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, and our Liturgy writing team (Rebekah Carroll, Ryan Marsh, and Lindsey Blair).
This Sunday Pastor Stephen Pierce preached from Genesis 2:18-25 in our series Sacred. Deacon Sarah Ash was our Lector.
—Prelude: “O Great is Our God” (The Sing Team) Key, Rick
CALL TO WORSHIP: Liturgist
Themes: God’s Glory and our humanity are found in our unified diversity.
Good morning and welcome! The Triune God has placed us right here, where we are, in this particular place, at this specific time. The abundance and beauty that we see in creation, and in the people around us, proclaim His greatness! He is magnificent and worthy of blessing and honor and all of our praise. Hear these words, and read the underline portions with me:
What a wildly wonderful world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.
Oh, look—the deep, wide sea,
brimming with fish past counting,
sardines and sharks and salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
All the creatures look expectantly to you
to give them their meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
you open your hand and they eat from it.
If you turned your back,
they’d die in a minute—
Take back your Spirit and they die,
revert to original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to life—
the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.
The glory of God—let it last forever!
Let God enjoy his creation!
He takes one look at earth and triggers an earthquake,
points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt.
Oh, let me sing to God all my life long,
sing hymns to my God as long as I live!
Oh, let my song please him;
I’m so pleased to be singing to God.
Oh my soul, bless God! Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b The Message
Let’s lift our voices together in praise to our God and Creator, who loves us with unconditional and abundant love.
—Song 2: “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord O My Soul)” Key, Kim
CONFESSION/LAMENT: Band Member
Lord, you have said that it is not good for man or woman to be alone, and have given us the beautiful gift of brothers and sisters in community, yet we have taken this precious gift of community for granted. Hear these words from 1 John, and then I invite you to pray and read the underline portions with me.
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? God has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
1 John 4:20-21 NLT
For the times that we have been unfaithful to our covenant with you and one another,
Forgive us, Lord
For the times that we have turned our backs on our brothers and sisters in need
Forgive us, Lord
For the times that we have served our own self-interest instead of serving you and your people,
Forgive us, Lord
For the times that we have not loved our neighbor as you have commanded,
Forgive us, Lord
Gracious God, forgive us. And bring us back into the fullness and beauty of our covenant with you and one another. May we receive and experience your perfect love, so that we may truly love others.
—Song 3: “O My Soul, Arise ” Key, Kim
ASSURANCE & GIVING: Liturgist
On this side of heaven, the realities of the brokenness of the world are ever before us, yet we are not without hope! God is doing a mighty work in His Church, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. We are no longer wandering exiles and strangers, we are family.
“For Christ himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Ephesians 2: 14-22 NIV
—Song 4: “Solid Rock (My Hope is Built)” Key, Rick
PEACE: Band Member
Church Family, God has given us peace through Christ, so that we may have peace with one another. In gratitude for that great gift, let us share God’s peace with one another.
—————————————— [SERMON & COMMUNION] ——————————————-
—Song 5: “Raise Our Song” Key, Ryan
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Reader
—Song 6: or “Bind us Together” “Doxology” Key, Ryan
BENEDICTION: Liturgist
Jesus’s prayer and longing for his Church was that we would be one, together, unified, and indivisible. Extend your hands and receive these words from Jesus:
“My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one–I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Go now, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
John 17: 20-23