This week in Adult Sunday School we kicked off a new series. Our pastor wants to start looking at our worship set lists, during Sunday school, so that come time for the service, the congregation understands why we sing the songs we sing. In this series we are looking at things like “secular vs sacred”, “why we repeat sections in a song, and what the meaning is behind the songs we sing (hymns, choruses, and contemporary)
When the pastor told me this is what he wanted to do, I became very excited, because this is something very important to me, so it’s great for the congregation to be able to take part in such a study. I’m very excited for the weeks to come, as we look at the songs, today, acted as more of a “introduction” to the topic, next week we will be looking at the song Hallelujah (as done by Lincoln Brewster) and comparing it to the original by Rufus Wainwright, and discussing the idea of taking a secular song like Hallelujah (which really is all about sex) and turning it around to be something that can glorify God, an idea which will be interesting to see what the congregation has to say about it!
Anyways, with all that in mind, here is this weeks Sunday Setlist/Worship confessional:
Mighty to Save (key of A) – Hillsongs United
Grace Like Rain (key of Dm) – Todd Agnew
Doxology (key of D) – as done by David Crowder Band
All Creatures of Our God and King (key of D) – as done by David Crowder Band
Lord Let Your Glory Fall (key of D) – Matt Redman
During Communion:
Give Us Clean Hands (key of G) – Chris Tomlin
Heart of Worship (key of D) – Matt Redman
Before I started the worship set this morning, I talked to the congregation about our topic in Sunday School (because the whole congregation doesn’t attend) and I think that seemed to get people in tune with what we were doing.
We had a LOT of visitors today, as we live in “cottage country” so, the summer cottagers are starting to come out now. Summer time our church is always WAY over full, because we are generally full or close to it during the regular season, then, once the cottagers come out, it becomes a “sit on the lap of your neighbor” sort of deal (not literally)
It was great to see so many people out, and today you could visually see the congregation in a state of worship during the whole service, it was nice to see, because we don’t always get them, as some people are to worried about not knowing a song, or what effects are being used on the guitar (etc). I think the topic in Sunday school, and the preamble to the worship set, helped people to focus more, and not worry about the things they usually think about.
All in all, it was a great service! I was very encouraged, not just by God, but also the congregation. I got to play with my new Line 6 X3 Live today, and many people in the congregation came up afterwards and said “were you playing a different guitar, because it sounded great”… I was a little worried that people would be distracted by the display on the floor, but, no one said anything about it!
Here’s what I played through today.. I also ran my vox through it and added some delay to them as well.. it sounded great!
This post is a part of Fred McKinnon’s “Sunday Setlist” check it out here
Great idea on teaching a class inspired by the songs in the set-list for the day. I’m sure this will help connect people to what they’re singing and why they’re singing it.
I really like the idea of teaching people about the songs they will be singing in church. We are in a different setting where I can’t teach SS because we have back to back services, but it is something to think about!
I like your pedal boards – nice set-up.
A topic that’s close to all of our hearts. Let us know how it flows.. My blessings!
Like the SS class idea – I may suggest that on my pastor! I’m all for expanding the thought and themes behind songs and you really can’t do that sufficiently in the service and maintain a good flow. We did Mighty to Save this week – love that song! I sang Hallelujah for an offertory a while back – got great comments – and a few, “Hey, that’s the song from Shrek!”
Blessings!