Sunday Setlist / 9.5.10

Here's a look at the setlist for the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church:

Let Your Glory Shine [D] (Brewster)

            Welcome & Announcements

            Offering

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee [G] (lyrics: van Dyke/ music: Beethoven)

You Are So Good to Me [G] (Pasely/Chaffer/Pasely)

            Scripture Reading - Isaiah 53:1-11

Mighty is the Power of the Cross [C] (Tomlin)

            Communion

            Message - Habakkuk 2:2-20

Give Us Clean Hands [G] (Hall)

            Dismiss

Let Your Glory Shine [D] (Brewster)

Worship Team:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Joe Szoke - Bass
Aaron McDaniel - Lead Guitar


Notes:
We've had a couple weeks at church without the band.  I lead with just me and my acoustic two weeks ago and last week we did a combined service with our more traditional and more contemporary services meshing, so it stays pretty low-key.  It was a nice break for all of us, but we were itching to get back into the swing of things and that's what we did.  I think this marks the first time since I've been at HCC that we haven't had an acoustic guitar in the mix.  Kinda strange but lots of fun.  I did play an acoustic-ish part on "Give Us Clean Hands", as I ran my Fender Tele through a Boss AC-2 (an acoustic simulator).  If you listen to it even remotely critically you KNOW it's not an acoustic guitar, but the feel is close enough to pass in a pinch.

The Songs:
Let Your Glory Shine - This Lincoln Brewster tune is a full-force rocker.  The band LOVES playing this song.  We use it as an opener because it's one of those tunes that gets people up and singing and brings a ton of energy into the service right off the bat.  The end of the second verse of the song says "Your love won't be shaken / You're taking who I am and making / something out of nothing for Your cause" into the chorus of "Let Your glory shine through me!"  What an astounding truth.  It reminds me of 2 Cor. 4:7, of how when left to ourselves we are nothing more than fragile, weak, worthless pieces of earth, but we are allowed to carry the all-surpassing power of GOD within our hearts.  With this power we are able to shine with His light in a dark age.  Seriously, how cool is that?

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee - We followed the traditional melody of this song, but we REALLY pushed the tempo and gave it a hopped-up-pop-rock feel to keep the energy up as came out of the time of worshiping GOD by giving back, financially, what He has blessed us with.  Pastor Wise asked to have the worship set move more toward the communion service than the message this week.  "Let Your Glory Shine" was a great way to focus on that.  It's a song that highlights the power of GOD and the ministry He allows us to participate in.  We then move to "Joyful, Joyful...", which again highlights GOD's great power, but moves from it's effect on us to simply marveling at who He is and what He has done in the world around us.  It's really a song that celebrates common grace.

You Are So Good to Me - We floated seamlessly into this song from "Joyful, Joyful...".  We did a version of this song last month that was much more driven and a little funkier than any version I've ever heard recorded and got a great response from the congregation on it.  This Sunday was the perfect time to trot that version back out.  As we came out of a song on common grace, we rolled straight into a more focused song that speaks of saving grace.  This song tells of what GOD has done in the life of the believer and the love that overflows in our hearts because of the love He first showed us.

Mighty is the Power of the Cross - Musically we did a different take on this one.  We kept it very open with lots of space.  I ran my electric through a heavy chorus, lots of delay, and added some tremolo for good measure.  I just played a slow arpeggiated pattern and the rest of the guys played sparse parts and gave it an ethereal quality.  It turned out to be a cool sounding tune.  The scripture reading (Isaiah 53:1-11) focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the blood shed for my sins.  After spending the previous several minutes of the service focused on GOD's power, His boundless grace and love, how that grace and love is poured out in our lives, and the goodness of GOD, it was fitting to bring it all back to the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Everything in our lives, good, bad, happy, sad, funny, and tragic, must always come back to the work accomplished on the Cross.  It is the focal point of who we are and what we believe.  It is where the price for our rebellion was paid once-for-all.  Without it, nothing in our lives matters.  Without the Cross it doesn't matter whether we are great people who help everyone and pour out the greatest acts of kindess on others or we are, quite literally, the worst person on the face of the earth - without the Cross we end in the same place, Hell.  Our communion service is a time to stop and consider the gravity of Christ's sacrifice and to consider if we really believe what his blood accomplished.

Message - Habakkuk 2:2-20

Give Us Clean Hands - I wasn't sure if I had picked the right song as the response this week.  Pastor told me he would be speaking on the wickedness of Babylon and how similar their culture was to the culture we live in today.  This left me a little unsure what direction to take, but this was definitely a Holy Spirit driven choice.  It worked perfectly with the message.  The song asks for clean hands, pure hearts, and a love for GOD alone.  It's a cry for the strength to be a generation that seeks the face of GOD and lays down the idols that we have raised around us.

That was our Sunday.  To see how others congregations around the world worshipped GOD today, you can check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.