Yesterday was a fantastic day of worship at FBC Laurel. We are in the middle of a doctrinal series titled, “These Things We Believe.” Yesterday’s theme was about our salvation. We also celebrated the Lord’s Supper, or celebrated the Eucharist, or communion – whatever your tradition calls it!
Before I walk you through the service, you can look at our program notes here: FBCL 10:45 Notes for August 2, 2009
This service had four major sections:
- Thanksgiving and Celebration to God for His Creation
- Meditation and Confession of Sin
- The Service of the Bread and the Cup
- The Message
For the opening celebration of God and is acts in creation, we used Happy Day, Forever, and Holy is The Lord. At the end of Holy is The Lord, we tagged the first verse and chorus of the hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth (not listed on the program notes). This was a great opening set. Musically, the band had a tight groove and the vocals were spot on. Spiritually, it opened up a time to praise God for all that He has done.
We moved into the Meditation and Confession of Sin section as the offering was collected by using this video (RSS subscribers, please click here for the full post with video):
After the video finished, I sang the two verses of Jesus Messiah by myself with just the acoustic guitar and some light pads in the background. Pastor Tommy then led a responsive reading of 1 Corinthians 11:22b-29 (NIV) [responsive reading text]. After a time to meditate on this scripture, with a light guitar in the background, we moved into a confession song with Give Us Clean Hands. This was followed by Praise the Father, Praise the Son, which was basically a vehicle to present the Lord’s Prayer. After reading the Lord’s Prayer together, we punctuated this section by returning to the bridge of Praise the Father, Praise the Son where it repeats the last line of the prayer: “Yours is the kingdom, Yours is the power, Yours is the glory forever!”
At this point in the service, Pastor Stan led in the distribution of the bread and cup as in our church’s tradition. While the elements were being served, we displayed this video (RSS subscribers, please click here for the full post with video):
The “amen” of the Lord’s Supper was Hillsongs’ Worthy is The Lamb. This started off a little rocky for me because of some monitoring issues, but it turned out to be a great moment of celebration and praise. All of these elements came together quite well and helped to launch the message titled, “A Great Salvation.”
We followed the message with Hillsongs’ Salvation is Here. I think some folks were surprised with an invitation song that began with a drum click off and a full groove band intro. But I think it was the perfect match to the ending of Pastor Stan’s message.
I personally felt like the service had an easy flow and a good balance of loud praise and quite meditation. For me, it was one of the more memorable Lord’s Supper services we have had at FBC Laurel.
Were you there? What did you think? Please share your feedback below.
Wanna see what other churches experienced in worship last weekend? Click over to my friend Fred McKinnon’s blog and browse around the other Sunday Setlists participants.
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:01 PM
The service yesterday was definitely a nice change! Having so many different types of worship going on was nice including upbeat music, private meditation and prayer, responsive reading, and hymns. I really enjoyed the dynamic.
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Just my thoughts!
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:23 PM
Ryan turned to me relatively soon before the Lord’s Supper began and asked if we weren’t being more reverant than usual. I agreed, and both of us liked/appreciated the change. Communion was _part_ of the service this time rather than just something we throw in once a quarter.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 PM
Great service yesteday on so many levels. I really felt God’s presence in a mighty way and felt all elements of the service were meaningful and relevant. I especially liked the time of quiet worship and prayer led by the acoustic instruments. It was different for us but something I have been striving for in my own worship time. Thanks, Bryan, for your hard work and time you put into making worship meaningful and relevant.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:37 AM
I loved the verses/graphics during reflection time. The visuals added a LOT. The single screen also gave it increased focus which was a strong change too. Lord’s Supper first, rocked because it didn’t break up the flow at the end.
Only comment is I see the world as __way__ stressed out right now. It’s good, I think not to be too heavy but also think some more scripture references would help deepen it. I’ve seen other churches add additional references in the notes on the bulletin, recommended reading from the church library as well, kind of covers it that way.
I really like it when Stan weaves in personal stories and relates the message back to decision time. I’m always getting something extra from that; lots of great stories and real experiences. I love the fact that you can tell he really feels what he is saying which is awesome for my generation.
Loved the addition of “for the beauty of the earth.” Don’t hesitate to do that again.
There is soooo much there in these old hymns… they are worth weaving in at the right times.
for his glory,