HOW DOES IT WORK?
There are various types of emphases in meetings using Harp and Bowl. However, there is a common 'cycle' or rhythm that is followed in all of the different expressions.
There are 3 stages in the cycle:
Corporate worship songs – that all may engage and experience God’s presence together in one accord. The worship leader’s role is to lead the people into a God-ward focus. A time of singing in the Spirit and/or singing out or speaking out passages of praise (e.g. from a Psalm) all singing or speaking together. The 'harp and bowl' section is then led by the music and prayer team at the mics. It works by developing a passage (stanza) by antiphonal praying (singing) and has 4 parts:To put it simply...a harp & bowl session can be either of three formats
WORSHIP IN THE WORD - worship and meditation on the Bible - essentially Bible study and worship combined!
INTERCESSION - prayer and worship combined out of a biblical passage
(1) Praying (singing) through a biblical sentence that is formed from a stanza (biblical passage) of 2-4 Bible verses
(2) Isolating a phrase – The prayer leader designates (echoes) one phrase (simply by speaking it for 1-3 seconds) from the “biblical sentence” that the prophetic singers develop by singing “around it.”
(3) Developing themes through antiphonal praying (singing) – The prophetic singers and prayer leader seek to “develop themes” from the isolated phrase. The prophetic singers sing short (5-10 seconds) songs to enhance the theme of the isolated phrase. Usually we develop 2-3 isolated phrases (totaling 2-3 minutes) per “biblical sentence” that is developed.
(4) Spontaneous choruses – The chorus leader and/or worship leader establishes “spontaneous choruses” for all to sing (8-10 times) at any time. The chorus leader signifies the last time to sing the chorus by ending it with a name of God.
DEVOTIONAL - a time of contemplative prayer,bible study and worship often lead by a solo musician
Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints Rev 5:8
