WORSHIP THROUGH WRITING
Below is a lesson plan I wrote on how to incorporate writing into a weekly worship service.
“We want a King!” The people told the profit Samuel.
“You have a king.” Samuel replied. “His name is the Almighty God.”
“No! We want a king, like the other nations have.” They rebuked.
So Samuel talked to God about the matter and reported back to them what God said.
“A King will make solders of your sons, they will have to go to war. A king will take ownership over your land and make you work in forced labor. He will tax you and collect wealth for himself. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves."
But the people wouldn't listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We will have a king to rule us! Then we'll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles." Samuel took in what they said and rehearsed it with God. God told Samuel, "Do what they say. Make them a human king."
Samuel followed Gods instructions and anointed the first king of Isreal, Saul, son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul lead the nation into war against the Ammonites, the Amalekites, and the Philistines. Saul sinned against God by following the peer pressure from his men when fighting the Amalekites instead of what God commanded him. He rejected God through his disobedience and therefore God rejected him as king of His people and sent Samuel to anoint a new King, David, son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah.
Samuel went in search of this new king and found David the youngest of eight boys tending to his father Jesse’s sheep as a Shepard boy in the pasture. David was also an accomplished harpist. As he tending the sheep in the field he would write his own songs and play them for God and the sheep. His songs would reflect what was in his heart and on his mind. The scripture says that David was a man after Gods own heart.
When Samuel went to David’s house he was tempted to anoint Davids older brother Eliab, as King because of how handsome he was, but the Lord said “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
David’s life story, as king of Israel, found in the Bible, in the books titled first and second Samuel, is one filled with adventure, betrayal, sin, and heartache. Through it all David chooses to worship God through proclaiming words of truth and praise. In his first battle against the Philistines as he faces the giant Goliath with nothing but a sling shot he proclaims as he steps on the battlefield “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
After the battle between David and Goliath Saul made David an officer in his army. As the army came home from war after defeating the Philistines the crowds cheered “Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands!” This created jealousy in Saul Twords David and one day while David was playing his harp for Saul, Saul threw his spear at him and tried to kill him, but David dodged the spear. Saul tried again the kill David through offering his daughter in marriage in exchange for killing one hundred Philistines. Saul hoped that David would die in battle against the Philisitnes, instead David returned and married his daughter and became Saul’s son-in law. The bible says “Saul realized clearly that the Lord was with David and also that his daughter Michal loved him. So he became even more afraid of David and was his enemy as long as he lived.”(1 Samuel 19:28-29) Saul spent the rest of his life carring out assaination plots against David and each time God speared David life. After spending several years in excile fleeing from Saul, Saul and his sons were killed in a battle against the Philistines. Upon hearing this news God called David out of exsile to become the new King. When David and his army returned home he found that Sauls generals had divided up the country among themselves. This began a civil war that lasted seven and a half years between those for supported David and those who supported Sauls generals. When David was thirty he unifiied the nation and God fullfilled his proficy given to him in his youth and made him king.
It is recorded that whenever the Lord saved David’s life from Saul or any of his other enemies David would sing this song that he wrote:
“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.
4 “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. 5 The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 6 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
7 “In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. 8 The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. 9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. 10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. 11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. 13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. 14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. 15 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. 16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. 18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. 19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. 20 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
21 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. 22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I am not guilty of turning from my God. 23 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. 24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. 25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, 27 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. 28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. 29 You, LORD, are my lamp; the LORD turns my darkness into light. 30 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
31 “As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. 32 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? 33 It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. 34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. 35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36 You make your saving help my shield; your help has made me great. 37 You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.
38 “I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 40 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. 41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. 42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but he did not answer. 43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.
44 “You have delivered me from the attacks of the peoples; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, 45 foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. 46 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
47 “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! 48 He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me, 49 who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. 50 Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.
51 “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”
2 Samuel 22
This is only one of over a hundred of David’s writings that he wrote during his life time as a way to worship God. Today we refer to the writings of David as the Psalms. Psalms in Hebrew, David’s native language, means praise.
In his writings David left examples of how he worshiped God. His writings have inspired, and severed as an instruction manual on how we can also worship the Lord no matter what our circumstances.
Week 1: (I do- Building interest and meaning)
Intro:Talk about king David and how his life was the inspiration for his writings. Have one person read Psalm 18 found in 2 Samuel 22 all the way through. After the reading invite someone up to share a poem or Psalm that they have written and talk about how, like David, it reflects a heart of worship in response to their life story at the time. Close the service with a responsive reading through Psalm 100. Make bookmarks or decretive notes card with Psalm 100 printed one one side and a few reflective questions on the back.
Reflection/sharing:
Encourage people to take the psalm home and reread it through out the week as a way to connect and worship God in our every day live.
Reflective Questions:
As you read Psalm 100 pay attention to the words David choose to express himself to God. Why these words?
What other words could he have used?
Which words touch your heart and life circumstances this week?
Do these words change in meaning or stay the same the more times you read and reflect on this Psalm?
Week 2: (We do- sheltered practice)
Intro Review:
Practice: Provide a card and a pen or pencil for each person. As a group have everyone write the words “Praise the Lord for it is good and right to do so. Praise the Lord for ” on one side and “Thank you Lord for . .” on the other. While the worship team plays an acoustic set encourage people to continue to add to their psalm. continue on with worship with song that the congregation can sing along with if they so choose or keep writing in their chairs. One thing it is important to not do during this time is ask them to stand or leave their chairs to take communion. The transition of locations will symbolize for most people that it is time to stop writing. Instead you want to create an environment where people feel safe to continue worshiping God through writing until they run out of words or the worship time ends.
Reflection: Invite 3 to 4 people to share with the congregation what they wrote at the end of the service. You can also hang a writing board next to a writing center somewhere in the room and invite people to hang their writing on the writing board for others to read.
Week 3: (You do- can continue to use and grow from engaging with this practice on their own.)
Intro: Invite someone to read what they wrote from the prompt at the previous service and share how people are encouraged to use the writing center today. Model how to use this station. Depending on how much space you have and how you with to set it up, people can sit at the station and write and/or get paper and a pen and return to their set to write.
Practice: Have the psalm writing activity posted at the writing station a few copies of the book of psalms and provide blank paper and paper where the first line is provided for them as well a a variety of writing utinciles.
Reflection:Have someone share a testimony of how they used this writing activity during the week outside of the worship service to worship God over the past week.
Below is a lesson plan I wrote on how to incorporate writing into a weekly worship service.
“We want a King!” The people told the profit Samuel.
“You have a king.” Samuel replied. “His name is the Almighty God.”
“No! We want a king, like the other nations have.” They rebuked.
So Samuel talked to God about the matter and reported back to them what God said.
“A King will make solders of your sons, they will have to go to war. A king will take ownership over your land and make you work in forced labor. He will tax you and collect wealth for himself. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves."
But the people wouldn't listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We will have a king to rule us! Then we'll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles." Samuel took in what they said and rehearsed it with God. God told Samuel, "Do what they say. Make them a human king."
Samuel followed Gods instructions and anointed the first king of Isreal, Saul, son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul lead the nation into war against the Ammonites, the Amalekites, and the Philistines. Saul sinned against God by following the peer pressure from his men when fighting the Amalekites instead of what God commanded him. He rejected God through his disobedience and therefore God rejected him as king of His people and sent Samuel to anoint a new King, David, son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah.
Samuel went in search of this new king and found David the youngest of eight boys tending to his father Jesse’s sheep as a Shepard boy in the pasture. David was also an accomplished harpist. As he tending the sheep in the field he would write his own songs and play them for God and the sheep. His songs would reflect what was in his heart and on his mind. The scripture says that David was a man after Gods own heart.
When Samuel went to David’s house he was tempted to anoint Davids older brother Eliab, as King because of how handsome he was, but the Lord said “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
David’s life story, as king of Israel, found in the Bible, in the books titled first and second Samuel, is one filled with adventure, betrayal, sin, and heartache. Through it all David chooses to worship God through proclaiming words of truth and praise. In his first battle against the Philistines as he faces the giant Goliath with nothing but a sling shot he proclaims as he steps on the battlefield “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
After the battle between David and Goliath Saul made David an officer in his army. As the army came home from war after defeating the Philistines the crowds cheered “Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands!” This created jealousy in Saul Twords David and one day while David was playing his harp for Saul, Saul threw his spear at him and tried to kill him, but David dodged the spear. Saul tried again the kill David through offering his daughter in marriage in exchange for killing one hundred Philistines. Saul hoped that David would die in battle against the Philisitnes, instead David returned and married his daughter and became Saul’s son-in law. The bible says “Saul realized clearly that the Lord was with David and also that his daughter Michal loved him. So he became even more afraid of David and was his enemy as long as he lived.”(1 Samuel 19:28-29) Saul spent the rest of his life carring out assaination plots against David and each time God speared David life. After spending several years in excile fleeing from Saul, Saul and his sons were killed in a battle against the Philistines. Upon hearing this news God called David out of exsile to become the new King. When David and his army returned home he found that Sauls generals had divided up the country among themselves. This began a civil war that lasted seven and a half years between those for supported David and those who supported Sauls generals. When David was thirty he unifiied the nation and God fullfilled his proficy given to him in his youth and made him king.
It is recorded that whenever the Lord saved David’s life from Saul or any of his other enemies David would sing this song that he wrote:
“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.
4 “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. 5 The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 6 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
7 “In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. 8 The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. 9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. 10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. 11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. 13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. 14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. 15 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. 16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. 18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. 19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. 20 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
21 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. 22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I am not guilty of turning from my God. 23 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. 24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. 25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, 27 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. 28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. 29 You, LORD, are my lamp; the LORD turns my darkness into light. 30 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
31 “As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. 32 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? 33 It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. 34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. 35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36 You make your saving help my shield; your help has made me great. 37 You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.
38 “I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 40 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. 41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. 42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but he did not answer. 43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.
44 “You have delivered me from the attacks of the peoples; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, 45 foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. 46 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
47 “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! 48 He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me, 49 who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. 50 Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.
51 “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”
2 Samuel 22
This is only one of over a hundred of David’s writings that he wrote during his life time as a way to worship God. Today we refer to the writings of David as the Psalms. Psalms in Hebrew, David’s native language, means praise.
In his writings David left examples of how he worshiped God. His writings have inspired, and severed as an instruction manual on how we can also worship the Lord no matter what our circumstances.
Week 1: (I do- Building interest and meaning)
Intro:Talk about king David and how his life was the inspiration for his writings. Have one person read Psalm 18 found in 2 Samuel 22 all the way through. After the reading invite someone up to share a poem or Psalm that they have written and talk about how, like David, it reflects a heart of worship in response to their life story at the time. Close the service with a responsive reading through Psalm 100. Make bookmarks or decretive notes card with Psalm 100 printed one one side and a few reflective questions on the back.
Reflection/sharing:
Encourage people to take the psalm home and reread it through out the week as a way to connect and worship God in our every day live.
Reflective Questions:
As you read Psalm 100 pay attention to the words David choose to express himself to God. Why these words?
What other words could he have used?
Which words touch your heart and life circumstances this week?
Do these words change in meaning or stay the same the more times you read and reflect on this Psalm?
Week 2: (We do- sheltered practice)
Intro Review:
Practice: Provide a card and a pen or pencil for each person. As a group have everyone write the words “Praise the Lord for it is good and right to do so. Praise the Lord for ” on one side and “Thank you Lord for . .” on the other. While the worship team plays an acoustic set encourage people to continue to add to their psalm. continue on with worship with song that the congregation can sing along with if they so choose or keep writing in their chairs. One thing it is important to not do during this time is ask them to stand or leave their chairs to take communion. The transition of locations will symbolize for most people that it is time to stop writing. Instead you want to create an environment where people feel safe to continue worshiping God through writing until they run out of words or the worship time ends.
Reflection: Invite 3 to 4 people to share with the congregation what they wrote at the end of the service. You can also hang a writing board next to a writing center somewhere in the room and invite people to hang their writing on the writing board for others to read.
Week 3: (You do- can continue to use and grow from engaging with this practice on their own.)
Intro: Invite someone to read what they wrote from the prompt at the previous service and share how people are encouraged to use the writing center today. Model how to use this station. Depending on how much space you have and how you with to set it up, people can sit at the station and write and/or get paper and a pen and return to their set to write.
Practice: Have the psalm writing activity posted at the writing station a few copies of the book of psalms and provide blank paper and paper where the first line is provided for them as well a a variety of writing utinciles.
Reflection:Have someone share a testimony of how they used this writing activity during the week outside of the worship service to worship God over the past week.
Labels: Intro to worship through writing
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