Here’s what was going on today at Highland Community Church during the nine o’clock hour:
Praise to the LORD the Almighty (D-E) [Neander]
Scripture Reading - Isaiah 41:1-10
Message – Habakkuk 1:5-11
Let My Words be Few (Gb) [Redman]
I Stand in Awe of You (Gb) [Altrogge]
Our Great GOD (Eb) [Ortega/Powell]
Let Your Kingdom Reign (Eb) [Brown/Brock]
Offering
Amazing Things (G) [Eckberg]
Announcements
Dismiss
Worship Team:
Jonathan David Eckberg – Guitar/Vocals
NOTES:
This was a busy week for me. My full-time job is as a cross-country and track coach at Greenville College (right down the road from Highland) and this week was the start of our season. All the athletes were moving in and then we all headed out of town for a few days of team bonding, training, preparation, etc. All of that to say, we were not able to practice as a band this week. So I thought that instead of us trying to throw things together, having to pick songs that we know but don’t go with the message as well, or just HOPING things work out well that I would take this week solo and do something a little different with the service. The timing really worked out well as the guys on the worship team had played the last several weeks straight so it was nice for them to have a week to relax, not have to worry about practice, and just enjoy being in the service as a part of the congregation. I think it’s important for that to happen once in a while, it gives people a chance to breathe and sit back and really take in what GOD is doing during the mornings while they are usually on stage. It also offers a different perspective on the role GOD allows you to play in the service when you see how the people of GOD are responding from in the middle of it – and this is constantly changing as people join the church, move away, struggle through hard times, and rejoice in victories TOGETHER.
Praise to the LORD the Almighty - We turned the lights most of the way down about 10 minutes before the service started and put the passage from today’s scripture reading (Isaiah 41:1-10) up on the screen as people walked in. It gave a meditative mood to the moments leading up to the service. Then I played the song in the standard arrangement. I built up from a light finger-picked pattern in the first verse to a heavy strum pattern with a key change (move from D to E) in the fourth verse. It gave a consistent build from start to finish. The only thing I did differently was to give a longer than normal intro to allow people a little extra time to read the scripture.
Message – Pastor Wise’s message focused on GOD’s response to Habakkuk in chapter 1. The point of the message was how great and awesome our GOD is and how we should never cease to be in awe of Him and all His works even when (especially when) we don't see or feel or understand them.
Let My Words be Few – I did a standard arrangement of the song as well. As soon as Pastor told me the gist of his message I knew this was the song that would follow the sermon. I love that this song essentially says, “Shut up and realize how awesome GOD is!” I’m a guy who does a lot of talking with GOD, I try to work out deals with him all the time, so for me, this is a perfect reminder that sometimes (let’s be honest, probably all the time) I need to forget what I want to see accomplished, think about the GOD I serve, do what he calls me to and let Him take care of the outcome through His power. GREAT SONG.
I Stand in Awe of You – This is the old standard from the late 80’s but the chorus was a wonderful fit for today. It’s so simply but so powerful – “I stand, I stand in awe of You – I stand, I stand in awe of You – Holy GOD to whom all praise is due – I stand in awe of You”. I came out of Let My Words be Few by repeating the chorus and then ran straight into the chorus of this song. We sang the chorus twice and repeated a third time a capella (the third time gave me time to throw my capo on for Our Great GOD without the awkward silence and string noise of stopping one song-changing capo-starting the next).
Our Great GOD – Another straightforward arrangement (I don’t feel like you can do anything too funky with a guitar/vocal arrangement without losing the congregation or just looking like you’re trying to show off – which also loses the congregation). I made a seamless transition from "I Stand in Awe of You" to this one. It was great to keep with the theme of the day but move off of our awe of GOD to the reason for that awe. I classify Our Great GOD as a modern hymn. It is so rich in theology and yet the chorus brings you back to “Hallelujah! Glory be to our great GOD!”. I LOVE singing this song.
Let Your Kingdom Reign – This is a “tag” type of song by Elevation Worship (Elevation Church - Charlotte, NC). It’s really just a chorus that is sung over and over again. The words are “GOD let Your kingdom reign – GOD let Your kingdom reign – Let all the earth proclaim – GOD, on the earth, let Your kingdom reign”. So for us we move from our awe of GOD to the greatness and power of his Name into a prayer for His good and perfect will to take over and to see His kingdom reign in our world.
Amazing Things – We introduced this song last week, it fit with this weeks overall theme as well. It was an extremely low key morning, which was a fun change from normal, but it was nice to pep things up a little bit with this last song before sending people out into their fields of ministry. I did tame the song down a little bit from last week, but that was for the fact that it was just me playing today, plus I didn’t want to overdo the transition from a relaxed set to a higher energy song.
To see what’s going on in churches across the country check out the Sunday Setlist at the worshipcommunity.com.
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