Isaiah 58: A Sunday Setlist

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival for October 24, 2010.

Our church has a ministry to the poor and disenfranchised in Nashville.  It’s called Isaiah 58.  One of our outreaches is a lunch on Sundays after our regular assemblies.  Unofficially, we call this our “4th service.”  A while back, they asked us worship leaders if we could help out with some music.  I did this yesterday, for the first time.

It’s an interesting venue in a few ways.   Lyrics aren’t projected and the folks aren’t taught or expected to sing.  Basically, we play music while the people come in the door, register, get their name tags, and have a seat at the table.  They socialize, they rest, they roll cigarettes, they read the paper.

My wife said it like this:  “You worship for them.”  Yeah, I think so.  Like Aaron and Hur held Moses’ hands up when he couldn’t on his own, we worship for them.

I like non-traditional settings for worship.  It provides an opportunity to experiment and do songs that you might not be able to do in “churchy-church.”  We sang “Shelter” and “My City of Ruins.”  Both songs are about finding redemption during trying times.  “Shelter” is by Maria McKee and Steve Van Zandt from the 80s rock band Lone Justice.   “My City of Ruins” is by Bruce Springsteen.

I recruited my friends Julie and Brenda.  Julie sings harmonies and Brenda plays all sorts of eclectic wind instruments (e.g. penny whistle, recorders, Indian flute).  We played for about 45 minutes.  Here’s what we did:

• Enter In (Casey McGinty)
• You’re Worthy of My Praise (David Ruis)
• Your Word (How Firm a Foundation) (Still, Riggs, Henning)
• Spring Up O Well (Jonathan Riggs)
• I Know That My Redeemer Lives (PD, arr. Riggs)
• Shelter (McKee and Van Zandt)
• Forever and a Day (Anthony Skinner)
• I Love Your Presence (Clark, Lane)
• My City of Ruins (Bruce Springsteen)

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival for October 24, 2010.

Our church has a ministry to the poor and disenfranchised in Nashville.  It’s called Isaiah 58.  One of our outreaches is a lunch on Sundays after our regular assemblies.  Unofficially, we call this our “4th service.”  A while back, they asked us worship leaders if we could help out with some music.  I did this yesterday, for the first time.

It’s an interesting venue in a few ways.   Lyrics aren’t projected and the folks aren’t taught or expected to sing.  Basically, we play music while the people come in the door, register, get their name tags, and have a seat at the table.  They socialize, they rest, they roll cigarettes, they read the paper.

My wife said it like this:  “You worship for them.”  Yeah, I think so.  Like Aaron and Hur held Moses’ hands up when he couldn’t on his own, we worship for them.

I like non-traditional settings for worship.  It provides an opportunity to experiment and do songs that you might not be able to do in “churchy-church.”  We sang “Shelter” and “My City of Ruins.”  Both songs are about finding redemption during trying times.  “Shelter” is by Maria McKee and Steve Van Zandt from the 80s rock band Lone Justice.   “My City of Ruins” is by Bruce Springsteen.

I recruited my friends Julie and Brenda.  Julie sings harmonies and Brenda plays all sorts of eclectic wind instruments (e.g. penny whistle, recorders, Indian flute).  We played for about 45 minutes.  Here’s what we did:

• Enter In (Casey McGinty)
• You’re Worthy of My Praise (David Ruis)
• Your Word (How Firm a Foundation) (Still, Riggs, Henning)
• Spring Up O Well (Jonathan Riggs)
• I Know That My Redeemer Lives (PD, arr. Riggs)
• Shelter (McKee and Van Zandt)
• Forever and a Day (Anthony Skinner)
• I Love Your Presence (Clark, Lane)
• My City of Ruins (Bruce Springsteen)