The Springs

Last Sunday's Songs, July 27, 2008 edition

Come Holy Spirit Dove Divine

By Adoniram Judson, 1829.

You're not gonna find this one on any new worship CD's yet. The church was celebrating baptism today, in fact my little girl Faith was baptized today, a monumental event for both father and daughter. The lyrics of this rarely sung old hymn paint a complete picture of the significance of both the descent into the waters and the rising up from them.

I had to revoice the melody to give it a more contemporary feel. Here's some worship education for you. If you open a hymn book and look beneath the hymn you will find a set of numbers. In the case of this hymn, they are 8.8.8.8. These represent the poetic meter of the hymn, or how the sung syllables break up.  You can then turn to the back of the hymnal and find other songs with the same numbers. You can then interchange the lyrics of any hymns with the same numbers.

Using this trick, a couple of my options for this hymn were the Doxology and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Go ahead, try it. You can sing the following lyrics to either of those tunes. (Omit the alleluias in parenthesis to make it work)

Another option, the one I selected, was listed as "8.8.8.8. with Alleluias." We know the tune as All Creatures of our God and King. I had to work the Alleluias around the verses but I then dropped the lyric over a David Crowder-ish arrangement and there you go, an updated, theologically meaty prelude for the baptism of my little girl.

Come Holy Spirit, Dove divine.
On these baptismal waters shine
(Alleluia, Alleluia)
And teach our hearts, in highest strain
To praise the Lamb for sinners slain.
(Oh praise Him, Oh praise Him
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.)

We love your name, we love Your laws,
And joyfully embrace Your cause
(Alleluia, Alleluia)
We love Your cross, the shame the pain
O Lamb of God for sinners slain.
(Oh praise You, Oh praise You
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.)

We sink beneath the water's face,
And thank You for Your saving grace;
(Alleluia, Alleluia)
We die to sin and seek a grave
With You, beneath the yielding wave.
(Oh praise You, Oh praise You
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.)

Then in new life with You we rise,
Filled with Your presence in our lives.
(Alleluia, Alleluia.)
Sealed by Your Spirit from above
The joy of life, the fire of love.
(Oh praise You, Oh praise You
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.)

Let Me Sing

by Todd Fields

We're still learning this one as a congregation so I put it into the rotation for a second week. Check last week's song recap for the scoop.

Shout to the Lord -

By Darlene Zschech

OK, we all know this song entered bizarro world when the Top 8 American Idol contestants sang it not once, but two times in a row this past season. The first night with the lyrics "My Jesus" changed to "My Shepherd," and the second night, inexplicably, with the original lyric intact. This event set off a firestorm on all of the worship blogs found on the net discussing the very idea of "what is worship?" It would be naive to assume that all of the A.I. contestants are believers so what does it mean for a non-believer to profess to Lordship of Christ through the vehicle of a worship song? Granted, this probably happens every Sunday in our churches, but rarely is it broadcast on national television to a world wide audience. All that said, it is still a powerful acclaimation when sung in an actual corporate worship context, and its truth is foundational ... Jesus is Lord, and one day every knee shall bow in acknowledgement of that ... even Simon Cowell's.

Last Sunday's Songs, July 20, 2008 edition

Mighty to Save -

by Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan

"Shine your Light and let the whole world see we're singing for the glory of the risen King."

Upon hearing this song for the first time I thought, we'll still be singing that one 25 years from now. Simply put, this is another lasting standard for the church from the Hillsongs crew. Since 1992 they have been a consistent source of solid, Biblical, singable songs for use in corporate worship. The link for the single is provided but the whole CD is worth a listen.

How Marvelous (I Stand Amazed) -

By Charles Hutchison Gabriel

We think of contemporary worship as a new phenomenon, but it is not really. Every generation has songwriters that retell the Gospel story for, what is at the time, a modern audience. The most popular contemporary Christian songwriter in the early 1900’s was a man named Charles Hutchison Gabriel.

Gabriel was born in a shanty on a prairie in Iowa in 1856. He spent the first seventeen years of his life on an Iowa farm. When he was very young, the settlers would gather at the Gabriel shanty to sing hymns, with his father leading the singing. Because of this, he showed interest in hymn writing as a boy. When his family got an organ, he taught himself to play.

At sixteen he became a music teacher, without the benefit of ever receiving a formal music lesson himself. As his fame as a composer and teacher grew he accepted as position as the music director at Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in California. After that, he settled in Chicago becoming the primary gospel song writer for the popular evangelist Billy Sunday. Sunday’s crusades exposed his songs to millions of people throughout the country and allowed his “contemporary” songs to become a rich part of the history of the faith here in America. One of his songs that has endured the test of time is a simple testimony to the state of being awestruck in the presence of Christ, this one, I Stand Amazed in the Presence.

Hope of Glory -

by Steve Fee and Todd Fields

"You've unveiled the mystery, me in you, you in me."

Louie Giglio has an entire 5 DVD set called "2 Words that Changed Everything" where he focuses on this notion of "in you." I'd love to post the whole thing here, but Google is your friend so you could find it if interested. This is a good opportunity, however, to take a look at the Louie talking about another one of the mysteries within us. It a protein ... laminin.

Let Me Sing

by Todd Fields

Looks like Mr. Fields gets the double dipping award of the week as he has partial songwriting credit on Hope of Glory and also penned Let Me Sing. I admire Todd's humility. A lot of younger worship guys that are in danger of being all style, no substance would do well to sit at his feet and see a guy that lives out his faith and leads worship so as to give glory to God rather than bring attention to himself. The song hasn't hit iTunes yet, but it is on North Point Music's "Louder Than Creation" CD which is listed in my iPod playlist to the right. You can click on it for puchase information.

 

Last Sunday's Songs, July 13, 2008 edition

I get many requests asking who sings the songs that we do in worship each week and so I figured that I could list the songs here, along with a few reflections on each of them and an iTunes link for each of them should anyone desire to download them.

Beautiful One -

by Tim Hughes

Here in Hughes' own words is the background story.

"I wrote Beautiful One while I was on holiday. We had been ministering in Australia and had a few days off at the Great Barrier Reef. I read that passage in Isaiah that talks about the Messiah as having no beauty that would attract us to Him; nothing to make us think how incredible He was. That description of Him as the suffering servant really struck me, because we often talk about Jesus being glorious, awesome, incredible. He is the Son of God - all knowing, all conquering, all powerful. What humility! He gave up everything to come walk among us on the earth. We would have passed Him on the street and not thought anything of who He was. But we know how beautiful He is, and we often sing about that attribute in more of an intimate, slow, tender way. I thought to sing Beautiful One as a strong, powerful statement, in a more upbeat, declarative way was a wonderful thing that we as Christians could do."

Holy Is The Lord -

By Chris Tomlin

A legitimate modern worship classic. This song was inspired by the picture of worship around the throne of God in Isaiah 6. The heavenly creatures sounding this anthem back and forth to one another….

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
The whole earth is full of his glory.

Louie Giglio helped complete the thought with another picture from Nehemiah, where the people joined in a mass assembly…a great example of corporate worship. The Bible says they raised their hands to God at the hearing of his Word, they bowed with their faces to the ground and together made this statement… "the joy of the Lord is our strength."

The Heart of Worship -

by Matt Redman

The song dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt's home church, Soul Survivor, in Watford, England. Despite the country's overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman's congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time.   

'There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,' he recalls. He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we'd lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.'

Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, 'When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?   

Matt says the question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way.      

Before long, we reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as we'd gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstance and setting. "The Heart of Worship" simply describes what occurred. 

When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come / Longing just to bring something that's of worth that will bless your heart / I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, Jesus            

Redman remembers writing the song quickly in his bedroom soon after the churches journey together, with no grand intentions, by any means, for it to become an international anthem. He viewed the words simply as his personal, subjective response to what he was learning about worship.   

But when Matt shared "The Heart of Worship" with Pilavachi, the pastor suggested making a few small adjustments to the lyrics so any member of the church could relate to it as well.         

Amazed by how God has since taken the song around the world for His purposes, the songwriter smiles in regard to his own lack of foresight. "It nearly didn't go any further than my bedroom."

Come Let Us Bow Down -

by Dennis Jernigan

This is a timeless expression of humility before an omnipotent God. We've claimed it as a song of invitation to close our services with as we lead up to a weekend of revival in August.