Project Title

  • Nick_Santostefano
  • Oct. 23, 2008
  • Comments (13)

Special Worship Night Coming Up!

What is worship? In our lives as Christians... what is the significance of raising hands, closing eyes, and singing songs? When was the last time you left a church service and discussed the worship as much as you discussed the sermon? And I don't mean, "hey was that a Hillsong song? Or was it Matt Redman?" "I really liked how we played 'Wondrous Love' differently at the 4PM service." -- I mean actually discussed the act of worshiping.

But yet, in the 90 minutes we are at St Paul's on a given Sunday... roughly HALF of that time is spent in worship. But why do we never talk about it? It is a calling upon every Christian life to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23). And there are many ways of worshiping. For instance, the Bible says to honor your father and mother... so, the act of taking out the trash for my mom is technically worship... Then there's tithing... Tithing a portion of our income to the church is a sacrificial act of praise. But musical praise and worship has the ability to inspire... to uplift... to make you smile for no freaking reason as you lift your hands and sway like a pendulum in the presence of strangers and friends... It can also make you bow your head in the overwhelming presence and stillness of God Almighty...

Well, I feel it is so important to take time to recognize the roll praise and worship plays in our spiritual lives. These aren't just songs we are singing... It's not just music we are playing... This is a sacrifice of praise to our LIVING GOD. Over the next few weeks I will be organizing the first of what will hopefully become many worship nights at St. Paul's. A night to come together as a church body and worship the one true God. But I need your help. I need musicians, I need prayer team members, I need baristas, I need sound crew members... But most importantly I need people willing to surrender everything... That is the thing about worship... it is surrender... It is a selfless act devoted to the overwhelming thankfulness that we have for all of God's mercy and grace and providence.

My plan is to have the first worship night be Thursday, Nov 20th from 7-9pm. Here's a rough outline of what the night will be like: There will be an opening song followed by a 10 to 15 minute talk/sermon on worship. Then we will enter into a 30 minute time of worship and prayer. At the end of this time, we will break for coffee and snacks (cuz hey, a nourished soul is a worshipful soul right?). Then, we will close out the night with another 20-30 minutes of worship.

So what do you think? Are you interested in helping serve? Do you have any suggestions?

Comments

  • I think it sounds great, in fact I'll bring a bsnack for the night probably choc chip cookies or something sweet.

    Jenn | Thu 23 Oct 2008

  • one of the best ideas ive heard in a while :)

    Chelsea | Thu 23 Oct 2008

  • Awesome, Im totally in. I think its great to have some time to dedicated to just sit in worship every once in a while. I also think the timing is great. As we are getting pretty busy around St. Paul's it will be good to take some time to just chill with God.

    Jason Aronne | Thu 23 Oct 2008

  • I think that sounds incredible - timing isn't great for me personally but for those who can attend it will be a refreshing and refocusing evening. At my home church we called them 'concerts of prayer' and it was simply amazing worship with interludes of silent and shared prayer for about an 2 hours. I've done them actually around the world (well ok, Panama, Baltimore, West Virginia, Virginia, and CT-not quite around the world)and treasure the time and complete focus in God's presence as well as fellowship in worship. Looking forward to more evenings like that!

    Daron | Thu 23 Oct 2008

  • Great Idea!!! I'm there!

    Shannon | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Thanks for the comments everybody! I'm very excited to get this up and running. Now I just need to work on the logistical side of things, haha. I hope to see as many of you there as can make it!

    Nick_Santostefano | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Count one tech in for the night :) It'd be awesome to get this driving hard to a monthly or even a weekly thing! Great thought!

    Evan | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Couple of issues, concerns. First, from your post it seems that your definition of WORSHIP is restricted to the music portion of the service. I think that is contrary to Rick Warrens definition that we all studied in the 40 days of Purpose,

    Second, the ACTS team rehearses on Thursday nights from 6:30-9:00. We use the lower cafe and, at times, the chapel.

    Ken Buch | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Nick - outstanding idea and I can't wait. Please count me in and assign me whatever you need me to do. A once / month "soaking" in worship - awesome idea.

    PattiM | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Hey Nick

    I am really excited that you are doing this. Craig Dinsmore led a few of these nights when he was here in our "early days" and they were some of the most significant things we did.

    I am also excited and encouraged by the positive feedback.

    Worship is such an amazing thing... and complex! Really, our whole lives are worship. I love giving people chances to be stretched in how they worship and stretched by God in their worship.

    While musical worship is one aspect of it, it is pretty significant part (though I actually think preaching/hearing God's word, communion, etc, is also part of worship... so I think we do spend 90 minutes in worship in our services... lol). I am excited for what you have planned and will be there.

    Thanks for leading the charge on this!

    Ben

    Ben Dubow | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Hey Ken! Excellent points.

    First off, the date and time are still very much up in the air. I want it to be that week but as for the specific day, it wouldn't matter to me. So, thank you for bringing it to my attention that there is already a conflict. Haha.

    And, as far as your first issue is concerned, this night is not really going to be about the definition of worship. Worship, in general, is such a multi-faceted part of our faith that it would be hard to hit all aspects in one night! haha. The worship night I have planned will definitely focus solely on the musical side of praise and worship but not because I feel or want to convey that it is the only side of worship or the best side of worship or the most important aspect of worship. The main reasons for this night are that there has been interest within groups of people I have talked to at St Paul's to have a night devoted to musical praise and worship and that, compared to the amount of time we are in the act, we spend very little time talking, learning or thinking about musical praise.

    I am DEFINITELY not an authority on the subject, haha... but I feel that one of the keys to developing a good worshipful heart is to spend time in musical praise and worship. As I said, these aren't just songs we are singing to God... This is a very intimate part of our relationship with the Father and, aside from the 45 minutes we spend worshiping on a Sunday... it's rarely focused on.

    Also, it's just really fun and refreshing to spend time in prayer and worship.

    Nick_Santostefano | Fri 24 Oct 2008

  • Hi Nick,

    Sorry to come across so critical, just fulfilling my self appointed role as resident curmudgeon.

    If it is not Tuesday (our small group) or Thursday (ACTS rehearsal) I'll try to join you.

    Ken

    Ken Buch | Sat 25 Oct 2008

  • Just a quick update... It iwll actually be Friday, Nov 21st.

    Nick_Santostefano | Tue 28 Oct 2008

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