July 27, 2008

Here Is Love
Words by William Reese
Music by Robert Lowry
Arrangement by Ex Nihilo

Ex Nihilo, a band from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, redid this beautiful hymn with a vengeance. The arrangement contains an energetic beat with controlled feedback, and a great build at the end. On a recent visit to MHC, we were impressed with their use of feedback. Never too much or harsh, it cleared the sonic horizon of space usually filled by busy, strumming guitars.
This hymn is a great opener from a declarative standpoint. Congregants are challenged with the statements of faith from the onset of the service, and it’s a great reminder to open up the day singing about who we are here for - Jesus Christ.

“Grace and love, like mighty rivers, poured incessant from above
Heaven’s peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love”

I Will Sing To You
Words and Music by Martha Metzler

This is a song from our recent album “All Things Praise.” Martha did a great job with this one, based on the famous love passage of 1 Corinthians 13. This song is a favorite among many Vintage21 attendees- many people have given positive feedback over the year we’ve sung it. We’re sad that Sam and Martha are moving- they’ve been a part of the church for years now - and it was great that on her last Sunday singing with us Martha was able to lead us in worshiping through this tune.

“I am but clanging cymbals without Your love, without You
So I will lay my plan down, let my words be few.”

Sermon: John 8:46-59
It’s always surprising how we are built for such passion and life, but instead settle for safety and control. This is the only reason that makes sense for humanity’s ability to settle into a complacent place of denial when a decision is thrust upon us. Today was such a day, as this passage is Jesus’ “I AM” claim. Pastor Tyler Jones led us to a place where we must decide - Jesus is either a lunatic demon or God. This was a deep place to tread, and it was a personal reminder of where my life lies - in service of the King.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain?
Words by Charles Wesley
Music by Thomas Campbell

The melody of this hymn varies among churches, and it’s most likely ours came from the popularity of this song among youth and college ministries of the nineties. The words are timeless, and the beauty of such lyrics is that it’s hard to sing such depth with fluff. We’re sinful, so we’ll always find a way, but my heart is moved when singing the following:

“And can it be that I should gain an interest in my Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain, for me, who scorned His perfect love.”

You Know My Way
Words and Music by John Pelphrey and Matt Stevens

We’re in our series on Jesus Christ, focused on his fulfillment of the Old Testament roles of Prophet, Priest and King. It was unbeknownst to me that Pastor Tyler would be honing in on the King role this Sunday, which made this song even more of a pleasant surprise, due to our repetition of the last lyric-

“Hallelujah to the King!”

We’ll Praise You
Words and Music by Matt Stevens

This song was referenced in a previous post about the intent of our worship to celebrate Jesus, both in word and music. It’s our most energetic tune, and probably the reason for exhaustion this Monday morning! The congregation seemed to be with us in this one, and the women especially were singing out. Wake up, men!

All Creatures Of Our God and King
Words by Francis of Assisi.
Arrangement by David Crowder, with additions by Vintage21 Church

My wife reported that, because we always close with “We’ll Praise You”, in the 11:30 service some began getting ready to leave as “All Creatures” began. We always close with “We’ll Praise You”, and even did so in the 9:30 service. However, this arrangement has a new ending that provides such a platform of praising God that we switched them – for the first time it was somewhat anti-climactic to jump into “We’ll Praise You”. Hopefully we’ll get our recording gear up and running so that this can be posted next time around – it was a beautiful moment, and the band nailed it.

Feel free to comment on the day’s set, or ask questions about songs!

This week’s recap of songs is posted in collaboration with other worship leaders on the “Sunday Setlists” blog carnival at www.fredmckinnon.com