The Goco Worship Packet
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1 Foreword Worship is our response to God for all that He is. It’s not just singing; ultimately, it’s a lifestyle. In worship, we obey God, adore Him, confess our sins to Him, sit silently in awe of Him, and express our thanks to Him. In fact, in the Old Testament, the most common word for worship is shachah, which literally means “to lie prostrate” before God. When the people of the Bible encountered God, they were typically so filled with fear and awe that all they could do was bow before Him in worship. Our culture has made worship into singing songs of praise along with a U2-sounding rock band with great lights behind them. While I love this style of worship and there’s nothing wrong with it, there’s more to worship than just this. Missional Communities offer a fantastic opportunity to worship God in ways different from our typical Sunday worship gatherings. My goal in compiling this packet is to provide you with some simple ideas to help your community cultivate a healthy worshipping life out where you live, work, and have friends. Healthy roots lead to healthy fruits; coming into God’s presence on a regular basis helps fuel and sustain the mission to which your community is called. I realize that not every community will have a musician, so most of these ideas are geared toward coming into God’s presence without music (keep in mind that a Missional Community is a great place to allow an up-and-coming worship leader to gain experience, though!). Each idea is broken down into three sections that make up the abbreviation PMI (not the evil mortgage type!): • Purpose • Materials • Instructions This means that nearly everything you will need to pull off these ideas is listed. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that these are just ideas. They weren’t all written to be taken literally—please tweak them and adjust them to fit your context. Feel free to add to, subtract from, and branch off of these ideas. In fact, if you come up with an idea that is sparked from this packet (or create a new one entirely), please let me know so I can keep adding to the list—I’d like to increase the number of ideas here! My prayer is that many people will engage with God as a result of these ideas and that He will receive all the glory and honor. Andrew Berg Worship Director, RiverTree Christian Church [email protected] *We’ve recorded some instrumental background music for the ideas in this book. You can download them for free at: http://www.rivertreechristian.com/go-communities/resources/gocomp3s/ Or you can stream them for free at: https://soundcloud.com/andrew-david-berg 2 Table of Contents •Adoration (Reverence & Awe)…..…………………………………….………..………………………….………………….…………………….4 ›Adoration of the Lamb…..………………..….……………………………….…………………………………………………………..................5 ›Nighttime Adoration…..……………..……………………………………………………….…………….………………………………………….…7 ›The Creator of Creation…..…………………………………………………..…………………….…………………………………………………..8 •Commission (Sending Out!)…………………………………………………………..…………….…………………………….…………………..9 ›Candlelight Commissioning…..…………………………….………………………………………………………….……………………………..10 ›Names of God…………..…………………….………………………………………………………………………….......................................11 ›Prayer of Commission…..…………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………..……12 ›Sending Spoons..…………..…..…….………….………………………………………………………………..……………………………………...14 •Consummation (Face to Face with God Including Confession)……….…….………..………..……………………....15 ›Cleansing Confession…..…………………………….………………………………………………….……………………….……………………..16 ›Connecting with God (From the Perspective of Elijah)……………………..……………….……………………………………………...17 ›Connecting with God in the Silence…………….………………………………………………….…………………………….………………..18 ›Face to Face—Broken Praise…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………..19 ›Hands Up, Hands Down…..…………………………….………………………………………………………….………………………………...20 ›High/Low………………………..…………………………….………………………………………………………….…………………..................21 ›Idol Confession…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………….22 ›Perspective…………….…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..………………………………..24 ›Psalm 32 Confession…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..………………………………...25 ›Trust and Obey Responsive Reading..…..……………………………………………………………………..…………………..................26 •Exaltation (Praise & Thanksgiving)………………………..…….………………………...………………………..…………………………27 ›Amazing Grace…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….28 ›Balloon Praise…..………………………………….….………………………………………………………………..……………….………………..30 ›Breath Prayers as Communion…………..………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...32 ›Eight Expressions of Praise…..……………………………………………………………………………………………….…..…………………..33 ›Post-it® Praise…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………..34 ›Share Your Skittles®…….…………………….………………………………………………………………..…………………….………………….35 ›Thanksgivings…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………..36 •Reflection (Who God Is).…..…………………………………………………………………………………….…..……………………………….37 ›All About the Ebenezer…..………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………..38 ›Alphabet Attributes…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..…………………………………..40 ›Birds of a Feather……..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..………………….……………….41 ›Communion…..…………………………………….………………………………………………………………..………………………………….…42 ›Promises of God…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..………………………………………43 ›S.O.A.P…………..…..…………………………….………………………………………………………………..……………………………………...45 ›The Daily Examen……….…..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...46 ›The Lord’s Prayer.……….…..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...47 ›Turn Your Heart to God…..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...48 •Holidays…..…………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………..…..………………………………..49 ›New Year’s Day: End-of-Year Examen………………………….……………………………………………..…………………………………50 ›John Newton’s New Year’s Reflection: Amazing Grace…..….….…..…………………………………………………………………….53 ›Maundy Thursday Experience……………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………..55 ›Good Friday: Carry Your Cross…..……………………………………..………………………………………..………………………………..56 ›Easter: Lint Roller Confession…..………………………………….……………………………………………..………………………………...57 ›Thanksgiving…..……………………….………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...58 ›Christmas: The Consolation of Israel…..……………………………………..………………………………..………………………………...59 ›Christmas: One Solitary Life…..……………………………………….…………………………………………..………………………………..61 •Others…..……………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………..………..………………………………..62 ›ACTS Prayer Beads………….………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...63 ›Global Prayer……….………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………...…………………..65 ›Honesty Nametags..……….……………………………………………………………………………………………….………..…………………..66 ›PRESS…..……………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………...67 ›Rembrandt’s Storm…………..………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..…………………..69 ›Snickers® Satisfies…...………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………….……………….71 ›Three-On-Three…..………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………….…………………72 ›Twister® Worship…..………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………..….…73 ›Write Your Own Psalm…..……….……………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………….743 *Some of these may fit into more than one category. Adoration: Reverence & Awe ›Adoration of the Lamb ›Nighttime Adoration ›The Creator of Creation 4 Adoration of the Passover Lamb Purpose: To meditate on the idea of Jesus being the lamb who was sacrificed for our sin. Materials: The teaching/scripture sheet (see next page). Instructions: Have folks silently read and meditate through the teaching/scripture page on the next page.* Then, instruct them to look at the photo of the lamb as a symbol of the pure, spotless, innocent sacrifice of Christ. Allow some space for silence. To conclude, sing “Revelation Song” together (play from an iPod or have a musically inclined individual lead the song) with an emphasis on adoring Christ as our lamb. *Or, you could have them break up into small groups and read through the passages and discuss the concepts. Sometimes a group context allows for greater learning. If you choose the small group route, consider the following questions for the small group leaders to ask: 1) What does it mean to you that God “passes over” you because of Jesus’ sacrifice for you? 2) How do you want to respond in reading the Revelation passages? Courtesy of Andrew Berg 5 Our Passover Lamb Old Testament Exodus 12 recounts the story of the Passover lamb, in which each household was to sacrifice a lamb, spreading its blood on their doorposts in order to be “passed over” by the Lord when He sent His judgment. Later, the sacrificial system of the Old Testament required an animal without any blemish or spot to be sacrificed to God as a means of forgiveness of sin or as an offering of worship or devotion. New Testament The New Testament portrays the sacrificial system as being fulfilled in one sacrifice for all – Jesus. He came as our Passover lamb. He was “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19) and is the only sacrifice necessary for a restored relationship with God: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7) Upon seeing Jesus for the first time, John the Baptist proclaimed: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) And finally, the picture John gives in Revelation is as follows: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne […] In a loud voice they all sang, "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom