Christian Liturgy 101: How One Church Worshiped On Orphan Sunday 2020

by Bobby Gilles

in Liturgy & Sermons

Welcome to Sojourn’s weekly worship music set list review & service recap. You’ll not only read a list of the songs we led, but also the readings and prayers from our liturgy. You can also watch the video stream of the whole service from our Facebook page or here below (you can also see a video of our sermon alone, from Vimeo).

Our liturgy is directed by Worship Director Justin Shaffer, in collaboration with our Creative Staff at Sojourn Church New Albany, our Liturgy writers, and worship staff at the other four Sojourn Collective churches in the Louisville area.

This Sunday Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Matthew 22:15-22 in our series Family Values. To learn more about Sojourn Church, click here.

November 8, 2020 – Jonah Sage – God Of Politics from Sojourn Collective on Vimeo.

CALL TO WORSHIP:   Liturgist

Good morning! Welcome sojourn! Hear the word of the Lord and let us respond by reading the underlined portions aloud together and singing!

When the righteous see God in action

they’ll laugh, they’ll sing,

they’ll laugh and sing for joy.

Sing hymns to God;

    all heaven, sing out;

clear the way for the coming of Cloud-Rider.

Enjoy God,

cheer when you see him!

5-6 Father of orphans,

    champion of widows,

        is God in his holy house.

God makes homes for the homeless,

leads prisoners to freedom,

but leaves rebels to rot in hell.

7-10 God, when you took the lead with your people,

when you marched out into the wild,

Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat;

God was on the march.

Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move,

at the sight of Israel’s God.

You pour out rain in buckets, O God;

thorn and cactus become an oasis

For your people to camp in and enjoy.

You set them up in business;

    they went from rags to riches.

-Psalm 68: 3-10 The Message

—Song 1: “Doxology – Abide” Key, Leader

INTERCESSORY PRAYER FOR ORPHANS:  

Dear Father, On this Orphan Sunday, we join with Your people across our country and beyond to pray for orphans.  

We know that love for these precious children begins not with us, but with You. You pursued us when we were wayward and alone. You adopted us as your children. You invite us to address you as Daddy and to live as Your sons and daughters. Truly, we love because You first loved us.  

You tell us also that You are near to the downtrodden and destitute. Your heart aches for children that face the world alone. You champion the cause of those who have no one else to take their side. And You call us to do the same.

So we pray that You would rouse us to share your heart. We ask that You would stir Your people to passion and vision and action on behalf of children that have no family.

We lift up to You the millions of children in the world who have lost their parents to disease, to war, to addiction, to poverty, to abandonment. As You promise to do, place the lonely in families. Be their defender, their provider, their hope and peace. Help us to do the same.

We pray also for the five hundred thousand children in our foster system in America. So often, they are bounced from home to home, knowing little love, consistency or true nurture. Please be their love, their consistency, their nurture. Help us to do the same.

We confess that we have often lived with little regard for these precious lives. Please forgive us. Lead us to take up their cause as a joyful response to Your great love for us.

As we do, we pray that You would use our humble response to transform. To transform the lives of countless orphans both physically and spiritually. To transform us as we encounter You in them. To transform Your Church as we lift our eyes beyond our own comfort and self-focused religion to live out the beauty of the Gospel. And finally, to transform a watching world as it catches glimpses of Your love made visible through the actions of Your people.

We commit all this to You, the One who is both our Father and a Father to the fatherless, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

—Song 2: “Heaven’s Kingdom is My Home” Key, Leader

ASSURANCE & GIVING: Liturgist

Hear the good news: 

…now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.                                                                                   -Romans 6:22-23 NLT

Let’s praise him for saving us from slavery to sin and into life with him! For adopting us as his sons and daughters.

—Song 3: “Refuge” Key, Leader

PASSING OF THE PEACE: Band Member

Let’s greet one another as those safe and secure with Jesus our King and our Refuge 🙂

 

——————————————   [SERMON & COMMUNION]   ——————————————-

 

—Song 4: “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” Key, Leader

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Reader

BENEDICTION:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

      creator of heaven and earth. 

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

      who was conceived by the Holy Spirit

      and born of the virgin Mary.

      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died, and was buried;

      he descended to hell.

      The third day he rose again from the dead.

      He ascended to heaven

      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

      From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. 

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the holy catholic* [or universal or “true christian”] church,

      the communion of saints,

      the forgiveness of sins,

      the resurrection of the body,

      and the life everlasting. Amen.

Go in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Peace be with you!

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