Why do we sing in church?

Why do we sing in church? I plan on writing more in answer to this question, but here's a really short, insightful quote by C.J. Mahaney on the topic of singing in church. For the time being, think about the following:

"Troubled souls become hopeful souls when we sing truth about God to Him, and to ourselves."

"Why sing so many cross-centered songs?"

C.J. Mahaney and Bob Kauflin have been hugely influential in my thinking about church music over the past year. Their perspectives on church music are Biblical, and extremely helpful; their perspectives are also rooted in deep affections for the Gospel and for Christ. Go here to watch a short segment from a panel involving both of these guys, talking about why we need to be singing Gospel-centered/cross-centered songs that are clear in their theology.

It's always great to hear from others who are very well-thought through, as we go about shaping our own thinking on something, especially something involved in our thinking about the church.

I love it in this clip when C.J. talks about our constant need for Christ as our Mediator.

OUT SICK, Sunday, 10/3:

So as it happens, I ended up sick Thursday night/Friday morning. I tried hard to get well before Sunday (excessive ingestion of vitamins, lots of tea with honey, not talking, etc.), but Saturday I was feeling worse, not better. So Tim Plaster was gracious and willing to step up and cover Sunday. I can't say enough about how much I appreciate Tim - he's a great servant-leader, and has taught me a great deal about being just that. From what I hear, Sunday went well. Tim was even up for introducing the new song planned for this week, which by good providence he had already been learning on his own.

The new song we tried out this week, and that we'll play again in 2 weeks, is called Our God is Greater, by Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin. The reason it was chosen for the set was the specific way it speaks of some of God's attributes - that He is strong, awesome in power, etc. Also, the bridge is really what I see as the focal point of the song, that if God is for us, what can stand against us? We can sing this on future Sundays as a declaration of our war against sin, and fear of man; God's sovereign grace and power enable us to fight sin and take bold, risky steps of obedience to what He has called us to.

Give the song a listen, and hopefully I'll see you next Sunday!

Josh

Preparing for Sunday, 9/26.

Well tomorrow we have not one, but two opportunities to meet and worship corporately. I'm excited - it should be a great Sunday!

SUNDAY MORNING:
Pastor John is preaching out of 1 Kings 19:19-21, and our songs will be as follows:

1. Happy Day - An exultation in our salvation, that Christ has fully accomplished on the cross for us. "What a glorious day, what a glorious way that You have saved me."
2. There is a Fountain - A newer (but not too different) reworking of the hymn by William Cowper. We introduced this song early in the Summer because it is a great expression of the power of the blood of Christ, shed for us. His blood washes all our sin away, and will never lose its power to present the church sinless before God.
3. The Wonderful Cross - This song will come after announcements and the offering. The key point in this song, that we'll sing twice, will be that the saving love of God, that comes to us in and through Christ, demands our souls, and our lives. God will have it no other way for those whom He saves.
4. How Marvelous - A final song glorying in the cross. I love the last verse of this hymn, that says "When with the ransomed in glory, His face I at last shall see; twill be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me!" The Gospel will be the theme of our worship of God, even throughout eternity.

SUNDAY EVENING - CELEBRATION OF GRACE
We'll close our time together in the evening with the following two songs.

1. O Worship the King - A reworking of an old hymn, that we starting singing at our church over the Summer. A great hymn about the glory of God, and His powerful majesty.
2. How Great is Our God - A very familiar song for us, and a great last song of response to how faithful God has been to our church over the past couple of years.

See you Sunday, hopefully morning and evening!

Reflecting on Sunday morning (yesterday, 9/5/10):

As I'm reflecting on yesterdays corporate worship at our church, I'm encouraged again, ultimately. A good friend called me last night, asking where he could find one of the songs we sang together in church. I know his love for, and commitment to good theology, and how good theology inspires his worship. That's partly what I long for with our time of singing on Sunday morning, and why I'm writing today, reflecting back on yesterday morning. I love it when the songs we sing affect individuals in the gathered church, and it would be my hope that they would go into their weeks (and individual stations in life) singing and thinking about the songs we sang together Sunday morning as the body of Christ. It would also be my hope that the theology in the songs would be fixed in all of our minds and hearts as we go from church into the week. Hopefully we can fight sin and temptation more intensely, and stand more unwaveringly in our faith because of the encouragement and equipping we find together at church on Sunday morning.

So go to iTunes or Amazon.com and buy versions you like of the songs we sing together. Or you can follow the links below to give them a listen.

All that to say, yesterday we sang the following songs. It was another good morning of preaching, singing and fellowship.

Preaching: sermon by Pastor John - Part 1 of "What is the experience of an unbeliever and believer when they die?" Text: Luke 16:19-31
1. Holy is the Lord
2. Glorious and Mighty
3. All I Have is Christ
4. My Hope is Built (We arranged this a little differently, but this was the version I found that was closest. This version has a cool bridge that we did not play. I'll try to post a video or track of our arrangement at some point.)

Sunday morning, 6/20 (Fathers' Day!)

Danny Lee is preaching this Sunday, Fathers' Day, on Luke 15 (yep, the whole chapter!), focusing partly on the point in Luke 15:10, "Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

Jesus Christ came to seek and save his sheep, and He knows them all by name. We rejoice in this truth, that not one of His sheep will be lost, and I can't think of a better theme for Fathers' Day Sunday than the love of God, displayed for us in sending His Son to save us.

So, we'll start off our singing with How Deep the Father's Love for Us, but played fast like we play it in college/youth group. By the way, I didn't mention that our college/youth band is playing with me in main service this week. I think the morning is going to be wicked awesome.

Second, we're doing a new song for main service, but that we've been playing for a year or so in college group. It's called Beautiful Jesus, and very appropriately (going with our theme from Luke 15) starts off with the line "Your love O God, displayed for us, as crimson covered over sinless hands."

Our last two songs will go as follows: we'll focus more closely on Christ's perfect sacrifice for our sin with Jesus Paid it All. Then, we'll sing Mighty to Save, as we remind ourselves of the confidence we can have in our Savior, that enables us to go and shine our lights in the world, and fulfill the great commission. I think this will be a joyful, energetic way to end our singing, and hopefully we will be focused on the infinite goodness of knowing our Savior.

See you Sunday morning!

Josh

For Sunday, 6/13:

Well, as I've been preparing for music this Sunday I have concurrently been reading through John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and thinking a great deal about boasting only in the cross of Jesus Christ. As Piper puts it in his book, "Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain." Piper is expounding upon Paul's words in Philippians 3:7,8, where he says, "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 m Lord [...]" We must see our giving glory to God, through our salvation in Jesus Christ, as the all-consuming passion of our lives. In this we find the reason for which we were created, and we find fullness of joy in living this way.

Therefore, the songs for this Sunday center around the cross of Christ, and his resurrection from the grave that brings us eternal life. We'll start the morning off with Happy Day by Tim Hughes, which we introduced for the first time two weeks ago. It's a song of celebration in what Christ has accomplished, and speaks both of Christ's death/resurrection, and our hope of His return, and being with Him in heaven.

Second, we'll sing of the joy that it is to know Jesus Christ as our Savior, and worship Him as Lord of our lives in Blessed Assurance, a good old hymn by Fanny Crosby.

Third, we'll sing Because of Your Love, as we continue to meditate on what Christ has done for us, and that He did it all out of his mercy and love.

We'll end our singing with a There is a Redeemer, that sort of encompasses all of the themes of the previous songs - joy in what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, his glorious resurrection that has brought us eternal life, and the glorious return of Christ and hope of Heaven.