(it was for a monthly youth worship service we call The Breakfast Club)
enjoy.
on march 14th for our Breakfast Club youth worship service, we took the music of Coldplay and designed a worship Eucharist around the songs.
here is the order of worship with descriptions about each segment.
(all music by Coldplay)
PRE WORSHIP
played Life in Technicolor ii video
WORSHIP
Played the song: Life in Technicolor (instrumental)
breakfast foods were available.
Scripture readings (with Life in Technicolor playing in background)
Psalm 63 (all 11 verses)
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water...
John 1:3-5
The light shines in the darkness...
John 10:10
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full...
HUGS + HANDSHAKES
Played alternate video to Viva La Vida found on Prospekt's March EP (iTunes)
After a brief period of announcements, we moved on to...
VIDEO:
The Scientist video (from Rush of Blood to the Head)
after video - brief description/explanation of Logic vs. Emotion (the song has a lot to do with these two things).
took the line from the song I'M GOING BACK TO THE START and briefly talked about 'when God gives us second chances.' Examples sited: the story of the Gerasene Demoniac (found in Mark 5) and Saul's conversion to Paul. (found in Acts 9)
PRAYER
song: A Message played live by Bryan. (A Message is from the album X & Y)
Question for Prayer/Reflection: Who do you know is in need of a message of love? how might you bring them that message?
students were asked to reflect on these questions during the song.
SPEAK 2 ME
Katie chose the song Fix You to play. Lyrics were posted via Power Point.
after the song, Katie shared about what she felt the song was about and how God speaks to her through the lyrics.
THINK ABOUT IT: imagination
for this segment, we talked briefly about 'imagination'.
Questions posed:
can you draw?
how 'bout sing?
can you dance?
can you act in plays?
if i were to go and visit a kindergarten class and ask them those four questions, i would bet that every hand would go up for each question. you, on the other hand, probably would claim ability in one, maybe two of those areas.* (*idea taken from the books All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten by R. Fulghum and Awaken Your Creativity by Les Christie)
somehow, as we get older, we lose our sense of wonder... we lose our imagination and we seem to feel like we are lacking in creativity. perhaps we could blame this on the system... a system that has not given us the freedom to learn in a variety of ways... but regardless, the older we get, the more inhibited we become. we lose that inventive nature that is, i believe, a part of our DNA.
Quotes:
(The purpose of) education should be to create men and women who are capable of doing new things, rather than simply repeat what other generations have done.
~Jean Piaget
Knowledge is a child with a mind and a crayon.
~MC Serch of 3rd Bass
HOW TO JUMP START YOUR IMAGINATION:
inhale helium
climb a tree
hang by knees on monkey bars
swing as high as you can
roll down a hill
spin like crazy
take a different route...
do random things
(students were encouraged to add to this list...)
We then looked briefly at Genesis 1 - how we are all made in the image of God...
on the Power Point, various images that symbolize God's imagination and creativity were shown. (waterfalls, field of flowers, butterflies, sunsets, etc.)
Students were challenged to recapture our God-given creative, imaginative abilities - much like children, while the video for Coldplay's Strawberry Swing played. Strawberry Swing is a very creative, imaginative video, to say the least.
THINK ABOUT IT: past / present /future
played the song: Glass of Water (from Prospekt's March EP) (lyrics on Power Point)
some of the lyrics:
Scared of losin' all the time
He wrote it in a letter?
He was a friend of mine
He heard you could see your future
Inside a glass of water
With ripples and the rhymes
He asked 'Will I see heaven in mine?'
The song largely has to do with (as the lyrics go) how we can often Spend our whole life living in your past
Going nowhere fast.
We humans tend to stress about the past and worry about the future.
INTERACTIVE:
Students were given a piece of paper with the words "I WANT..." written at the top. Students were given a pencil and were asked to finish the sentence: "i want..." and to write about it on the page.
Jesus provided a way of life that is not filled with stress or worry (Proverbs 3:5-6). Jesus gives us life to the full. (John 10:10)
Participants were then given a glass of water (refer to lyrics of Glass of Water) and encouraged to 'drink up the present' and to not stress about the past and worry about the future.
REFLECTION: time
While the song Clocks played in the background we talked about time and urgency and busyness. urgency can often bring a sense of chaos or fear to one's life. Sometimes time (or lack there of) can lead to hectic lifestyles that prevent us from connecting with God or hearing from Him.
this transitioned into the song A Whisper (from A Rush of Blood to the Head)
sample lyrics:
I hear the sound of the ticking of clocks
Who remembers your face
Who remembers you when you are gone
I hear the sound of the ticking of clocks
Come back and look for me
Look for me when I am lost
And just a whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper
i briefly talked about 'The Story of Isaiah' found in 1 Kings 17-19 were Isaiah has a confrontation with the prophets of Baal and calls down fire from heaven... in the end, the false-prophets of Baal are annihilated, yet Isaiah gets a fearful sense of urgency and flees. He hides out in a cave and wonders if God has forgotten about him. (note lyric from A Whisper: come back and look for me when i am lost...) But God finally speaks to him, not in the wind or earthquake... but in a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:11-12)
INTERACTIVE
paralleled that despite his fears, Isaiah had specific God-given gifts and abilities and was asked to use them to help connect people to God.
played the song Yellow (from Parachutes)
Scrabble boards were set up and students were invited to spell out one gift that they felt God had given them. these gifts inter-connect with other people's gifts. when we work together, we can accomplish much for the sake of Kingdom advancement and helping those in need.
CLOSING:
Referenced the song Lost! (from Viva la Vida) and shared a few examples of people who were 'down but not out.' Gideon. James J. Braddock. Rocky. Kurt Warner. (many examples could be referenced here)
Romans 5:1-5 Persevere! Hang in there.
2 Corinthians 4 "8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
If we remain focused on Christ - we will remain in His light and we will be assured that nothing can or will remove us from the Love of God.
I reminded students that the name of the latest Coldplay album is Viva la Vida... which means "live life!"
We have to remain focused - or we lose our imaginative ability... we forget that God is a God of grace and grants us a second chance at life... we aught not to mess it up.
i found this website: http://www.eyechartmaker.com/ where you can customize your own eye charts. i printed off a variety of charts with hidden messages in the charts (Y R U FOCUSING ON THE WRONG THINGS?; etc.) there were a variety of Eye focus charts under each chair.
i then closed by playing the song Death and All His Friends (lyrics) (song facts)
No I don't wanna battle from beginning to end;
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge;
I don't wanna follow death and all his friends.
Living life means you can't follow death and his friends... the things that lead to destruction. God's plan is life. Live it! live life. Drink up the present. GEt busy livin' or get busy dyin'.
BENEDICTION
played song Now My Feet Wont Touch the Ground as the service concluded with prayer.
the service lasted about 70 minutes. it could be made longer or shorter very easily.
tim beck
director of youth ministries
christ united methodist church, louisville, ohio
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