Blessed be intro liturgy

by: Sam Hargreaves

This is written as an intro to Matt and Beth Redman's song "Blessed be your name", but you could use it alone. The aim is to help people meditate on how they are feeling and make everyone feel welcomed, so that they know their contribution to worship is important however they are feeling.

Put up the four images from the song, and ask people to consider which of these they relate to best this week. Can they think of specific reasons why they feel this way? Depending on the congregation, they could just reflect silently, or write their responses down, or share with one or two people near them (remember to stress that people only need to share as much as they feel comfortable with). You can then say the following words together, and lead into singing the song.

The images for this idea have recently been updated.

(we say together:)
If you're splashing in streams of abundance,?
we welcome you - share your joy.
If you're parched in a desert wasteland,?
we welcome you - share your doubts.
If you're relaxing in the light of contentment,?
we welcome you - share your peace.?
If you're stumbling on a road of suffering,?
we welcome you - share your pain.

(we pray together:)
God of water, earth, light and brokenness?
we welcome you, as you welcome us.
Amen.

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HI Sam, Used this tonight in Small Group - alongside looking at Transformation 5 - "When Love makes the difference". We looked at the slide of the four scenes, identified where we were tonight, then listened to the song, and then read the "Welcome" and prayed the prayer together. Was good and appreciated. Thanks for another great worship idea. Anne

- 2:18pm - 22 Feb 2010

What a brill idea! I hate this song, but this almost made me want to use it. Perhaps i will ...

John - 6:53am - 16 May 2011

Thanks Sam for this creative idea it worked really well today when I used it to start our service today. Baptists aren't big on liturgy so I used it in 'fear and trepidation' but my concern was unfounded. The only stumbling block was sharing where we were whether in a suffering place or pleasant place, the only comment I received was it could be a bit embarrassing for new people to have to share. Anyway, the overall comment was please can we do more of this! Thanks again. Mac Wood

Mac - 5:42am - 22 May 2011

Sam taught us this at Spring Harvest and I used it this morning at church. It seemed to touch people and made the song much more personal to them. Thanks Sam for sharing this.

Andrew - 6:16am - 29 Apr 2012

Hi Sam and Sara, I enjoyed your Conference on Saturday'Missional Worship'. Towards the end of the day we used some fantastic words to the tune'How Deep the Father's Love for Us' (I think) Can you tell me where I can find those words please? Thank you Lindsey.

Lindsey - 12:30pm - 06 Nov 2012

Lindsey
It is 'We are called to be God's people' by Thomas Jackson, set the the tune of 'Here is love'. I poked around online and found it eventually here - http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/hymns-and-words.html

Sam - 1:58am - 09 Nov 2012

Hello there, I was planning to use this for a meeting, but it isn't downloading now - it was, when I viewed it a few days ago, I wondered if you can help?! Michele

Michele - 5:54pm - 13 Feb 2021

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