Sunday Setlist - August 21

It took me a couple of days to get around to writing this week's recap, firstly because I've been busy with the start of a new term at the school I work at, and secondly because the service itself blew me away. Let's start with the setlist:

Opening Song:

Beautiful One (Hughes)(D)

Main Set:

Everlasting God (Brown)(G)
Glory to God Forever (Beeching/Fee)(A)
God of this City (Bleakly/Boyd/Comfort/Jordan/Kernighan/McCann)(A)
Healer (Guglielmucci)(E)

Offering:

Let it Rise (Davis)(E)

Step 1: Assemble the setlist at the last minute with way less thought and prayer than usual
Step 2: Have a disasterous rehearsal
Step 3: Press it down, shake it together
Step 4: Watch the Holy Spirit go BOOM!

My rig this week

That's pretty much how it went. Everything kind of pivoted on "Everlasting God" this week. Brenton's song had been running through my head all week like an earworm that won't go away. Every quiet moment, every pause in conversation, every time I was alone with my thoughts: "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord..." What was God telling me?

Rehearsal was an unmitigated mess. We couldn't get "Beautiful One" to sound like anything other than a cacaphony of instruments. We couldn't find a good key for Laura to sing "God of this City." I couldn't get a tone I liked on anything. Finally I said "Let's just start over." We deconstructed "Beautiful One" and came at it from another direction, which worked. We moved "Everlasting God" from pre-service to the first song. Things were looking up.

When I look back at the four songs in the main set, though, I realize how connected they are. Each speaks about God manifesting His strength in a different way. "You're the defender of the weak. You comfort those in need..." "Before the world was made, before You spoke it to be, you were the King of Kings, yeah you were..." "You're the God of this city, You're the King of these people, you're the Lord of this nation..." "Nothing is impossible for You, You hold the world in your hands..."

I've rarely felt so connected to worship and so led by the Spirt that I did Sunday morning, and the congregation responded. From the first note they were plugged in and raising hands. And it was good...

Sunday night we had our monthly united service with other local churches, down at Lighthouse Fellowship Church. After a great time of testimonies, song and worship, I closed out the service leading "Everlasting God" - wow, what a response! The room overflowed with joyful voices.