Category Archives: Achives

Isaac Watts hymn for the day

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Lord, when my thoughts with wonder roll
O’er the sharp sorrows of thy soul
And read my Maker’s broken laws
Repaired and honour’d by thy cross
When I behold death, hell, and sin
Vanquished by that dear blood of thine,
And see the Man that groan’d and died
Sit glorious by his Father’s side;
My passions rise and soar above,
I’m wing’d with faith and fir’d with love;
Fain would I reach eternal things,
And learn the notes that Gabriel sings.
But my heart fails, my tongue compains,
For want of their immortal strains;
And, in such humble notes as these,
Must fall below thy victories
Well, the kind minute must appear
When we shall leave these bodies here,
These clogs of clay, and mount on high,
To join the songs above the sky.

New worship CDs coming out

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Boy, there’s some great stuff coming up in the worship music world.  There are several albums coming out soon that I’m really looking forward to hearing soon, so I thought I would share them with you.

Already ordered, and I’m waiting with baited breath for, the new Keith and Kristyn Getty album, Awake the Dawn.  What can I say, I’m growing more and more attached to the Getty’s modern hymns.  I’m sure you will be singing many of these songs someday in church.  Actually, if you come to Grace, you already are!  You can listen to previews of the album here.  Future favorites:  Come People of the Risen King, By Faith, Benediction, and who doesn’t love to listen to an Irish person read Psalm 57 in a full on Irish accent.  I should move to Ireland long enough to pick up an Irish accent……

There are actually a couple of albums coming out on the 23rd (of June) that I’m really looking forward to.  The first is beauty & chaos by my cousin Aaron Ivey. He is one of the worship pastors at Austin Stone church.  Since I got Spur 58’s (his old band) indie cd, Image of New, I’ve loved the way he does hymns, and his original songs are sweet.  He has promised a site redesign with streaming audio of his new album soon, so keep an eye on aaronivey.com.

The other cd I’m looking forward to is Rumors and Revelations by Glenn Packiam.  Harmony folks will recognize songs like My Savior Lives which has been used by Hillsong.  Also he has cowritten songs with a bunch of guys, including Paul Baloche’s Your Name.  Glenn is one of the worship pastors at New Life Church, which I’m sure you will recognize.  If not, watch this video.  Glenn has written a book calledSecondhand Jesus partly about these experiences.  Review to follow.  Anyway, Glenn is releasing a cd on the 23rd.  You can listen through most of the album here.  There’s a sort of Psalms feel to the songs that I appreciate.  These songs will be in my playlist and I’m sure some will make their way into Sunday mornings.  Take a listen to Burning in Me, For Love I Sing, I Will Stand ….. Take a listen to the album.  I’ll put up a full review after I’ve lived with it for a while.

Other albums I look forward to hearing, but don’t know anything about.  July 14, Robin Mark is releasing a new album.  August 14, a new Hillsong album comes out.  On August 25, it seems like the worship community is all releasing an album.  Ditto Sept 22, then we get into Christmas Album season.  Check out newreleases.com for details!

My Savior My God

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Boy, talk about being clueless as to songs to be found in the hymnal. I’ve been going through the hymnals I’ve got in the office, and I ran across I Am Not Skilled to Understand. I thought, wow, this is a really up to date hymnal. Duh! Aaron Shust used this old (1873) hymn by Dora Greenwell as the basis for his song. By the way, I still take issue with the chorus. I contend that he could have easily said My God He was, My God He is, My God He always will be, rather than always gonna be. I cringe every time I hear that.

Stott’s The Cross of Christ

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Okay, so I’ve been really connecting with my inner bookworm this week.  I’ve read (or finished) like three or four books.  Reviews possibly coming, but that would require me to put the book down too long.  Okay, so I just picked up The Cross of Christ and couldn’t make it out of the preface without quoting, especially in light of what I talked about at the end of the latest Psalm study.

In daring to write (and read) a book about the cross, there is of course a great danger of presumption.  This is partly because what actually happened when “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing; and partly because it would be most unseemly to feign a cool detachment as we contemplate Christ’s cross.  For, whether we like it or not, we are involved.  Our sins put Him there.  So, far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righeousness.  We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.  And there we remain until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts His word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by His love and full of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in His service.

John Stott, The Cross of Christ

Good stuff.

Grace Worship Philosophy

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Okay, so for a while now, I’ve been writing and refining a worship philosophy for GBC.  This Sunday night, I’ll be presenting the philosophy and explaining the various points.  So, for your perusal and as a bait for you to come Sunday night to hear me speak, here are the points:

  • Our worship is Spirit powered and Christ centered.
  • Our worship must issue forth from sound theology.
  • Our worship is not music alone, but our music is worship.
  • Our worship is not seeker driven, but a seeker should see Christ in our worship.
  • Our worship should be both individual and communal.
  • Our worship is flawed and will always be such on this side of heaven.
  • We must be diligent in our worship to not allow idols to enter in.