Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.

Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

I'm sure you can imagine how life-changing the message and the willingness of people to jump right on board with the instructions in this passage :) Our speaker (remember, our pastor is on sabbatical!) actually did a great job at outlining the responsibility for the church to live out love sacrificially and to overcome evil with good from Romans 12 and contrasting that with the responsibility for government to carry out justice in Romans 13. I appreciate his ability to present the tension that is natural in discussions around this subject while also laying out clearly the action that God calls the church to take.

So.. Not so many songs out there about submitting to the authority of government so instead we went in the direction of proclaiming the authority of God - authority as Creator, as King, as Saviour.

Here's the set list - 

God's Distinct Society - Sunday, September 28, 2008
Call To Worship - Responsive Reading from Ps 136 & 113
God of Wonders - G
That's Why We Praise Him - Tommy Walker - C
Your Name - Paul Baloche - Bb
Message - Romans 13:1-7
Crown Him With Many Crowns - D
Reign In Me - Brenton Brown - C
Announcements/Next Steps/Offering

Overall the service was good. Energy was a little low - probably a combination of the topic, the song selection and the team on stage. It's always great to get the "off the stage" perspective to see how things unfold and to be reminded of the importance of what we do. I'm also always gathering new ideas as I'm participating with the congregation that never come to me in planning or rehearsal. For example, as the band was leading us in "Crown Him With Many Crowns" coming out of the message I thought it would have been amazing to read some passages of scripture that proclaim God's authority. We had already done this in our reading at the beginning of the service but as we were singing the song I was just thinking to myself that doing something like that would have been a great element to the morning. I never thought of it in our planning and didn't think of it as I was listening to the band warm up on Sunday morning - I needed to be in as part of the congregation, having heard the message and in the headspace of some questions running around my mind.

It was a good reminder for me - sometimes we need to move away from the "planning" mindset and move in to the "participating" mindset to try and get a sense of where people will be at in that moment. We may not get it perfect and we'll probably make some assumptions that don't necessarily come true but if we try and be conscious of where people will be at that moment in the service we may come up with some ideas that would have otherwise never popped in to our brains.

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This is part of Fred's Super Sunday Setlist Showcase Supreme over at his blog here - http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2008/09/28/sunday-setlists-10/