Archive for Preparing For Worship
Preparing for Worship 8.15.2010
Prep your hearts for worship and come join us this Sunday. In order to help you, the following is a list of songs that we’ll sing together as we gather:
- “My God, My Father” – Red Letter
- “Beautiful Things” – Gungor
- “Death in His Grave” – John Mark McMillan
- “Help My Unbelief” – Red Mountain Music
- “Overcome” – Desperation Band
- “Dry Bones” – Gungor
Not familiar with some of these? Download the lyric sheet, google them up (or YouTube) and get your heart and head tuned in prep for Sunday.
Worship Week: New Music Sunday
(Post by Matt Grant, 2 Pillars Church Worship Leader)
This week, I’m dubbing our Sunday gathering as “New Music Sunday”. Ok, now don’t get worried that were going to be doing a bunch of weird songs no one has ever heard of or that we are going to have our Electronica sunday (which we may do in the future) with blacklights and really, really weird dancing. New Music Sunday is basically what it sounds like. We are going to have a few new songs that are going to stretch and pursue us. I want to make sure we aren’t heading towards a rut of some sort with the current song selection, so what better time than this Sunday to introduce new music to you, the church body. With the overwhelming response to last weeks new song, “Overcome”, it seemed apparent that the church was hungry for some new tunes. So this week our new songs are:
“Dry Bones” by Gungor
“My God, My Father” by Red Letter
Preparing for Worship 8.8.2010
(Post by Matt Grant, 2 Pillars Worship Leader)
The song “Overcome” from New Life Worship at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO is not what I would consider a typical worship song from a mega-church of 14,000 people. In many instances, worship songs focus on all things happy and fluffy and skip the tougher subjects like hurting, frustration, and brokenness. “Overcome” was born out of a season of just that. In just over a years time, the church had experienced a much publicized sex scandal involving the dismissal of the founding pastor and an attack from a lone gunman that left two teenage sisters dead and their father and two other men wounded. Only hours before the attack on the church, that same young man entered a Youth With A Mission Christmas banquet in Arvada, CO and gunned down two staffers and wounded two others. (My friend Dan Griebenow was among the wounded and his fiance, Tiffany Johnson, was killed in the attack).
I tell you all of this to convey the level of hurt that this community was feeling. I can hardly imagine the disillusionment of the body at New Life. Most churches in our country don’t know this kind of tragedy. Most of us have probably never experienced gun violence or the betrayal of a friend and pastor to his family and his church. But, we do know tragedy of other magnitudes. We do know betrayal of different scopes. In the aftermath of these tragedies, the anger could’ve taken over. The pain could’ve been too great. The doubt could’ve tore them apart. But the big idea is this: The Gospel changes everything. They looked to Jesus. They looked to His love to heal their hearts. They united under Christ and overcame all the hurt, anger, and doubt that has its way of setting in whilst in tragedy. As one voice they cried out to our Savior in all praise and glorified Him above all else. The Gospel of Jesus can changes everything and everyone, no matter the situation. He looks past our trash and redeems us even though we could never deserve it.
On Sunday, we have the chance to sing to Jesus even though we are broken at times. We have a chance to sing to Him who redeems us despite our doubts and hurts. We get to unite as a body and sing with one voice to the Creator of the Universe. Think about that for a minute. How amazing is it that we as tiny human beings with tiny little lives can be in communion with God, through Christ. Through Jesus, we have victory over tragedy. We have victory over our angers and our hurts. When tragedy strikes, we look to the Father and remember the work He did on the Cross. We allow His glory to transform us and teach us in those tough times.
Preparing for Worship 7.18.2010
(Post by Matt Grant, 2 Pillars Worship Leader)
At 2 Pillars Church, we strive for transparency in our worship services. No magical fog machines, fancy lighting, or cool moving images behind the lyrics on the screen. We try not to dilute Jesus with fluffy songs that don’t really say anything or move us spiritually. We develop each worship gathering as a continual movement from beginning to end, from first song to sermon, from communion to final prayer. This is done, sometimes with difficulty, to evoke a response from the heart. A response that cuts. A response that breaks down walls and tears through sin and allows us to see Jesus as our Savior and Healer. Jesus is the reason we sing. Jesus is the reason we sweat it out in our surprisingly hot building and listen with intention to the teachings each Sunday. Without Him, we are lost. Jesus is our Hope and Promise.
We look forward to worshiping Jesus together with you this Sunday. In order to serve you, below is the list of songs we’ll be singing together.
- “Everything Glorious“ – a song of praise and amazement in Jesus
- “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us“ - a song of redemption
- “The Solid Rock” – a song of boldness in Christ
- “We Will Run To You“ – a song of repentance
- “I Surrender All” – a song of complete surrender
- “All Creatures of our God and King“ – a song of God’s Glory
Preparing for Worship: 7.11.2010
This Sunday’s sermon will be on Acts 4:1-22 and is titled simply The Cornerstone. Together we’ll look at Jesus as the cornerstone who goes straight for all other cornerstones and how he is the only ultimate solution for unbelief which lays at the heart of all of our problems.
As we gather we will sing: “My God, My Father,” “Death in His Grave,” “Help My Unbelief,” “It is Finished,” “Doxology,” and “How He Loves.”
To prep your heart for Sunday morning, I would encourage you to read and meditate upon Psalm 118 – especially verses 19-24 as well as to pray for God to reveal areas of unbelief in your heart.
