[LITURGY] Thankfulness, Praise, and Love

Intro: Hey South Bend City Church, Mariah here – the Director of Art and Worship. We’re so glad that you chose to join us today, and we’re so grateful that you’re a part of our community. Today is a liturgy episode of the podcast, and so we’ll have the chance to tap in to the liturgy that we entered into this past weekend. This liturgy is centered on the Revised Common Lectionary, and this week we focused ourselves on the themes of thankfulness, of love, and of praise. Thank you so much for joining us. Let’s jump in with the rest of our community now.

I Thank God by Maverick City Music
Verse 1
Wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide
This weary soul, this bag of bones
And I try with all my might, but I just can’t win the fight
I’m slowly drifting, a vagabond

Pre-Chorus
And just when I ran out of road
I met a man I didn’t know
And He told me that I was not alone

Chorus
He picked me up, He turned me around
He placed my feet on solid ground
I thank the Father, I thank the Savior
Because He healed my heart, He changed my name
Forever free, I’m not the same
I thank the Father, I thank the Savior
I thank God

Verse 2
I cannot deny what I see, got no choice but to believe
My doubts are burning like ashеs in the wind
So, so long to my old friends, burden and bitterness
You can just keep it moving, nah, you ain’t welcome here

Pre-Chorus
Chorus (x2)

Mariah: Amen. So this morning our liturgy is gonna center around a tool called the Revised Common Lectionary. And for those of you that may not have heard this before, the Lectionary is just a schedule of scriptures and prayers that churches from all around the world tap into. So today, as we share in some of these passages, we’ll be sharing in it with people that are in communities just like ours and they’re tapping in and reading these words and reflecting on these words together. So we’re gonna read two of these and one of them’s from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, then we’re gonna sing some songs together around those themes and those ideas.

And so right now, just wanna take a couple deep breaths. I want us to try to disengage our minds and our bodies from the things that are outside of this space right now. As best as we can, I want us to take a couple deep breaths and focus our minds, our bodies, our souls in the here and now as we enter into these next few moments. And during these readings, as you see italicized words on the screen, those are the points where I’ll ask you to join me in reading, but let’s enter into this time together, a full-bodied as a community.

Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
“O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name, let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually. Praise the Lord.”

10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman
Chorus
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul, worship God’s holy Name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy Name.

Verse 1
The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning;
It’s time to sing Your song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me,
Let me be singing when the evening comes.

Chorus

Verse 2
You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger,
Your Name is great and Your heart is kind;
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing,
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.

Chorus

Verse 3
And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near and my time has come;
Still my soul sings Your praise unending,
Ten thousand years and then forevermore.

Chorus (x2)

Tag (x2)
I’ll worship Your holy Name.

Romans 8:26-39
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because She intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

(Together)
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to love’s purpose.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus our Lord.”

How He Loves by John Mark McMillan
Chorus (x2)
How he loves us, oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us, oh how He loves

Verse 1
He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

Pre-Chorus
Oh how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so

Verse 1
Pre-Chorus
Chorus (x2)

Verse 2
We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way that
He loves us

Chorus (x2)

Mariah: So God today I ask that we’re able to look around in this world that seems like it’s falling apart and that we would find moments or people or things that bring light and joy and life to us. That we would see those things and name them, that we would put that joy and life and light back into the world.