Getting Ready for Sunday :: How to Prepare for Worship at Uptown, January 27

 This past Tuesday marked 40 years since the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in this country. While some would celebrate this day, we grieve it tremendously as the single greatest example of present injustice in our land. It has been estimated that between 55 and 60 million unborn children have been robbed of their lives with the full support of U.S. law. The painting posted here is a Lament of Rachel, prophesied in Jeremiah 31:15, and fulfilled in Matthew 2. This important scene in the Nativity story gets little attention, presumably because it is heartbreaking, and thus not very festive. But when Christ was born and the Magi from the East did not return to King Herod with his location, he was furious. In a violent rage, he sent soldiers throughout Bethlehem to execute every male child 2 years of age and under, hoping to kill the Messiah. These children who were robbed of their lives for Christ’s sake have been historically considered the first martyrs. Particularly around this time of year, I find this story giving words to my grief. May our hearts be filled with compassion for mothers who are persuaded that this path is the only way, and may we pray unceasingly for the day when this path is no longer a legal option, and the lives of infants are valued and protected.

As Providence would have it, our text this week finds a people telling and believing lies about the Lord, specifically that he is impotent to deal with evil. This may be familiar ground for anyone who sees the atrocities committed in this land and cries out, “How long, O Lord?” As we are tempted to despair, the prophet Jeremiah exhorts us to know and believe with utter resolve that the Lord can and will deal with evil finally. This is not the end, and there is no one more indignant than the Author of Life, He who knit us together in the womb.

While worship is always a celebration of the gospel to the Praise of God, an often-time neglected element of our liturgy is Lament. This week, in addition to our other elements, we will sing a responsive Kyrie Eleison (Lord Have Mercy) with the text of Psalm 12. And now, use these elements to help you prepare to meet with God and his people this Lord’s Day. 

THE WORD

Scripture: Jeremiah 5:1-31

Sermon: “Tell the Truth About God”

SONGS

Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Lion of Judah (Robin Mark)
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Hail to the Lord’s Anointed

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Lament: Psalm 12 with Kyrie
listen | chart | lyrics/info | purchase

Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Offering: O Lord Thou Judge of All the Earth
listen | chart | lyrics/info | purchase

Song of Response: O Lord Most High, With All My Heart (The Water is Wide)
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

 

Getting Ready for Sunday :: How to Prepare for Worship at Uptown, January 20

Cry of the Prophet Jeremiah On the Ruins of Jerusalem – Ilya Repin (1870)

 We continue this week in the book of Jeremiah. Last week, Rev. Tyler Dirks painted a picture from Jeremiah of a covenant people in passionate pursuit of idolatry. This grieves the heart of the Lord, and because of his unfailing love, he will discipline and correct his own when they wander. God’s command is clear, and for our good, and that is, repent. Turn from sin and worthless idols. We may think we can gloss over our disobedience or sweep it under the rug. But God knows it is an acid eating away beneath the surface, and the only way to be clean is to come to the throne of grace, confess and admit our guilt, and repent. So the call for us this week is this: “Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity joined with power.”

THE WORD

Scripture: Jeremiah 3:6-4:31

Sermon: “It Never Gets Better Until You Repent”

SONGS

Come Ye Sinners (arr. Matthew Smith)

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Kind and Merciful God
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Kindness
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Offering: White As Snow

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Song for the Supper: I Thirst Thou Wounded Lamb of God

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Song of Response: God Be Merciful to Me

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

 

Getting Ready for Sunday :: How to Prepare for Worship at Uptown, January 13

Jeremiah – Michelangelo (Sistine Chapel)

 We continue this week in the book of Jeremiah. The Lord is grieved when he looks on his bride who has forsaken him. He sees whom he loves, and from whom he is owed all love and passion. But she runs wildly away from him and toward worthless idols and which are no gods at all. We are that bride, running from our home, our husband, turning to our old ways of being and living. And despite that, the Lord in his mercy calls even us to worship him each Sunday morning with his gathered body. And that call extends beyond the confines of our worship services, but extends to our homes, and compels us to rise and gather, to meet together, to feast on his word and his body. So with this in mind, let’s prepare for this meeting. Here are the songs we will sing, the scriptures we will hear, and the readings we will confess. Meditate on them, and ask the Lord to prepare you for worship.

THE WORD

Scripture: Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Sermon: “Is It Worth It?”

SONGS

Worship Leader: Jeremy D. Goodwyne

How Firm a Foundation
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase (whole album free on NoiseTrade!)

Begone Unbelief
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Poor Sinner Dejected With Fear

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Come Thou Fount

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Offering: Lord, Dissolve My Frozen Heart
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase (whole album free on NoiseTrade!)

Song of Response: Out of My Bondage, Sorrow and Night (arr. Greg Thompson)

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

RESPONSIVE READING

Confession of Sin : based on Jeremiah 2

Leader:     Loving God, you are a jealous husband who is owed every passion and affection, but is slighted by a wayward bride.

People:     We are that bride, once full of love and devotion, but time and again turning from your grace and pursuing worthless idols.

Leader:     Our sin is twofold: we have forsaken you and we have replaced you with a worthless substitute

People:     We have forsaken you, the only fount of living water. And we have replaced you with broken cisterns, hewn by our own hands, and which hold no water. Forgive us Lord, in Jesus name!

Getting Ready for Sunday :: How to Prepare for Worship at Uptown, January 6

This week (this year!) we are beginning a new sermon series on the book of Jeremiah. Because God lives in covenant relationship with his people he promises us not only blessings for obedience, but just as importantly, discipline when we go astray.  The Book of Jeremiah is God’s corrective love extended to his people in the form of judgment on their turning from him to idols. Though it is a difficult message to hear, it serves as a vital warning to us today, to constantly turn away from idols which win our hearts and return to the Lord for relationship with him and to live in his blessing.

A major application of the book of Jeremiah is that God’s people should know, love and heed his word, and they suffer for neglected and turning from it. Since we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year, it’s the perfect time to begin something new. So if you’re the resolving type, I encourage you to add Scripture to your dieting plan! There have always been many helps for the Christian to be disciplined in Scripture reading, but with current technology, scripture is literally at your fingertips with as many dinging reminders as you want. Here are some resources to help you love the word and feast daily on it.

ESV Bible Reading Plans – the ESV website is fantastic. You can create a profile and sync data over multiple devices.

Bible Reading Plans for 2013 by Ligonier Ministries – Several different reading plans with printable PDFs to track your progress.

YouVersion Reading Plans – Desktop or Mobile plans

Bible Gateway Plans – Plans that deliver scripture to your email inbox each day!

Blue Letter Bible Reading Plans – Browser or mobile app

Hopefully you will find one of these useful. Planning to read through the Bible in a year is ambitious compared to most of our scripture habits. But the benefits to your soul from feasting daily on God’s very word are impossible to exaggerate. 

THE WORD

Scripture: Jeremiah 1:1-18

Sermon: “Called to Warn”

SONGS

Worship Leader: Jeremy D. Goodwyne

Here I Am to Worship
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Indescribable
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Father of Mercies, In Thy Word
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

O Word of God, Incarnate (arr. Bobby Guy)

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Offering: Speak, O Lord
listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase

Song of Response: Laden With Guilt (arr. Sandra McCracken)

listen | chords | lyrics/info | purchase