St. Andrew's United Methodist Church - Musical Musings

Church Family, This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, and here at St. Andrew’s, we are going to experience the communion table in a way that reaches far beyond our own sanctuary. We will travel around the world in song. But before we travel, our young people will ask us a simple and beautiful question: What is Communion to you? Perhaps communion is remembrance. Perhaps it is forgiveness. Perhaps it is a place of welcome, healing, or belonging. Perhaps communion reminds you that you are never alone. Whatever our answer, the table has room for all of them. Our worship begins with “Siyahamba,” a South African freedom song whose title means “We are marching/walking.” As we sing, we begin our journey together. We are not simply individuals arriving at the table. We are a people moving together. Then we hear “Wade in the Water,” an African American spiritual deeply rooted in the experience of enslaved people and the biblical imagery of water, deliverance, and liberation. The song reminds u...

Church Family  This week, our worship invites us to recognize that stewardship is not simply about what we give; it is about how we live with what God has entrusted to us. We begin with Praise to the Lord, the Almighty , singing verses 1, 3, and 4. We praise God as the source of creation and salvation, the God whose goodness sustains us and whose grace equips us for the work before us. Everything we have begins as a gift from God, and gratitude is the first response of a faithful steward. From gratitude, we move toward formation with Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love , singing verses 2, 3, and 5. The hymn expands our understanding of neighbor, reminding us that our neighbors are rich and poor, near and far, and that every person is someone we are called to love and serve. Christ does not simply ask us to feel compassion; Christ forms us into people whose love becomes action. We are shaped by God's love so that our lives, our choices, and our resources can become expressions of tha...

Greetings St. Andrew's Family  This week, our worship continues the stewardship journey by beginning with surrender. Take Up Your Cross calls us to release our desire to live solely for ourselves and place our lives in the hands of Christ. Stewardship begins here—not with what we give, but with recognizing that our whole lives belong to God. From surrender, we recenter our desires. The Heart of Worship reminds us that worship is not ultimately about what we receive, accomplish, or possess. It is about returning our attention to God and allowing God to become the center of our lives. When our hearts are centered on God, our understanding of what we have and what we are called to do with it begins to change. James 3:11 then asks us to consider what flows from us. If our lives are being shaped by Christ, what should others experience through our words, choices, relationships, and resources? In Our Homes, Lord Be Glorified takes that question beyond Sunday morning and into the place...

Church Family This week, our worship lets the music tell the story of stewardship. We also welcome back some of our contemporary musicians as we offer our music in praise to God. Please join us in welcoming Thomas Pool and the Tita Boys as they share their gifts with us in worship! We begin with For the Beauty of the Earth , quietly noticing the gifts that already surround us. Creation, love, community, the Church, and finally Christ, the “best Gift Divine.” Stewardship begins here: not with what we are asked to give, but with recognizing what we have already received. From there, the music begins to move. Build My Life turns our attention from the gifts we receive to the life we are building in response. In My Life, Lord makes that response personal. If we are made in the image of a generous God, then God's generosity should become visible in the way we live, serve, love, and give of ourselves. Then we arrive at Goodness of God . What began as quiet gratitude has become testimon...

St. Andrew's Family This week, we begin a seven-week journey through stewardship, exploring what it means to faithfully receive, care for, and share the gifts God has entrusted to us. Throughout these weeks, our worship will allow the music and hymnody to help shape that journey. Each week, the songs we sing, the music we hear, and the ways we respond will help tell the story of stewardship; not simply as giving money, but as a way of living with gratitude for all that God has given us. We begin with This Is My Father’s World , a hymn that opens our eyes to the beauty of creation. Before we can consider what we give, we first recognize what God has already given. The earth, its beauty, and all that surrounds us remind us that creation itself is a gift. As we sing, we are invited to see the world not simply as something we live in, but as something entrusted to our care. From there, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing turns our attention toward the many blessings God pours into our ...

Church Family,  This Sunday, our worship brings our Evangelism series to its final movement, not with a strategy or program, but with a way of life. Jesus tells us that the heart of our faith is love: to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In the Wesleyan tradition, we understand that love as a movement of grace. God’s grace awakens us, forms us, and then moves us into the world. Our music will carry that movement from the first note to the final sending. Opening Hymn: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing - Love Awakens We begin with Charles Wesley’s exuberant proclamation of what happens when God’s grace awakens the human heart. We do not begin evangelism with a sales pitch or a perfect answer. We begin with praise. The God who has loved us first gives us something worth singing about. As we sing verses 1, 2, 3, and 5, notice the movement. Praise becomes proclamation, proclamation becomes transformation, and transformation becomes invitation. We are n...