One Sunday into Lent, how are things going? How was worship yesterday? Was the atmosphere what you hoped? Did the liturgy work well with the music and the proclamation?
What are you thinking for this week? We have the name-changing covenant to work with this week, and of course the different kind of name-changing conversation between Jesus and Peter. Paul reminds us to have faith in the promise (after all, Abraham was “as good as dead” and he believed…). The psalm reminds us to praise the God who keeps his promise (to borrow a phrase from a John Bell hymn titled “God it Was”)–the promise will endure so long that those yet unborn will also hear it.
What word or phrase will is catching your imagination this week? What image or word is to be the seed of your liturgical expression? Put those ideas–even if they’re just a word, just three words, or a whole prayer!–in the comments so we can create together!
For me, yesterday was okay. The music was the downer of the day – the hymns I picked were a bit too downbeat overall, and there wasn’t anything particularly uplifting. This is what happens when you start with “What Wondrous Love” and end with “Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery.” The words fit with the mindset of the day, but the music just wasn’t quite right!
Looking ahead, I’m leaning toward using the psalm and the gospel. There’s something about that Mark text that just demands to be preached – it sets up the season and journey for the days ahead so beautifully. I haven’t gotten to music yet…
We had a really fantastic morning in terms of mood and music. We opened with Come Host of Heaven’s High Dwelling Place (to St. Columba) and closed with The Love Of God Comes Close (to Love Unknown), and in the midst of the sermon we had two Carrie Newcomer songs. Any day with Carrie Newcomer songs is a good day.
The liturgy I wrote for this Lenten series seems to have worked well…I may make a few tweaks before this week, we’ll see.
We’re off lectionary this week, working on John 1:35-39, where Jesus asks “what are you looking for?” and says “Come and see.” The theme of the week is “I see, I hear, I learn” (in Latin–“audio, video, disco” LOL). I can’t remember what we decided to sing, but I’m certainly open to suggestion!
The John Bell hymn I mentioned in the post can be found in either the green Iona Abbey Music Book or in Love From Below. I’m pretty sure it’s an 8787D text so if you don’t like the tune (we use it without trouble) it’s easy to switch to something more familiar.