Is faith a gift or a choice? Is it something God does in us or something we do for God? You guessed that the answer is "Yes," no doubt. Faith is a mixture of all that and more. It is a partnership with God as we enter into relationship for our good and the good of the world around us, the community around us. We are choosing every day to live by our faith, to be shaped by our faith, and to submit all our actions and relationships to the measure of faith. In this worship series, we invite you to examine what it means to be people of faith. We are the people who are choosing faith.
Faith to Change (October 5)
“Increase our faith!” That’s why we’ve come, isn’t it? That’s what worship is about. We come to lift up the name and glory of God in praise and supplication. We come to grow closer, stronger, deeper in our faith. So, as worship is prepared for this week and the launch of a new series, the worship team should spend some time around the idea of strengthening faith. What tools can worship provide that can carry folks throughout the week in their journey of faith? Perhaps a corporate prayer shared in worship but designed to be taken home and used throughout the week, maybe throughout the series; a prayer to increase faith that becomes a signature prayer for the congregation. We are formed through our prayer lives.
Whole Faith (October 12)
When Jesus asks in our text this week, “Where are the other nine?” (verse 17), he isn’t fishing for gratitude. Instead, he is declaring that gratitude that leads to praise is part of the way of the disciple. To live holistically, we need gratitude to be part of the mechanism. In secular terms, we could say our lives are better when we live thankfully. Worship, then, needs to make space for gratitude.
Persistent Faith (October 19)
Persistence. What does that mean for us in worship? Just the fact that we gather week after week when the community around us doesn’t see the point might be a part of that persistence. Too often, congregations feel the weight of failure because they aren’t growing or don’t have the right people or whatever signs that we sometimes think measure our faithfulness. But when we gather, few or many, week by week, we are holding fast to faith. We can celebrate that in worship. We can give God thanks for divine faithfulness, even as we offer our own faithfulness.
Humble Faith (October 26)
How shall we pray? This isn’t the text where that question appears. But it does seem to be behind the parable that Jesus tells. In this case, however, it isn’t so much the words or the format that he wants to convey; rather, it is the attitude that matters to Jesus. Humility doesn’t rank highly in our culture these days. To many, it seems like weakness. Or worse, it seems like surrender. So, how do we talk about or encourage humility in our worship today?
Orginally published by Discipleship Ministries. Republished with permission by ResourceUMC.