December 2, 2009

Advent

Advent is a fairly new concept to my family. We celebrated it last year and are presently participating this year, personally and with our church family.

Here is a great explanation, from The Worship Sourcebook, of what Advent is and how it is intended to keep our eyes focused on the coming Christ.

The Advent season includes the four Sundays preceding Christmas. It is a season of waiting, and is designed to cultivate our awareness of God’s actions—past, present, and future. In Advent we hear the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming as addressed to us—people who wait for the second coming. In Advent we heighten our anticipation for the ultimate fulfillment of all Old Testament promises, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb, death will be swallowed up, and every tear will be wiped away. In this way Advent highlights for us the larger story of God’s redemptive plan. A deliberate tension must be built into our practice of the Advent season. Christ has come, and yet not all things have reached completion. While we remember Israel’s waiting and hoping and we give thanks for Christ’s birth, we also anticipate his second coming at the end of time. For this reason Advent began as a penitential season, a time for discipline and intentional repentance in the confident expectation and hope of Christ’s coming again.

You can also read Noel Piper explain Advent here.

Dan Rolfe has posted an Advent call to worship  here.

I intend to continue to post thoughts concerning Advent throughout the season.

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November 28, 2009

A General Thanksgiving

From The Book Of Common Prayer

Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

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November 15, 2009

Preparing for Worship

This morning I found these words especially encouraging as I read them in preparation for worship… (both where written specifically to be used in preparation for worship). The first is from a hymn by Joseph Hart found in Gadsby’s Hymns and the second is from the Book Of Common Prayer.

“Revive the parched with heavenly showers;
The cold with warmth divine;
And as the benefit is ours,
Be all the glory thine.”
- Hart from Gadsby’s Hymns #455

“O Almighty  God, who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”
- Book Of Common Prayer

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November 4, 2009

A few new songs for corporate worship

Over the last year, I have focused much more on writing for corporate singing.

Here are few that I have finished as of late… (you can click each to stream or right click to download, don’t expect U2 here, all of these were recorded with a cheap mic and my old powerbook)

There You Were (Communion Song) (previous post here)

Something More (All Saints Day Song) (previous post here)

A Song Of Praise (adapted from the Book Of Common Prayer, “A Song Of Praise”)

Have Mercy On Us (adapted from the Book Of Common Prayer, ”Confession Of Sin” )

Be Exalted (Psalm 57) (previous post here)

Blessed Three In One

So We Are (previous post here)

Let Us Come (A Call To Worship) (this is an older one, but I have recently revised the lyrics)

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November 1, 2009

Desiring God audiobook for free

Over at Christianaudio.com, you can download John Piper’s audiobook “Desiring God”.

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October 31, 2009

Something More (All Saints Day Song)

Dan asked me to write a song for “All Saints Day”. My first response was… “What is All Saints Day?”

Although, just searching it out on the web can be intimidating, as there are a ton of opinions about what it should mean and how it should be celebrated. So I talked with Dan to see exactly what his thoughts were and then did a little bit of reading about the “holy day”. After doing so, I gave it a shot.

I wanted to convey the truth that we are not a group of christians who are removed from those who have come before us or those who will come after us. Time nor distance are factors that can separate us from being part of the family of God.

This is a rough recording, actually the one I sent to Dan for review. But I thought I would go ahead and put it up anyway.

Please feel free to download the song here… Something More.mp3, and let me know your thoughts.  Lyrics below…

Something More

Surrounded by a faithful cloud
Of saints who have gone before
They’ve paved the way, they walked by faith
Their lives we cannot ignore

Though flawed by sin yet saved by grace
Covered by Christ’s righteousness
Down through the years their voices still speak
In the truths we do confess

(chorus)
We are part of something more
Than what we see from where we stand
Time and space cannot
What He has joined in His perfect plan

Around the globe this very day
Are those who’ve come to hear Your word
They bow in prayer they dance and sing
And with one voice we proclaim Your worth

(chorus)

(bridge)
We glean from their lives of reverent fear
As they sought to know and savor Christ
Your faithfulness has brought us here
May those after us take from our lives

(chorus)

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October 12, 2009

Red Mountain Music B-sides

51700You can download several (right now 11)  free mp3’s over at Red Mountain Music. Click here.

This collection of songs comes from a variety of places. Many of them are from the Gadsby hymnal and, for one reason or another, never made it on one of our records. Some of them are alternate versions of existing songs, others are newer song ideas we haven’t decided what to do with. Over the years we have cultivated a large and continually growing collection of songs. The result is that we have far more songs than we will ever be able to put on our records….even at the pace we’re going. We don’t like the idea of these tunes sitting on a digital shelf collecting digital dust. So we are making them available for free download, and our hope is that at least some of them can be useful and enjoyable.

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October 4, 2009

So We Are

1 John 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

Romans 8:15-17 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 4:4-7 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Earlier this year I was involved in leading music for a Parenting Conference. As I began brainstorming songs to play, I realized that I didn’t know many songs that really worked with the topics that I knew were going to be addressed.

So I thought I would set out to write a song that would reinforce some of the ideas that we wanted to get across during the conference.

Some thoughts I particularly wanted the song to address were…

  • Our adoption as sons and daughters of God, based solely on His initiative and ability and not ours.
  • The fact that at times we may not feel like it or we may encounter doubts and disbelief, if He calls us His, then “so we are”.
  • I wanted to remind us as believers, that “those outside” are who we once were and that it is not  ”us vs. them”. That is a dangerous (although all too common) mindset. I know that may seem out of place in this particular  song, but I knew that some of the topics we would be discussing at the conference tend to lend themselves to being particularly easy to become prideful about. And I wanted to stress that we should be nothing but humble, especially when it comes to our status with God. I had been especially affected by a quote I had heard during that time by Del Tackett… (loosely quoted) “Unbelievers are not our enemies, they are held captive by our enemy”.

Feel free to download the song and let me know your thoughts. I am also providing the lyrics below as well as a downloadable chord chart.

Simply click to listen or right click to save… So We Are.mp3

Chord chart… So we are (chords).pdf

So we are

The Father’s voice has called us here,
Once separated; we’ve been brought near
Not for our worth or the deeds we’ve done,
Wholly by grace, we’re daughters and sons

We cry “Abba Father!” We are slaves no more.
No longer bound by the spirit of fear, we know Your promise is sure
Ransomed then adopted, now we’re children of God
Though doubt may linger near us, He has told us who we are
And so we are

Those outside are not our enemies;
They’ve been held captive but told they are free
For the glory of God and the love of man,
Until on that day the kingdom work will not end

Let us not forget the chains that once held us
For we ourselves were once led astray
Only reconciled through the blood that flowed down the cross
Of our Precious bleeding Savior that day

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September 30, 2009

More ice cream!

One of my wife’s many talents, is the uncanny ability to find and close on a deal. If I did the grocery shopping for our house, I would come back with half the groceries and it would cost twice as much.

Read here about her latest endeavor to save us more.

I think the extra money should go towards ice cream.

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September 27, 2009

Derek Webb/Predictably unpredictable

I have been a fan of Derek Webb long before he went solo from Caedmons Call. I have seen him enough times in concert to be considered a stalker. And the one thing that holds true is that he is predictably unpredictable. There are a few things that have stayed the same throughout the length of his solo career and some of them have stretched back to when he was with Caedmons. For instance, bald head, controversial… that may be it. Up until his last album, Stockholm Syndrome, there were a few other things that held true about him. For instance, bald head, controversial, white T-shirt, lots of acoustic guitar in concert. Now, each album has brought with it some sort of surprise that has kept us all guessing. His musical style has ranged from Americana, experimental, rock-n-roll, acoustic driven and now… well, you would just have to hear for yourself. I am not even hip enough to know the correct genre of music this would be considered.

Anyone who has kept up with Derek as of late at all, know that this particular album has brought with it the most controversy as of yet. I will in no way attempt to sum that up here. If you care to know, you may want to read here to get you started. And the song in question is available freely (no obligations at all, just simply download) over at his website. Most of the places you could have gotten the album would have this song taken off. But in typical Derek style, he is making you sure you get the song.

Beth and I were able to hear Derek last Friday night in Raleigh at the Lincoln Theatre. I have not been able to find any video posted from that show, but below is a video someone posted from a previous show on this tour. It is of the one song that is the only song I have heard him do at every show I have ever attended. The name of that song is “wedding dress” and was instrumental in his solo career in several ways.

As far as the show, Derek played the entire album in order from beginning to end, with a solo acoustic set where he took requests in the middle of the set. Some things different about this tour, if you have ever seen him before, is that he played bass throughout the set-list, he switched between a  Fender Jazz bass and a Hofner. And he did not play his Taylor or his Martin. He only had an Epiphone, which I had never seen before (I am guessing this one), with a L.R. Baggs M1 active pickup (good choice). Also, on several of his acoustic songs, he played them with the capo in different positions than he normally plays the songs in while using different chord voicings. And yes, he wore a black T-shirt. He suggested some might think he was the evil twin of the Derek we all know. Anyway, if you have read all this, you need to find something more productive in the future to do with your time. But while you are here, check out this video from the acoustic set of this tour…

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