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The City Worship Experience

A Grave Situation

Welcome to The City! We are a people, a place, and a movement helping each other to live like Jesus and impact the city of Columbia. Our vision is to form community, uncover purpose, and create heaven on earth.

Locations & Times

204 S 9th St, Columbia, MO 65201, USA

Sunday 10:45 AM

Welcome to The City!!!!
Where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom. You are welcome to worship freely in this space however you feel led. Stand up, sit down, kneel - whatever is meaningful to you - you’re free to do it. You’re also welcome to try something new you’ve never done before.

We’re honored and grateful that you are here to worship God and to worship God with us today.

Let Go, Joel Hanson

if there is only one God, why do we serve so many if there is only one law, why do we live like there aren't any i'm not trying to get you down. I just want you to know that if you're gonna live for God, you've got to let go gotta let go of the little things, before they get you down gotta let go or they'll drag you to the bottom and hold you down it's a war we all fight, and compromise is the battleground but if you're ever gonna grow, you've got to let go if there is only one truth, one original way why do we search like blind men can't see the sunshine in the light of day we've got to turn around and run the other way cause if were gonna live for God, we've got to turn away turn away from the little things before they get you down turn away or they'll drag us to the bottom and hold us down it's a war we all fight and compromise is the battleground but is we're ever gonna change we've got to turn away

Children at The City
Children are welcome in worship. We value their presence. For all children (big and small) we have metal baskets on the tables with fun stuff in them.

Children can also attend Children’s Worship. If you’re interested in that, a First Impressions Team member will meet you in the back and escort you and your child to the Children’s Worship area.

Stay Connected!
We've established a handful of ways for you to stay connected with The City Worship Movement throughout the week.

First: Head over to www.ComoCreatesHeaven.com and join our email list! You'll receive updates on all news and events happening within The City.

Second: Like us on Facebook to stay plugged into the ongoing conversation. https://www.facebook.com/TheCityMVMT/

Third: Check in, share posts, or tag us (#TheCityMVMT) on Facebook.

Fourth: Add @TheCityMVMT on Instagram for active updates on all City happenings! https://www.instagram.com/thecitymvmt/

Fifth: Complete the connect card on the clipboards. It’s a great way to indicate your next step, your desire to serve, and more

YouVersion

The YouVersion Bible App is one resource The City utilizes to help you engage with the Sunday morning message. Here, you’ll have access to the worship music, scripture, main message points, and more. Follow the link below or go to your App store to download YouVersion - it’s a little brown Bible. Once downloaded, open the app and go to More > Events > Search 'Missouri United Methodist Church' to find us. Make sure to save the event to be able to reference it in the future.

https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/

Rooftops, Jesus Culture

Here I am before You, falling in love and seeking Your truth Knowing that Your perfect grace has brought me to this place Because of You I freely live, my life to You, oh God, I give So I stand before You, God I lift my voice 'cause You set me free So I shout out Your name From the rooftops I proclaim That I am Yours, I am Yours All the good You've done for me, I lift up my hands for all to see You're the only one who brings me to my knees To share this love across the earth, the beauty of Your holy worth So I kneel before You, God I lift my hands cause You set me free So I shout out Your name From the rooftops I proclaim That I am Yours, I am Yours All that I am I place into Your loving hands And I am Yours, I am Yours Here I am, I stand, with arms wide open To the One, the Son, the Everlasting God The Everlasting God Here I am, I stand, with arms wide open To the One, the Son, the Everlasting God The Everlasting God Here I am... Arms wide open Here I am... Heart wide open Here I am Here I am... Arms wide open Jesus So I shout out Your name From the rooftops I proclaim That I am Yours, I am Yours All that I am I place into Your loving hands And I am Yours, I am Yours So I shout out Your name From the rooftops I proclaim That I am Yours, I am Yours All that I am I place into Your loving hands And I am Yours, I am Yours Here I am, I stand, with arms wide open To the One, the Son, the Everlasting God The Everlasting God Here I am, I stand, with arms wide open To the One, the Son, the Everlasting God The Everlasting God So I shout out Your name From the rooftops I proclaim That I am Yours, I am Yours All that I am I place into Your loving hands And I am Yours, I am Yours So I shout out Your name From the rooftops I proclaim That I am Yours, I am Yours All that I am I place into Your loving hands And I am Yours, I am Yours

Fierce, Jesus Culture

Before I call Before I ever cry You answer me From where the thunder hides I can't outrun This heart I'm tethered to When every step I collide with You Like a tidal wave Crashing over me Rushing in to meet me here Your love is fierce Like a hurricane That I can't escape Tearing through the atmosphere Your love is fierce You cannot fail The only thing I've found Is through it all You never let me down You don't hold back Relentless in pursuit At every turn I come face to face with You Like a tidal wave Crashing over me Rushing in to meet me here Your love is fierce Like a hurricane That I can't escape Tearing through the atmosphere Your love is fierce You surround me You chase me down You seek me out How can I be lost When You have called me found You chase me down You seek me out How can I be lost When You have called me found You chase me down You seek me out How can I be lost When You have called me found Like a tidal wave Crashing over me Rushing in to meet me here Your love is fierce Like a hurricane That I can't escape Tearing through the atmosphere His love is fierce Your love is fierce You never let go Your love is fierce Even now You surround me Your love is fierce Always always His love is fierce

Come Alive (Dry Bones), Lauren Daigle

Through the eyes of men it seems There's so much we have lost As we look down the road Where all the prodigals have walked One by one The enemy has whispered lies And led them off as slaves But we know that you are God Yours is the victory We know there is more to come That we may not yet see So with the faith you've given us We'll step into the valley unafraid, yeah As we call out to dry bones Come alive, come alive We call out to dead hearts Come alive, come alive Up out of the ashes Let us see an army rise We call out to dry bones, come alive God of endless mercy God of unrelenting love Rescue every daughter Bring us back the wayward son And By your spirit breathe upon them Show the world that you alone can save You alone can save As we call out to dry bones Come alive, come alive We call out to dead hearts Come alive, come alive Up out of the ashes Let us see an army rise We call out to dry bones come alive So breathe, oh breath of God Now breathe, oh breath of God Breathe, oh breath of God Now breathe Breathe, oh breath of God Now breathe, oh breath of God Breathe, oh breath of God, now breathe As we call out to dry bones Come alive, come alive We call out to dead hearts Come alive, come alive Up out of the ashes Let us see an army rise We call out to dry bones come alive, yeah We call out to dry bones, come alive Oh come alive

In The City, we see the teaching time as communal, shared time - meaning we preach together. We tell the story together. Each Sunday we affirm our two agreements.

The first is that in The City, there are no rhetorical questions. If a question is asked, you will be given time to think about it or answer it either in the teaching itself or later in a reflection time. You can record your thoughts however you'd like - the YouVersion app, your phone memo, a journal, post your thoughts on social media - but don’t let questions go unattended.

The second thing you need to know is YOU matter in this time of worship. When asked what makes The City different from other churches in Columbia,our belief is that we’re not in competition with other churches, we’re all on the same team. But there is one thing that is different and the difference is YOU. When you are here you make this experience richer, more textured. You bring your light and energy and questions and very heart to this space and that creates atmosphere and community for the short hour or so we’re together.

If you agree will you say amen? Now, if you’re not ready to agree, that’s okay. Maybe next time. You’re here and you matter and you’re invited into these next moments:

Has anyone started listening to Christmas Music?

So we had our first snow … it was a dusting but snow nonetheless. My timeline was full of people giving each other permission to listen to Christmas music. We went from Halloween to Christmas in a day.
It’s something how we can do that. Move quickly from one holiday to another. Move from one thought to the next. Drive from one place to another and forget how we got there. We can even go more quickly through emotions, particularly the ones that feel uncomfortable like insecurity, frustration, sadness, or sorrow, We desire to move through those feelings as quickly as possible. Let’s get to the joy to the world and deck the halls and skip the gratitude and reflection of November. I get it! Let’s get to the good stuff.

Some folks would rather skip Thanksgiving and Christmas and skip to the New Year already. You see for those who experienced grief, the holidays can be jolting and not joy-filled.

Today, many churches will remember loved ones who’ve passed. The day is called All saints Day.

The celebration arose out of the catholic Christian tradition of celebrating the martyrdom of saints on the anniversary of their martyrdom. When martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire, local dioceses instituted a common feast day in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honored.

In English, the traditional name for All Saints’ Day was All Hallows Day. The eve of the feast, October 31, is still commonly known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, which incorporates and re appropriates ancient Celtic traditions. The next Day Nov. 1 is observed as a all saints and today churches honor it on the first Sunday in November.

I didn’t grow up with it, but it has been meaningful to honor it though, because I place a high value on my ancestors and I believe the separation between the spiritual realm and the earthly realm is thin.
How many of you grew up in a church that remembered All Saints Day?
For our time together today, I hope you take away two things 1. Permission to grieve if you feel it and 2. Live fully

First grief. I call grief the forever friend. It’s always there.
Grief lingers around us and represents loss of life but also the loss of a job, familiarity. Loss comes when there is a move, divorce, a change in life circumstances.

Grief is proof that we have loved, connected.

Grief also shows up as longing. Longing is the desire for something or someone not yet received, if ever to be received. For me, longing shows up as a mom with a child who has special needs. There are things he will do, and there is a long list of things he may never do. What’s crazy is not knowing what’s on the list and discovering it as life unfolds and while he has celebrations and successes, they often point simultaneously to a something that causes me grief.

No matter the kind of grief of the reason for it… it feels the same. Here’s an image of the weight of grief by artist Celeste Roberge. It’s just heavy… heavy all over.

Life is full of grief because there was once life. This comforts me and reminds me of our common humanity. We all know the state and feeling of grief. We experience grief because of life. We experience grief because of love, security, connection. We also experience grief because of inaction and fear that leads to longing for something or someone we do not yet have.

Through grief, new life, over time, appears in us giving us hope for life that will follow. Living into that hope is evidence of spiritual and emotional growth.

To experience grief is to live fully. It’s to take our time and not rush to the joy but go through the mourning, sorrow or as the psalmist writes: the valley of the shadow of death.

Let’s listen to today’s scripture:

Ezekiel 37:1-14

What we learn from this is that Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones is a poetic and prophetic response to the situation of God's people--EXILE. Exile was living in a strange land, separate from your people and thus your religious customs and for the Israelites even from their God.
Feeling:
Sense of hopelessness.
Abandonment.
Angry.
Distraught.
Trapped wondering if they’d ever get home again.

Ezekiel the Prophet reminds them that even though they find themselves in a grave situation, there is yet hope. One place I hear poetic and prophetic responses to the grief in our world today is through slam poets and spoken word.

They brace stage, speak the truth.
Syncopated and animated but always elevating
The consciousness and the actions of the people
People snap snap instead of amen.
They have church and preach
Their voices reach
A generation with authenticity, vulnerability and possibility
Of something new...anything better than what we’ve got right now.
For The world as it should be…they speak and work
To create a little bit of heaven on earth.

Poetic.
Prophetic.
The poets today…

At times the biblical prophets were sent with messages of judgment, calls to repentance and obedience. At other times--and this is the case in Ezekiel 37--the prophets were sent with good news. Ezekiel’s good news culminates with these words: "I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil." Ezekiel's message is the promise that God's spirit will reach out and bring the people back from exile.

His message is that God will Restore the People of Israel. This word restore means to make it like new. It’s not a return to the way things or who you used to be rather a restoring like new. Transformed!

The good news is that God, through the spirit breath, reconnects that which is dismembered. The spirit of God breathes healing and community.
Ezekiel speaks the hope and good news of Resurrection. Do you know what it’s like to feel lifeless, zombie like to go through the motions but not be fully present.

“There’ll be two dates on your tombstone
And all your friends will read’em
But all that’s gonna matter is that little dash between’em."
Kevin Welch

That little dash is your life and the things the make up life. Make your dash count:
Living life… even with the grief and mourning.
Live life with the hope of joy, new life, new morning.
Make the dash count by being in community and allowing yourself to be known.
Make the dash count and live so that your purpose and call doesn’t stay buried.

Jesus said I come that you might have life…
Life now..
Not just life after death.

Offering & Faith in Action
We believe the offering is holistic and includes our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.

Pull out your connect card on the clipboards. This is your way to stay connected if you so choose. Place the cards in the offering as it comes around.

Also note that details about these events can be found at the comocreatesheaven.com website under the watch and listen tab.You can also complete a connect card online there.

We'd be honored to pray for you this week. Go to the website (comocreatesheaven.com) and scroll to the bottom. There you will find a link to submit your prayer requests to The City.

Financial gifts support life and joy for others in the community from Egg-a-palooza to Summer Mobile Camp. There are three ways to give at The City.
1) You can give by texting “MOUMC” to 73256
2) Go to the website (https://tinyurl.com/GiveAtTheCity)
3) Place your gifts in the bowls that will be passed around.

Our next series we will be called All In and we’re going to be talking about the role and hold of money in our lives.

In addition, save the date Monday, Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. for a budget workshop to help both you who feel like I have money but I don’t know where it goes and those of you who feel scared to do a budget since it feels like you never have enough.

Monday, Nov. 18 Diversity in Learning Workshop (same day) at 6 p.m.

Insatiable, Jesus Culture

Jealous for my attention Longing for my affection You call me beloved You call me friend You never stop pursuing Craving for communion You call me beloved You call me friend I couldn't dare imagine The depths of Your devotion Wilder than oceans Oh-oh-oh Insatiable You'll never stop until You have it all You can have it all My heart and soul You'll never stop until You have it all So You can have it all You can have it all Ooh-ooh-ooh... You can have my attention You can have my affection 'Cause You are my beloved You are my friend I'll never stop pursuing Craving for communion 'Cause You are my beloved My closest friend Jesus, I surrender Become my one obsession Till nothing else matters Oh-oh-oh Insatiable You'll never stop until You have it all You can have it all My heart and soul You'll never stop until You have it all So You can have it all Oh-oh... Your love is an all-consuming fire Your love is an all-consuming fire And all that You ask for is surrender Your love is an all-consuming fire Insatiable You'll never stop until You have it all You can have it all My heart and soul You'll never stop until You have it all So You can have it all Your love is an all-consuming fire Your love is an all-consuming fire And all that You ask for is surrender Your love is an all-consuming fire Insatiable

Group Benediction

You are blessed in The City.
You are blessed in the fields.
You are blessed when you come and when you go.
Go in love and peace.

The City Spotify Playlist

Want to hear more music from The City? Here is the link for the Spotify playlist. It’s collaborative – so feel free to go in on any account and add songs!

https://tinyurl.com/MusicAtTheCity