Earlier this year a group of well-known songwriters got together with the purpose of writing songs for the church - nice enough in and of itself. However, the cool thing about this global gathering is that 100% of the proceeds of these songs (revenues) will be going towards various charities that help the poorest and neediest around the world. The idea was spawned by Martin Smith and his wife Anna - Martin is the lead singer for the band Delirious ("I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," "Majesty," "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?").
The songwriters involved are just ho-hum names like Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Israel Houghton, Steven Curtis Chapman, Darlene Zschech...you know, just average writers and musicians (ha!). It should be interesting to see what songs will come out of their joint efforts - the first one is available at iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=277114534&s=143441
You can learn more about CompassionArt by visiting the top link to your left. It's encouraging to see artists use their talents and industry leverage to take worship from the pews to the most impoverished among us.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
O Come Let Us Adore Him
Yesterday we began our worship services with a call to worship - "O Come Let Us Adore Him". Before we started singing the song I shared an exhortation that (hopefully) underscores the reason we have come to adore Christ - a narrative overview of His life and work.
O come, let us adore Him…
He who was before time began,
Through whom all things were created
Every power, every person, every creature
And in whom all things are sustained
O come, let us adore Him…
The God who took on flesh and bone,
Who stepped into time to live in our neighborhood.
Who humbled himself, and came to serve and not be served
O come, let us adore Him…
Him who identified with the outcasts of society,
Who loved the lowly and despised
And spoke against the self-righteous
O come, let us adore Him…
A man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
Despised and rejected by men,
The Crucified One, crushed for our sin
So that we might walk with God once again.
O come, let us adore Him…
The Resurrection and the Life,
The Savior who defeated sin, death and Satan
Who destroyed the dividing wall of hostility
So that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free,
Male nor female, but rather
One global family of God, united by His blood
O come, let us adore Him…Christ the Lord
O come, let us adore Him…
He who was before time began,
Through whom all things were created
Every power, every person, every creature
And in whom all things are sustained
O come, let us adore Him…
The God who took on flesh and bone,
Who stepped into time to live in our neighborhood.
Who humbled himself, and came to serve and not be served
O come, let us adore Him…
Him who identified with the outcasts of society,
Who loved the lowly and despised
And spoke against the self-righteous
O come, let us adore Him…
A man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
Despised and rejected by men,
The Crucified One, crushed for our sin
So that we might walk with God once again.
O come, let us adore Him…
The Resurrection and the Life,
The Savior who defeated sin, death and Satan
Who destroyed the dividing wall of hostility
So that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free,
Male nor female, but rather
One global family of God, united by His blood
O come, let us adore Him…Christ the Lord
Thursday, April 3, 2008
To Blog or Not to Blog?
So we (Gordon Carpenter & I) decided to create a blog...and we are calling it "The Heart and Art of Worship". There are several reasons we are entering the "blogosphere": 1) To encourage, edify, and (occasionally) provoke those serving on the worship team at Living Word through various musings and insights on worship, 2) To create an online community where we as a "team" can dialogue about life, worship, and current events, 3) To facilitate connectedness through voluntary prayer requests and praises, and last but not least, 4) Blogs are just cool.
Since this blog will feature posts from both Gordon and I you will get to hear both of our voices on matters concerning worship - and we believe this is a good thing! The reason we are calling this blog "The Heart and Art of Worship" is because we want to highlight the importance of both components as lead worshippers. Out of a heart of worship comes a desire to use the artistic gifts God has given us for His glory and church - HE -> ART. As most of you know by now, Gordon's primary focus will on the HEART (spiritual life), whereas my primary focus will on the ART (musical skills) of the worshipper. Together we want to serve you by underscoring the truth that God is re-creating us into WHOLE beings - serving Him with our hearts, minds, soul, gifts, etc.
As you know by now, next week we are beginning our CONNECTIONS process where we'll be spending time with each of you. We are prayerfully looking forward to this time! It will be an opportunity to assess where each of us is at concerning our competency, character and chemistry. Most of all we want you to know how much we value each of you and your servant's hearts as we move forward.
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