At Life Connection Church we very much value songs written specifically for the local congregation. That doesn’t mean that they won’t have any relevance outside of our church, but just that it was written with our body prayerfully in mind. I believe that’s not only how the best songs are written musically, but spiritually I think that’s where the greatest gift is to the kingdom, in building of the local church.

Recently I’ve been examining ways to get my church body even more involved in our songwriting process. As a worship leader and elder I’m aware of the larger spiritual issues impacting the body, and as my role as discipleship leader I’m privy to more personal issues on a smaller scale as well. But in order to bring in everyone something else had to be done.

The idea is this. We will write a song around a theme and ask everyone in the body to submit a 1 sentence response to a question around that theme. The song’s lyrics will predominantly be made up of these responses. First up we will tackle grace. The question to the body is this…

How has God’s grace changed your life specifically?

Huge question I know, so many aspects to grace so I expect a wonderful wide spectrum of answers. The goal is to answer personally(can be anonymously) and not generally. An example of a general response would be, “He took this sinner and made me clean“, a personal response would be, “He took my life of drugs and death, and gave me a life of purity and hope.”

I’ll then take these answers and shape them poetically to fit musically, rhyme etc… I’ll probably write a chorus that captures the entirety of the submissions, but if someone submits something that God puts heavy on our hearts then we may very well use it for the chorus as well. I don’t really know what to expect out of this exercise, this is new ground for me.

By God’s grace at the end we’ll have a skillfully crafted song of worship that glorifies God by demonstrating the life saving, transforming, empowering impact of God’s grace in our church body, by our church body. I’m incredibly excited to get started on this. I’ll keep everyone up to date on how well or poorly this experiment goes, should be fun.

Let me know what you guys think, am I nuts?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed 

Related posts

• U.S. religion: even “Christians” see other ways to heaven (1)
• Sunday Set List - “The Our Rising Sound Relaunch” (7)
• Proper perspective of creativity in worship, why worship band members are so easily offended (4)

This morning’s blog hour of power brought to you by Mark…

 

“O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be”

This is a powerful line speaking on how we are compelled every day to be in Gods debt because of his grace. In Eph 2:8-9Eph 2:8-9
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
8 for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; ⁹ not of works, that no man should glory.  

it says:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

We are never to forget that everyday we need Gods unmerited favor in our lives, but it is also important for us to not only rely on the grace of God but move ahead into obedience through faith and act out what the Lord is telling us. Gods grace enslaves those that understand the power of it, but the freedom of that grace enables us to pursue the will of God for our lives and others. Constrained means imprisoned of confined forcefully. Romans 6:18-22Romans 6:18-22
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
18 and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. ¹⁹ I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members [as] servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members [as] servants to righteousness unto sanctification. ²⁰ For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness. ²¹ What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. ²² But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.  

“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” … “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

Before we know the grace of God that sets us free, we are enslaved or constrained by our sin, but being imprisoned by grace allows us the freedom to; one bear fruit, and two, gain everlasting life.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed 

Related posts

• Exposition of Come Thou Fount, in view of God’s mercy (Part 1) (2)
• Exposition of Come Thou Fount (Part 4) (0)
• Exposition of Come Thou Fount (Part 3) (2)

“Hither to thy love has blessed me, thou hast brought me to this place

And I know thy hand will bring me, safely home by thy good grace”

The opening lines to this read like a David psalm although not nearly as whiny and scared, much more at rest. These lines remind me of Hebrews 4 where it speaks of sabbath rest, resting in the accomplishment of Christ as the Father rested in his finished work. Hebrews 4:10Hebrews 4:10
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
10 For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.  

“for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his”. Resting in the sacrifice of Jesus and His work should lead us to sing this verse. God has brought us to a resting place, I rest in His grace and know His hand will bring me home(salvation).

I also find the use of God’s “hand” here especially poignant. Wherever God’s hand is at work in our lives is where we are weakest and He is strongest. When the hand of God touches us in healing, restoration, purification, it’s His holiness, His majesty, His glory falling upon us. So God’s strength will bring us home, not our works, but his grace and accomplishment has become our strength if God’s hand is at work. I think this verse does much in the way of illustrating salvation by grace through faith.

I’m really excited about the next chapter in this exposition, it’s my favorite part of the song, stay tuned.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed 

Related posts

• Exposition of Come Thou Fount, in view of God’s mercy (Part 1) (2)
• Exposition of Come Thou Fount (Part 7) (0)
• Exposition of Come Thou Fount (Part 3) (2)

 “Teach me some melodious sonnets, sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise His name I’m fixed upon it, name of God’s redeeming love” 

 

I’m amazed how this song mixes a psalmist sense of poetry with a strong declaration of doctrinal truth. The author, Robert Robinson, comes from a place I think we can all relate. Daily indebted to God’s grace and stirring up within ourselves our desire to remain fixed upon Christ. I was telling my pastor as we sang this last Sunday as each line passes I feel regret for not meditating on it at that moment. Each line so rich of truth.

 

There is a story I read online about the author who, as he says later in the song was prone to wander away from God. It was some years after his writing of the song and he was on a stagecoach as a female passenger sat next to him and began to converse. She was telling him of her faith and he spoke as though he didn’t know of Christ and had fallen away. The woman began quoting the hymn Come Thou Fount to him and told him, “These words might help you as they have helped me”. Robert began to weep and replied, “Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then”.

 

What power is in the Holy Spirit as we profess the goodness of God and what he’s done in our lives. My heart broke for Robert as I read that story, that he was unable to remain fixed upon Christ, but that again through God’s unending mercy and grace He sent this woman. God sent this woman to recite the very things God had done in him years ago as a reminder of his goodness and love. In God’s persevering grace he hunts us down, Ezekiel 34:11Ezekiel 34:11
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
11 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  

says “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.”. God was searching for Robert. One of my favorite examples of Christ’s love for the lost is Matthew 18, verse 12-14 reads

 

“…If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about the one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way the Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost”

 

The Father in heaven is not willing that Robert should be lost. I love that even as we are unfaithful to what we’ve prayed and sung to heaven, that God is always faithful. That He does not cast aside our prayers as we often do. God uses our own words to remind us of our own heart, He sends people to remind us of what He’s been trying to get through to us as he sent Samuel to Eli.

 

It’s fitting that this story comes with this verse, cause God literally was teaching Robert to sing as he sings and showing him what being fixed upon really looks like. Those melodious sonnets came back full circle as the words Robert wrote to God, now being sung back to himself by a good and loving God, through a servant of Christ, to remind him of who he should be fixed upon.