Sunday Setlist 07-05-09

This entry is part of the “blog carnival” going on at Fred McKinnon’s site.
You should check it out and submit an entry about your Sunday service whether you were a leader or an attender.

Here’s our list from this past Sunday with comments to follow.

Orchestral Prelude – America The Beautiful
Welcome / Announcements – Shawn
Presentation of The Colors – Marine Corp League
Pledge of Allegiance / The Star Spangled Banner
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Prayer / Fellowship – Bro. Steve
Down At The Cross - Hymn, done with a southern, off-beat feel.
Ministry In Song: Glorious – Children’s Choir, with Praise & Worship Choir backup on Chorus
God of This City - 2nd Time we’ve done this one. I could see a real difference in those who worshipped and those who just thought it was yet another repetitive chorus.
Agnus Dei
Offertory Prayer
Choir Special – The Battle Hymn Of The Republic - 1st, 4th, and 5th, verses. Very worshipful
Transitional Chorus: God Bless America
Message: Bro. Steve
Invitation: I Have Decided To Follow Jesus
Closing Chorus: God Bless America

Sunday was part of Independence Day Weekend. We have an AM service followed by a festival in the evening with fireworks, bouncy thing for the kids, and lots of food and music. There were a bunch of conversations going on online last week about the use of patriotic songs in worship services. For our church I felt it would be best to include some of those elements as part of our worship. While I understand the argument that the worship hour should be used for only worship related things, we do spend time telling jokes or making announcements. And those things are not necessarily strictly worshipful. So I don’t feel that it’s inappropriate to recite the pledge of allegiance to our flag which is a symbol of our “One Nation Under God.” Plus we have many Veterans in our mostly senior adult congregation, so it was a worshipful service to some of them.

I’ve mentioned before that we strive to have a blended service. This often means that no one is completely happy with the music. This was evidenced by the comments I heard about Sunday morning’s service….

- Someone rolling their eyes - Seen while singing the traditional hymn “Down At The Cross” . From 30-something female.

- “That was a perfect choice of songs. I really worshipped today. Thanks.” From a 40-something female.

- “I was with a group of ladies who were complaining that we don’t do any Baptist Hymns like we grew up with anymore. I asked them if any of them had talked to you about it. They said they didn’t feel comfortable doing so. So, I told them I’d talk to you.” From a 70-something female.

- “You are doing such a great job mixing the styles of music and teaching us new songs. Keep it up. You’re the best worship leader we’ve ever had here.” From a 60 something male. (I was humbled by this compliment, but also wondered if he’d forgotten to take some medication that day. Clearly his judgement was impaired.)

So here’s my thought on this, and I have to quote the great Bill Cosby….
“I don’t know the key to success. But the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

I think I'm just going to keep doing what I feel God is telling me to do.