I contributed 5 of the 20 worship outlines in this book.
Sent to Serve
I am still trying to figure out the best way to get these complete gatherings up on this site. What I have done is given you the outline followed by a more detailed description of each element. The links in the outline are to external files such as PDF files for the and stations and the video file for the opening. If you have any suggestions on how to make this work more smoothly please let me know. The Italic parts of this outline are just little bits of info about how the element worked or didn't work for us.
Sent to Serve
The Basic Outline:
I ntro: Feet Washing video
Chorus Set One: The Happy Song; Come, Now is the Time to Worship
Chorus Set Two: Agnus Dei; Give us clean hands
Less on from Scripture: Healed by going
Transition Statement: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?”
Dramatic Reading: “Will you serve me in love”
Transition Statement: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?”
Foot washing reading: John 13:1-17
Time of commitment: Foot Washing Station; Blindfold Station; Art Wall; Worship CD’s playing; Water video.
Closing song: Take Me (Jason Elam)
The Details:
Setting: Your basic worship setting. You will need to set up the worship stations as well. (More description of those later) So you will need space around the edges of your room. We draped each of the stations in black fabric and set candles out around the room. We set candles up for the guitar guy to see his chords as well as at each station. The overall feel was mellow, not solemn, just sort of subdued.
Intro: Our worship room is separate from our opening game/greeting room. So we played the video as students came in and found their seats. I didn't give them any special instructions before coming in I just let the funky sounds of the video speak. At first the students were a little talkative, but they were all in their seats at about 1 minute into the video, and then they just sort of sat and waited. Which was cool.
Just a note on the video: All of the pictures I have found at various places on the web. According to copyright laws from what I understand you can "display individual works of a non-sequential nature during services at a house of worship or other religious assembly." (section 110) The original art in this video comes from emergentvillage.org and Cornelius Monsma. I emailed them and asked what they felt about using their art in this project and the were cool with it. I would encourage you to go to their sites and look around.
The song is "Jesu Grant Me This I Pray" by Abbess. You can find more of their music along with this song for download at MP3.com I have fallen in love with this song and this type of music. In the deep south of the U.S. you don't hear it much, so it gave the opening an almost otherworldly feel. The lyrics don't really match out theme, but it fit anyway.
Chorus Set One: This can be any chorus that your band knows or you have access too. I wanted to do the Happy song because I was trying to convey the message that just because we were having and experiential worship gathering it didn't have to be somber all the time.
Lectio Divina: This is one of those ancient traditions that I know very little about other than a few things that I read on the web, but being such a lover of words both written and spoken and of the artistry of the scriptures themselves, I can't believe I have never heard of this before. The way that we used it was just as a way to meditate on the scriptures. I chose Isaiah 6 because of the call of Isaiah at the end, but also because it is just an awesome piece of scripture filled with wonderful imagery. If I could be at any Biblical event this was make my top 5. You can check it out here. Before we started I did give a brief description of Lectio Divina.
I was surprised at how well the students responded to this element. I was also surprised at how much it effected me. I almost have this passage memorized, but it really came alive to me during this time. This was the most meaningful part of the evening for me.
One note about reading by candlelight. It is sometimes hard to read a Bible by candlelight. I have found that the easiest way it to print the text on white paper. Then hold the paper so the light shines through it. If you try to hold the page where the light shines on the top it rarely works.
Choruses Set Two: Once again do what will fit best into your setting.
Lesson from Scripture: Tell the Story from John 9:1-7 in your own words. Stress how the healing came not while the guy was stationary, but in the journey. Sometimes we are made new only when follow God's direction. We are healed when we go to serve.
I didn't present this like a sermon. There was no joke at the beginning to break the ice, I didn't ask them to turn in their Bibles (they don't bring them anyway, but that is another headache) I just began like I was telling a story, just adding the teaching time as one more layer on the whole worship gathers. It wasn't a separate entity, but rather a part of the whole picture.
When I was looking where I wanted to go with the whole foot washing thing I was looking through the gospels from when Jesus' feet are anointed by women. As I was turning pages this washing caught my eye, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I strongly felt that God had pointed me to that place.
Transition Statement: This was said as a cue for my readers to take their places. Also to continue to tie in the reading from earlier.
Dramatic Reading: Will You Serve Me in Love During the transitional statement the readers went to positions around the group. My room is small enough that they didn't need microphones. I contemplated just having them voiced over the microphone, by one reader, and with music playing in the background, but in the end I went with the simplest solution and it worked out great.
I was trying to find something other than my voice to give examples of how they could serve in love. I spent half the day trying to think of a good way, and then I sat down and prayed about it. Before I could finish journaling my prayer I had written a rough outline of this reading. I should have gone to God first.
Foot Washing Reading: If foot-washing is an established tradition in your church you may not need to read this. For us this was a first time thing. I simply gave a little background to John 13 and read the text. Then I said.
The Stations: From that reading I transitioned into the station explanations. I said something close to this:
God is calling us to be cured of our blindness, to go to the place called sent and serve each other. As we work together to Go and reach out we must be humble enough to be served and we must serve others.
Tonight as an act of commitment you are going to have an opportunity to serve and be served in a symbolic way.
In the back we will be a place where we will be washing feet. If you would commit to going and serving others I would ask that you quietly and reverently go back there and be served by one of your peers. Then I would ask that once your feet have been washed for you to serve the next person by washing their feet.
Some of you still feel trapped by your blindness. If you would like you can come up here and follow the instructions to symbolically let God heal your blindness.
We won’t all be able to be everywhere at the same time. Feel free to worship as you choose in your seats or find places to kneel around the room.
As always our art and prayer wall is open.
This is your time to connect with God, and your opportunity to commit to serve.
Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
Those are somewhat complicated instructions, and the sad thing is I didn't say them that well. I am still learning the balance between enough and too much information when opening the floor for personal worship.
The Foot Washing Station:
I set a low table in the back of the room covered with black fabric (I actually took tables out of the 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School room they are the perfect height) On it was a cluster of candles and a stack of towels. On either side of the table was a chair that the washee sat in. The washer would kneel and dip water from a bowl on the floor. I assigned students to be the first washers, and I had an adult there to make sure things didn't get too out of hand.
Once the washee was washed he would take the place of the washer and wash the next person's feet. That way each person would get a chance to serve and be served.
The Blindfold station:
I set a low table (stolen from the children again) covered with black fabric in the front of the room off to one side. On the table was a grouping of candles, some blindfolds (black strips of cloth) some silver Sharpies that will write on dark surfaces (I found them at Wal-Mart, but paint pens will do), and the instructions. Off to the side I placed a trash can. You can print the .pdf instructions to copy (you won't need many as they won't take them) or you can make you own. Here is what I wrote.
Once was blind...
We all have things in our lives that blind us spiritually. For you it may be jealousy, or lust, or fear. You may have doubts about who God is or why you should serve Him. You may wonder why you should respond to his call to go. You may think that you aren’t good enough or smart enough or pretty enough for God to use you.
Whatever it is that has made you blind write it on this blindfold. Then place the blindfold over your eyes as you pray. Ask God to heal you. Know this, he may heal you by sending you out. Like the blind man in John 9, he may heal you by telling you to go.
After you have prayed listen to what God has to say to you. If he calls you to go then respond to him. After you have prayed and listen to God. Throw your blindfold away as a reminder that once you were blind, but now you see.
I toyed with the idea of having them nail their blindfolds to a cross, but ultimately time kept me from it.
The Art Wall
Every week we have a large piece of poster-board up on one wall. It is a place where students can journal their prayers or create pieces of "worship art"
The Video and Music
During this worship time I played the video "Living Water " on the Highway Video Vibe Video Volume One disk. I turned the sound all the way down and just let the images play. I played CD's of worship choruses played (I set my CD player to play a series of quiet worship songs)
Closing
Close with a favorite slow chorus
I hope this can help you. I know that everything I do comes from God. So I feel like I have to pass it on to you. Please pray about this and modify it to best fit your situation. Remember, the main focus is always on helping people draw closer to God. When worship becomes a gimmick it is worthless. Always use these creative ideas as a means to an end. The main goal is worship. Everything else is just a tool.
