That’s All I Want…Jan 20th

A friend of mine shared a GREAT idea about posting the order of worship for members of the congregation and prospective worship leaders.  This simple use of the world wide web will allow those interested to get a glimpse of what’s coming up for Sunday morning.  Nice idea, and one I think will benefit those who what to learn about the songs we’ll be singing on Sunday.  This post will reflect this past Sunday morning (January 20th).  Be looking for the next few weeks as we’ll be posting the order of worship by Friday or Saturday before Sunday…

Sunday morning, January 20, 2013

Robert Oglesby has been the pulpit preacher at Waterview church of Christ since February, 1963.  Yes, in a few short days he and his family will be celebrating 50 years as the preacher for this solid congregation in the Kingdom of God.  Our sermon topic on Sunday was titled, “That’s All I Want”.  Our scripture basis was the 23rd Psalm, so our hymn selection was almost a given.  The following is an account of our order of worship and all song numbers are from the hymnal, Songs of Faith & Praise.

“We Will Glorify” – 578

A great song that praises our God and King; beautiful way to set our minds on worship.

“The Lord’s My Shepherd” – 134

The music for this popular arrangement dates back to 1854.  All six verse of the 23rd Psalm can be sung in this song.  This is a perfect example of Ephesians 5:19 “…speaking to one another in PSALMS and hymns and spiritual songs”

“Hear Me When I Call” – no book

This has become perhaps my favorite of all Tillit S. Teddlie songs.  Certainly one that asks for our God to hear our call and ‘attend unto my prayer.’  What better way to describe my weakness than to request that our Lord, ‘…hold my trembling hand, lest helpless I should fall.”

“We Have an Anchor” – 467

The question is asked by those who sing, “Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?”  In other words, how are you doing in your relationship with God?  We echo in response…”We HAVE AN ANCHOR!”

“I Need Thee Every Hour” – 837

This song of prayer serves as our invitation on Sunday morning.  Would that we all come to understand and truly say, “I need Thee, O I need Thee…”

“I’d Rather Have Jesus” – 581

Singing the first verse this song you are stating that you prefer (would rather have) Jesus over the riches of this world.  More than houses or lands…do you really?  Would your wallet agree?  Take a look at your bank statement if you want to see if you really believe this song.

“I Love the Lord” – 359

Penned in my life time (1970), this song by Tommy Wheeler makes the statement that proclaims our love for God.  We sing “I love the Lord”, but why?  You know and you sing, “…on Calvary His dear life He freely gave…that I might live some day with Him on high.”

“The Lord My Shepherd Is” -126

Like song #134, the music for this arrangement was in the mid 1800’s, but when Isaac Watt’s penned this psalm, he followed the poetry in the message from the shepherd/king David. An affirmation of who my Shepherd is…the Lord.  And knowing that…what else could I want?

At Waterview church of Christ we use a screen to project all our songs.  This allows faces to be up (out of the book) and voices to be projected forward.  All songs on the screen are accompanied with the sheet music for those who will sing 4-part harmony.  In a world that seems to be getting faster and faster, and schedules that we tend to pack to over flow, let me admonish you to be careful and not push Jesus out of your life.  You and I both know that with Him in our life and when Christ is first, we can honestly say…That’s all I need!

Doing Chores…Part One

Having grown up on a farm I can clearly remember when it was time  to do the chores.  Each day we had some very specific chores. 

During the 1970’s in  a rural, farming community it was not uncommon for us to have chores that dominated our day.  The cow had to be milked and the pigs had to be fed every morning and every evening.  The eggs had to be gathered each night.  Weeding the garden and cleaning out the animal’s pens was not weird, nor was it punishment, it was our norm.  There was no option of ‘skipping out’ on the responsibility to feed the animals and taking care of them.  If a chore was shirked and we chose to do something else, the price to pay would be staggering.  Our breakfast in the morning consisted of the eggs we gathered the night before.  The 2 gallons of milk we collected daily would feed our family of six (four growing boys) daily.  The vegetables we grew in the garden would be canned or preserved for the winter months.  We did our chores because we knew there would be consequences if we didn’t obey.  But we also did our chores because our parents cared for us, and we loved our parents.  You see, our chores were important to our survival.

But before we go much further you need to know that with all the animals we had to care for, we never owned sheep.  Chickens, cattle, hogs and even an occasional horse or two, but never sheep.  And as I understand them, sheep are very precarious when it comes to raising them.  Some even say they’re stupid animals.  Again, having never raised sheep I’m not speaking from direct experience, but from what sheep farmers and those who raise sheep have told me.  Those who tend sheep know that the responsibility to care for them is intensified.  Sheep challenge your resolve when it comes to feeding them, watering them and shearing them.  Much less keeping them alive.

But have you ever noticed that the Bible calls followers of Christ ‘sheep’?  Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you out as SHEEP…” and Matthew 25:33, “and He will put the SHEEP on His right, and the goats on the left…” and Matthew 26:31, “I will strike down the Shepherd, and the SHEEP of the flock will be scattered…”  And no doubt you’ll remember the 23rd Psalm as it refers to us as sheep and the Lord as our Shepherd.  “The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.”

There is a connection between doing chores and the idea that we are sheep and Christ is our Shepherd!  Perhaps you can see the connection between doing God’s work (doing our chores) and the need to take care of the sheep when you look deeper into God’s Word.  From a Biblical point of view, the world is not in the safety of the fold.  And God calls His people (the sheep) with the help of the Shepherd (Jesus) to bring a lost people home.  (The cattle are out of the pen; there’s a fox in the hen house; there are chores to be done.)  Take out your Bible and read I Peter 2:25; “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to your Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” 

Next time we’ll see how to make sense of this comparison…being like a sheep, and tending the sheep.  There are always chores to be done.  We will look at a song (not a surprise) that addresses this responsibility and obligation to work in the fold.  Stay tune as we continue to look at ‘doing chores’.  Let’s work together.