Praise & Thanksgiving

• Open with Singing & celebration of God’s presence in the shoreline (how it is created by Him and points to Him)

• Highlight that the beach can be a metaphor for the weekend as transition between land and sea:

  • Land - Representing the demands and pressures of everyday life

  • Ocean - Represents God’s presence

  • Beach - Intentional retreat to pull closer to God and away from stresses of normal living

• How do you want to respond to God’s creativity, mystery, power?

  • Think of how God is like the ocean: expansive, unfathomable depths, powerful

• What loss or emptiness have you experienced in the ‘heat of life?’ How can you experiences cool breezes during this retreat?

  • Cool breezes are created when the High pressure system over the hotter land (i.e. every day life) creates a vacuum. As hot air rises, cooler breezes blow in from the surface of the ocean (i.e. God).

• Optional: Performance of special music, dance, monologue, skit, etc.

Offering

• Your presence here is an offering to God, time that you have set aside to spend with Him. It pleases Him that you have come to the shoreline to be with Him, to gaze at the majesty of His creation, to experience the cool breezes of healing.

• Visualize yourself standing with Jesus along the shore, looking out toward the water. Be honest with Jesus about how you feel.

  • High or Low Tide - Are you feeling close or far from God right now?

  • Footing - Does anything about this retreat feel difficult or messy (Like walking on shifting sands)?

  • Needs - What do you most long to do here on the beach: sit down to read, stretch out for a nap, take a quiet walk, toss a frisbee, or play a rowdy game of beach volleyball.

• Without judgment, simply offer where you are right now to Jesus.

Follow Worship with Teaching #1: “Back to Fishing”