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Here’s a draft of the set list I plan to use this Sunday. It’s still subject to change and I will update the post to reflect that if necessary.

(E) Grace Like Rain
(E) What Can Wash Away My Sin
(E) God Of All Splendour
(E) How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

(G) Let Us Adore / (C) You Alone Are God *
(G) Saviour

(D) Thank You For Saving Me

* one or the other

I’ve been tagged by Joel over at CECWorship.  I’ve had a look through youtube and selected some of my favourite movie clips.

These clips may not be suitable for younger viewers or those of a nervous disposition.

Jaws: “You’re going to need a bigger boat…”
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9OnaZ8r3p8g]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: “I fart in your general direction…”
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=s7KwuFkYfno]

There’s a couple of clips I couldn’t find:

Starwars - Empire Strikes Back
Princess Leia Organa: “I love you.”
Han Solo: “I know.”

Flash Gordon
“Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!”

I haven’t tagged anyone, but if you are somehow inspired to do this, leave a comment - that’s as good as a tag anyway.

Mandy at BlendingWorship posted a very interesting question the other day - “Why do you lead worship?”

I wanted to respond to it, but couldn’t - not immediately anyway. I had to think about it for a day or two. Head over to the post to read my response along with many others.

[Edited to Top 10 only - 31 Aug 2007]

1-3 Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising.
  Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
  Play his praise on a grand piano!
  Invent your own new song to him;
  give him a trumpet fanfare.

4-5 For God’s Word is solid to the core;
  everything he makes is sound inside and out.
  He loves it when everything fits,
  when his world is in plumb-line true.
  Earth is drenched
  in God’s affectionate satisfaction.

6-7 The skies were made by God’s command;
  he breathed the word and the stars popped out.
  He scooped Sea into his jug,
  put Ocean in his keg.

8-9 Earth-creatures, bow before God;
  world-dwellers—down on your knees!
  Here’s why: he spoke and there it was,
  in place the moment he said so.

When I read that it made me smile…

(more…)

This is a question for my fellow worship bloggers (Mandy, Joel, Chris, Fred, Los, Billy, Victor, Jeff, and Conor) and anyone else who has adopted the term “Worship Confessional”. It is usually a way of giving an update on how things went. What songs worked, what songs didn’t, how people responded, etc.

Why is it called this? Who came up with the term?

This is a light-hearted post and not intended to be a jibe in any way. I’m curious, that’s all. This is how the word “Confessional” is defined in the dictionary:

con·fes·sion·al /kənˈfɛʃənl/ [kuhn-fesh-uh-nl]

–adjective

1.	of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or based on confession: confessional release.

–noun

2.	the place set apart for the hearing of confessions by a priest.

3.	French Furniture. a high, upholstered wing chair of the 18th century.

Let’s also look at the definition of “Confess”

con·fess /kənˈfɛs/ [kuhn-fes]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to acknowledge or avow (a fault, crime, misdeed, weakness, etc.) by way of revelation.

2.	to own or admit as true: I must confess that I haven’t read the book.

3.	to declare or acknowledge (one’s sins), esp. to God or a priest in order to obtain absolution.

4.	(of a priest) to hear the confession of (a person).

5.	to acknowledge one’s belief or faith in; declare adherence to.

6.	to reveal by circumstances.

–verb (used without object)

7.	to make confession; plead guilty; own: to confess to a crime.

8.	to make confession of sins, esp. to a priest.

9.	(of a priest) to hear confession.

Are the words confession/confessional too closely tied with admitting one’s wrong-doing rather than giving a nice update on what God did through the worship team?

I confess it’s a silly question really, but Let’s hear what you think!

This morning went very well even though we only had three people in the band - Peter on bass, Beverley on flute and myself on guitar & vocals. It somehow suited the mood of the morning.

We used the planned set right up to “Light Of The World”. During practice I decided we wouldn’t play “I Stand Amazed”. It just didn’t feel like it was fitting in with the rest of the set.

Before the service Hugh arrived with a couple of song requests. He had chosen the songs based on the content of the message he would be preaching.

The new song “God Of All Splendour” seemed to go down very well. Sometimes it can be tricky to introduce a new song so far into a set. It can interrupt what the Holy Spirit is doing - “the flow” of the service. This morning was good though, I think people just listened and soaked it up.

After Hugh had finished speaking we got up again and played the following songs as part of a response to the message. People came and bowed down at the front of church. We worshipped in God’s presence this morning. It was nice.

This is the song I will introduce to church tomorrow morning (lyrics + chords here).  My daughter Katie walked in while I was practising, so she ended up in a video for YouTube (beat that for cuteness guys…).  As you’ll see, she gets bored after a while and would rather play my Gamecube!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkYGZK_HOs]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxkYGZK_HOs

Here’s a normal boring version of the song as well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oekO6NjpYA]

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oekO6NjpYA

This week’s new song (for us) is God Of All Splendour (chords in a previous post). With it being a bank holiday weekend here, it looks like I’ll be without a drummer and a keyboard player tomorrow morning. Not to worry, we’ll do the best we can with what we’ve got!

Ideally I would like to start with “For Who You Are” and finish with “I Stand Amazed”. The songs marked ** are in the set should the band be asked to play for longer.

Steve Jobs perforated my eardrum and I’ve been in total agony all this week!