Yesterday we explored line one of Come Thou Font. Today I’m going to look into the second line which proclaims:

“Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise”

The same Hebrew word (hesed) used for mercy is also translated as love. I have a much easier time comprehending God’s unending love than his unending mercy. Then to see that love and mercy are interchangeable, that mercy and grace are God’s demonstration of love, forces me to confront a limitation I’ve put on God. That limitation being that while God’s love in unending that his mercy has bounds, that sooner or later God’s going to say, “enough is enough with this guy”. Again I must realize that it’s all about Jesus and his accomplishment, not my merit. I’ve not earned anything, since God’s mercy and grace was appointed before time (2 Timothy 1:8-92 Timothy 1:8-9
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
8 Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God; ⁹ who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,  

), I have no authority or ability to earn persevering grace in my life. God in his unending love has extended unending streams of mercy, thank you Lord.

I love the imagery of being washed in streams of mercy as we’ve been covered in the blood of Jesus. Jesus’ accomplishment on the cross, the defining moment in human history, DEMANDS response. His continued, renewing mercy calls for songs of loudest praise. We’ve not felt the transforming power of Christ if we are not called to songs of praise. We all have major sins in our lives  we’ve been forgiven and healed from earmarked as evidence of God’s grace and mercy upon us. If we’ve been washed in his mercy and grace, God’s tuned and transformed out hearts, our spirit responds the the Holy Spirit’s call, and we give praise.

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Come Thou Fount is one of the greatest songs of God’s grace I’ve come across. It’s lyrics are challenging, thought provoking, honest, desperate, vulnerable, humbling and encouraging. I’ve probably listened to the E-Pop version about 100 times the last few months. I literally cry every time, it is gut wrenchingly sweet and full of truth. I wanted to do a little series on here breaking it down line by line. And what God speaks to me, convicts me on in each line. It’s always evolving and right when I think I’ve received a good glimpse of God’s grace, He goes deeper, His grace expands, deepens and I see God for who He is and me for who I am in ever clearing sight. The first line is this:

“Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace”

God led me to this scripture in John 1:16John 1:16
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
16 For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace.  

, “From the fullness of His grace we have received one blessing after another”. Through grace I have received continued blessings. This line challenges me to put into proper perspective my life, past, present and future. That everything good, every blessing has it’s origin in grace. From the breath of life to the birth of my children, God has extended abundant grace the depths of which I can’t comprehend but pray for God to reveal.

That in response to grace that my heart would be tuned to sing thy grace. God has created in me a new heart that thirsts for him. Out of the overflow and outpouring of my heart, my mouth would sing thy grace, how could it not. I can testify now that is my deepest desire, that my life would be a song of God’s grace. By His grace my heart be tuned, molded, formed that the outpouring of my life would be a song of grace, love and hope.

I love that this line demonstrates everything empowered by God. We the believer accomplished nothing here. God in his goodness gives us every blessing, then in continued grace tune’s our hearts that we may reflect that very grace. Stay tuned(no pun intended) for line 2 tomorrow.

 

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I have for quite some time been hoping for a Abelton Live/Reason/synth/jack of all trades musician to come to our church. I love working with it in the studio but I’ve always wanted to get it integrated into our live worship sets. Sadly that person has not walked through the door yet so I got myself  a midi controller(M-Audio Oxygen 8), installed Reason and started hacking away.

I was very impressed with how easy Reason 4 was to work with. I was able to make some real progress really quick, the transport features are similar to standard recording software (Logic/ProTools), the mixer and components are all easy to work with. The patches it comes with are plentiful and give you plenty of avenues of creativity. So I was off and running there. I started looking at Abelton but it felt very Windowsy to me. Being a completely saved man (mac man) I can’t be havin that.  So it’s just Reason for now.

This Easter we tried out our first go at playing with a Reason track. We did a stripped down acoustic version of Mighty Is the Power of the Cross by Chris Tomlin and integrated a reason track I recorded. I think we’ve been reasonably well paced in the progression of musical style in our church and I hope we haven’t left many behind. This was another leap forward and I must admit, my first try at it so it wasn’t all that great but it was a start. For the first time in a long time I was nervous. I was panicking that my computer would shut down or the track would pause or something funky. Thank God it went smoothly, giving me a bit more confidence using this live going forward.

So here’s a 2 minute cut from what we used on the outro. This of course had live vocals as well as an acoustic guitar.

 

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Helio Sequence headlined a show at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix last Tuesday (Mar 18th). Our Rising Sound band attended and was tasked with a homework assignment. Observe, enjoy, taken in the experience but more importantly assess. See what we as a church can receive, what can be redeemed and what we must reject. I’ll try and summarize the observations of ORS and inject some of my own.

It was absolutely one of the best small venue shows I’ve ever attended. Helio just destroyed the place, they were flawless and they left many of us from ORS inspired. Those of you in religious bondage may be asking, “How could you possibly be inspired by a secular band”. I’ll get into the redemptive aspects of the show, but first lets take a look at what we can out right receive as the church.

Receive:

• arrangement philosophy - Helio plays to pre-recorded tracks as you may know, so their arrangement is pretty much set in stone. Usually a live show is the band’s opportunity to mix things up, I usually find it a mistake and wish they stuck to the record. So I was looking forward to hearing what I like. Josh noticed he was fearful or getting stuck in arrangements in worship. But upon seeing Helio realized that an expected arrangement can actually be liberating. Too much mucking about with the arrangement can be really distracting for a congregation even though it might be exciting for the band. Find an arrangement that serves the song well and stand by it.
• musicianship - both members of the band, Brandon Summer (vocals, guitar) and Benjamin Weikel (drums, synth work), are incredible musicians. The creativity they display is unbelievable but it always, always serves the song. Very rarely do you hear something out of left field that seems indulgent. Brandon’s guitar work is so unique and he’s certainly carved out a signature sound. I thought for sure with the amount of delay and reverb he plays with it would muddy up the room, but he’s able to cut through and knows how to manage it, let’s it get crazy sometimes but mostly does a lot of single string work. Benjamin’s drumming is phenomenal. His drum patterns are so uniquely crafted and memorable, they become almost melodic. His time is perfect and with the patterns he plays it’s even more impressive how spot on he is.

Redeem:

• passion - Nearly everyone on ORS responded noticing the band’s passion. They were 100% devoted to their music, having a blast, being creative. You could tell there wasn’t anyplace else they wanted to be, it’s what they’d given their life to, given the best of themselves to, their first fruits. Passion can be a huge problem in church bands in a number of areas but it usually comes down to a single reason. Being passionately in love with God and doing what you’re called to do. One without the other leaves us a shell of a musician who feels his presence is required not desired. I can’t stand seeing 5 robots lead worship, completely stiff and completely unmoved by the presence of God. If we are ushering in the presence of the Almighty, I’d think we should make sure our bodies recognize that and respond accordingly. God can redeem the passion in this concert for music, fame, and turn our hearts to passion for Christ.
• worshipful presence - Kendra noticed the worshipful presence in the place and how people there were enthralled, consumed, in awe of the music being played. Everyone was certainly focused and in a certain meditative state. It is a real simple view of how the enemy is crafty in not having creation reject it’s purpose, but just distorting it enough to have us forsake the true purpose and replace it with a selfish one. The arts have always been a battleground in this because it’s the outpouring of ourselves we can’t just turn that off. Since we are a fallen people, our art is fallen as well. Praise be to God that by his grace he can redeem that and purpose, hope, love can be restored in that. This band who gauges their success on the worship they receive could be redeemed and success given to God based on Kingdom effectiveness

Reject:

• pride - plenty of this to go around and I don’t mean this just in relation to the band and venue. Certainly plenty of pride in the church to deal with. The only authority I feel I have in this is knowing just how screwed up I am in pride and how desperately I need Jesus.

This was a fantastic learning experience for me and for ORS. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but not many local ones. It was a great chance to see what kind of music the community is into, what the local scene is and start getting plugged into it. As the worship leader I have to know what is moving the community musically. Otherwise I shouldn’t be surprised when the community is disconnected, uninterested and dispassionate for the music in the church. I think we’ve made some good strides in this area. We have a big concert coming up and I look forward to continuing to press into the local community more and more musically.

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It has been confirmed! April 25th at Life Connection Church in Phoenix, AZ, John Mark McMillan will perform live with special guest Life In Stereo! Tickets are available online. Concert starts at 7pm, doors open at 6pm. We have 30 (only 30!) VIP tickets available which include:

- priority, stage front seating

- exclusive access to band Q&A session prior to concert (5pm)

- John Mark McMillan cd “The Songs Inside the Sounds of Breaking Down”

- Main Squeeze smoothie at event

Childcare tickets are SOLD OUT!. If you want to bring your child into the concert then they need a General Admission ticket unless they are under 3, in which case they can enter the concert free.

Space is limited so make sure you get your tickets early.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

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Many of us have already bought our tickets to the Helio concert here in Phoenix. Here’s a taste of what we’ll see. Does it get any better than Ben on drums? I don’t think so.

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One thing I really received from the Mars Hill Continuous Worship Conference was the concept of receive, reject, redeem. That means simply that when assessing our culture we should put it through this filter and not passively accept or reject anything. We should see what we can openly receive, what we must reject and what can be redeemed.

I find it valuable in critique secular songs, concerts, etc… In this example I wanna take a look at Sigur Ros latest project which is basically a documentary of their latest tour. I really appreciate Sigur Ros as a band. I use the word “appreciate” usually to describe bands, writer’s, musician’s who’s music I like but can’t listen to regularly. This would include bands like, Led Zepplin, Zero 7, Sigur Ros, the list goes on.

The first think I think the church can receive from Sigur Ros artistically is their patience. They let their songs develop at such a drip pace, but never allow it to stagnate. That is really really hard to do. They certainly didn’t read the A&R handbook as far as how fast you should get to the hook. Second, is their instrumental creativity. You can tell that they approach every instrument much like most bands approach a vocal melody. They weave melodies together instrumentally in such a beautiful way. And what more can you say about Icelandic vocals(Bjork anyone???), I mean they are just amazing. Haunting but still very light and pleasant.

What can be redeemed is their creativity. Goto 45:15 of the video in this post to see just how creative they are, really amazing. Of course watch the whole thing when you get time to hear some beautiful music.

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