Music Blog

Glory and Praise

Hebrews 2:9-10 says, "... we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."

We serve a God who chooses to define glory through suffering. The Glory of God is revealed most totally and perfectly by his sacrificial suffering to bring us, his children, to be with him in his presence forever. He saves us through his own suffering, and he works in us through our own suffering, all for His glory.

When we gather together on Sundays, it's an opportunity to give God the praise that He alone deserves. It's an opportunity to lay down the distractions of suffering and sin in our lives at the foot of the Cross, where God's glory and mercy were perfectly displayed through his suffering.  We gather for His glory. We gather for His praise. We gather, because we need to be reminded and refueled of his nearness to us as we go into the next week which we know will be filled with all kinds of suffering and sin and distraction...but also with opportunities to bring him Glory and Praise in the midst of it all.

Here are the songs and Scriptures for our services this Sunday:

Why Family Worship?

We're introducing a new idea at Grace Church this Sunday, called Family Worship Sunday.  The concept is simple: keep the elementary kids in the main meeting for the whole service. The "why" behind it is also simple, but not quite so much so.

We're seeking to serve a few purposes.

First, we want to take a few opportunities per year to have the younger kids hear the Word of God preached right alongside the rest of their families. We think there is something formative and unique that happens when we listen to God's Word preached together as a gathered body of Christ, and we want to include the younger kids in that experience periodically.

Second, while we regularly appeal to kids to trust in Christ for salvation in GK and VBS, we have sought to avoid public responses of personal faith from kids without a parent present. The reason for that is, we believe parents should be involved in that process for their children if and when possible. So, doing Family Worship Sundays allows the kids to hear along with adults a call from a pastor to trust in Christ alone for forgiveness of sins and eternal life and respond as they feel led with a parent close by.  

Third, we want to equip families to embrace the God-given privilege of worshipping together in their own homes without feeling overwhelmed. By taking a few Sundays a year to simplify our services with kids in view, we're hoping to give parents and families tools and encouragement to engage in family devotions and/or family worship in their homes, so that engagement with God's Word and times of singing worship to the Lord might be something we all do as families.

Lastly, we believe the family of God extends beyond the biological, and we want every member of Grace Church to see the vital and attainable role of participating in the encouragement and building up of the little souls in our midst, so that our children might have encouragement and support in their walks with the Lord not only from their parents and siblings, but also from other kids and adults in the church. When our children (and frankly, when all of us) see other people in the church actively and intentionally worshipping God and engaging with the preached Word and exercising our spiritual gifts, it is a beautiful thing. And we are excited to highlight that this week.

So let's all come on Sunday, anticipating meeting God, learning about Him, praising Him, encouraging one another, and building one another up. Truly, every week is Family Worship...it's just a little more pointed this Sunday.

So that you and your family can come prepared, here are the Scriptures and Songs for this service: