Posted March 1st, 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? First: Gospel Centered
I know that the term "gospel centered" or "cross centered" is definitely a current buzz-word, but I can think of no clearer way to succinctly communicate this foundational value. I use the word gospel here as a shorthand for the story of God's grace shown to undeserving sinners through the substitutionary death of His Son. The gospel is not simply a story about events, but rather it is a story about who Jesus is and what He has done. So to say that worship is "gospel centered" means that the central aim of Christian worship is to celebrate and cherish Jesus.
Another way to put this is to say that worship is in and for Jesus. It is in Jesus because His mediating work alone makes our worship acceptable...
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Posted February 25th, 2011
The Spirit's role in our redemption is vital but often overlooked for the saint who has walked with God for many years. This can be seen in part by the lack of good hymns on the person and work of the Spirit. This hymn was found in "Hymns Ancient and Modern," the hymn-book of the Anglican church in the 19th century, and is a gem well worth dusting off with a modern arrangement. The song is really one resounding cry – "come down, Holy Spirit!" We need His ministry to cherish the gospel, to make our passions burn for Jesus, to reveal our sin and lead us to repentance, and move us to do acts of mercy and justice in Jesus' name. Many hymns on the Holy Spirit are set to calm, peaceful tunes, but for this arrangement we took a different approach. There's something about the blues that carries a certain sense of struggle and warfare, and we humbly offer this mood for this text in the hopes that it will help some of us sing with earnest and triumph, asking ... begging, for the ministry of the Spirit in our midst.
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Posted February 24th, 2011
Some of you who regularly visit Reformed Praise and listen to our songs might wonder why many of our songs have such crude recordings, especially compared to other publishing companies or performing artists who write or share worship songs. I thought it would be helpful to offer an apology for why we choose to publish such simple audio tracks for our songs, especially if they sometimes disappoint your sonic pallet.
If you step back and survey all of the worship songs being published or shared today, you'll really only find two publishing models. Even though I run the risk of conjuring up stylistic associations with these terms, I'm going to use the words "contemporary" and "traditional" to describe the two publishing models.
The traditional model has been around for hundreds of years: it relies largely on written music such as piano scores, hymnals, or choral music to share and distribute songs. I have worked with Hope Publishing Company and got to interview them about their business and they assured me that this method of influencing the church and getting songs out is alive and well. Hope still publishes many, many hymnals. For many churches, they only use...
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Posted February 22nd, 2011
These are the demo tracks (no vocals) from our album Merciful to Me.
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Posted February 9th, 2011
A hymn on the faithfulness of God from the series of hymns titled "The Lord Is"
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Posted February 2nd, 2011
A hymn on the love of God from the series of hymns titled "The Lord Is"
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Posted January 26th, 2011
A hymn on the grace of God from the series of hymns titled "The Lord Is"
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Posted January 20th, 2011
This hymn text is about the union that Christians have and can experience with Jesus. To the believer, Jesus becomes a friend more precious than anyone. We realize that Jesus sought us out even when we didn't know or care about Him, and binds us to Himself with cords so strong that no one, not even ourselves, can break them.
In preparing this text for my local church to sing I've revised the lyrics a little bit to make them more clear and found that it fits the tune for "How Deep the Father's Love for Us," an excellent modern hymn with a beautiful, fitting tune for this text. If you have a CCLI license you can sing this tune, and chances are that you can easily find sheet music. You can get chords and watch Stuart Townend play the guitar at Worship Together.
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Posted January 19th, 2011
A hymn on the mercy of God from the series of hymns titled "The Lord Is"
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Posted January 12th, 2011
A hymn on the patience of God from the series of hymns titled "The Lord Is"
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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.
