Worship Resources for Sunday, February 28th
We encourage you to read and reflect on these scriptures, songs, notes, and prayers as we look forward to our time of worship together this coming Sunday.
Please print this guide or have it handy in digital format for use during the service.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Please join in on the bolded lines.
God touches the world, and the world changes.
God touches us, and we are transformed.
In the brightest of day, in the deepest of night,
on mountain, in valley, everywhere.
In this time, together, we invite God to open our eyes,
to His transformation taking place in our lives, here and now.
And in this renewal, we will worship Him.
MUSIC: OH OUR LORD
CCLI #6092289 | Paul Baloche, Leslie Jordan, and David Leonard © 2011
Performed by Emmaus Road Worship Team
MUSIC: PRAISE THE LORD YE HEAVENS
CCLI #7026992 | Eric J. Marshall © 2014
Performed by Emmaus Road Worship Team
CORPORATE PRAYER
Please join in on the bolded lines.
Almighty and merciful God, we confess that we have erred and strayed from your ways. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.
O Lord, have mercy upon us. Restore those who confess their faults, according to your promises declared to the world in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And grant, O merciful God, that we may live a holy, just, and humble life to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
MUSIC: THE NEARNESS OF YOU
Asher Seevinck, Dave Wilton © 2014
Performed by Emmaus Road Worship Team
WORD
Lamentations: Intro to Lament
Lamentations 1 (NLT)
INTRO
The book of Lamentations is a series of five lament poems written by an anonymous author in response to the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC.
During 1.5 years of warfare, suffering, and famine, the city was totally destroyed and the inhabitants taken to Babylon in exile.
The exile was, by far, the most horrific time in Israel’s history. It was nothing short of a national tragedy that meant the loss of comfort, security, and identity. In other words, Lamentations doesn’t exist in a vacuum. These poems emerge out of very real suffering.
THE VALUE OF LAMENT
Lament accomplishes at least three things:
- Lament is form of protest: Lament lets the world (and God) know that which is not right. To lament is to name the pain, suffering, or injustice in our lives and in the lives of others.
- Lament offers us a chance to express emotion: Lament offers us the opportunity to express anger, frustration, disappointment to God.
- Lament offers us a chance to express confusion: Few things cause us to question the foundation of life more than suffering. When we suffer we ask questions about God’s character, God’s existence, and how the world is set up to run.
These poems show us that biblical story doesn’t ignore suffering. In addition, these emotional poems give a sacred dignity to human suffering.
THE FIRST POEM
In the first poem, the city of Jerusalem is personified as a widow (“daughter of Zion”). Personification is popular in poetry because it helps to make intangible things more tangible.
The widow is simultaneously a sinful offender and a victim of sin. This incongruity points us to an important element we don’t often consider in American evangelicalism; how victims of sin experience sin.
“Traditional theology has emphasized one-sidedly the sin of all people, while ignoring the pain of the victim. Western concepts of sin lead us to feel guilty when we do something bad, but we often do not have the language of shame when we are sinned against.”
-Soong-Chan Rah, Prophetic Lament
We have language for when we are sinful. We even have language for the redemption and forgiveness of that sin. But, we have very little language to talk about the shame we feel when we are the victims of sin. Further, we don’t have language to talk about God’s redemptive work over our shame.
The value of lament is to sit, if only for a while, with the reality of our sin AND the results of when we’ve been sinned against (and also how our sin has affected others).
We do this so that we can invite God’s healing work of redemption in our lives. God’s work is to release us from the guilt of sin AND rescue us from our shame.
“We are too busy patting ourselves on the back over the problem-solving abilities of the triumphant American church to cry out to God in lament. But lament cannot and must not be ignored. In the biblical world, hope does not emerge from the act of recounting our successes. It is the desperate plea for God’s intervention that arises out of lament that reveals a flickering glimpse of hope.”
-Soong-Chan Rah, Prophetic Lament
TABLE
Prepare the elements of “bread” and “wine” for use as we gather around The Lord’s Table. These can be any items convenient around the home that symbolize these for you.
CONFESSION OF THE MYSTERY OF FAITH
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
As we pray together, we invite you to share your own requests and testimonies with us this week. If you have a request you can share it live in our video stream chat, or you may email us at emmausroadfc@gmail.com
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
and deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
BENEDICTION
You are invited to hold your hands out, palm-up as we receive this benediction.
Go now and celebrate wherever God’s name is honored.
When suffering comes, pray in faith.In times of joy, sing songs of praise.
Persevere in prayer and action to bring the fallen back to the truth.
And may God save you from all that would harm you;
May Christ Jesus heal you and raise you up;
and may the Holy Spirit anoint you
and give you peace with one another.We go in peace to love and serve the Lord.