Worship Music

We enjoy finding and singing new songs around here.  We do enjoy the sound of the music, but we're more interested in the lyrics.  Are they biblically accurate?  Are they Christ-centered?  Do they really serve as a channel for us to think about and declare the worth of God?

Words from three songs we sang this past Sunday are still sticking in my mind today.  One song is familiar to most - "And Can It Be?", by Charles Wesley.  The first verse expresses the amazement, shock, humility we should have as we consider the grace of God to us - Can it be, is it possible, can it really be true that I should benefit from the Savior's death which I caused with my sin?!  "Amazing love!  How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"

Another song is "Sing His Bleeding Love", by Isaac Watts.  Here is the final verse and chorus - "My soul looks back to see the burdens Thou didst bear hanging on the cursed tree and trusts her guilt was there.  Believing we rejoice to see the curse removed.  O praise the Lamb with cheerful voice and sing His bleeding love."  How much does He love us?  Enough to bleed for us, to take the curse for us, to remove our guilt from us.

The last song is "Deeper and Deeper" by Oswald J. Smith.  The verses express our desire to go deeper and deeper into an experiential knowledge of the heart, will, cross, joy, and love of Jesus.  The second verse says "Into the will of Jesus deeper and deeper I go, praying for grace to follow, seeking His way to know; bowing in full surrender, low at His blessed fee, bidding Him take, break me and make, till I am molded, complete."  That's a dangerous verse to sing, but an accurate one from someone who truly worships Christ.

I hope these music samples help you to worship as they helped me.

Christmas Reality

I came back to the office this morning and and opened a Christmas card and letter which had come during my time away.  The second sentence from my friend said, "I pray that you had a good Christmas."  We haven't spoken since I sent a letter to him before Christmas, so he had no idea how I spent the time in between.  Many who are familiar with the events of my Christmas would say there is no way anyone could consider it "good".  You see, my mother passed away on Christmas day.  She was only 73, had been in good health, and was serving the poor of a local community when she had the stroke that eventually took her life.  She left behind a lonely, heartbroken husband of 52 years.  Would I consider that a good Christmas?  Would I consider it a good Christmas day when my father, brother, and I had to make that excruciating decision to stop life support for my mother?  Would I consider it a good Christmas day as I stood by her bed and watched her breathing get slower and slower until she breathed no more?  My answer to all of these questions is YES!  In fact, this may have been the first time I ever really celebrated what is called "Christmas".  Christmas was no holiday for me this year, no "season", no tradition.  I was not allowed to get lost in parties and dramas and cantatas and candies and decorations.  As I watched my mother drift off Sunday afternoon I couldn't have been any more focused and any happier that God the Son set aside the form of God and took on the form of man, was born of a virgin, to live and die as the righteous Substitute for sinners!  The incarnation of Christ was my rock, my confidence, my peace, and my joy this year like never before.  My mother is face to face with her Savior because that Savior was born to live and die for her some 2000 years ago.  I pray that all of you had as good of a Christmas as I did this year!