My husband, Pete, gave me a CD of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons for my recent birthday. To be honest, my heart sank a bit when I opened it, thinking how I had heard that work so many times it bored me rigid. He enthused about it, and promised I would like it. We listened to it … and it was absolutely fantastic! Max Richter had recomposed the familiar work, with excitement and a fresh modern twist, to bring it new life, without ‘dismembering’ the original.
This reminded me of 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says we are new creations in Christ. The ‘old’ (our sinful nature) is gone and we are called into a ‘new life’, God’s ‘new thing’. To grow in that new life, one of our key challenges is to worship God. That means to revere, honour, adore and praise God in all areas. This includes our thoughts, words, actions, personal time with God, and of course our church services and musical offerings we commonly refer to as worship.
We are in a time of transition in many corners of church life, including Andrew Lawford standing down this summer from his ‘coordinator’ role for church worship at St Saviour’s, where he has served dutifully, seeking the Holy Spirit, for more than fifteen years. So this is a perfect time for reflection and prayer for the new thing that God will do.
Would you please join the worship team in prayer for the following:
- For yourself and others in our individual and corporate worship of God in and outside of church, that we grow in response to the Holy Spirit
- For the worship team to listen, to hear and to heed God’s specific leading as we plan and lead the body in corporate musical worship
- For the right person to sense and respond to God’s call to support the worship team by taking on the administrative responsibilities Andrew is laying down, and for smooth adjustment to changes!! Could this person be you?
Christ died so ‘we might walk in the newness of life’. Romans 6:4
Laura Simpkins
