This post is part of Fred Mc Kinnon's Blog Carnival, Sunday Set List. We were down in numbers today. I saw a good many of our late service people come into our early service because they were travelling to family members for early Christmas celebrations. Just seemed down--and also in spirit. Very subdued crowd today. Judging against the "over flowing" prison service I attended yesterday, it made it seem like there was a funeral in the place. Engagement wasn't happening. Don't know what it was. Maybe the economy is worrying people. I didn't see joy in their faces. Even when we were singing about joy there was a discconect. I wish I had a mirror sometimes to let people see what I see when they are singing.
Set List
Prepare The Way (Darrell Evans)--2nd week for this one. The cool story is that @Darrellevans asked to follow me this week on Twitter. Cool!
Joy To The World--new Casting Crowns arr. Very good--straightforward but fresh. listen to it if you haven't already.
O Come All Ye Faithful --also new Casting Crowns arr. We'll keep these two for Christmas Eve.
Welcome
Advent Reading--John 1:1-6, 19-28. Our worship center is in three sections--so I broke the reading up into EAST, CENTER and WEST sections. Even pointed to EAST, CENTER and WEST and told them which section they were. My wife told me at lunch--I was confused! Oh boy if you can't communicate it to your spouse--you are in trouble.
Reprise of Prepare The Way ("Make ready your heart, make ready your home, make ready thte people of God"
Blessed Be Your Name (Redman) We do the Travis Cottrell arr. of this one... love it.
Mystery (Charlie Hall)-this one was requested by my pastor. He's fallen in love with this song. The phrase "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again" is part of the liturgy of the Great Thanksgiving which is in the Book of Common prayer and also a part of the liturgy of Walk To Emmaus. I was very familiar with this phrase and did this as a solo with Piano and percussion. I think it went ok.
Message--We're rapping up our series THE BIG PICTURE.
O Come O Come Emmanuel (carol)
Come and See (Lenny LeBlanc)--a favorite we've done for nearly 4 years now at Christmas.
I Exalt Thee (hadn't planned on this one--but when we stopped Come and See--the spirit said "Go on--and this is what came out."
So--how was your Sunday?
Posts
9 comments:
Nice set list Jim.
Really nice...
You had a great set as well. I'm noticing that our congregation are acting the same way. So take comfort in knowing it's not just you. We are in East Texas. Hometown of Adrian Peterson if you're into Viking football.
I hear you on the 'down' congregation. SA hasn't been hit as badly, but then we've had different kinds of financial difficulty for a while. And Christmas in our town this year is hard for many. There have been much lower catches of chokka (calamari) and many fishermen have been laid off. It's caused a lot of unhappiness and disruption, understandably.
Blessed Be Your Name is a brilliant song to include for times like these. And I love Come and See. The gentleness of it will woo folks who are struggling. Great set.
hey jim. thanks for stopping by!
looks like you guys did a few Christmas carols...we only did one yesterday, but I think we'll do two or three this coming Sunday.
good morning jim...thanks for the comments! "prepare the way" is a great opener...effective @ drawing people in.
in response to your question, by subtle, i mean very subtle:) we really didn't do anything else with the advent candle idea...we just wanted a way to still have the element of the candles incorporated in worship (we have a large group of "previously catholic" that respond well to that type of liturgy or tradition...we wanted to observe the advent season, but in a fresh way i guess:)
have a great week!
Thanks for the comment at Life of a Worshiper. On occassion I sing one or two songs with the keys but I did the entire service this time. It was incredible. Great setlist my friend!
Mystery is such a great song. I did my own version of Joy to the World. It's like an old Beatle's version. Cool set.
Great set this week. Is that an older DE tune or one from his newer album?
We all have weeks like this. I think your right the economy is a factor sometimes weather.
Post a Comment