Preparing for Sunday, New Year's Day, 1/1/11 (Guest Post by Tim Plaster)

Jenny and I are out on the East Coast this Sunday visiting her family. Tim Plaster joyfully took over responsibilities for music this week, and wrote a guest-post for the blog for all of ya'll! Here he is.

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I always look forward to dusting off my Christmas MP3s and teaching some great Christmas hymns to my guitar students. The 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures, the reminder of what God has done for us by sending His Son, and the lyrics that teach us something new each year, really get me going.

For the last three years, Kate and I have seen a band called Future of Forestry play at Cornerstone church. They're a Christian band, and they have two Christmas CDs that they've released. An old friend of mine, Sarah Rollins, posted on her Facebook a few years back that she was going to see Future of Forestry, so we thought we'd give it a shot.

We ended up really enjoying the show, and bought a few of their Christmas MP3s that we love. They take the good old Christmas songs, and what they tell us at the show is that they slow down the songs. Not too much, just enough to help us realize what we're singing. I remember thinking that that's one of the things we are supposed to do when we sing songs to and about God, simply learn from them.

So each year I spend some time playing some of their songs on my guitar. When Josh asked me to play this week, he told me that I can do a Christmas song if I wanted to, even though Christmas has passed.

I didn't hesitate to choose the song What Child is This, a great song about Jesus as a baby from a different perspective.

Another song that I've been wanting to do lead for a long time is How Great Thou Art. I heard this version by Charlie Hall a few years ago I really top my attention. It's upbeat, and maintains the melody of the song. The third verse will sing, I love:

And when I think that God his son not sparing
Send him to die I scarce can take it in
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Each time I've lead worship in the main service over the past few months, we've sung 10,000 Reasons, by Matt Redman. What an amazing melody and some strong words that we can sing to our God to start our worship time on Sunday morning. There's a great pause in the rhythm in the middle of each verse, that makes you stop and think about the words that you're singing. Rich and Johnny do a great job with this pause on the percussion in the middle of each verse.

One thing that I love about teaching guitar is that I get to learn new songs that my students bring me. I use songs to teach corns and different techniques. The student showed me a song for a few weeks ago by Hillsong, song by Brooke Fraser, called His Glory Appears. Another name for this song is Age to Age. It only has one person one chorus, but it's very powerful and nice and slow... so you can take it all in.

I look forward to my time this week worshiping God with all of you. I give thanks to God for the opportunity to lead when I can. Have a great rest of the week, I'll see you on Sunday.

Preparing for Christmas Eve, 12/24/11

Well, last week ended up pretty busy and I didn't get a blog post up, what with school wrapping up for the holidays, among other things. But here we go - we're into the home stretch in our Advent celebration as a church body.

I hope you're planning on being a part of corporate worship Christmas eve, and Christmas morning. It absolutely might clash with our family "plans" to gather to worship as a church Christmas morning; but if we really believe that Christmas is all about Jesus, then what a great opportunity to have a regularly scheduled church gathering fall on Christmas day. You can also think about it this way: this year is also an interesting test of what you and I value most in our families. We'll surely choose to spend our time Christmas morning doing whatever is most sacred to us. If you have a chance, Zac Hicks, a worship and music director I respect very much, wrote a great blog post here. He has some great challenges for us as we think through the decision of whether or not to participate in corporate worship Christmas morning. We can't be legalistic either way on the decision, and if you miss, I hope it's for good reasons. But hopefully we'll see you there.

All that to say, Christmas eve will be a relatively short, hour-long gathering. Jordan will preach briefly from John 1, and I can't think of a better passage for a Christmas worship-time. God's Word became flesh; the light of God came to dwell with men, and the darkness did not overcome it; Christ brought light and life into our sin-darkened world, and all of us who believe in Christ are given the right to become children of God through Jesus.

The Order of Service

We'll sing together about this theme of God's Son taking on flesh and coming to dwell among us, to save us from our sin. The following is a brief explanation of our Christmas Eve gathering. The way we order a gathering often says as much about what we're doing as the actual content of songs we choose, so this year we're trying to be purposeful in reflecting what Christmas is all about in the song order.

Here's the thought-process of the night: we'll start off the service in a minor key, congregational sing of the first verse and chorus of "O Come O Come Emmanuel." With this song we express the longing of God's people for a Savior, that was promised by God from the time of man's first fall into sin.

Then we'll drop out of the minor key into "Angels We Have Heard On High" as a response, sounding the word with the angels that the Savior has come at last. The chorus sings, "Gloria, in excelsis Deo," which is Latin for "Glory to God in the highest." In the first 2 songs we express the longing of God's people, and God's gracious response.

We'll continue to work our way deeper into who Christ is, and what His incarnation really means, singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" just before Jordan preaches, and concluding the night with "Joy to the World." The goal of of the whole night is to present Christ as clearly as possible, and move systematically through a reflection on the glory of Christmas. Again, the themes in our songs will go from longing for salvation, to completion of it in Jesus Christ.

There will be a few more songs in between, with a possible appearance by the kids' choir, and you just have to come Saturday night to find out about everything. The service starts at 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Hope to see you there!

Preparing for Sunday, 12/11/11 (Advent)

This is our 1 & 2 Samuel Recap Sunday. Jordan will be preaching, pulling together all we've learned about what God shows us about Himself in the lives of David and Saul. Jordan will be focusing on 2 Samuel 7, and the covenant God made with David and David's line, which absolutely affects our celebration of Christmas and Advent as a church. God has made a covenant to set His love on His people. And we have assurance of God's covenant love for us because He didn't even spare His own Son to provide forgiveness for our sin. We are God's blood-bought, adopted children, and we gather during the Advent season to reflect on Christ's incarnation, and long together for Christ's second return.

We'll sing the following carols this week. Make sure you're there to be a part of our Christmas worship. And be ready to sing loud and well!

1. Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy)

A fresh, but not too different arrangement of the hymn by Isaac Watts, originally written in 1719. This is a great hymn that bridges the fulfilled prophesies from Isaiah about the coming Messiah, with the ultimate completion of Christ's lordship at His second coming. The song speaks of the governmental, worldwide peace that Christ will bring, that we still look ahead to with hope and expectation. The chorus of this one express the "unspeakable joy" we have because God has kept His promises and provided a Savior for His people.

2. The First Noel

"The First Noel" is a favorite of our church, a traditional English carol, that we'll also play in a "fresh" arrangement. Little known factoid: "noel" is a French word for "Christmas." This is a song of worship and reflection on the first Christmas, when our King was born in Bethlehem.

3. O Holy Night

This one's a French carol, written in 1847. I really don't know of a better song that combines reflection and meditation, celebration and praise, than this one. The combination between melody and poetry is pretty amazing. This song speaks of Christ, our Lord, deserving of eternal praise, coming to dwell with us and break our chains of sin. We'd better sing this one with gusto.

For an extra treat, here's another version of "O Holy Night" by David Phelps. This version is one-of-a-kind. You have to skip the interview, to 1:28, where the song starts.

What is Advent? Why & How Should You Observe It?

Go here to read a great post by Kristen Gilles, about the Advent season and why it's such a great observance for the Church to participate in. Kristen and Bobby Gilles are part of Sojourn church, which includes more liturgy in their gatherings than our church does. But our church will be focusing more intentionally on the Advent season among other things, this year and in the future.

Here's how Gilles defines "Advent:"
This season of Advent is a re-enactment of Israel’s wait for the birth of their Messiah, and a symbol of our longing for Christ’s return.

Read this post to help prepare yourself for corporate worship on Sundays this month, but also to help you focus your individual devotions during the Christmas season, and for your family as you observe Advent at home with your spouse and kids.

Keep checking back for more on Advent!

Preparing for Sunday, 12/4/11: Advent

Last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent (the countdown of the 4 Sundays before Christmas), but this week we're kicking off December with all Christmas worship. I'm super excited. Make sure you don't miss any of the singing this month if you can help it, since we don't always get to sing these songs together. Advent/Christmas hymns are some of the most rich and most beautiful ever written, and we'll be hitting these pretty hard each week. Think and prepare your heart ahead of time, to come on Sunday morning and sing together. This is a wonderful, sacred season for the Church. Let's make the most of it.

This week, Jordan is preaching from 2 Samuel 14, and we'll sing the following songs:

1. O Come All Ye Faithful
This song is a call to worship, for all the "citizens of Heaven" to raise a mighty chorus of praise to God for the Gospel. I love the last verse, that says, "Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv'n/Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing/O come let us adore Him!" This theme of adoring Christ and treasuring our Messiah above anything else, is really the theme of Advent.

2. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
A classic Christmas hymn, written by Charles Wesley, that speaks of the glory of the coming of Christ, in answer to the long waiting of God's people. Finally, the Savior has appeared to deliver us from our sins and complete our adoption into God's family. The song's 2nd verse says, "Born Thy people to deliver, born a Child and yet a King/Born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring!" All this to say, I'm really excited to sing this one together on Sunday.

3. Kids' Choir: "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
We'll worship by listening to the kids sing this one. It's always an encouragement (and a necessity) to incorporate the children of our church family into Sunday corporate worship, and participate in worship alongside one another this way.

4. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
Another Charles Wesley hymn, this will be the transition hymn into the time of preaching. I won't say much about this song, it's so classic - I'll just quote from it: "Veil'd in flesh the Godhead see, hail th'incarnate Diety/Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel."

Preparing for Sunday, 11/13/11!

Hey church familia,
hope you're planning on being together with us tomorrow morning. We'll continue our preaching series through 1 Samuel, and we'll remind one another of God's faithfulness to His people through the preaching, through the songs we sing, and hopefully in our fellowship. Let's all be there, and prepare to come to encouraging one another to walk with Christ another week. Life is hard, and the pull of the world is strong, which is why we need the body of Christ, and why the body of Christ gathers.

We'll sing the following songs:

1. Forever
We'll sing of God's faithfulness to His people with this one. The songs says, "From the rising to the setting sun, His love endures forever/And by the grace of God we will carry on." God's grace enables us to walk with Him, and it's God's unchanging love for His people that keeps us in the faith. Our salvation is rooted in God's faithfulness and goodness, not our own.

2. The Glories of Calvary
We are only God's people because Jesus completed our salvation on His cross and in His resurrection. This song has a really sweet thought-progression: the verses develop multiple aspects and benefits God has given us in Christ's sacrifice, and the chorus is a response and prayer to God to take us "deeper into the glories of Calvary." We meet to draw near to God together as a church, and to go deeper together in our knowledge and experience of the Gospel.

I love the line that says, "And Your saints below join with Your saints above, rejoicing in the risen Lamb!" When we meet together, we also anticipate and look ahead to when we'll gather in the new Heavens and new Earth to praise our King.

3. KIDS' CHOIR: Make Me Wise
We'll worship by listening to the kids on this one, which is a prayer for God to gives us wisdom and teach us to fear Him rightly. It's a good tune - our 3 year old Ella is excited that we're playing it in church.

4. My Hope is Built
This is one of the best hymns there is, in my opinion. We'll sing all 4 verses. This hymn takes its themes from Hebrews 6, saying that no matter what evil befalls us in this world the way it is, or what trials God ordains for our lives, our salvation and eternal life is rooted in Christ. Definitely watch this one, and/or listen below!

Recommendation: Red Mountain Music

Red Mountain Music has, and is putting out some pretty awesome church music: some original stuff and a lot of really good re-workings of hymns. It's all very, very good - I can't stress this enough. Follow the first link above to Red Mountain's Bandcamp page, where you can stream a bunch of their songs. Here's the link to their music in iTunes.

Their Christmas album is especially good, if you want some new stuff for the Advent season that's a'comin upon us right fast.

And finally, here's a neat little post analyzing one of their arrangements of a classic hymn. Make sure you read this, and listen to the track. It's such a simple recording, but it's so good.

The thing a really appreciate about these folks, is not just their amazing creativity and the quality of their music (vocals, arrangements, instrumentation, etc), but I really appreciate that just about everything they do would work well in a congregational-sing setting. This is really good, honest, rootsy church music.

Preparing for Sunday, 11/6/11! DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK!

Hey folks,
The first way you can prepare for this Sunday morning is to remember to set your clocks back an hour Saturday night.

This Sunday morning we'll meet to sing together, pray together, listen to preaching together, all to remind one another and encourage one another, of the God who has called us out of darkness and given us life in His Son. Lets prepare to participate in all of these things, and serve one another too when we meet. Be praying for God to give you opportunities to encourage others with the joy of the Gospel, and for you to be encouraged and admonished as well. Lets not waste this Sunday morning.

Jordan will preach from 1 Samuel 28, when Saul goes behind enemy lines to meet with the Medium of En-dor (don't worry, no ewoks involved). Jordan will focus on repentance, and the need Saul shows in this book for actual repentance and godly sorrow over his sin, rather than continuing to bypass God and do things his own way. Let's read the passage ahead of time so we're ready to really engage on Sunday.

We'll sing the following songs, focusing on God's holiness, and His grace in drawing us near through Christ.

1. Indescribable
This song's 2nd chorus at the end includes a really important lyric. After talking about God's sovereign glory and power, seen in creation and His governing the universe, the song says, "You see the depths of my heart, and You love me the same." God, in His holiness, has reached out to draw His people near to Him, because He is full of love and grace. This is glorious truth.

2. How Can I Keep From Singing
If you read the post about last Sunday, you knew we were going to sing this one again. We introduced this song last week for the first time in Main Service. One clarification: the first verse says, "There is an endless song, echoes in soul/I hear the music sing." This seems a little disjointed, unless you connect it directly to the chorus, that says, "How can I keep from singing Your praise?/How can I ever say enough - how amazing is Your love!" These words are for a believer, get that: believer, who has a song of praise in his/her heart because they are born-again. There is a theology of worship in this song, that God has, through Christ, made His children worshipers of Him. We sing together because we're the redeemed people of God. This is a glorious song for someone who is a redeemed Christian.

3. Stronger
This song exults in the strength of our Savior. Christ is faithful to hold his sheep secure, even through trials, or as the song puts it, "through the storm, and through the fire."

4. It is Well
One of our best hymns of the church, this song continues the thought that, no matter what may befall us, God has fully paid for our sin on the cross. Whether God ordains blessing or trial for our lives, He remains faithful and good. The songs says, "My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought/My sin, not in part but in whole/Was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more/Praise the Lord, O my soul!"

Quote to Ponder!

"We do not go to church as individuals to worship God; we go as a body to encourage one another. We all have a vital part to play." [See Colossians 3:15-16]

Vaughan Roberts, from True Worship

Reflecting on Sunday, 10/30/11

 Happy Reformation Day!

If you're feeling nostalgic, here's what happened in church last year on Reformation Day. Also in Reformation Day spirit, here's a great quote from Martin Luther about music: "[After] the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world."

Ok, so first of all I want to dispel any rumors that there was something wrong yesterday morning. Tim Plaster and I planned about a month ago for him to lead music on a week that I was actually around. I'd get a break from leading and planning the set, but still get to play in the band. This gave Tim and I a chance to talk after Thursday night's rehearsal, and after this morning at church, and share feedback with each other. Moving forward, it's my plan to do this every so often. I never want things to center around me (or anyone else), being the personality that has to be the one leading or things can't get done. The goal is always to have a few guys who can switch off with leading music, give one another breaks, and help one another grow and sharpen what we're doing.

In many ways, this isn't too different from the main preaching pastor giving away a Sunday once in a while, to faithful guys who can also preach. But no, nothing was wrong with me, or with anything else.

All that to say, I think yesterday morning was great. The congregation sang really well - we could really hear the upswell of voices on the stage. Also, I had an awesome time just playing in the band and singin' backup. It was super fun to play over by Jeff on the stage, and sing along with the congregation.

I'm coming back to lead with a vengeance next Sunday, so get ready to sing well, and loud.

We sang the following songs this week:
1. Our God
2. How Can I Keep From Singing (This was a new one we introduced, and it just might make its 2nd appearance next Sunday)
3. The Old Rugged Cross
4. 10,000 Reasons

Preparing for Sunday, 10/16/11

We'll be taking bread and cup communion together this Sunday morning, so you especially don't want to miss it. Be there on-time to sing with us at 9:00, and to take communion right after announcements/offering. To prepare for this Sunday, here's a quote by Rick Holland on taking the elements of communion as a gathered church:

" Communion is the best safeguard against doctrinal error, the best defense against apathy and lethargy, the best motivation for love and excitement for the Redeemer, and the best window into the depth and accessibility of gospel truth...God understands we forget. That's why He put Communion in our path...How do you uneclipse Jesus? You hold precious His death and remember His greatness. How do you hold that He is precious? By examining your life and seeing your sinfulness and loving His sacrifice on the cross on your behalf."

We do all these things as we take communion together. It will be a sweet time as we gather and remind ourselves and each other of the greatness of our Savior. Again, don't miss out!

Jordan will be preaching a sermon, entitled "David: From Desperation to Hope," from 1 Samuel 21 and Psalm 34. Read the passages over and be thinking through them ahead of time.

We'll sing songs that focus on the glory of Jesus and of what He accomplished on the Cross. The order will go as follows:

1. Open the Eyes of My Heart
This is a "call to worship" song, where we make it our prayer first-of-all for God to reveal his greatness to us as we gather to worship Him together. My challenge for us all (myself included!) is to not just sing this song through because it's familiar, but to sing with real affections. I hope we pray earnestly as we sing that God really will renew our view of His worth and greatness.

2. The Glories of Calvary
We introduced this song a few months ago, and it became a new favorite among us I think. A lot of songs that really focus on the cross are slower and contemplative (which is great). This one is bigger and more up-tempo, which is also obviously appropriate as we celebrate our salvation in Jesus. The 2nd verse correctly proclaims, "Sinners find eternal joy in the triumph of Your wounds!"

3. All I Have Is Christ
This tune is a great "narrative" song of what God did when he saved us. Verse 2 says,

But as I ran my hell-bound race, indifferent to the cost

You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross

And I beheld God's love displayed - You suffered in my place

You bore the wrath reserved for me; now all I know is grace!

I hope this helps you prepare for Sunday morning. Lookin' forward to seeing all of you there!

Reflecting On This Past Sunday, 10/9/11

Hey everyone,
Here are a couple notes on this last Sunday in the way of reflection. Again, it's valuable at times to reflect back on our corporate gatherings as a church, because we want our corporate times of worship to affect our day-to-day living. We meet to equip one another and encourage one another to go on believing in Christ, and resting in Him another week. So here goes:

1. Baby dedications. 
What a great thing to be a part of. We had 2 families, the Foys and Kosters, dedicate themselves to godly parenting of the hearts of their kids. Jordan said something very significant, about a baby dedication being a time of accountability, where we as a church commit to praying for, and encouraging, and building up these new parents to raise these kids in the knowledge of the Lord. Again, what a great thing for us all to be a part of corporately.

2. Singing.
Because baby dedications took a little bit longer than expected, we cut our last song from the set and I called Jordan up to preach. This is OK! Sometimes we may spend some extra time on something that is just as much a part of our corporate worship and encouragement as the music, so I'd like to always keep this as an option if we have a couple of baby dedications, baptisms, or anything else. We tailor a service as the Spirit may lead.

I was a little sad that we didn't sing the last song, which was "Jesus Paid it All." But then I thought about it in retrospect, and we got the real meat of the song list even so. Our last song ended up being "How Great is Our God," which speaks about aspects of the 3-person, triune God we worship ("The Godhead, three in one/Father, Spirit, Son/The Lion and the Lamb). This is the life that we are brought into, to participate in, when we are born-again in Christ.

I do think we need to sing more songs that speak of the Trinitarian nature of God for many reasons, and I'm glad we got this one in on Sunday. More to come on this "Trinity" stuff later.

3. Preaching.
Jordan preached from 1 Samuel, chapters 18 and 19, drawing out the main point of these chapters, which is a contrast between Saul's self-reliance, and David's dependence on God. David was truly ready to be king of Israel once God had stripped him of his comforts and securities, forcing David to depend on God alone. Really good preaching, and really good take-away for us.

A Quote to Ponder

"The goal of music in the [corporate worship] gathering isn't great sound or even great music. It's a church gathered and united in song."


Mike Cosper, Director of Worship and Arts at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky


This quote is from an article Cosper wrote for The Gospel Coalition. Read it here.

...when people leave our church on Sunday.

Visit here for a great post by Mark Altrogge, on what should be the goals of a Bible- believing, Bible-teaching church on a Sunday morning. As the ransomed people of God gather together for corporate worship, woe to us if we don’t make much of Christ.

Here’s my thought – when a church realizes that a Sunday morning corporate worship gathering is not about showcasing the awesome preacher, or the awesome worship team, we remove the undue, unhealthy pressure that Churches often feel. We meet together to remind ourselves and each other of the surpassing worth of Jesus, and of knowing Him. Nothing else. And so hopefully our preaching, our corporate singing, our prayer and fellowship all make much of our Savior. A church should feel the accountability and “pressure” (for lack of a better word) to get the Word of God and the content of the Gospel right and clear.

And for music specifically, the goal isn't to have the most awesome vocal solos, or top our creativity last week with how we arrange our songs. The goal is to find fresh ways each week to see Jesus as the most valuable treasure in our lives. We gather to help each other do this, and to equip each other to live another week in the joy of knowing our Savior. If we're seeking to add to this, or to emphasize anything else in our Sunday morning gatherings, we're engaging in idolatry, living as if there are other things more valuable that Jesus Himself.

It's my hope that our desire as a worship team would model the Apostle Paul's, as he says in Philippians 3:7-9,

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—”

Preparing for Sunday, 9-25-11

There are good things in store tomorrow at Grace Brethren. Come ready to sing with us, listen to the preaching, pray together, fellowship - or basically to worship God together as a gathered church. Pastor John will be preaching on 1 Samuel 17:1-58, on David and Goliath. We're looking at David, "A Man After God's Own Heart," so read the passage and prepare ahead as much as you can to engage with God tomorrow in and through His Word. And by the way, it's so good for us to get into the Old Testament in the preaching on Sunday - don't miss it!

Tomorrow is also Celebration of Grace, which will happen during the normal 2nd hour, when we'd normally have our Equipping Classes. Instead, we'll gather again 2nd hour in the main building for some testimonies of the past year, and some updates on what's taking place in the future for our church. Again, you don't want to miss this if you're a part of our church family. We'll eat lunch together afterward as well, which is always exciting. I've been looking forward to this for weeks (not JUST for the food...I promise).

Tomorrow we'll sing the following songs:

1. Indescribable
A great song expressing awe and wonder at God's majesty seen in creation, and awe at the fact that God loves his children even though he is infinitely holy and majestic and we are sinful.

2. O Worship the King
We don't want to leave our singing on the thought that God is indescribable in every way. Though we can't completely comprehend all the depths of God's character, God has told us some very specific things about Himself, and we can know these things for sure. One of my favorite lines from this hymn: "O tell of His might, O sing of His grace!" Let's proclaim this mightily together tomorrow.

3. Stronger
A "newer" song we introduced several months ago, that explores the security and strength of our salvation that we have in and through Jesus. His sacrifice has paid for our sin once and for all, and nothing can take us from Christ's hand.

4. Nothing but the Blood
Christ's blood washes us "white as snow," clothing us with His own righteousness. We'll continue our singing with this great re-working of a hymn's chorus, singing of our glorious God who has given us salvation.

Encouragments for Songwriters

If you care about church music, go here to read some great thoughts by Fernando Ortega on writing timeless, quality music to be sung by the church. Ortega's been a hero of mine for a lot of years, both in his original songwriting, and in his arranging of classic hymns. My own ideas about re-arranging and playing hymns have been influenced by him a ton.

Even if you're not a songwriter, Ortega's thoughts are well worth the read, just to get a glimpse of what goes into writing quality songs meant for congregational singing. Unfortunately, a pretty large part of the modern Church hasn't required too much of her songwriters. It's encouraging to see guys like Ortega (one example of quite a few at the present time) who are being really thoughtful and purposeful about how they write for the Church.

There's more to come on this topic - stay tuned!

Today's Corporate Worship, 9-11-11

Today we gathered for corporate worship on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It seems surreal (to me at least) that it's been 10 years. I thought today was great, in that we really did take time to reflect together on the significance of the profoundly tragic event. And Pastor Tim and Pastor Jordan led us in doing that biblically.

Jordan mentioned Luke 13, where Jesus says,

"I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Jesus talks about a tragic event (the falling of a tower in Siloam, no less) where eighteen people perished. The falling of the tower was not necessarily a judgment, but it is an opportunity for repentance for those left behind. 

God is so gracious, and He remains good through horrible and tragic circumstances. And those of us who are spared in this life have more opportunities to repent and draw near to Christ. And to take the life-giving message of the Gospel to those who haven't heard.

Jordan preached this morning from John 17:20-26, as Christ continues to pray for his disciples (including us - "also for those who will believe in Me"). Christ prays that we, the Church, will be unified, just as Christ and the Father are unified. And Jordan added that, "The purpose of unity is to convince the world that Jesus was sent by God."

Along with the preaching, we sang together this morning of the greatness of God and His sovereignty in salvation (Mighty To Save, How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art), of the secure hope we have in Christ (In Christ Alone), and of the amazing love and grace of God shown us in the Gospel (Because of Your Love, Amazing Grace). 

All in all, it felt like a very unified morning, by the grace of God. The congregation's singing was loud and done well (I had to step away from the mic a few times and just let the congregation go - that's the best), and good fellowship abounded. 

Hope you're encouraged to head out into your week like I am, to the praise of His glorious grace. See you guys next week.

Josh

Preparing for Sunday, 9/4/11

Hey guys,
hope you're planning on being in church with us tomorrow. We'll be gathering together to make much of Jesus. It should be a great time of corporate worship. Pastor John is preaching through the next section of Jesus' prayer for the disciples and us, from John 17:11b-19. Read the passage ahead of time today if you can!

Our songs will go as follows:
1. Your Grace is Enough
2. And Can It Be
3. Christ is Risen
4. 10,000 Reasons

I'm including the lyrics to 10,000 Reasons below, along with a YouTube video of the tune. It's a great modern hymn of sorts, that is very Psalm-like. I love how the verses sing of the character of God, and also respond with confidence that we can sing even when "the evening comes" - that through trials God is always faithful and good; and knowing Him in Christ, we possess every good thing.

Check the song out and prepare to sing it out tomorrow!

Chorus

Bless the Lord O my soul
O my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name

Verse 1
The sun comes up
It's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass
And whatever lies before me
Let me be singing
When the evening comes

Verse 2
You're rich in love
And You're slow to anger
Your name is great
And Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness
I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons
For my heart to find

Verse 3
And on that day
When my strength is failing
The end draws near
And my time has come
Still my soul will
Sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years
And then forevermore

Some great thoughts on corporate worship by Greg Gilbert.

It's always seemed to me that Satan must take a peculiar pride in the tactic of taking music---which God intended to be a beautiful means of worship to Him---and turning it into a line of division and battle among His people.

[I]t fills my heart with joy (no kidding!) that the success or failure of our music on Sunday mornings depends on whether our congregation shows up ready to sing. It's amazing, really. When we as a church show up prepared to engage in the service, excited to worship Christ and hear from his Word, our music succeeds in a big way---the voices fill up our sanctuary like a flood, and it's beautiful to hear.

Greg Gilbert

Preparing for Sunday, 8/21/11

It's good to be home. Jenny and I took the kids on vacation to New Hampshire to visit Jenny's family, and I had the chance to fly down for a few days to the Worship God Conference in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It was a pretty awesome time. Stay tuned for a post reflecting on the conference!

This Sunday, Pastor John will preach from John 17:1-5, the beginning of a 3 week series through Jesus' high Priestly prayer. This will also wrap up our summer preaching series on "Jesus' School of Prayer." This week, John will focus in on the glory of Christ, and his prayer for the Father to glorify Himself through the shed blood of Jesus. And to restore Christ's own glory, that He had before when He was with the Father. Good theology coming this Sunday!

Our songs will focus in on the redeeming work of Jesus, and the glory and surpassing value of knowing Him. Here they are:

1. Forever
2. The Glories of Calvary
3. The Wonderful Cross
4. Before the Throne of God Above
5. My Jesus, I Love Thee (1st Verse)

I want to highlight "Before the Throne of God Above" really quick. We've sung this before in our church, but this song is so rich we need to meditate on the lyrics. If you spend some time soaking in the lyrics to this song, you will have some food for serious joy in Christ, and serious ammunition against your sin, and against the Devil.

I especially love the 2nd verse, that says "When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within/Upward I look and see Him there, Who made an end of all my sin!" By knowing the Gospel well, and knowing what it really means to be born-again and rooted in Jesus, we have the cure for a thousand sorrows. Jesus has completely paid for our sin; it is finished, and we have no more guilt or judgment to bear.

Here are all the lyrics to "Before the Throne:"

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Another quote for the pondering!

"Corporate worship in the church is not music driven, it’s theology driven."

~ C.J. Mahaney

And I would argue that it MUST be. If it's not, it's worthless. The music has to serve the message being preached in our churches. Our music must be clear, Biblically sound, and Gospel-saturated.

Worship

I regularly need reminders like this. May our Sunday gatherings be the outflow of lives worshiping God day-in and day-out.

“True worship isn’t best shown by the comfortable corporate confessions on Sunday, but by your choices of submission Monday through Saturday.”

Paul Tripp

The next 2 weeks at Grace: PART 1

Hey everybody,
the next 2 weeks Tim Plaster, and Eric Walter will be leading music for main service. They've both graciously and joyfully stepped up to take over while Jenny and I and the kids are out of town in NH.

Jenny and I will be leading music for her family's church, Faith Fellowship in Concord, NH for the weeks we're gone. We're really looking forward to that - it's always a joy to be with this other church body. We're close with several of the families here, and it's fun to be a part of another group of Christians that feel like family for a couple of weeks. I'll also be attending the Worship God conference in Maryland while we're here on the East coast, so you can pray for both of those things: our time with the church back here, and for Jenny and the kids while I'm away for a few nights at the conference.

Make sure you're preparing your heart for corporate worship this Sunday - be there ready to sing together as the Body of Christ, and to listen to preaching together. Pastor John will preach from Luke 22:39-46, on "Prayer and Pain," continuing our Summer sermon series on what Christ taught us about prayer. Read the passage, and check out the song links below to prepare for Sunday mornin'.

Songs:
1. Hosanna (Praise is Rising)
2. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
3. Holy Holy Holy
4. Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
5. Christ is Risen

Music Recommendations!

Hey friends,

I'm trying to write a post every few months or so, recommending an album or two that are current, and that are really good stuff for the Church to be listening to. Basically, this is a "new worship music" showcase, with new music that you may or may not have heard about yet. I'm trying hard to stay up on who's writing really good, new music for the Church to sing, and hopefully you can benefit from this!

Here are a couple new albums that I'm really enjoying, and why. These come highly recommended, both for the lyrics and musicality. You can click on the titles of the albums for links to buy em' on iTunes.

1. "A Sweet and Bitter Providence" by The Joy Eternal.

This record, both in title and content, was inspired by John Piper's book, A Sweet and Bitter Providence. The 6 songs on this short EP follow the same theme, of rejoicing in God's infinitely good purposes in all that He does (even in the painful things).

Something the songs deal with, and that comes inspired very much by Piper, is that although sometimes life is very difficult and full of pain and difficulty, God does nothing by accident and is working gloriously good things out of everything bad and evil. That's some heavy theology to work through, and these songs are a great attempt, and help at doing that. Ultimately, this is an album full of really good, weighty praise. The music is very contemporary though not too "rocked-out;" the arrangements are intricate and beautiful.

2. "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman

This record just came out a couple of weeks ago, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. We just introduced the title track in church yesterday by the way!

Overall, this is probably the most God and Christ-exalting stuff I've heard from Redman yet. He's obviously growing in his theology and love of Scripture, which is reflected in his songwriting. The album is more full of great truths about God and Christ, rather than about us, which is the more spiritually healthy way to go, and definitely the most helpful kind of songs for a church to sing.

This album was recorded totally live, which is pretty cool (though it was definitely polished up and mastered in the editing process). The whole feel of the recording is pretty awesome, start to finish. It's rare these days to find a full-length "worship" album, that's so great pretty much the whole way through.

There are a couple of disclaimers though:

1) There are a few places where Redman's lyrics make vows to God, along the lines of "I will never stop believing in You," etc. This is dangerous territory to get into if you're writing songs for congregational singing. A church has to recognize that on any given Sunday, and even among the regular attenders, there are a fair number of unbelievers present; we should stay away from making people sing promises that they can't keep, or sing things about themselves that aren't true. That's why worship music that sings accurate truths about God are always the best way to go - the lyrics are always true, and can be brought to bear on believers and unbelievers alike.

2) In the song "Where Would We Be," talking about all that Christ has accomplished for Christians in his sacrificial, atoning death, the song says, "Jesus, You heard our cry." I'm not sure exactly what Redman was going for with this lyric, but it could mean a couple of things. First, if it means that human kind gave up a general cry of anguish for its fallen state, then yes, this lyric is true. However, if it means that we cried out to God for a way to be saved and He came through for us, this is only true if we understand that on our own, in our natural sinful state, we did not love God, and wanted nothing to do with Him (John 3:16-21). In salvation, God softens and prepares our hearts by His Spirit, and causes us to be born again; and if we cry out to God for forgiveness from our sins, it's because God has already been at work in our hearts (John 3:21; 2 Cor. 4:6). This isn't an unbiblical lyric, necessarily, but we just have to be careful that we know what we're actually saying when we sing.

Hope this is helpful. Get the music, and enjoy the listening!

Here's to good music, written by the Church, for the Church!

Preparing for Sunday, 7/31/11 (Morning Corporate Worship & RENEW at Night!)

Hey everyone,
hope you've been studying Scripture this week, and have given some thought to preparing your heart to meet as the Body of Christ this Sunday. If not, I get that - but it's not too late. We're looking at a really fun Sunday coming up, with our morning corporate meeting, and our last night of the RENEW series. Make sure you come out for this last RENEW night - especially if you haven't made all the others. This should be a good one.

MORNING: Pastor John will be continuing our series on prayer, preaching out of Mark 1:35-39 and Luke 5:15,16. He'll be teaching on the priority of prayer, looking at how even the Son of God withdrew from the crowds of people to be with the Father, and to pray. Again, we see examples in Jesus for how to live, that we can't ignore if even the divine Son of God didn't neglect to do these things.

Here are the songs for the morning. Give them a listen and prepare your heart and your vocal cords to sing heartily unto the Lord.
1. Your Grace is Enough
This song is a reminder to us as we sing that God has promised to be gracious to His children, and that His grace that saves us from our sin is infinitely valuable. His grace is enough for us, even though the world and our sin offer so many passing pleasures.

2. Grace Like Rain
We sing songs like this occasionally, because they take very familiar lyrics from favorite hymns, and set them to new, fresh melodies. This one is a re-working of John Newton's "Amazing Grace," and although it will never replace the glory of the original, the creative new arrangement can help us re-focus and meditate on the lyrics, and the depth of what they proclaim.

3. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
There is so much about this hymn that I love. I'd like to just highlight a couple things from the newer 4th verse that we've been singing lately, which was written by Bob Kauflin from Sovereign Grace Music. It's a verse that brings in the theme of the hope of Heaven, saying "O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face/Full-arrayed in blood-washed linen, how I'll sing Thy sovereign grace!" This will continue our theme of God's grace, proclaiming that being born-again in Jesus, we are permanently clothed in Christ's righteousness. And it is God's sovereign grace that has done this.

4. 10,000 Reasons (NEW SONG!)
This is a new song, written by Matt Redman. It's very hymn-like, and Psalm-like especially in its chorus. Give it a listen. Basically, the theme of the song is that there are far more than 10,000 reasons to praise the Name of God, for that He is, and has done, and has promised to do for us. The lyrics are below - check them out! And see if you can catch the little tribute to the lyrics of "Amazing Grace."

Chorus
Bless the Lord O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

Verse 1
The sun comes up it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

Verse 2
You're rich in love and You're slow to anger
Your name is great and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Verse 3
And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

RENEW: Be at church at 5:00 for a meal (CHILI COOK-OFF YA'LL!) and stick around from 6:00 - 7:15 for a time of music and teaching. It's gonna' be great! Dr. Preston Sprinkle will be teaching, on "Decision-making in Film, Music and the Arts." Definitely a relevant topic for us trying to live like Christ in our culture, where there is so much "art" to navigate and discern through.

We'll sing the following:
1. How Deep the Father's Love for Us
2. 10,000 Reasons
3. Blessed Be Your Name

Preparing for Sunday, 7/17/11 (Morning Corporate Worship & RENEW at Night!)

Hey guys,
Jordan will be preaching tomorrow from Luke 11:1-4, continuing our short series on "Jesus' School of Prayer." The neat thing about this prayer is that it starts with the desire for God to be hallowed and worshiped among mankind, and the requests for necessities, and for forgiveness are the outflow of that worshipful heart attitude. How often do we come to God this way, first with an attitude of dependence on the strength He supplies, and a desire for His name to be hallowed? We will have much joy, and accomplish much for the Kingdom if that heart condition is where we start.

So we'll be singing about the greatness, strength and power of God, and also singing a couple of songs that connect those attributes of God with the salvation God has provided for us in Jesus' death and resurrection. Below are the songs, with quick thought I had about each one as I picked it out for this week. Get ready to sing it out with us tomorrow!

1. Our God
Water You turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind/There's none like You, no one like You" This song rejoices in the great power of God, and the compassion He shows toward us as well, singing about how God gave sight to the blind, and how He looks after His children

2. Open the Eyes of My Heart
Since we're studying prayer together, we'll sing this song of prayer as a response to Our God, asking God to sovereignly open the eyes of our hearts to His greatness and worth.

3. Stronger
This is a newer song we've been singing the last couple of months. This is the central "thesis" song for the morning - that we have been saved from our sin by a strong Savior, and as a result and effect of that, our desire should be for the name of Christ to be exalted and glorified.

4. Nothing but the Blood
Kind of a "reworking" of a classic hymn, this song continues the thought that the sacrifice of Christ for our sin is infinitely valuable and glorious. The songs says, "Your blood speaks a better word than all the empty claims I've heart upon this earth/Speaks righteousness for me, and stands in my defense."


RENEW!: Instead of a 2nd hour of teaching in the morning, we'll be gathering at night at 5:00 for a picnic dinner (bring your own food). Then the kids will head to the chapel, and the "grownups" will head into the main sanctuary for their respective times of teaching. We'll be hearing from Philip deCourcy on "Knowing and Living God's Will." We'll sing the following songs:
1. God of Wonders
2. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
3. My Hope is Built (The Solid Rock)

Hope to see you there!

John Piper, on Worship

Thanks to the Desiring God blog for posting up this thought from Piper:

"The essential, vital, indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God. This satisfaction in God magnifies God in the heart. This explains why the apostle Paul makes so little distinction between worship as a congregational service and worship as a pattern of daily life. They have the same root – a passion for treasuring God as infinitely valuable. The impulse for singing a hymn and the impulse for visiting a prisoner is the same: a thirst for God – a desire to experience as much satisfaction in God as we can."

We don't want to be short-sighted in what we look to do with singing on Sunday morning. This is the goal in the preaching, reading Scripture together, the singing, praying and fellowship: to help each other find "as much satisfaction in God as we can."

Yesterday was a great day of corporate worship together. Meditate on this quote, study Scripture and read in pursuit of God's satisfaction, and next Sunday will be a sweet time too. Start prepping now!

Preparing for Sunday, 7/10/11 (morning corporate worship, and RENEW at night)!

Hey everyone,
this Sunday is the 2nd in our preaching series on Jesus' school of prayer. I've been really excited about this short series, and last Sunday was a great kickoff for it. Jordan will be preaching this week from Luke 18:9-14, on the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. To give you a heads up, Jordan and I spoke for a while yesterday about the passage, and Jordan is going to lead us in examining the passage as a diagnostic for prayer, rather than a how-to. In other words, how often do we actually pray like the tax collector, who cried to God for mercy because he knew he was a sinner? There's serious hope for the one who comes to God this way - the passage says that the tax collector goes away justified before God, because he threw himself upon God's mercy alone.

To prepare our minds and hearts for the preaching, we'll sing songs that reflect on God's mercy that comes to us through Jesus. The singing will go as follows:

1. The Glories of Calvary
This is the new song we introduced last week. The lyrics are all included in the "Preparing for Sunday" post from then. It's a song of prayer, for God to give us a fresh understanding of the glories of what He has given us in Jesus. The song says, Sinners find eternal joy in the triumph of Your wounds! The question is, do we believe this enough to sing about it? Hopefully so.



2. And Can it Be
One of our best hymns, written by Charles Wesley. The 2nd verse says, 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me. I think this is one line we often pass over in our singing without really thinking it through - what this is saying is, "As a sinner, I am so worthy of God's wrath, that God's mercy MUST be immense and completely free, if God gave it to such a sinner as I am!" I am proof that God's mercy is truly MERCY." This song couples well with the parable in Luke, and the tax collector's cry to God for mercy.

3. Christ is Risen
This is a song of response to what Christ has accomplished for us. It says that we do not have to continue sinning if we're born again in Christ, because Christ has completely conquered the power of sin, and we can rely completely on His power to keep us from sinning. It's a song about the glorious power of Christ's resurrection over sin, death and Hell. The song says, O Church, come stand in the light; our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive!

4. Take My Life and Let It Be
We'll sing this song immediately after "Christ is Risen," praying together for God to use us, and for our lives to be pleasing to Him as lives of worship. The last verse is great, and is something we shouldn't sing if we don't mean the words: Take my will and make it Thine - it shall be no longer mine.


RENEW: Be at church at 5:00 for a meal (pizza and ice cream!) and stick around from 6:00 - 7:15 for a time of music and teaching. It's gonna' be great! By the way, you have to show up to find out what songs we'll sing, at least for this week! See you there.

10 Principles of Church Music (Great Stuff)

Below is a summary by Justin Taylor, of *2 more lengthy posts by Kevin DeYoung on principles of church music. I thought they were great, biblical, and very much along the lines of where we need to continue to move as a church. (I put my favorite ones in bold for emphasis). This is really good stuff for us to meditate on, as we continue to consider what we're doing and what our goals are at Grace. Enjoy!

1. Love is indispensable to church singing that pleases God.
2. Our singing is for God’s glory and the edification of the body of Christ.
3. We ought to sing to the Lord new songs.
4. Church singing should swim in its own history of church singing.
5. Sing the Psalms.
6. We should strive for excellence in the musicality and the poetry of the songs we sing.
7. The main sound to be heard in the worship music is the sound of the congregation singing.
8. The congregation should also be stretched from time to time to learn new songs and broaden its musical horizons.
9. The texts of our songs should be matched with fitting musicality and instrumentation.
10. All of our songs should employ manifestly biblical lyrics.

*You can find DeYoung's longer posts about church music here: Post 1, Post 2

Preparing for Sunday, 7/3/11: New preaching series, and new song!

Another 4th of July weekend is upon us. Make sure you come out to our church family picnic at Grace Brethren Elementary School for dinner - 5:00 - 7:30 PM. This will kick off the next 4 Sundays nights of "Renew," our special Summer equipping series. Make sure you pick up a schedule of these nights in the church foyer tomorrow!

Tomorrow, Pastor John will be kicking off a short preaching series, entitled "The Shameless Persistence of Prayer," on the prayer life of Christ. He'll be preaching from Luke 18:1-8. Read the passage ahead of time, and be there for this series. It should be really helpful for us to look at how Christ provides an example of prayer - it's probably different than how many of us think about prayer, or at least practice prayer.

Our singing will go as follows, with a theme of the greatness and goodness of God, and the greatness of the salvation He has accomplished for us in and through Jesus:
1. God of Wonders
2. Doxology
3. The Glories of Calvary
4. Here I Am to Worship

I'd also like to highlight the new song we'll be learning together, called The Glories of Calvary. It's a great, up-tempo song of prayer to God, asking Him to reveal more of the greatness of the Gospel to us. In light of the preaching series on prayer that starts tomorrow, this song is a really important one for us to sing together. We'll start with the chorus so everyone can get the hang of that, first and foremost.

The lyrics are all below, and another version of the song (live version by Enfield). Give it a listen!

Lord, You’re calling me to come
And behold the wondrous cross
To explore the depths of grace
That came to me at such a cost
Where Your boundless love
Conquered my boundless sin
And mercy’s arms were opened wide

CHORUS
My heart is filled with a thousand songs
Proclaiming the glories of Calvary
With every breath, Lord how I long
To sing of Jesus who died for me
Lord, take me deeper
Into the glories of Calvary

Sinners find eternal joy
In the triumph of Your wounds
By our Savior’s crimson flow
Holy wrath has been removed
And Your saints below
Join with Your saints above
Rejoicing in the Risen Lamb

Preparing for Sunday, 6/19/11 (FATHERS' DAY)!

First of all, make sure you wish your dads a happy Fathers' Day this Sunday!

Hope you'll be with us this this week - it's shaping up to be a great time together as the body of Christ. Pastor Jordan will be preaching on Colossians 4:2-6, focusing on praying for doors to be opened for the Gospel, and the priorities of a Christian's life. Jordan and I had a great conversation yesterday about the sermon, and I'm thoroughly excited for all of us to hear it together on Sunday. Once again, we have the opportunity to meet together for corporate worship; this means that we read scripture, pray, hear preaching, and sing together with the distinct awareness that we're doing it as the gathered church. We do these things together for mutual encouragement and admonishment, and meeting corporately unites us as we share in these different avenues of worship to God.

Pastor John will also be heading up 2 baby dedications, so you definitely want to be there for that as well.

We had a fun, worshipful practice last night gettin' ready for Sunday's music. It was a great time playing and singing the songs, and talking through their lyrics. I'm super excited to sing this set together in corporate worship. Here are the songs - make sure you click on the links below to give them a listen before Sunday. I've included a key quote from each song for us to meditate on - each quote is also key in tying the songs together in the order that we'll sing them. Make sure you know the songs, and that your voice is in top-form too; we want to sing these together well, and sing them loud!

1. Awesome is the Lord Most High
"Where You send us, God, we will go/You're the answer we want the world to know"

2. Glorious and Mighty
"'Majesty' we'll sing with Creation, when You come again in the clouds/Every knee will bow down and worship the one true God!"

3. How Marvelous
"He took my sins and my sorrows and made them His very own, and bore my burden to Calvary"

4. Stronger
Stronger, You are Stronger/Sin is broken, You have saved me/It is written, 'Christ is risen'/Jesus, You are Lord of all!"

Another quote for the pondering!

"As long as we live, there is never enough singing."

~ Martin Luther

Style of music?

The following quotes are from an article on the 9Marks website, entitled "How important is the style of music a church sings?" Go check the whole thing out here - it gives some good perspective on what's really important about church music.

[More important than style] are the truth of the words being sung. Since a church sings music in order to worship God, our songs should function like a musical confession of faith. Those confessions of faith should contain substantial truth about God, or else we’ll hardly be worshiping at all.

Style is passing... It’s only worth paying attention to insofar as different styles may do a better or worse job of helping people properly conform their hearts to the truths being sung.

In short, what we sing is far more important than how we sing it.

The kicker is this: hopefully we can be selfLESS, and prefer our fellow saints as we choose songs and sing them in certain styles, rather than being selfISH, choosing and playing songs based on what we prefer. Or, being selfish by wanting certain songs in certain styles, and being bitter when we don't get to sing them. Singing on a Sunday morning is a corporate opportunity to encourage and admonish each other. So lets do that this Sunday!

Reflecting on this past Sunday, 5/29/11

The past couple of weeks I haven't had the chance to fire off a "Preparing for Sunday" post, but as I've thought about it, I think an occasional post-Sunday reflection might be in order. I often have (along with many of you too, no doubt), new thoughts after Sunday has come and gone; after we've actually sung the songs together as a congregation, and sat under the preaching of the sermon, there just might be unique things to think and talk about that we wouldn't have had leading up to Sunday.

So here goes!

Pastor John brought the sermon to us, preaching from Colossians 3:18-21, on the marks of a spiritually healthy family. I've been struck, as Jenny have become parents recently, by the calling Christ makes on us to be genuine with our kids, and to be concerned about the right things. I'm convicted that we shouldn't be as concerned with their actions as we are with their heart condition before God. And that we shouldn't exasperate or discourage our kids by being false or hypocritical in our living.

The "college/young adult" band led the music, which is always a fun change. We had a longer practice Thursday night, and we threw together all the instruments/amplification. And I'll just say we cranked the volume in the choir room a little more than usual - it was a good, worshipful time. It's also great to have these folks be a more regular part of our corporate worship on Sunday mornings - we've often referred to groups like this as the "youth band" or the "college band," but maybe we actually shouldn't do that. They're a part of our church, and can capably lead us all in singing on Sunday morning, just like the "regular" band can. So really, it was just a version of the "worship team" that led our church music on Sunday.

We sang the following songs together:
1. Blessed Be Your Name - a staple song of our church, that declares faith that only God can give - a faith that will trust and treasure God through good times, and through intense suffering. "You give and take away/My heart will choose to say, 'Lord, blessed be Your name.'"

2. How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art - a blend of favorites that rejoices in the greatness of God as Creator and Sustainer of all things, and also as Savior (the Lion and the Lamb).

3. How He Loves - we brought this song in to share, since it's been an influential song among the college/post-college group at our church over the past year-or-so. We may end up bringing it in more for main service - we'll have to see. The song has some tricky poetry, but it communicates some foundational truths about the Gospel in some fresh, creative ways. For instance: "[God] loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of [His] wind and mercy." Click on the link and give it a listen!

4. Because of Your Love - a great newer tune, expanding on the theme of the love of God in our order of service, helping us think through how the "Maker of the universe" was "broken for the sins of the Earth."

"Engaging with God" in Worship

David Peterson wrote a great book (that I have yet to read in full), on Biblical worship and its implications for us in the New Testament "Church Age." His book is considered one of the best out there on the subject of worship (why have I not read it yet?). Kevin DeYoung quotes some of his thoughts on worship here, which is where the following quote is from. Good stuff! Hope it encourages you and prepares you a little bit for Sunday.

Why would we not sing deep, solid songs about the Gospel every single Sunday?

[T]rue worship is gospel-centered. The gospel–Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection–is what makes worship possible. The gospel is what we proclaim in worship. The gospel is what we sing in worship. The gospel is what calls a people together in worship, arouses a people to praise in worship, and sends a people out in a life of worship. Some churches ignore the gospel. Others reject the gospel. Many churches only touch the gospel tangentially, focusing on nebulous truths like relationships or connecting with God or acceptance or love. But in the best churches, never does a Sunday go by when God’s people don’t sing about the cross or glory in our Redeemer or marvel at substitutionary atonement (emphasis added).

Preparing for Sunday, 5-15-11

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, which is due in-part to Jenny and I entering into the Fost-Adopt program a month ago. As many of you know, we've been busy but super blessed at the same time with the 2 kids God has brought into our home.

But it's time for a "Preparing for Sunday" post once again!

This Sunday Pastor John will be preaching on Colossians 3:15-17, on letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, and letting the word of Christ dwell in us. This passage is also one of those defining places in Scripture for corporate worship gatherings, and for church music (and what its purpose is). I've been learning that the New Testament talks about music as a means of teaching, admonishing and encouraging amongst the gathered church (and not as much about our individual "worship experiences"). Think about that for a little bit - that the music we sing in church is supposed to be done with everyone else in mind, and how we're encouraging and teaching one another through the songs we're singing together! Good stuff.

We also have 2 baptisms this Sunday, so make sure you're on time to take part in that time of celebration and recognition of how God has been drawing hearts to Himself.

Our songs will respond to, and rejoice in God's mighty work of Salvation this Sunday. The list will go as follows:

1. Forever - A great up-tempo tune about God's enduring faithfulness to His people, and that we can have confidence in His faithfulness to do good to us.

2. Mighty to Save - This one doesn't need much explanation, other than it's a song of joy in God's mighty work of Salvation, and His power to keep our salvation secure. The bridge of this song also talks about us taking the light God has produced in our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6), and bringing the light of the Gospel to a dark world.

3. How Great is Our God - A familiar song rejoicing in the majesty of God, and his Lordship even over the powers of darkness. The song says that "darkness tries to hide" from God, which is cause for great rejoicing on our part as we fight our sin and the temptations of the evil one.

4. It is Well - A song about the peace that rules in the heart of a believer, because sin has been paid for in Jesus, we have eternal life secured by Jesus' death and resurrection, and through Jesus we've been reconciled to a holy God. And if you have a few minutes, definitely check out the version of It is Well posted below - it's my favorite.

Hope this helps you in preparing for Sunday morning!

Another quote for the pondering!

The following is from Bob Kauflin, via Twitter. We often need a good word of wisdom like this, that will keep our motivations for planning Sunday mornings on the right track:

Life is too short and eternity too long to lead Sunday meetings that fail to exalt Christ in the power of His Spirit.

Preparing For Easter Sunday, 4/24/11!

I hope you're looking forward to Easter Sunday tomorrow - I am. We had a great music rehearsal on Thursday night, that went for a good 2 hours. Should be an exciting morning of singing and preaching. We'll be having 2 services, at 9:00 and 10:45, and Pastor John will be preaching from Matthew 28:1-10, unpacking the glory of the resurrection for us. Check out our song list below!

1. Happy Day
The kick-off for our morning of worship. It's a punchy, up-tempo song that exults in the resurrection as "the greatest day in history," when "death was beaten" and Christ rescued us from sin! By the way, I love how the music compliments the lyrics of this tune.

2. Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy) Interesting fact: there isn't anything that's necessarily Christmasy about this hymn, other than that's when we usually sing it. It was written by Isaac Watts as a hymn of the church in praise to Christ. So we're going to sing it tomorrow, because Christmas and Easter are two key points in the same good news of the Gospel.

3. Sunday School special music: The Gospel Song
We'll worship by listening to this song, sung by our Sunday School kids. Give it a listen - super powerful and worshipful!

5. How Deep the Father's Love for Us
We're playing this song the fast way, and I think the only "recorded" version of it around is the one I recorded for our band, linked above. Please excuse any lameness. :)

6. You Are My King
A familiar tune, with a them of confidence in our risen King, and the amazing love He has given us on the cross and in the resurrection. A Christian is eternally alive because Jesus Christ is alive!

7. Closing song: The Love of God
God's love for us is most clearly displayed in the death and resurrection of His Son. God did not spare His own Son to raise our souls from darkness and death and make us worshipers of Him - "O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong; it shall forevermore endure, the saints' and angels' song!" If you haven't listened to the version at the link above, do it - it's MercyMe, playing (in my opinion) the best version of this hymn ever.

Christ is risen indeed! We'll see you tomorrow morning.

Josh