisite pictures ever painted).  My point is this: our thinking defines our reality.

“What  on earth has this to do with worship?” you may ask.  Well, if our thinking defines our reality, then what we think about God will define the reality of our relationship with Him and will ultimately determine how we experience Him.  If we believe that He is a distant, austere deity then we are unlikely to want to share our deepest, most intimate thoughts and feelings with Him.

Jn 8:32 says, ” You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”; and in Jn 14:6 Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.  Truth is more than mere doctrine or theology.  Many wars have been faught over such things.  Many factions and splits have occurred in the church over differences of opinion about how to interpret both.  Truth is a person.  That person is Jesus; and we have been called into a glorious, vibrant, passionate, vital relationship  with Him.

As with all relationships, our relationship with God is meant to grow, develop, mature… change over time.  As we get to know Him more, our thinking (at a heart level) is changed; and as our thinking changes & grows, so does our experience of God.

Iam not advocating relativism; there are some absolutes (especially where God is concerned).  Mal 3:6 says, “I am the Lord and I do not change”; Heb 13:8 says that Jesus is “…the same yesterday, today and forever”.  For example, we can count on the fact that God is Love (1 Jn 4:8,16), and that He is for us and nothing can separte us from His love (Rom 8:31-39).

So, let’s not look to our reality (our experiences) to define God, but rather let Him define our reality.  Yes, our experience of Him changes & grows as our thinking does in the context of our relationship with Him; this is the transformation process that Paul spoke about in Rom 12:2 – changing the way we think.  We are on a journey; an adventure, a voyage of discovery together with God and each other; a journey that reaches beyond this time and space – into eternity.  We’re in this for the long-haul.  Let’s enjoy it!

Since March 2008 Sundays have looked a little different.  Once the morning service has finished in Stevenage, a group of us will jump into a car and drive 240 miles to Exeter (stopping for lunch along the way – usually KFC), where we meet together with the congregation there.

Dilemma: Do I post a set list for each congregation separately, or together?  Hmm… Let’s try together:

Stevenage:

It has become the norm for Ali to choose the set list for the Stevenage congregation.  Here are the songs that we got to sing from the list he chose this week:

• Come Love of God (Ali Loaker) Ali
• Your Grace is Enough (Chris Tomlin) Mike
• Holy is the Lord (Chris Tomlin) Ali
• Passion (Mike Ellis) Mike

There is a different dynamic for me when worshipping with the Stevenage congregation.  This is because we have a larger, more established band with multiple “worship leaders” and I may only end up leading 1 or 2 songs in a set.  When I am not leading, I may be playing second guitar, adding riffs; I may be strumming an accoustic whilst adding backing vocals.  In the set above, for example, during the first song (which Ali led) I played second guitar on my electric, playing a riff high up the neck.  In the second song, I led it whilst playing my accoustic.

The challenge for me is to continue to remain connected & focused; hearing God, connecing at a heart level, pouring out my heart in worship, and play the right notes – all at the same time, whether or not I am leading.  The temptation is to back-off when I am not leading.

Exeter:

As it is mostly me who travels to Exeter to “lead worship”, I usually choose the set list for Exeter.  The songs we got to sing this week were:

• For Who You Are (Marty Sampson)
• Holy is The Lord (Chris Tomlin)
• Dove’s Eyes (Rick Pino)
• My Romance (RickPino)

All 4 songs were played in the key of A (I actually played capo 2 G – deliberately, to give a more open sound on the accoustic & make it easier to add in bass note runs between the chords).  As often as possible, I will try to play songs either in the same key (even if it means changing the key they were originally written in), or I will play them in keys that flow together.  I find this helps not just by having smoother transitions between songs, but it provides the space in between the songs for us to get into more free, spontaneous worship – these are my favourite times!

For me, the songs themselves are often only a journey to a place where we all connect vitally with God & each other; giving Him the space to lead & direct as He wills and through whom He chooses.  In fact, the reason why (in both congregations) we didn’t get to sing all the songs from the set lists is because of spending as much time as possible in these spaces.  I will often only introduce the next planned song in the list as a tool to help people engage with God when I sense that they are starting to disconnect.

As an aside, the term “set list” is one that is becoming more uncomfortable for me.  This is because it suggests performance; and our heart is most certainly not to perform or entertain, but rather to play our part in the divine dance that is this small expression of worship; and to facilitate the body moving together with Him.

For the sake of ease & continuity, I will probably carry on using the term “set list” (at least for now).  Perhaps in the future, I may change the name of this post to the “Redemption weekly round up”- or something similar… we’ll see – watch this space!

This post can also be found in the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at FredMcKinnon.com