June 29, 2008

This week, @PastorTyler was at an Acts 29 conference in Colorado, and I was honored to preach in his absence. While preaching is not my gift, thus requiring a great deal of labor, prayer, and study, it’s an honor not taken lightly. The past week was no different- John 9 is a beautiful story of healing, action, pride, and redemption, and the challenge was not what to preach, but what not to preach. Here’s the day-

How Firm a Foundation
Words by K., 1787
Arrangement by @V21Church

This hymn first appeared in the church hymnal A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to Be an Appendix to Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns, published in 1787. The author is unknown, as the only clue is the letter “K.”, which many attribute to Robert Keene, who was the Minister of Music that assisted in the writing of the Hymn Selection. The author of this hymn wrote from a beautiful formula- the first stanza is about the foundation of God’s word in our life, and each subsequent stanza is based on a promise of God found in the Bible.
When adapting the traditional arrangement for our service, I sought a drumbeat that would communicate a firm foundation. One of the most powerful drumbeats in memory is by Larry Mullen, Jr. in “Bullet The Blue Sky”. Before you google “Crazy Sick Power Beats”, hear me out. In addition to the recording is memory of a 1991 show from the Achtung Baby tour (which the daggone Pixies opened for!). The drums broke through the darkness, and as soon as the bass and guitar kicked in, huge screens behind the stage lit up burning crosses. It was one of the most powerful and amazing concert moments. There wasn’t a clip on youtube from that particular tour, but the following was similar:

Song of Reception
Words and Music by Jarred Mercer

This is a fantastic new tune by Jarred, who leads Prodigal Family Band, also about the beauty and truth of God’s Word. Each week the scripture we study is played slowly on the screens while the band plays an instrumental song, and this song contains a bridge with room specifically for that segment. During the 2nd half of the service, scripture can be read over the music during this part. We desire to be people of God’s word at Vintage21, so the sermon, our songs, our beliefs, values, church mission all come from the Bible. This song will be around for a while- there’s great value in proclaiming the chorus – “We receive, we receive, we receive Your word”

“Your word creates, Your word pursues
Your word is goodness, beauty, truth
Give us ears to hear and eyes to see
Prepare our hearts to come receive”

Sermon: John 9
If you’re interested in hearing it, visit this link. For this review, I’ll only recount a small part that is relevant to our corporate worship on Sundays, which is the topic of this site.

In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind from birth. It’s a rich passage, beautifully written, but one thing in particular stood out this past week- the humility of the blind man. Numerous commentators pointed out the progression of his belief, from referring to Jesus as “man” to confessing him as “Lord”. Pride would have negated this progression, as happened with the Pharisees who missed the Messiah. The last step of the man’s faith is found in verse 38-

“He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.”

The word for worship “proskyne” can mean several things, but here it refers to falling with your face to the ground at someone’s feet, an act pride would have prevented. As I was preaching during the 11:30 service, when we got to this part, the Spirit opened my eyes that this describes the people of Vintage21, myself included. We get to a place where we say “Lord, I believe” but are prevented from falling on our face in adoration. There is a pride in which we are so aware of others around us that we neglect to fully give our hearts to God in worship. We are held back by our love of self.
This will be the subject of an entire post in the weeks to come, but this is something that has plagued my life and the life of @V21Church for years now. Thank God for revealing this, and pray He faithfully refines us.

Christ Our Salvation
Words and Music by Jarred Mercer

One of the beautiful characteristics of “In Christ Alone” is that they pack the whole gospel into one song. Jarred has achieved this with Christ Our Salvation. This song has been in my head for a week now, and I’m in no hurry to get it out. Well done, Jarred, and great job by the band in fleshing this one out!

“Oh sweet consummation
The covenant complete
In fullness of salvation
We sit at the table of the King”

God of My Life, To Thee I Call
Taken from the Gadsby Hymnal # 967
Words – William Cowper
Music – Clint Wells, Brian T. Murphy and Benj Pocta, 2007.

Whoever sent me a link to Red Mountain Church Music, thank you. While there are many churches around the world with amazing music, a strong foundation of scripture and understanding of hymns, it would be surprising to find more than a handful who achieve this to the degree of Red Mountain Church. Someday I hope to visit their church, but until then, their albums are refreshing and inspiring.

“Poor though I am, despised, forgot
Yet God, my God, forgets me not;
And He is safe and must succeed for whom
The Lord is sure to plead.”

Marvelous Light
Words and Music by Charlie Hall

This was a request by me, as John 9 contains one of Jesus’ “I am the Light of the World” claims. This is a great song, and what a melody! Plus it contains an effective use of the famous Jonny Greenwood “Chuck Chuck“ from Creep. Perhaps it was unintentional, but it’s hard not to think of that after the bridge as we go back into the “sin has lost it’s power” section. Beautiful way to end the day.

“Sin has lost it’s power, death has lost it’s sting
From the grave you’ve risen victoriously”

Amen.