I woke up Wednesday morning with a pretty bad sore throat (a very rare thing for me). I didn’t feel bad so I hoped it was just a one day thing. Leading worship for middle schoolers Wednesday night I could tell I was starting to fight something.
Fast forward to Sunday morning and I was in the midst of a full-on cold. The kind where you sound like a frog when you speak and feel tired all the time. And it was also one of those weekends where I could not get out of my duties of being at a practice on Saturday and leading worship on Sunday morning.
I led for the 11am service at Sunset yesterday. Here was our set:
- You’ll Come (E, Hillsong)
- From the Inside Out (C, Hillsong)
- Offering: You Never Let Go (A, Redman)
- Message
- Communion Special: By Your Side (G, Tenth Avenue North)
- Jesus Paid it All (B, Stanfill arrangement)
- You Hold Me Now (D, Hillsong)
I have a weird thing where most colds don’t affect my singing voice much. I definitely didn’t feel right, but most people told me they couldn’t tell I was sick. I think they were just trying to make me feel good because I felt pitchy and strained, but in the end none of that probably matters.
You’ll Come is a song that I have my own issues with as I shared before. We’ve sung it 4 times now and it still hasn’t caught on much. Tough to say whether or not we’ll continue to sing it as a community.
The last 3 songs were a perfect set. I love By Your Side and Jesus Paid it All. After those songs I spoke briefly about Christianity being a faith of the here and not yet. We can experience Christ’s presence now and yet we long for heaven.
Revelation 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
That passage led into You Hold Me Now which is a powerful song about heaven we’ve done quite a few times now. Here is a video of it (come here to watch RSS readers):
All in all it was a great morning. The band was solid and having the choir helped mask some of my vocal deficiencies. I felt like the congregation connected well with the last 3 songs. I definitely left everything my voice had to give on the stage. I had absolutely nothing left.
A great morning:
God was honored. People responded to the Gospel through music.
