September 9, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• Here and Now (Eddie Kirkland/North Point Ministries)
• God You Reign (Lincoln Brewster)
• You Know Me (Steffany Frizzell/Bethel Music)
• While We Sing (Leeland)
• By Our Love (Christy Nockels)

September 9, 2012 - Song Spotlight

You Know Me

     Bethel Music, the worship ministry of Bethel Church (Redding, CA), released the live worship album The Loft Sessions in early 2012. Included on the album is emerging worship artist Steffany Frizzell’s song “You Know Me.” When asked about the song’s genesis, she said, “I was talking to the Lord and it came out, and I started singing,‘You have been, and You will be.You have seen, and You will see. You know when I rise and when I fall, when I come or go,You see it all,’ and that's how it came out. This declaration came from down in the depths of hurting but was also something hopeful. I feel comfort that God knows everything about me.” 

     While the verses draw upon Psalm 139 for inspiration, the song’s chorus eschews complicated lyrics in favor of simpler, repeated “whoah’s”. Explaining this choice, Frizzell said,“There's something in this season of worship where ‘whoah's’ are a groaning that words can't express that we read about in the Bible. I don't always have words, but this is my heart's cry to God.“

September 9, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

When the Church of Jesus

     British Methodist minister and hymnist Fred Pratt Green (1903 - 2000) wrote over 300 hymns, penning most after he retired from circuit ministry in 1969. Green’s hymns have appeared in North American hymnals more often than the hymns of any other twentieth century hymnwriter since 1975. United Methodist church music scholar Michael Hawn recently suggested that Green might even be worthy to be called the successor to the prolific Methodist hymnist Charles Wesley.

     The scriptural inspiration for Green’s hymn When the Church of Jesus comes from James 2:14-17. Written early in his hymn-writing career, Green wrote this hymn in 1968 for the stewardship campaign of Trinity Methodist Church in London. The hymn text challenges churches to connect with and care for not only those within the church, but also all who pass by the church doors unnoticed or ignored. The hymn closes with a plea to Christ: “teach us, dying Savior, how true Christians live.”

September 2, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• Here and Now (Eddie Kirkland/North Point Ministries)
• 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) (Matt Redman)
• Made to Worship (Chris Tomlin)
• Your Love is Moving (Christy Nockels)
• Live Like That (Sidewalk Prophets)

September 2, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

The Summons (Will You Come and Follow Me?)

     John Bell (b. 1949), a hymnist and Church of Scotland minister, serves as a modern- day troubadour of Scotland’s Iona Community - an intentional faith community founded on the Island of Iona (western Scotland). Bell joined the liturgically-innovative community in 1980 because it was “a place where the potentials of the socially marginalized as well as the socially successful would be attested.” In the decades since, he has composed songs for and guided the music and worship publications of the Community. Bell believes the purpose of singing is to fully engage people in the congregation’s song, stretch their faith, and encourage them to live for justice.

     The Summons, Bell’s most famous hymn, was first published in 1987. The text challenges with thirteen questions as Christ summons us to a radical Christianity - to leave yourself behind and risk the hostile stare, set the prisoner free and kiss the leper clean, and to use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around.

August 26, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) (Matt Redman)
• You Are My Vision (Rend Collective Experiment)
• Better is One Day (Matt Redman, performed by Charlie Hall & Passion Band)
• Have Your Way (Elizabeth Hunnicutt)

August 26, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

Forward Through the Ages

     American minister and hymnist Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929) wrote the hymn Forward Through the Ages in 1908 for the installation of a minister at the First Unitarian Church in Berkeley, California. Hosmer’s aptitude for poetry was apparent at a young age, but most of his hymns were written after he turned 40 years old. At 78 years of age, 50 of his hymn texts were published in the hymn collection The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems (1918).

     United Methodist Hymnal editor Carlton R. Young described Forward Through the Ages as a “turn-of-the-century, forward-looking social gospel hymn.” Christian unity and the promise of God’s perfect kingdom are proclaimed throughout the stanzas and in the repeated refrain. The text is typically paired with the hymntune ST. GERTRUDE, better known for its pairing with the text Onward, Christian Soldiers.

MEGA Sports Camp Music!

Songs we sang at MEGA Sports Camp!

Click here to see the iTunes playlist of our 2012 Rally Songs at MEGA Sports Camp.

June 17, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Third Sunday after Pentecost

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• God of Wonders (Steve Hindalong/Marc Byrd, performed by Paul Baloche)
• Breathe (Marie Barnett)
• Rock of My Salvation (Teresa Muller)
• God You Reign (Lincoln Brewster)

June 17, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

How Great Thou Art

     The hymn How Great Thou Art dates back to the late nineteenth century, when Swedish pastor Carl G. Boberg penned the text after considering the majesty of God’s creation one summer evening.  In the decades following, Boberg’s text was translated to German and then to Russian.  In the mid- twentieth century, the British missionary Stuart Hine discovered the text while serving in the Ukraine.  He and his wife translated the Russian text into the English version we sing today.  George Beverly Shea popularized the hymn in America, singing it over 100 times during the Billy Graham Crusades.

     Of the hymn’s significance, Hine said, “When we reach that heavenly home, we will fully understand the greatness of God and will bow in humble adoration, saying to Him, ‘O Lord my God, how great thou art!’”

June 10, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• Awakening (Chris Tomlin/Passion)
• Desert Song (Hillsong United)
• Spirit Fall (Chris Tomlin/Passion)
• Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)

June 10, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

Great is Thy Faithfulness

     Kentucky native Thomas Chisholm (1866-1960) authored around 1200 poems, among them his best-known text Great Is Thy Faithfulness. About his text, Chisholm wrote, "My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God [who] has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness."

     Great Is Thy Faithfulness is hymn of praise to a God who works in simple, everyday ways - a God who has never failed us in the past, giving us no reason to doubt God’s faithfulness in the future.

June 3, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Trinity Sunday

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• Breathe (Charlie Hall)
• God of Wonders (Steve Hindalong/Marc Byrd, performed by Paul Baloche)
• Open the Eyes of My Heart (Paul Baloche)
• Revelation Song (Jennie Lee Riddle, performed by Kari Jobe)
• Spirit Fall (Chris Tomlin/Passion)
• We Fall Down (Chris Tomlin)
• How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin)

June 3, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

Holy, Holy, Holy

     Reginald Heber (b. England, 1783; d. India, 1826) wrote the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! for congregational use on Trinity Sunday in the early nineteenth century. Heber was ordained as a minister in the Church of England in 1807 and was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823, fulfilling his life-long dream of becoming a missionary. Heber’s motivation for writing new hymns was two-fold: He was dissatisfied with the poor singing of psalms in his congregation, and he was inspired by the vital hymn singing of the Methodists. His 57 hymns were published posthumously by his wife in 1827.

     Holy, Holy, Holy! is a hymn of praise to the triune God, calling for all humans, saints, angels, and all of creation to join in praise. Though the holiness of God is cloaked in mystery, we can still experience and praise God’s mercy and mighty power each morning.

May 27, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Pentecost Sunday

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• Where the Spirit of the Lord Is (Chris Tomlin/Christy Nockels)
• You'll Come (Hillsong United)
• Breathe (Marie Barnett)
• Bones (Hillsong United)
• Spirit Fall (Chris Tomlin/Passion)

May 27, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

Filled With the Spirit's Power

     British hymnist John R. Peacey (1896-1971) wrote Filled With the Spirit’s Power in 1967, to fill a gap in Pentecost hymnody.  Peacey felt that too many hymns focused on the Holy Spirit and the individual believer, rather than the work of the Holy Spirit in community.  This text was penned after Peacey’s retirement from serving as headmaster at Bishop Cotton School in Simla, India.

     Filled With the Spirit’s Power connects the movement of the Holy Spirit in today’s Christian community with the work of the Spirit in New Testament church described in Act 2. Verse 1 reminds us of the powerful fellowship of the Holy Spirit, while Verse 2 calls us to unite in servanthood to the Spirit’s call. The final verse is a prayer for the Holy Spirit to move in our church and give us an authentic love to “embrace the people of lands and every race.”

May 20, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Change the World Sunday

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• We Could Change the World (Matt Redman)
• God of Justice (Tim Hughes)
• God of this City (Chris Tomlin)
• Break our Hearts (Vicky Beeching)
• Send Me Out (Fee)

May 13, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Graduation Sunday

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• Rise (Robbie Seay Band)
• Made to Worship (Chris Tomlin)
• Find Your Wings (Mark Harris)
• God of Justice (Tim Hughes)

May 13, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

There's a Spirit in the Air (Brian Wren)

     British minister and hymnist Brian Wren (b. 1936) wrote There’s a Spirit in the Air in 1969, at the church where he served as minister.  About the hymn, he writes: “Our hymnal had several hymns about the Holy Spirit’s gifts to the believer...but almost none speaking of the Spirit’s work in the world or in creation....All the churches felt a reawakening sense of God’s work in society, and needed to connect Sunday worship with Monday morning.”
     The text speaks of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our world, where we are called to show Christ’s love through care of the hungry and homeless.  Unusually, the hymn employs two alternating refrains, instead of the customary single refrain:

• “Praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working in our world.”
• “God in Christ has come to stay.  Live tomorrow’s life today.”

May 6, 2012 - Hymn Spotlight

A Triune Prayer (Anderson/Ijames)

     American pastor Chris Anderson and composer Molly Ijames wrote the hymn A Triune Prayer in 2010.  Through the four verses, the text considers God in Three Persons.
     Verse 1 echoes the prayers of David in Psalm 51, asking the Heavenly Father to cast out our sin, while still drawing us near.  Verse 2 appeals to the grace of Jesus Christ, to plead our case. Verse 3 calls out to the Holy Spirit to intercede for the broken and the weak. The final verse culminates in a prayer to the whole Trinity in longing for God’s perfect Kingdom:

Triune God, please grant our prayer as Your glory we declare.

May Your promised kingdom come; may Your will on earth be done.

May 6, 2012 - 10:45am Worship Songs

Click on the songs below for an iTunes link, where you can purchase the artist's original recording.

• The Power of Your Name (Lincoln Brewster/Mia Fieldes)
• The King Has Come (Eoghan Heaslip)
• Carried to the Table (Leeland)
• God of Justice (Tim Hughes)