September 28, 2008

Yesterday was a welcome day off. My wife is pregnant with our second child, which is beautiful news, but she gets really sick. I’m not talking about “have you tried ginger?” sick, but with our first child she was in bed for three months straight, vomiting excessively and visiting the emergency room on several occasions. We are thankful to God for the blessing of the child, and this time around she’s not quite as sick. So far, she’s still up and around. Please pray for her, though, as she is nauseous 24-7, having trouble sleeping, and vomiting. Anyway, yesterday I took our daughter to the service, and ended up helping out with sound. There were several recording issues, and I was determined to get good recordings of Jarred’s songs. Soon we’ll have regular live recordings posted on worship.vintage21.com (two are in the mixing stage), and you’re going to love his songs!

God Of My Life, To Thee I Call
Words by William Cowper, 1779
Music: Clint Wells, Brian T. Murphy and Benk Pocta

We are in the midst of a campaign called “Stick 6″, where we are encouraging newcomers to attend for six weeks before making a decision about Vintage21 Church. Our hope is that people will see beyond their personal preferences and ask God whether or not He desires them to be a part of this church. Especially in regards to music, because we do so many originals and new arrangements of hymns, people don’t have that “I know this song- this feels good!” affirmation that leads them to stick around.
In this campaign we’re repeating songs over the six week period so that people will have a chance to learn them and gain some of that familiarity that makes worshiping God through song more natural. This is one of those songs we’re repeating, and man do we need to sing this!

“God of my life, to Thee I call
Afflicted at Thy feet I fall.
When the great water floods prevail,
leave not Your trembling heart to fail.”

Song of Reflection
Words and Music by Jarred Mercer

For those of you who do not know Jarred, he is currently our other worship leader. He is an astute student of theology, a faithful husband and father (1st baby is coming soon!) and a talented songwriter and vocalist. He wrote this song from a love and dependence on God’s word. In the midst of it is an instrumental section where the scripture we’re studying plays slowly on the screens. After reading the scripture, we return to the chorus:

“We receive, we receive, we receive Your word.”

Sermon: Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
This is a difficult passage to reckon with, and I think Pastor Tyler Jones did an amazing job preaching yesterday. When addressing God’s sovereignty, it’s easy to become aloof and removed from humanity with a shrug of the shoulders and a “that’s just how it is.” Jesus did not do this, and neither should we. I was encouraged by the message, and how real Pastor Tyler was in facing tough questions. You can check out ecclesiastesv21.com for the audio.

Thy Mercy, My God
Words by John Stocker
Music by Sandra McCracken

Every week at Vintage21 Church is about Jesus. This is because everything in scripture ultimately points to Jesus. After the sermon about God’s sovereignty, and our temptation to exist as “mini sovereigns”, it came down to Jesus breaking into our existence and bringing the Kingdom of God. In light of this, it’s appropriate that we begin responding by these words:

“Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue”

I Boast No More
Words by Isaac Watts
Music by Sandra McCracken

We do the a combination of Sandra McCracken’s version and Derek Webb’s version of this song. It’s a perfect fit for the Ecclesiastes series, as we’re called away from love of ourselves to a surrender to God.

Christ Our Salvation
Words and Music by Jarred Mercer

Let’s just say you can’t wait for us to post a recording of this song. It’s awesome, and I can say all of this because I didn’t write it. Seriously though, it’s a song where we sing about Jesus as our sufficient Savior. Nothing better!

Today’s Sunday Review is posted in collaboration with other church music ministries at Sunday Setlists.