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 Travis McGowen preached from Genesis 1:1-25 in our series Sacred. Kristin Paine was our Lector.
September 19, 2021 – Travis McGowen – God’s Sacred Handiwork from Sojourn Collective on Vimeo.
—Prelude: “Lord, You’re Mighty” Key, Leader
CALL TO WORSHIP: Liturgist
Themes: God’s goodness, beauty, majesty, and love revealed in creation
Good morning and welcome! We gather to worship a God who created the heavens, the earth, and the sea, a God who created the 8.7 million species of animals that we know of on this earth, who created the estimated one hundred billion – or more – stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone, who created the two trillion galaxies that are in the humanly observable universe. A God who made you and loves you far more than any of the other things He created. He created you – bearing His image – to exist in this time and place right now, to have a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. Let’s hear what Psalm 8 says about our God:
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants
to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
and all who oppose you.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
-Psalm 8 NLT
Let’s sing, as we marvel at our wonderful God.
—Song 2: “God of Wonders” Key, Leader
CONFESSION/LAMENT: Band Member
Hear the words of the psalmist:
Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
Psalm 139:7-16 The Message
Since God made you, knows you, and loves you, you don’t have to run or hide from him. In fact, as the psalmist says, we’re always in God’s sight. Let that be a comfort to your soul, that your creator is always watching out for you, whether it be in the brightest day or the darkest night. Instead of attempting to avoid God – to run and escape his sight – let’s come openly, bringing everything to him: our worries and anxieties, our sin and shame, anything we’re tempted to try keeping in the dark. Bring it to our loving God now as we pray quietly.
—Song 3: “You Hem Me In” Key, Leader
ASSURANCE & GIVING: Liturgist
Let these words that the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah bring you assurance and comfort:
Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
Isaiah 43:1b-4 The Message
What a great and loving God we serve. We’ve been redeemed by Jesus because God loves us! And that’s worth singing about! Amen?!
—Song 4: “How Great Thou Art” Key, Leader
PEACE: Band Member
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.
-Ephesians 2:14
Great each other now in the peace Christ has brought us.
—————————————— [SERMON & COMMUNION] ——————————————-
—Song 5: “For the Beauty of the Earth Key, Leader
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Reader
—Song 6: “Doxology” Key, Leader
BENEDICTION: Liturgist
May the light of the Creator shine upon you.
May the Word of Christ call to you.
May the Spirit of God inspire you.