Movement 1: Gather
Happy Day (Tim Hughes)
Everyday (Joel Houston)
Love the Lord (Lincoln Brewster)
In this particular service we are afforded quite a bit of time for music, so we are able to develop the theme significantly through music in the Gathering section. Today we used “Happy Day” to recall and celebrate our baptism, by which we are united into Christ’s death and resurrection: “The greatest day in history/death is beaten you have rescued me/Sing it out/Jesus is alive/…/O happy day/You washed my sin away/Forever I am changed.” We didn’t do this today, but during this song we could have invited folks to come forward, dip their fingers into the baptismal font and make the sign of the cross on their forehead (or one another’s foreheads), saying “I am (You are) a baptized child of God.” Another method is for a pastor or member to walk around and “spritz” the congregation with a branch dipped in water. Good times.