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Joshua Otte is offering his recording of the Reformed Praise hymn "He is Risen" off his Already But Not Yet project as a free download through NoiseTrade.
Get the download here. Pass along the word to your friends.
Thanks, Joshua!
The doctrine of imputation is one of the most precious truths in all of Scripture yet it is often neglected or misunderstood. One pastor who understood the doctrine and wrote about it in poems and hymns is Augustus Toplady, one of the greatest English hymn writers. Scattered lines from throughout some of his poems have been edited and assembled, and new lines have been added to form one complete hymn which teaches what imputation is and demonstrates how it should move us to worship. The gospel has sometimes been called the "Great Exchange" because through faith in Jesus, God the Father takes our sin and its punishment and gives it to Jesus, and takes Jesus' perfect record of obedience (His righteousness) and gives it to us. Not only do we stand before God forgiven, but also clean and acceptable before Him because we have the very righteousness of Jesus. This truth gives us confidence, boldness, and joy as we approach God in worship now and in eternity.
[ 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? Fifth: Culturally Accessible
This might be the most controversial value because of the various positions theologians have taken regarding the Church's relationship to culture. Culture can be simply defined as the customs, values, and social forms, of a particular group of people. This includes both physical and body language, social customs such as how people express affection, and what drives, to some extent, aesthetics in areas like music, art, and architecture. We could also use the word "style" to represent what we are getting at by using the word culture. Mankind is made up of many cultures, even sub-cultures. Because of modern society's amazing ability to communicate (in various forms), travel, and trade, people associate around shared styles even within geographic areas. In fact, in developed countries, one could argue that culture is...
With Good Friday just 10 days away, I had to post what has become one of my favorite hymns on the weight of the cross. "Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted" was penned by Thomas Kelly in 1804, and it can be found in the Trinity Hymnal. We have used it at Grace Community Church in many of our Good Friday services. The original tune (or at least the one in the Trinity Hymnal) is very strong and can be arranged in a modern sound very easily. I will let the words speak for themselves.
Lyrics
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see him dying on the tree.
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected; yes, my soul, ‘tis he, ‘tis he.
‘Tis the long-expected Prophet, David’s son, yet David’s Lord -
By His Son, God now has spoken; ‘tis the true and faithful word.
Tell me, ye who hear him groaning, was there ever grief like this?
Friends through fear his cause disowning, foes insulting his distress;
Many hands were raised to wound him, none would interpose to save.
But the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave.
Ye who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature...
I'll be attending the Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago this week where there will be three concerts of worship music given by fellow songwriters and artists who share a love for old hymns and theologically rich worship music. If you are going to be attending the conference this week and know about Reformed Praise, I'd love to meet you; just contact me through the website or just leave comment on this post (they are moderated, so if you pass me your phone number I'll make sure the comment doesn't get posted)
On Tuesday, April 12 at 9 PM several artists from the Indelible Grace Music, Sojourn Music, and Bifrost Arts will put on a concert of old/new hymns.
On Wednesday, April 13 at 9 PM Keith and Kristyn Getty will share their music
On Thursday, April 14 at 8 PM several Christian hip-hop artists will share a concert titled "We Are Unashamed"
The full schedule is available here
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
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.
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.
[ 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...
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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Reformed Praise is a music ministry dedicated to providing songs for corporate worship which are rich in theology, diverse in musical style, and centered on the gospel of grace, that our praise might be informed by Biblical truth.
