i am an offering

As always, another great day at Living Word.  And a fantastic day of rest with the family.  I’ve been attempting to set aside Sundays as a complete day of rest from several things (computer, housework, yardwork).  Of course it has to start after the service, but even to have the majority of the day be restful is extremely helpful.  It’s given benefits already.

Here’s what the service looked like yesterday:

Pre-service gathering song: Let Your Kingdom Come - Sovereign Grace Music.  More on this song in a minute.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord (Strong Tower) - Love this song.  It’s such a great reminder of who God is and so good to repeat these thoughts as we worship.  And, several people started the clapping in the congregation - thank God for worship leaders who don’t even know they’re worship leaders!

Let Your Kingdom Come - we officially taught the song here.  I love this song as it talks about making our desires His desires and making His “glorious cause” our own.  In the midst of our new building project I think this song will play a pivotal role in reminding people that we are about building God’s kingdom, not just having a place to come to church.

I usually like to use a new song as a pre-service song and then do it again during the service after people have it in there heads a bit.  How I taught it was by singing a phrase and then having the congregation repeat the phrase.  We did the whole verse, and one spot in the chorus that has a note that sort of comes out of nowhere.  It seemed like the congregation grasped this song very quickly and it seems like teaching them a new song this way seems to work really well.  Does anyone else have expereince with this?  If you were at Living Word yesterday, did it work for you to learn the song this way, or was it distracting?

Closing song - In Christ Alone - Unfortunately, the words to this song were not right on the screen.  The words we had up were from Brian Litrell’s “In Christ Alone” (which is a great song - just not the one we needed!)  This is a good reminder that we always need to double and triple check things and not rely on the song title alone to enter a song.  Many people knew the first verse and we’re singing along with me as I tried to figure out what to do.  I just simply stopped the music and read the words to the fourth verse, which directly applied to the message that had just been given.  A few people told me how disappointed they were that we didn’t get to actually sing the song.  We’ll do it again soon.

The message was very convicting and encouraging at the same time.  We learned about subtle ways that we steal and how important it is not only to tell the truth about our neighbor but to “build their reputation” as well, as Luther mentioned in his explanation of this commandment.  It was a great morning.

(This post is a part of the Sunday Setlist community at Fred McKinnon’s website.)

You can’t pass this one up.  Sovereign Grace has decided to sell all of their CD’s for $6 and all of their Pursuit of Godliness books for $5 for the whole month of February!  I was hoping to buy a couple of copies of the Savior CD to give away and replace my superbly scratched one and I’m glad I waited until after Christmas!

Anyway, head on over in the month of February and pick up some of the best praise and worship CD’s around as well as books that I’m sure are just as good (I haven’t read them, so I can’t honestly recommend them…yet!)

Speaking of Sovereign Grace music, we’re doing “Jesus Thank You” again this Sunday and I’m super excited.  It is such an amazing song.

The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend
The agonies of Calvary
You the perfect Holy One, crushed Your Son
Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me

Your blood has washed away my sin,
Jesus, thank You
The Father’s wrath completely satisfied,
Jesus, thank You
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table
Jesus, thank You

Tomorrow is December 1st.  Hopefully you’ve been planning for Christmas services already at your church and hopefully you’ve already incorporated some of the great classic hymns into your services (Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; Of the Father’s Love Begotten).

But what of the modern?  Where in the world is the depth that we’ve known in Christmas hymns yet repackacked in a modern style?  It’s all here, in “Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man” from Sovereign Grace Music.

I know I’ve reviewed this before, but I can’t stress enough how amazing this project is.  Not only is the music singable, it somehow still feels like classic Chritmas music, even though it is a modern project.  And although it is all new music, the timeless truths communicated within are brought to life with fantastic new imagery and thoughtful lyrics.

The album opens with a triumphant call to worship in “Christ the Lord is Born Today:

Death and darkness surely tremble
Light has come to all the people
The Lion comes to crush the serpent
He comes a Lamb, a lowly servant
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices

From this beginning track, we know that the album will be full of the awe of beholding the newborn King and the triumph that King has brought to us through His death on the Cross.

Often it is hard to wrap our minds around the fact that God took human form to redeem us, and even though the project’s song “Glory Be To God” helps us begin to see that fact a little more clearly,  the song still keeps the God that became human who He ultimately is, a God who is infinitely more than we can imagine.

Emptied of His majesty
He comes in human form
Being’s source begins to be
and God is born
All our griefs He’ll glady share
All our sins He”ll fully bear
He will cover our disgrace
And suffer in our place

And finally, keeping with the theme of God’s incarnation, lyrics on “Sleep, Jesus, Sleep” that perhaps helps us see for the first time what “we do not have a High Priest who is unable sympathise with our weakness” really means:

Sleep, newborn King
We’ll gently sing
You who reigns forevermore
Ruling as the Lord of Lords
You who never had a need
Must sleep

This project paints a beautiful picture in a modern, yet classic way of the birth, life, death, resurrection and ultimate victory of Jesus Christ.

…and hopefully you are, since there’s just a little over two months until Christmas eve, and since Advent starts very soon.   I wanted to point you back to a review I wrote last year of Sovereign Grace’s Savior CD.  I think that this is the best Christmas praise and worship CD I’ve ever encountered.  I highly recommend it.