Posted April 7th, 2011
The March 2011 issue of Christianity Today features several articles about worship and congregational singing. Allow me to draw your attention to two notable resources.
First, John Koessler's article titled "The Trajectory of Worship" follows the writer's personal journey through decades of worship music changes to the place where he finds himself today, a self-titled curmudgeon, struggling with his personal distaste for much of the music used in public worship. After admitting his struggle, he offers this insight which I find to be rife with humility and wisdom:
Like most churchgoers, I tend to view worship as something that moves from earth to heaven. We think of worship as something that originates with us, our gift to God. Perhaps this is why so many of us are conflicted about it. We consider worship to be an expression of our personal devotion. So when the musical style or some expression gets in the way, we don't feel like it is our worship at all. It is someone else's idea of worship. Perhaps the worship leader's or that of the majority. But not our own. - p.20
He then goes on to explain how this...
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Posted April 6th, 2011
This song was born out of the author's own experience of the love of God. The Bible portrays the love God has for people using just about every human relationship as an analogy. This is because God's love is so far above man's love that every earthly experience of love shows us just a sliver of the way God loves us. One of the most powerful experiences of love we can have in this world is romantic love - the love a husband and wife share for each other. God uses this analogy for the way in which He loves us throughout the Bible, but perhaps nowhere as pointedly (and explicitly) as the book of Song of Solomon. In 6:3 the wife proclaims to her husband "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine," a picture of the intimacy Christians can experience with Jesus. This song tells the love story of God with His people - how He sought them out when they had rebelled and were filthy (Ezekiel 16), washed them and made them beautiful with His own beauty, and then grants that they might treasure Him and anticipate His return.
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Posted April 5th, 2011
This passion hymn invites us to behold Jesus on the cross, both to remember how deeply our sins have stung him, and to remember that freedom from death and sin - true life - is found by looking to Him. The song not only tells the story of Jesus' suffering and death, but also of His triumphant resurrection and the eternal proclamation that peace and pardon were won through His death and resurrection. This text represented somewhat of a musical challenge in that the first two stanzas focused on Jesus' suffering and the last two stanzas on His resurrection, making it difficult to write a tune or find a mood that would do justice to the feeling of both halves of the song. The solution was to write one melody (so that congregations could easily learn the song) and set it to minor chords for the first two stanzas and major chords for the second two stanzas. The result provides a sharp musical contrast between the suffering of Jesus and the triumph of His resurrection which helps us to feel the contrast of the lyrics.
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Posted April 4th, 2011
[ We've been working on rewriting our mission and also creating a series of "values" about worship that will communicate our vision for what worship should be all about. While those aren't completely finalized, I think it will be helpful to share some thoughts about each value in a series of short posts. ]
What kind of worship do we want to cultivate? Fourth: Historically Informed
Our second value stressed the importance of rooting our worship in Scripture, the only infallible source of direct revelation concerning a right understanding and practice of worship. We pointed out the fact that while there are commands to include certain kinds of service elements in public worship, there is no prescribed liturgy (service order) given in the Bible. We are left to assemble the elements of worship that God has commanded in a way that will edify our particular local churches, by the leading of the Spirit and in accordance with the rest of Scripture’s general teachings. So how do we make decisions about the specific order of worship or even the style of building, architecture, dress, or music that we should use to worship God? Various teaching of Scripture will...
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Posted April 2nd, 2011
This song is a cry for help in the struggle that every Christian faces against their remaining sin. What should we do when sin seems to "take such hold" on us that we feel powerless against it? The song reminds us that there is only one place to look - to Jesus, the source of forgiveness and grace. Remembering the sufferings of Jesus, as a result of our sin (the very sin we are struggling with) will remind us of the grief, anguish, sadness, and guilt that our sins deserve. But the very suffering that reminds us of our sin's penalty also reminds us of the incredible, gracious, love that God has demonstrated for us at the cross. Because Jesus suffered in our place, we need not face eternal suffering for our sin. Because Jesus rose again and conquered sin and death, we can experience His resurrection power in putting our remaining sin to death. We do this not by our own effort, but by starting at the foot of the cross where we are reminded of God's grace and the source of power in the struggle against sin.
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Posted March 23rd, 2011
My pastor, R.W. Glenn, preached from Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 this past Sunday. This portion of Ecclesiastes is often quoted to teach on the blessings of worship, housing such well-known quotes as "guard your steps when you go to the house of God" and "let your words be few." To understand this passage properly we must take into account the context of the book - the main character ("the preacher") is having a temper tantrum with God. Qohelet (The Hebrew name translated "preacher" and pronounced Kowheleth) is angry with God for the apparent absurdity he sees in the world and the fact that he can't reconcile this absurdity with God's revealed nature.
The sermon helps us understand why our worship can degrade into barren, short-lived, or extremely sparse interactions with God. Too often, we fall back into relating to God on the basis of fear rather than love, living in anxiety that He will push the "smite" button on His cosmic computer for no apparent reason, even when we've apparently been faithful to appease Him by our worship.
Stream:
Download the sermon here
Posted March 22nd, 2011
I thought it might be helpful to list some of the new songs that we've been learning at Redeemer Bible Church since January 1st, 2011. I think that it's a good general guideline to teach no more than one new song every other week, but this list has 12 songs in 12 weeks! This is due to the fact that four of the songs were new texts set to tunes that the people already knew, and one was a very widely known song (Indescribable). That's still 8 new tunes in 12 weeks, and this is due to the fact that our pastor was chomping at the bit to learn some of these songs as soon as possible.
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Posted March 21st, 2011
[ We've been working on rewriting our mission and also creating a series of "values" about worship that will communicate our vision for what worship should be all about. While those aren't completely finalized, I think it will be helpful to share some thoughts about each value in a series of short posts. ]
What kind of worship do we want to cultivate? Third: Theologically Deep
We have already stated that we believe Christian worship should be Christ centered and biblical. As a reminder, we defined worship as "biblical" when the Bible directs our understanding and practice of worship and also drives our worship as we seek to encounter God in response to understanding Him in Scripture. If worship flows from understanding God, then it follows that the more deeply we understand God's character and works, the more deeply we can experience Him in worship. Just as the writer of Hebrews encourages us move on beyond the "milk" of elementary principles to "solid food," which is for the mature (Hebrews 5:12-14), so we should seek to make every element of our worship, from songs to sermons, characterized by a pursuit of the knowledge of God both...
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Posted March 18th, 2011
This song is based on a hymn by Frank Houghton who was involved with mission work in China. He visited the country in 1934 after John and Betty Stam were martyred, a very difficult time in the history of missions to China. It is based on 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." The song directs our attention to what it meant for Jesus to "become poor" for our sakes - He gave up His riches, His majesty, and the praise and honor in heaven that He deserved, to become a man. The ultimate picture of His poverty is shown at the cross when Jesus "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8) This is the reason that we sing the name of Jesus - In love He humbled Himself to the point of death to rescue us.
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Posted March 14th, 2011
[ We've been working on rewriting our mission and also creating a series of "values" about worship that will communicate our vision for what worship should be all about. While those aren't completely finalized, I think it will be helpful to share some thoughts about each value in a series of short posts. ]
What kind of worship do we want to cultivate? Second: Biblically Faithful
In our first value we pointed out that "the aim of worship is the glory of God through the glory of His Son Jesus." How do we ensure that the way in which we respond to God in worship truly honors Him? Who's to say what true worship should look like, both internally and externally? Without an objective standard for how to worship God, we would be left to the opinions of man. While it's true that God reveals Himself to us through the witness of creation and through the ministry of His Spirit directly, His revelation to us through the Bible is the only objective and sure way to know and worship Him rightly. Therefore, the Bible must not only direct our understanding and practice of worship, but should also...
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Reformed Praise presents Martin Luther's setting of Psalm 130 in a fresh, reflective, piano-driven setting suitable for a wide range of worship music styles.
