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 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 24th, 2011
It is assumed that William Enfield, a British presbyterian minister, wrote the original text of this updated hymn (he was the editor of a 1772 volume in which it appeared without source). The words, an echo of Philippians 2:1-11, give us well-crafted language depicting the angst of Christ in the garden leading to the cross and describing the perfect virtues He displays in the midst of this most intense hour of His life. The final stanza focuses on the importance of following Christ to the cross in order to share in the joy and glory of denying ourselves and living out our salvation.
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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 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 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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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.
