This Sunday had to be one of the most powerful communion services I have been a part of. When it started though I wasn’t sure if it would work at all. We celebrate communion on the third Sunday of every month. This week we had a retired pastor who was leading the communion part of the service. He had been a pastor for many years in the Methodist Church, and really liked using one of the old Services of Word and Table. We like to do different things, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the words I had thought he would be using, for the screens, were not quite the same as the book he was to be following. So 15 minutes before the service I was editing, typing, and changing. Then I wasn’t able to find it.
Lucky I have an awesome tech team and they were able to find the words, make the corrections and have everything ready to go by the time that Communion rolled around. Something tells me they did not hear much of the sermon. (Hey guys it will be online Tuesday).
Our first song was “Everywhere I Go” by Lincoln Brewster. Being a little hyped up from the word mix up just a few minutes earlier, my heart was racing, and so was the tempo. If you know the song, you know that it’s doing all you can to get the words spit out at the correct tempo. Knock it up a few beats per minute, and it’s nearly impossible.
During our announcements I was able to take a breath before we started “All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises”. I started the guitar as normal, band came in, vocals sounded good and we were off. But I settled in, and relaxed when I could hear voices inside my head. Yeah, some of you may think that’s normal, but these were the voices of the congregation singing such that I heard it through my headphones.
Then was our sermon “God Names us Before We Were Born” from Isaiah 49:1-7. Our Pastor talked about the importance of names, how God has a name for us, and how we are to be a light to the nations.
I am amazed but now not surprised now how things work out. I had moved our next song to the offertory from another slot to help with timing issues. The song “Salt and Light” fit right into what Danny had talked about in the message.
Usually after the offering we will sing a song to move us into communion, and “Here I Am to Worship” worked great. By this time I am playing with only one earbud in because I love listening to the congregations voices. Since Kerri Crocker was leading this one I could just play piano and listen. Almost forgot to play piano a few times.
Then came communion. We do communion a few different ways, at different times. Sometimes we will use the formal liturgy in our current hymnal. Sometimes the pastors will use a more informal communion liturgy, without the congregational responses etc. This time we used the order that I grew up with going to church as a child. It is written in more formal english, using some words that we no longer use, especially in a contemporary worship service.
We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: (Prayer of Humble Access 1662 Revision)
One might think that a 500 year old prayer would not fit well between songs written 5 or 10 years ago. And maybe for some it did not work. I can only speak for myself when I say that It was beautiful and powerful. It could have worked for many reasons. I think, though, that it worked well because it was different. The responses were not what the congregation was used to, so you had to pay attention, read the words, hear them again for the first time.
We sang “All I Need is You” and “We Fall Down” during the communion time. After an invitation we closed with a fast version of “Father of Lights”
Well, that’s how our Sunday went. Check out what other churches did on The Worship Community Sunday Setlists.
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