This is from Pastor Jay, our pastor for worship at Graefenburg Baptist Church. He emailed these thoughts to his musicians and I am reprinting them here slightly edited.
Folks, I am getting excited about Sunday morning worship! I’ll give you four reasons, though there are more:
First, to borrow a phrase from our pastor, “I get pumped up” when Sanctuary Choir sings. I don’t care if the choir sings the ABCs – I love having the choir behind me to help lead our congregational worship.
Second, I’m pretty pumped about having another musician on stage. Haley Wood will be playing viola with us this week! She’s a sophomore at Shelby County High who attends our church and is involved with our youth program. Make sure you say something to her to encourage her.
Third, there are four readings of scripture – not including the sermon reference! We are people of the Book and our worship reflects that truth (in more ways than one). And get this. Not only are we reading scripture, we’re singing it too! The first two songs that we sing are scripture songs (based on Psalm 57:9-11 and 97:9)!
Fourth, our worship service can be summed up like this: We exalt the Lord because we believe. Because we believe in a sovereign God, whatever our lot in life we can say, “It is well with my soul.” In fact, our faith in God leads us to the point where we can say, “You can have all the world. Give me Jesus.”
On stanza three of “It Is Well with My Soul,” I want you to sing unison at the top of your lungs. Leave the church hoarse if you have to. Please, sing like the redeemed: “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long” (Psalm 71:23-24a)
See you Sunday!
Pastor Jay
