Filed under: Deeper Service Outline
Start of a new season under the title Renovation. During this season of six meetings we will be looking at ways of renovating our heart, our life and our spirit. We must desire our heavenly Father to shape our hearts and mould them to be after him; to take our lives and rebuild them into wholeness; to gather up our broken fragments and, like the artist who pieces together a mosaic, make them into something that is beautiful.
Tonight was the start of this process of looking at what is going on inside us so that we can better resemble Jesus. Using a number of passages from the old and new testament Gordon and Jenny demonstrated ways in which God wants to change our hearts, our inmost being, from stone to flesh and how Jesus brought these promises to us and it wasn’t just promises for ancient Israel.
During the service a heart shape was tiled onto a board at the front. During the worship set that followed the talky bit everyone had the opportunity to take a tile, write on it and smash the tile as a symbolic step of getting rid of the hardened heart we all have. There was also an opportunity for prayer ministry.
Resources:
Second of a short group of three services under the title of Monsters, where we are tackling difficult topics of Envy, Anger and Greed. Three areas that are often hidden Monsters inside us that we hide from each other and often deny even to ourselves.
To open, Lorna shared a story of a monster from her nightmares when growing up, then Gordon reminded us of the point of the series and what was covered last time. 
After a short video montage showing scenes of anger from various movies JJ asked people to discuss a little about these clips, then led us through a series of searching questions to open up the topic of anger.
Gordon and Jenny then led the next section – download mp3 here
The with an invite for prayer ministry the main sung worship section began. Here’s a note of the set list:
- Blessed be the name
- It’s our confession
- You chose the cross
- Holy God
- God in my living
- O taste and see
- Who is like you
- Let the weak say
Visualists: we try to change the visual set up, images used and the way we mix regularly. This month we used two verticle drapes with projectors placed close and low to skew the image in a deliberatly distorted manner. The same image was used on all three screens with the words overlayed on the centre (fast-fold) screen only. We have been using GrandVJ from ArKaos for video mixing for some time now which among other things gives the visual team much more flexability and control over upto 8 layers of video to mix live.
First of a short group of three services under the title of Monsters, where we will be tackling difficult topics of Envy, Anger and Greed. Three areas that are often hidden Monsters inside us that we hide from each other and often deny even to ourselves.
After a short introduction JJ lead us through some readings and quotes about the topic of envy (slides available here) and asking people to share in groups their thoughts and examples of this. This was followed by an example of the world portrayal of Envy using the Nicklback video for Rockstar. Gordon followed this by giving away an ipod and showing us that our issues of envy isn’t really with the people that are blessed – our issue is with the person who gave out the blessings and didn’t give them to us…
Dan 4:35, 1 Chron 29:12
Jenny then followed this with by telling us that as God’s children, we’re called to be like our Father. The bible says God is love… and has this to say about love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” 1 Cor. 13:4-6
We cannot love if we have envy lurking in our hearts. So how can we root it out?
- Embrace the truth that we think God owes us….
- Confess our envy to somebody….
- Make it your habit to celebrate the success of others….
Celebration cleanses our hearts of envy, so we then moved into a time of celebration and prayer ministry.
There was a break during the sung worship for a second short meditation led by JJ on the topic of celebration – slides available here.
The first part of the service was recorded and the mp3 is available from the St Silas web pages. More photos here.
Taking a seasonal break from the Organic Faith series we took the opportunity to have a time of reflecting on Christmas. We were continuing to use the side drape as an entrance way / secondary stage:
the drape is raised to let people in at the side (so that people don’t just fill up the back of the church), then droped when the service starts and the back opened up for latecomers – so if you’ve never noticed this you are always late!- then because this is fairly clear, and to mix things up a little the main talk comes from this side area with the speaker standing right beside their ppt/images.
- in addition, this month we then set up a response station for people to do something.
What happened this month:
- opening time of worship (with fairly laid back minimal visuals for each song) – O little Town, O come o come Emanuel, This is the realm of your glory, O come let us adore him, O come all ye faithful
- then Jenny spoke from the side area (mp3 available) making the point that the known universe is “a little bit huge”, leading to a reading from John 1 (the video of which failed – sorry), and then unpacking this to show that Jesus was the word that created the entire universe and that the power capable of doing all that became the tiny human baby. Jesus was sent to earth and did all that had to be done for us to be reconciled with God…. there’s more, listen to the mp3
- Ian read the story Father and Son by Geraldine McCaughrean
- as a time of reflection we played a CD track “Joseph Lullaby” by Mercyme with a video of a baby sleeping in a cot
- Jenny wrapped up this section and laid out the options for the rest of the meeting,
- to join in the worship
- to take time out to visit the responsive station (see below)
- to take the opportunity for prayer ministry which was available in an area to one side of the church
closing worship set was- Silent Night, Light of the world, Your grace is enough, Hark the herald angle sing, Joy to the world
The responsive station was set up behind where Jenny had spoken from (right hand side of church) and the screen was raised again to show this. It was a simple nativity scene (using the Russian dolls we have had as a theme this Christmas) with full size, a hay filled manger in front of it and some candles either side. In the manger also contained gold coloured stars with messages attached of Isaiah 9:6. People were asked to, if and when they felt like it, come and kneel before this to reflect on what had been said and to take a star as a reminder to them.
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Filed under: Deeper Service Outline | Tags: Deeper, st silas, stsials, worship
The second in the series Organic Faith Putting Down Roots
if you are just looking for…
- the handout (pdf)
- bible notes handout (pdf)
- the sermon (mp3)
- this month’s survey: www.stsilas.org.uk/deeper-survey2
| What happened this month:The setup of the building was dark, a welcome screen as people entered, cushions (and blankets!) but also more chairs than we normally leave out and these were arranged to get people into groups. Again, we played some tracks by The Blind Boys of Alabama prior to the start as it went down well last month.
To start we faded the lights, music and played the opening purpose made video which sets the scene for the meeting, shows where it sits in the series and now also summaries the story so far. Then Jenny and Gordon both summarized what the plan for the organic faith series was and posed a question for people to discuss in groups – the responses from the groups were then txt’d to the team and fedback on screen. Using this feedback, the results from last month’s survey and a video diary made by one of the team, Jenny spoke about Putting down roots with the emphasis on being intentional about what you do in your devotional time. This talk also involved lots of practical tasks for individuals and in the groups, specifically we gave people the opportunity to try different ways of doing devotionals -
A recording of the talk including the group work is online. There was then a time of sung worship and prayer ministry in repose to what was learned and any commitments made. An important part of this series to help those who are interested to put into practice the ideas presented each month. If you would like to be involved in this email deeper@stsilas.org.uk with the subject=subscribe to receive one or two emails each month to help with this. |
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First of a new series about Organic Faith Breaking the Ground.
if you are just looking for…
| What happened this month:
The setup of the building was dark, a welcome screen as people entered, cushions (and blankets!) thrown around the main space, two sheets draped either side of the main screen back lit to brighten the place up (and because of a projector fault that stopped us using more video). We played some old time gospel music by The Blind Boys of Alabama because it would contrast with the other music later in the evening (and also as a nod towards getting back to basics). We have struggled in the past with how to set up the space and how to help people get into the right frame of mind – asking for silence, starting worship early, etc. never seemed to make a difference as people would simply come in and chat. So, how did playing loud Gospel music work?To start we faded the lights, music and video which was looping, and played an opening theme video which was made for this series of Deepers. This video will be added to each month to remind people of where in the series we are and what it is all about. This led directly into the opening worship set. Gordon’s talk to launch this series (available here on mp3) included a reminder of the talk from the last Deeper service illustration where aspects of our life (love, joy, peace, etc) were symbolically hung on a tree and asking why so many people are dissatisfied with their faith. He asked us to think about how we are feeling about our faith life right now and where we want to be with God. At this point JJ took over to lead a short period of reflective meditation. Where is my heart just now, what are the things I’m thinking about and wrestling with? To round off this time, Gordon questioned whether there should be more to faith that what we are experiencing and challenged us to rediscover our relationship with Jesus (pointing out that this will take time – there are not quick, instant answers): “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12 As a response to this, we invited all those present to take part in this journey with us, by giving us their email addresses… |
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For information on how to take part, sign up to the email updates and do the survery see the next post of this blog.
Filed under: Deeper Service Outline | Tags: "fruit of the spirit", Deeper, forgivness, st silas
(or the one that was too bright for the screen)
| This was the first of two Deepers based around a booklet “The Important of Forgiveness” by John Arnott. In this first meeting we touched on the things that are the root of our sense of unforginess and bitterness – therefore ‘Bitter Roots’Entering the church people worked there way through a short ‘mini-Labyrinth’ on the theme of Fruit of the Spirit. This comprised printed material to read, rolling presentations on a couple of screens, some music and some recorded readings (looped mp3s), as follows:
3 Peace – we played a loop of “May The God Of Hope” from this CD 5 kindness – made an mp3 of a reading 9 Self control – made an mp3 of a reading In the main area we played general chill/ambient music till most people had cleared the labyrinth area then after a short introduction we started with this video presenting the Fruit of the Spirit. This was followed by some sung worship, before Jenny spoke on the topic – mp3 download - after this was an extended ministry set of sung worship and prayer ministry. At the end of the service we had copies of “The Important of Forgiveness” by John Arnott available for sale, some may still be availab on Sunday 25th, and we would highly recommend reading through this short book before next month’s Deeper. ( To try to save time later we set up the big screen rather than the normal ‘fast-fold’ screen. This turned out to be a msitake as there was too much day light still around during the service so the screen was difficult to see. Sorry about that!) |
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MP3 of talky bit |
One reason this blog exists is to generate comment and discussion, so please let us know what you thought of this Deeper service, all feedback, suggestions and constructive crticism welcome.
Filed under: Deeper Service Outline | Tags: Deeper, glasgow, st silas, stsilas, worship
(or the one with the party food)
| With so much going on this week (start of Holy Week) and a ‘different’ end to the meeting we had to open with Notices. Then the lights were brought down and a backlit cross image shown on all screens – we hired in and set up extra screens for this month, more details later. So, we opened with the cross on the screens and some classical music. Then some scripture was read to move this from the cross the the resurrection while the images changed from the cross to a sunrise video and the mood of the music lifted.Gordon then preached about the Resurrection and what it means to us now – mp3 here.We then wanted a ‘party mood’ to celebrate the resurrection. Firstly this was an upbeat time of worship and this was why we had all the extra screens to build the mood and create a bit of a club like atmosphere. This also guided the images used which were faster paced than what we typically use.
All of this part of the service was shorter than usual and the next part was introduced as still very much being part of the worship service – we moved over to the side where party food was served and people mingled for a while. Again, emphasizing different ways of celebrating and remembering the resurrection. |
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Filed under: Deeper Service Outline | Tags: Deeper, glasgow, st silas, stsilas, worship
(or the one with the torn poster)
| We experimented (as always) with a new entrance way half way down the RHS by lifting the fabric up in the middle, this seemed to feed people in a little better than normal where everyone gathers at the back and there is lots of room at the front.After a couple of songs the “Message Section” began. This was a combination of Gordon speaking interwoven with, JJ leading a meditation / activity and several people taking part in a drama in order to present the topics of Judgment and the Cross in an engaging way rather than simply ‘talking at’ people.The drama was in two parts and involved people comparing pieces of card ranging from black through greys to white. They sorted themselves into an order, then each person compared their card with a central character (God) and all fell short of the ‘white’ that was required.In the second part these people came from the ‘not good enough’ side, and placed their grey cards at Jesus feet, he gave them a bright white card which could compare with God’s and permit them to the ‘good enough’ side. This was all done in silence.JJ’s meditation (I don’t have with me) but the activity involved people going up and sticking their thoughts – brought up by this meditation – on postit notes and sticking them to a poster – this was a picture of the creation image form the Sistine Chapel mainly because it was the only suitable poster we could find. To surprise people out of this ‘nice Christine atmosphere’ after a suitable pause and in complete silence JJ took down this poster and ripped it up, then asked people how they felt and if these things that had been written really made any difference.
Among this was Gordon’s talk. Both Gordon and JJ were recorded but because of a technical fault we missed the very end of Gordon’s message (sorry) 3. During the responsive worship there was an opportunity for prayer ministry and a cup of juice /non-alcoholic wine was available for people to make a physical response by coming forward to drink from this cup. |
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Filed under: Deeper Service Outline | Tags: Deeper, glasgow, st silas, stsilas, worship
(or the one with the Russian Dolls)
| On the way in people were asked to write down a ‘human characteristic’ and place this into a large human figure marked out on the floor.As they arrived into the middle worship space a video loop of words that describes characteristics or attributes of Jesus was showing. This video remained on a group of TVs all evening and was used several times for continuity throughout the service.After an opening sung worship set, Jenny drew a distinction between what had been displayed as ‘Attributes of Jesus’ compared with some of the human attributes written by people as they entered. Then led a meditation using some Russian Dolls with each smaller doll the following questions were asked and time given for reflection:– Who is the me that the world sees? (Your labels – appearance, role, etc.) - Who is the me that my acquaintances see? (Colleagues, people in shops, hairdresser, etc.) - Who is the me that my friends and family see? - Who is the me that those closest see? - Who is the me that only I see? (Have we got a hidden side?) - Who is the me that God sees? Following Jenny’s talk (download here) the process was reveresed thinking about the smallest Russian Doll representing our innermost being…- Who is the me that God created? - Who is the me that I could see? - Would it make a difference to the person that those closest see? - Would it make a difference in all my relationships? - Would it make a difference to those I only know at surface level? - Would it make a difference to the people I pass in the street?The following worship set included extended prayer ministry time with the prayer team moving among the congregation. |
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