Benediction
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”
—Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
SONG OF BENEDICTION: Aaron’s Blessing (lyrics here)
Friday, August 28, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Commission
In this final movement, we are encouraged and equipped for the work God would have us do.
“He got right up and went home to his father.”
—Luke 15:20 (MSG)
When all is said and done, what is it we are looking for? What is the common cry of every human heart? I think a case could be made that what we are looking for…is home.
What is home to you? For those who have had a positive home experience, home is a place of comfort and peace. If that’s the case, the idea of finding our home is God is an expansion of what we already know. For those whose experience of home was difficult, or even worse, then finding our home in God is an invitation to know what we were meant to experience but were denied.
For all of us, though, the invitation is the same. For the ways we’ve wandered, in the midst of the pain we carry, despite our sometimes stubborn insistence that we need “something else,” the Spirit’s call continues to echo in our lives as it has throughout all time: Come home.
In Peterson’s Message translation of John 15, he renders a familiar invitation of Jesus this way:
“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.”
—John 15:9 (MSG)
As you meditate on these words, how do you respond? Are you able to receive them? If you find them difficult, don’t let that be an excuse to beat yourself up. Jesus knows exactly how we feel, and his invitation is one filled with patient understanding and compassion.
Spend some time contemplating these words of Jesus, who tells us that he loves us just as God has loved him. What does that mean for you? Are you able to receive the intimacy and deep comfort they bring? What would it look like for you to take one more step along the road home?
The Road Home
Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own,
That I left, that I lost,
So long ago?
All these years I have wandered,
Oh, when will I know
There's a way, there's a road
That will lead me home?
After wind, after rain,
When the dark is done.
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day,
Through the air there's a calling
From far away,
There's a voice I can hear
That will lead me home.
Rise up, follow me,
Come away, is the call,
With the love in your heart
As the only song;
There is no such beauty
As where you belong:
Rise up, follow me,
I will lead you home.
Music by Stephen Paulus
Words by Michael Dennis Browne
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Assurance
In this third movement, we receive the good news of the gospel: we are forgiven.
“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
—Psalm 103:13 (NIV)
Psalm 103 is a powerful reflection on the love and mercy of God. It is a wonderful scripture to return to whenever we need to be reminded and assured that our sins are forgiven.
Read the following verses from Psalm 103 slowly and prayerfully. Pay attention to any words or phrases that resonate with you. Pay attention as well to any that you resist inwardly. Offer both to God in prayer, asking the Spirit to bathe you in reminders of God’s compassion and grace. This is the good news: we are forgiven.
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
—Psalm 103:8-12 (NIV)
SONG OF ASSURANCE: The Lord is Gracious and Compassionate (lyrics here)
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Confession
In this second movement, we simply see ourselves for who we are: people who need God.
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”
—Colossians 3:5 (NIV)
The word “repent” is often misunderstood, or at least understood in an incomplete way. For some it means simply acknowledging the truth of sin in our lives. For others it means feeling deep regret for our sin and its consequences. And still for others it means asking for forgiveness so that we no longer carry the weight of our sin.
All of these are part of the process we go through when we repent. But even as wonderful and transformative as each of these actions can be, they are incomplete in and of themselves. There is still one more thing that is needed before we can truly call it “repentance.”
The Greek word for “repent,” metanoeo, means to change one’s mind. It’s more than acknowledging our sin and being sorry for it, it’s making a conscious decision to leave it behind. It’s committing ourselves to God’s process of transformation in our lives and walking away from the things that hinder that growth.
This is only possible because of the grace and mercy of God. It is not something we can do in our own strength, but only with the help of the Spirit. Take time today to pause and allow the Spirit to search your heart for those areas of your life where God is inviting to leave behind what is toxic and unhealthy, to put to death what is not of him.
SONG OF CONFESSION: Lord Have Mercy (lyrics here)
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Encounter With God
In this first movement, we simply seek to see God for who He is: the One worthy of worship.
“Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.”
—Psalm 24:7-8 (NIV)
Worship is a welcome. As we embrace the promise of Jesus to be wherever people gather in his name, we lift our voices in song as a word of welcome to the King of glory. It is our way of throwing open the gates of our hearts, of saying to him, “We are gathered here in your name. We are not here for ourselves. We are here for you.”
In our era of consumer-based worship it’s easy to make worship about ourselves. That’s why our very first act of worship is a moment of lifting our eyes to the One who alone is worthy. As we are reminded of the glory of God, we are invited to cast aside any false pretense or motive. The focus is on him and him alone.
Let this opening movement of encounter remind you why we worship in the first place. We do not offer praise in order to stir our emotions or to meet some felt need on our part. We worship only because God is worthy and deserving of our praise.
Let us welcome the King of glory.
SONG OF ENCOUNTER: Here For You (lyrics here)
Monday, August 24, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
A Call To Worship
On Mondays we focus in on the invitation to approach God in worship.
The Hebrew Psalter is a book of worship, so starting from today we will be focusing on a passage from the Psalms on Mondays. So many of the Psalms serve effectively as a Call to Worship, in fact, at one congregation we served we started each service with a reading from the Psalter. For our purposes here we will use Psalm readings as adapted by the Book of Common Prayer.
May these ancient words of praise and invitation serve to draw your eyes to the One who will be walking with you every day this week.
A Reading from the Psalter
We begin at the beginning. Read through the Psalm slowly and prayerfully, either silently or out loud. Pay attention to the movement of your soul and the longings of your heart as you read. How does it stir you to worship? What focus might you find from this Psalm for this coming week?
Psalm 1
Refrain: The Lord knows the way of the righteous.
Blessed are they who have not walked
in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.
Their delight is in the law of the Lord
and they meditate on his law day and night.
Like a tree planted by streams of water
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither,
whatever they do, it shall prosper.
The Lord knows the way of the righteous.
As for the wicked, it is not so with them;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement,
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall perish.
The Lord knows the way of the righteous.
Christ our wisdom,
give us delight in your law,
that we may bear fruits of patience and peace
in the kingdom of the righteous;
for your mercy’s sake. Amen
Common Worship: Daily Prayer, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2005 and published by Church House Publishing
CALL TO WORSHIP: I Will Delight (lyrics here)
Saturday & Sunday, August 22, 2026
Benediction
Glory be to the Father, glory be to the Son
Glory be to the Spirit, God is Three-in-One
As it was in the beginning, it will be at the end
Glory be, glory be
Amen
SONG OF BENEDICTION: Glory Be (lyrics here)
Friday, August 21, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Commission
In this final movement, we are encouraged and equipped for the work God would have us do.
“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
—1 Corinthians 1:18 (NRSV)
When we would have seminary pastoral interns at our church in Michigan, we would often spend a lot of time talking about the role of the sermon in a worship service. That moment corresponds to this fourth movement of worship we call “commission”—the time in worship where we are equipped and encouraged for our walk as followers of Jesus.
In those conversations there was one word that sprung up a lot: “cruciform.” In its literal sense, “cruciform” means something that is shaped like a cross. In the context of worship, though, “cruciform” reflects our desire that the word we offer might point us to the cross of Jesus in some way, shape, or form. In this time of commission we are invited to reflect on the cross of Christ and consider its call and claim on our lives.
Paul calls the message of the cross “the power of God” for those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus. That’s what we seek to receive in this movement of commissioning—the very power of God which will shape us, transform us, and equip us for his work in the world.
Take some time today to reflect on the cross. What does it mean for you that it is “the power of God?” How does meditating on the death of Jesus bring us to a place of equipping? What movement of our soul does it inspire which will impact the way we live our lives for him?
SONG OF COMMISSION: When I Survey The Wondrous Cross (lyrics here)
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Assurance
In this third movement, we receive the good news of the gospel: we are forgiven.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
—Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)
Peace with God. That is the gift of the cross and the empty tomb. It means the distance between humanity and God has been bridged by the most amazing love in the universe.
And it is not a temporary peace. It’s not like our human truces, which are broken all the time, or our human cease-fires, which rarely live up to their name. The peace we have with God is eternal. That’s why Paul could write just a couple of chapters later:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
—Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)
That is the peace in which we now live, the grace in which we now stand. Child of God, know this truth and allow it to penetrate to the depths of your soul. Your sins are forgiven, your life has been made new, your peace is real and everlasting.
Today’s song sings of that peace. It is a simple, repetitious song declaring “There is peace where Christ is King.” Don’t let the simplicity of the song fool you, though—what it declares is remarkably profound.
SONG OF ASSURANCE: There Is Peace (lyrics here)
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Confession
In this second movement, we simply see ourselves for who we are: people who need God.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
—Romans 5:8 (NIV)
To borrow words from Richard Foster, confession shows us both the greatness and the goodness of God. It shows his greatness because he is the only one with the power to forgive, a power rooted in the sacrificial death of Christ. God demonstrated his power in the cross and the empty tomb, disarming the dark powers and authorities that seek to defeat us, as Paul tells us in Colossians. Confession brings us face to face with the greatness of God.
But confession also shows God’s infinite goodness to us. The Bible shows us a God who always stands ready to forgive, and the reason for this is powerful yet simple: he loves us. It was his love that led to the cross, and it is his love that draws us near to that cross in humility and repentance.
Spend some time today meditating on these two aspects of confession. In bringing your sin and brokenness to God, how has that made you aware of his greatness? How has it revealed his goodness? As the Spirit leads, lay your sin and your need before the greatness and goodness of God, who demonstrated his love for us in such an unbelievable and incredible way.
SONG OF CONFESSION: Lead Me To The Cross (lyrics here)