Worship Pre-Fessional – Sunday, March 16, 2008

For the first time since I’ve been at OBC we’re doing a Palm Sunday service. In previous years we’ve started a new series on Easter Sunday but the way the calendar works this year means that we’re doing a two-week series called “Why It Matters” this week and next. On Sunday we’ll look at the crucifixion and talking about why it matters. Next week will be all about the resurrection and the impact that has on every aspect of our lives.

Making this service work from a worship standpoint is a little tricky – we want to be celebrating the triumphal entry of Christ and giving people an opportunity to remember that while also talking about the crucifixion the redeeming work of Christ on the cross.

Here’s our outline -

Sunday, March 9, 2008 – “Why It Matters”
The Cross – Redemption
Hosanna – Paul Baloche – F
Crown Him With Many Crowns – D
Our God Reigns – Leonard Smith – A
Meet & Greet/Announcements/Prayer/Offering
You Gave Your Life Away – Paul Baloche & Kathryn Scott – G
Jesus Paid It All – Trad & Kristian Stanfill – Bb
Message
You Gave Your Life Away

I’m excited about Sunday and praying that there would be people who would come to an understanding of what God has done for them through the cross. I’ll talk through three things specifically -

1. We’re going to “intro” Palm Sunday right at the beginning of the service. We’re going to tell the story of the triumphal entry but also talk about some of the historical, prophetic significance of what was happening. I’ve found some great articles online this week that give some Old Testament context to this particular part of the story. I’ll try and post my blurb next week. I think doing this will be another good way to call our people to worship and will also help to place us inside the story for that morning. This is one of those events on the church calendar that becomes very familiar and it can be easy to lose the power and the significance of what is going on.

2. “You Gave” is a new song for us so we’re going to play it during the offering and then close the service with it. The lyrics of the song basically  tell the story of where we’re going on Sunday so it’s going to be very helpful. Remember – the songs are tools to facilitate worship so use the best tools you can!

3. I’ve talked a few times about how we’ve been using click tracks and it’s going really well so far. We’re going to go one step further on Sunday and use the Igniter Track for “Jesus Paid It All” – I’m pretty excited about that and seeing how our congregation will respond to it.