The foundation of worship: God’s love and our response

Have you ever thought about how ludicrous it is that God loves us? God’s love for us is mind boggling. The fact that God would came and save us through His Son’s death. God almighty, the being that created the sun with words, came to earth and died for us. God, who is completely pure, with out one blemish, no faults, came to a broken people full of sin and saved us.

This is ridiculous. God created the earth. He made things which we consider to be beautiful; Roses, puppies, grasses, mountains, hills, water falls, and the seas. He crafted beings that are vastly more capable of inhabiting an untamed world then we are; the bear, the fox, the wolf, the hawk, the mountain goat, the dolphin, the blue whale. Creators that grab our imagination, amaze us, and even terrify us. God made them. Every mountain, every tree, every blade of grass, every bird, every beast, every fruit fly, God owns.

The truly absurd thing is this same God came to earth and died to save us from our sins and save us from hell. This is the fist and fundamental basis for our worship of God. Our worship is a response to the fact that God came to save us. The second reason we worship God is married to the first and again is a response. Not only did Jesus death save us from hell, but Jesus’ death opened our way to receive help in this life.

By dying on the cross and taking our sins Jesus made us pure. This allows us to receive aid from God. God is willing, because of His son’s death, to come into us and fix our problems. The dug addict, the alcoholic, the prostitute, the liar, the sexually impure, the proud, the manipulator, the murder, the thief, can all find forgiveness and the power to change. (Remember: Jesus tells us in Matthew 5.21-30, that if we do something in our hearts we are just as guilty as those who have physically done the act.)

To be blunt we are all vile. We all have dishonesty in us. We all have some lust or some coveting. What is amazing is that God has taken away our guilt and given us the power to be pure. This is amazing. This, combined with the first, forms the biases of worshiping God. We were died in sin and then God came and saved us!

Love Come Down (Oh the Compassion of Our God)

We will always be amazed, that You have loved us,

That You found us in the our shame and still You loved us,

That You took all our disgrace, made us Your witness,

That You took away our shame, and gave us names

Love came down and found us there,

Where we were lost and helpless alone and scared,

Jesus came and set us free,

Oh the compassion of our God,

Oh the compassion of our God.

In every language it’s the same, the story ever told,

A family bought by blood, and united by Your love

In every nation and every tribe, in hearts in every race,

There is thankfulness for life, there is love because of grace

Seven Hebrew Words for Praise (Part 3)

3. yadah (yaw-daw’) – (verb)

to revere or worship with extended hands…

Psalm 109:30 - With my mouth I will greatly extol [yadah] the LORD;
in the great throng I will praise him.

The raising of hands is an age-old action of worship across many cultures.

We read of it often in the scriptures:

Nehemiah 8:2 - Ezra praised the LORD, the great God;
and all the people lifted their hands
and responded, "Amen! Amen!"
Then they bowed down
and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

Upraised hands are a sign of surrender:

“Lord, I submit to You… to Your Lordship, Your purposes and plans.

Be exalted in my life!

Album Reviewed: "Arriving"

(if you think I'm plagarizing again...I am, but only from myself)

For a long time now, I've thought that Matt Redman was the foremost worship writer/musician around today. Not only the quality, but the quantity of Matt's music is astounding. Looking back over the past decade, an unbelievable number of great worship songs come from Mr. Redman.

Chris Tomlin , amazingly enough, is getting near Matt in both quantity and quality. His latest (about a year or so old) album, "Arriving", is the first congregational music I've heard to match Mr. Redman in quite some time (although Tomlin is not exactly a new face in the worshipful crowd). A quick scan of his guitar tabs yields these major Christian worship songs from the past 5-7 years (not counting those from "Arriving"):

• Be Glorified
• All Bow Down
• Enough
• Famous One
• Forever
• Give Us Clean Hands
• Kindness
• The Noise We Make
• We Fall Down
• The Wonderful Cross

Clearly, the man has some seriously blessed song-writing skills. IMO, there are two types of "worshipful" music. The first is an intensely personal, person-to-God style (think of Crowder's "A Collision") that can be very powerful in a time of intimate worship, whether it's between the song writer and God or an individual worshipper and their creator. The second style is meant to be sung corporately; whether through lyrics or musical style, the song simply feels right when worshipping with a group of believers. Arriving clearly aims for the latter style, and rarely has an album hit the bullseye so well.

The best worship songs are great because of their lyrical quality. It is fairly easy to stir emotions through crashing drums and a crescendo of instruments. It is more difficult, but much more impactful(?), to write lyrics that hit your heart. Some songs on this CD that do so:

• 1 - "Indescribable". This song "describes" how everything on heaven and earth glorifies God, ending with a statement of mercy: "You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same". For any Christian struggling with sin, guilt, and acceptance, those words can never be repeated enough.
• 2 - "Holy Is the Lord". The catchiest song, musically, on the album, it reinforces a simple statement of praise to God for his holiness. This is really the point of the whole album; not so much a digging into the depths of man, but focused on the attributes of God. We could use a lot more songs like this in our modern worship sets.
• 3 - "How Great Is Our God". The anthemic chorus will stir you--a great combination of powerful music with sublimely true and simple truths about Gods greatness. In my experience, this chorus ends up being repeated over and over and over as an awesome declarative statement. In my recent worship band experience, this song consistently got the single-best worshipful response by the congregation of any we played.
• Your Grace Is Enough, Unfailing Love, King of Glory, and You Do All Things Well are other standouts.

This is an absolute essential for your modern worship collection. Just about any church that plays contemporary worship will have taken several songs from this CD. And why? Because you won't find another album as focused on the glory of God. And that is a good place to be.

Seven Hebrew Words for Praise (Part 2)

2. shabach (shaw-bakh’) – (verb)
to address in a loud tone…
to commend…
to glory…
to praise…
to triumph…
to praise with a shout…

Psalm 63:3 - Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify [shout to] you.

Psalm 117:1 - Praise the LORD, all you nations;
extol him [shout to him], all you peoples.

Remember the shout at Jericho! (Joshua 6)

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak
and marched around the city seven times…

16 The seventh time around,
when the priests sounded the trumpet blast,
Joshua commanded the people,
"Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! …

20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted,
and at the sound of the trumpet,
when the people gave a loud shout,
the wall collapsed;
so every man charged straight in,
and they took the city.

LORD, I will praise You with a shout, in a loud tone.

Not a yawn, not a whisper!

Give me boldness to praise you,
and not be preoccupied with what others will think.

There are times to be still,
and other times when we are right to SHOUT our praise!

Check, cha-check, cha-check, check it out

While surfing around this morning for other good worship blogs, I stumbled upon two that I definitely recommend.

First, Worship Matters is a strong and Biblical look at worship and life by the worship pastor at Covenant Life here near DC. Well worth checking in from time to time.

Second, I'm very impressed by blog.worship.com. A nice looking site, sure, but the content is incredible. Lots of deep and culturally relevant posts--check out this one describing the current trend of "Kidults", young adults who refuse to accept responsibility. Also some great thoughts on worship leading--here's a link to their "Worship Leading Essentials" series.

Album Reviewed: "A Collision"

(this review previously appeared on my Xanga page. I'm plagarizing, yes, but only from myself)

The David Crowder Band started as a worship group at a University Baptist Church (founded by Crowder) near Baylor University, in Waco, TX. They tour the country now, having been alongside the likes of Michael W Smith and Mercy Me; in addition to being a mega worship group, David Crowder himself looks more than a little freaky. Always a good combination.

"A Collision" has become my favorite album with which to worship God in the privacy of my car. At 21 tracks, this is the best $13.88 (Wal-Mart) that you'll ever spend. Mixed in with the rock & roll & worship are several other ... cool things:

1. A negro-spiritual style chant ("Soon")
2. Several intro-outro songs that only run :30 or 1:00 long
3. A mock "interview" style skit
4. "I Saw the Light", a superb country ho-down freakout that ranks as the most unexpectedly brilliant song I've heard in a while.

There are several songs featuring the familiar whomp-whomp-whomp bass-pedal driving electro-ROCK style that we know and love from "Illuminate", his previous album. Most notably, "Here is Our King" makes you want to stand up and slap yourself silly with rock-out joy. You've probably heard it and thrashed in your car, as this is the first single released on the radio. However, the real power of this album lies in its overriding theme: this CD feels like an extremely personal worship time for Crowder, and thus, a personal worship experience between the listener and God. Some highlights:

• Track 2, "Come and Listen". A beautiful slow piece, encouraging us to share the joys and triumphs of God at work in out lives.
• Track 4, "Wholly Yours". Focusing on the holiness of God, the sin in our hearts, and the unbelievable truth of Him choosing to live with us.
  
• Tracks 6 and 12, "Quiet Interludes", that remind us of the power that comes when we are quiet, listen, and wait on God.
  
• Track 15, "You Are My Joy". Starting with a mostly forgettable verse-chorus structure about "Fire", this song moves into a powerful 3rd piece, repeating: "You are my joy you are my joy you are my joy" until it blows your mind and heart into the realization that God is our source of joy.
  
• Track 18, "We Win!". At first, this song seems kind of hokey -- the chorus exlaims, "We have already won!" But the fact is... we have. Jesus has died, the devil has been defeated, and our victory is secure. When this realization hits you, the song become an anthem of praise to God for His completed work.
  

The best tracks take a simple premise ("be more quiet", "you are my joy", "we have already won"), and repeat it until it slams into your heart. With a society that loves to multi-task and brains that won't shut off, its so great to hear a song that takes a truth about God, expounds on that one simple truth, bashes you over the head with a great electro-rock beat, and leaves you with a deeper appreciation and understanding of that truth.The absolute best example is track 4, "Wholly Yours". It describes our sinful heart, the dirty earth, and praises God's holiness. As the chorus ends for the final time and the song quiets down to the finish, I was blindsided to tears by the most powerful lyric on the CD: "I am full of earth, and dirt, and YOU". How amazing that God sees our dirty, sinful hearts... our fallen minds and wrong actions... and chooses to live in us. I am full of bad things...but I am also full of God.

If you're looking for a safe, mild, acoustic worship album, this is not for you. If any of the ideas in this post struck a chord with you, you will love this CD.

Seven Hebrew Words for Praise (Part 1)

1. halal (haw-lal’) – (verb)

to praise… to shine…

to make a show… to boast…

and thus to be clamorously foolish…

to rave… to celebrate…

This is the most commonly used word for praise,

found 165 times in Bible,

131 times translated as “praise” or “glory.”

In Psalm 150, every time the word praise is used, it uses this VERB:

1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Here we are instructed to praise God in a clamorously foolish way.
To praise him with a blast of the trumpet.

Exuberant praise.

Extravagant praise.
None of this hands-in-the-pocket praise!

We are urged to praise Him with the tambourine and dancing.

It’s a celebration, after all!
Christ has risen from the dead and defeated the power of our enemy.
Celebration is appropriate!
Why wouldn’t I dance and make a show for my Master, my Leader, my Lord?
When I go to hockey games, I yell (that’s what Canadians do).
Why would I be forever silent and timid at church?

We are commanded to praise Him with a clash of cymbals.

Not with soft and dainty cymbals.
Loud clanging cymbals!

Album Review: "Beautiful News"

We're living in a veritable golden age of worship music. Witness the personal intensity (and bass-drum-obsession) of David Crowder's music; Chris Tomlin’s knack for writing anthemic power ballads; Darlene Zschech and her “these are the sounds we‘ll hear in heaven” choir; or Martin Smith and the U2-righteous sound of Delirious?

But in my mind, one modern song writer stands above all others. This writer mixes profound truth from Biblical passages with an inventive, non "G-C-D" chord structure, all coming from the depths of his personal experience with God. His roster of songs could be safely called "impressive": The Wonderful Cross, Better is One Day, Blessed Be Your Name, Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble, Facedown, The Fathers Song, For the Cross, Heart of Worship, Holy Moment, Let Everything That Has Breath, Let My Words Be Few, Let Your Glory Fall, Making Melody, Once Again, Thank You For the Blood, Undignified, You Must Increase.

By now you either know who I'm talking about, or you've never heard a worship song in your life. When I heard that Matt Redman had a new CD arriving December 26th, my heart was happy. So happy, in fact, that by Dec 27th I had bought four (4) copies of Beautiful News: one for personal enjoyment, and three for belated Christmas presents to family members of various distinction. All this, and I'd only heard one song (You Never Let Go, from the Passion CD "Everything Glorious") on the album.

Upon hearing the full roster of songs, my pre-release expectations did not go unfulfilled. There is no single stand-out track; no song with the power of "Blessed Be Your Name", for instance (IMO, the greatest worship song ever written). What Beautiful News does offer is track after track of challenging lyrics bundled in diverse musical forms. Some of the better tracks include:

• #2 You Never Let Go: The lyrics remind me of "Blessed Be Your Name", from God's perspective. It speaks of walking through difficult times, but without fear; "for if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear". Where Blessed Be was a heart-declaration in obedient praise to God, You Never Let Go shows God's promise of protection and provision "through the calm and through the storm". Maybe the most singable song on the album too.
• #4 Take It To The Streets: My favorite guitar-riff song; the verses flat-out rock in a direction MR usually doesn't go, likely due to the influence of co-writer Martin Smith of Delirious? The two verses are almost identical, but the sublte change in orientation adds depth of meaning. The first verse claims that "I am not a stranger to mercy, grace, kindness" and declares God's redemptive power. After a chorus of exclaiming "I'm gonna take it to the streets", the second verse states that "I must tell the world of his mercy, grace, kindness". Almost the same lyrics, but what a difference. Once we recognize God's truth in our lives, and it sinks into the essence of our hearts, it brings such a joy and life change that we must tell the world, so they can experience it as well.
• #6 A Greater Song: Similar in theology to "The Heart of Worship", this song compares the wonder of God's love and mercy with our inability to produce anything to worthy to describe the same. Ending with a second chorus of "Hallelujah, we want to lift you higher", a crescendo-worthy repetitive line if I've ever seen one.
• #8 Thank You For Healing Me: I identify with the verses in this song, with a "disease eating me up on the inside". Anyone who is honest in their struggle with sin has felt a powerlessness at times that leads to a desparate need for Jesus. The theme is the same as saving or rescuing, but lyrically couched in healing terms. "On the outside I may waste away, but on the inside I'll be more alive every day" is a statement of hope for everyone. An especially poignant song when you read the story that inspired it on Matt's site.

Really, I listen to the entire CD and consistently find truth and hope in almost every track. While the quality of the music is high and the melody's original, the real power comes, as always, from the lyrical depth. These are not simple, feel-good singalongs that seem trite. Matt's songs challenge and give hope in fresh ways that are all too rarely seen.

Go buy four copies.

And once you do, please read the stories behind each song on Matt Redman's site. This makes each song a lot more meaningful.

Worship Albums "Reviewed"

A caveat as we begin this site: the concept of "reviewing" music is a common one. Any popular music magazine or website will give their opinion on new albums, giving the pros and cons and generally ranking the quality. This gives the reader an idea of whether or not they may be interested in buying that music. And yes, I realize the previous two sentances are exceedingly self-explanatory. Bear with me.

This blog will not be entirely different, in that music "reviews" will appear here. It's an easy post to write, and if I feel strongly about some music, I want to share it for others to hear. God speaks to me through a lot of songs, and I'll write my thoughts, opinions, emotions, and spiritual reactions to good worship music.

But the one thing that I promise to try and avoid is critiquing the lyrics/music/spirit of a particular song or album. Worship music is totally different than any other kind (even contemporary Christian music). Worshipful music is written in the attempt to lead people into God's presence, to soften the heart of the hearer, to draw the singer into a deeper understanding of who God is. To criticize someone who is thoroughly attempting to please God in worship would be a dangerous decision (and selfishly, I'd rather not be criticized for my admittedly beginning-stages of song-writing).

Even the simplest melody and most cliched words, when written from a right heart, are pure and beautiful and profound to our creator. Far be it from me to call something unacceptable that God finds pleasing.

Stay tuned, as I'll review some of the albums that speak to me the best over the next weeks and months.