Listening Room

I have a few friends who are always asking me what I'm listening to.  I like to think it's because I have impeccable taste when it comes to music (don't we all?).  Honestly, most of it comes down to the fact that they know I like music that requires a little bit from the listener and they share that sentiment.  As a musician I have an innate distain for music that simply caters to the lowest-common-denominator, which is why I rarely listen to the radio.  In any case, here's a list of some of the albums (yes, I still call them albums even though 90% of the stuff I have now isn't even on cd anymore - all digital like everyone else).  Some are new, some are old, some are just new to me.

City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love - Dallas Green's 2008 sophomore release is amazing.  A friend turned me on to it about a year ago, but it was just a few months back that I really dug into it and since then I can't get enough.  Green takes a lo-fi, old-school approach to recording.  He uses fat-sounding, mellow acoustic guitars while layering bright, heavily reverb-laden, vocals that are flawless.  Not to mention his songwriting.  He combines the vividness of Lyle Lovett and the story-telling of Leonard Cohen even, at times, echoing with hints of Townes Van Zant.  A beautifully simple album.  For fans of/also check out: Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, Ray Lamontagne

Avett Brothers - I and Love and You - I listened to this album for about 4 months straight when it came out last September and it just went back into heavy rotation after I saw them on "Live at Austin City Limits" this past weekend.  I first heard of these guys when I lived down in Nashville.  And with this disc they've finally garnered some popularity to go along with the critical acclaim they been storing up for a few years.  For fans of/also check out: Ryan Adams, Nickel Creek, Jeffrey Foucault

Elevation Worship - Kingdom Come - The worship team at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC is easily my favorite group of worship leaders/writers out there.  They are superb.  Excellent musicianship, great, singable songs, a healthy dose of straight up rock with a balance on the quite reflective tunes.  They pump out great songs on every album they do.  While I have to admit that I actually enjoyed their last album ("GOD With Us") a little better, "Kingdom Come" is still growing on me.  For fans of/also check out: Steve Fee, Kristian Stanfill, Switchfoot

Maroon 5 - Hands All Over - The new album is exactly what you would expect from Maroon 5.  These guys are all phenomenal musicians and who are good enough to keep you interested, but they don't over-do it, so their songs are easily digestible and crazily infectious.  I've always thought they make the records that Michael Jackson would have made if he hadn't completely lost his mind.  For fans of/also check out: Micheal Jackson (seriously, "Thriller" is still phenomenal), Fundamental Elements, Ben Rector

Antje Duvekot - The Near Demise of the Highwire Dancer - Pronounced Aunt-yu Doo-va-kot, this singer/songwriter is insanely smart and poignant.  She reminds me, at times, of Patty Griffin or Shawn Colvin.  A very subtle and understated musical style with lyrics that are pure genius.  If you like music that is soothing and is perfect to put on while you read, check this album out.  For fans of/also check out: David Wilcox, Patti Griffin, Emiliana Torrini

Jed Whedon and the Willing - History of Forgotten Things - Jed (who is a fairly prominent hollywood screenwriter, as well as being a fantastic musician) somehow has figured out how to bounce seamlessly between 80's synth-pop to contemporary folk to digital-rock.  The first time I heard the album I wasn't entirely sure what to think, but I love it more and more every time it fills the house.  For fans of/also check out: Paper Route, David Mead, Death Cab for Cutie

Storyhill - Shade of the Trees - This folk duo has been putting out albums for 15 years and this new record is, in my opinion, their best.  Produced by another phenomenal singer-songwriter, Dan Wilson (of Trip Shakespear and Semi-sonic fame), is absolutely beautiful.  Two voices, one or two acoustic guitars, and a few spots of harmonica - and nothing else.  You can tell these guys have been making music together for a long time because they are so stinking tight on their harmonies.  For fans of/also check out: Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Weepies

ANTICIPATED RELEASES:

Bebo Norman - Oceans - Bebo's second album, 1999's "Ten Thousand Days", is still one of my top 5 favorite albums of all time (and in reality it is probably #1 on the list).  So the fact that some of the subsequent albums were disappointing to me actually says little of the quality of those discs, and more about just how good that second album was.  I was very encouraged by his last effort and that has me excited to see what he has in store for his 8th full length studio recording.

Avett Brothers - Live, Vol. 3 - CD/DVD combo due out in a couple weeks.  Can't wait.

Rush - Clockwork Angels - I think this is Rush's 738th studio album.  Ok, slight exaggeration, but these guys have been making the BEST rock music around for almost 40 years!  And they just keep getting better.  Unreal.

Jimmy Eat World - Invented - Another band that I have always loved.  Nothing flashy about their music, just solid guitar work and catchy melodies.

Until We're Kings - Heirs - Released next week.  Everyone should buy at LEAST one copy.


What are you listening to?

Sunday Setlist / 9.26.10

Here's the setlist from the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church:


Heirs [G] (Muck/Eckberg)
       Welcome & Announcements
       Special Presentation - the Shoe Man
       Offering
Hallelujah to My King [E] (Baloche)
       Scripture Reading - Job 1:6-22
It Is Well With My Soul [A] (Spafford)
Song of the Redeemed [A] (Hall)
        Message - Habakkuk 3:16-18
You Never Let Go [A] (Redman)
        Dismiss


THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - guitar/vocals


NOTES:
After being out of town for work last week and spending Sunday morning at my dad's church in Erie, Illinois, it was great to be back with my church family!  Due to  schedules of the band I led solo this week.  Things were a little rough getting going this morning, it was cold and wet outside and it seemed like we all were dragging.  But once we got the morning rolling the congregation came around and it turned out to be a great day of worship and hearing GOD's word.  It never ceases to amaze me how on the days when I don't see how GOD's going to get anything done, He works in incredible ways.  Cool stuff.


THE SONGS:
Heirs - This is a song from the forthcoming Until We're Kings EP, "Heirs".  It's a fun tune that is taken from Romans.  I love using it as an opening song as a reminder that we don't come into the presence of GOD as a people defeated by the world and run ragged from the busyness of life, but we come before Him as co-heirs with Christ.  We stand before GOD as his children who will one day share in the riches of His kingdom and see His glory in full. 


Hallelujah to My King - After a presentation from the Shoe Man - he sells old shoes overseas by the pound and uses the money to dig wells in Kenya - I was glad that we were doing this song after hearing one of the ways that GOD is at work in the world both in our own neighborhood and around the world.  This Paul Baloche song is one of my favorite worship tunes at the moment.  It's so good theologically.  To sing of the greatness, sweetness, goodness and peace of Jesus Christ through our trials with the promise of seeing His face as the saints sing "Hallelujah, what a Savior / I owe everything to Him - Hallelujah, what a Savior / Hallelujah to my King!"  If you don't do this song I would encourage you to work it into your list, it's fantastic.


It is Well with My Soul - We did four verses of a straight forward version of this song.  Coming from hearing the Word in Job and knowing that we were moving into a message of "unprosperity" (the idea that GOD never promises us worldly comfort and riches - but only peace and blessing in Him), it worked well.


Song of the Redeemed - We used the ending tag from this song as a reminder that although live can be difficult we are taken care of by the GOD of the universe (from "It is Well with My Soul").  We are His and His alone.  All else in the world is worthless, so we have no concern if we lose all our worldly possessions.  The tag in the song simply says "We are Yours" over and over again.  It gave me chills to pull back from the mic and hear our people singing together - "We are Yours, We are Yours, We are Yours" - absolutely beautiful.


You Never Let Go - This seems to be one of our "go-to" songs.  It's another tune that is just so theologically sound and speaks volumes of the peace and blessings of Christ apart from health, wealth, and prosperity on this earth.  


To see what other congregations are singing visit theworshipcommunity.org and this weeks Sunday Setlists.

Embracing Difficulty

I was speaking with a veteran pastor recently.  This guy has led churches for 20+ years during his ministry (that is impressive in and of itself).  This is in addition to having a traveling ministry for a number of years and a stint working with a national youth organization for a couple years.  He is a pastor, youth pastor, worship leader, Sunday school teacher, small group leader, strategic planning organizer, traveling speaker, etc.  He has taught and led in virtually imaginable facet of Christian ministry.

The interesting part of our conversation was in discussing the people who fight against ministry.  He said that in his illustrious career he has dealt with plenty of difficult people, those who opposed a change in church policy, wanted to see the congregation move in a different direction than he was leading, or simply disagreed with a decision he had made, however he said there were only had five people who he felt were "against him" in ministry.  Of these people, none were able to displace his leadership or accomplish the take-over they desired.  Although this did not come without plenty of effort to do so.

None of this came as a shock to me.  What did surprise me was his approach to those people.  He said he would not confront them on their "issue".  WHAT!?!

I was initially taken aback.  When someone is trying to undermine your leadership, to defame your character, to drag you through the mud because you are following GOD's will and direction for the benefit of others, I feel like you have to stand up to that person.  My reaction to such conflict is defensive.

He went on to tell me that you cannot accomplish anything by pressing someone on their inability to be led.  The problem that they are having is rarely related to the circumstance they are presenting to you.  Whatever the issue, it's merely the tip of the iceberg.  The real rub is an issue of their heart.  They, at some point, have become hardened to what GOD has to teach them and, therefore, have become unable to hear the voice of GOD through any means.  That includes you, your teaching, and your leadership.  Their response, then, is understandable - they want to lead.  In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, right?  Only, here the blind man cannot recognize his blindness and so he projects it onto others.

This pastor went on to tell me that his passive approach was driven into him many years ago.  As a young Christian he had come to a place where he was unsatisfied with his churches leadership.  He had said things about the pastor he shouldn't have and, finally, he said the wrong thing to the wrong person.  Word got back to the pastor of his comments and he got a call from the pastor asking him to come by and see him.  So the young man, with his head hung low, walked into the back door of the house.  All these years later he says that he still remembers walking in the house only to see the pastor and his wife greet him not with anger, hostility, and righteous, defensive frustration, but with tears and heart-felt embraces as they told him how much they loved him.

People with hard hearts need to be molded and shaped like the rest of us, but first they need to be melted.  This runs contrary to our natural inclinations.  Our reaction to friction is usually one of two things: we butt heads or we butt-out.  We fight or we turn away.  Rarely is our first thought (I can't say it's EVER been my first) to embrace that heart of tension.

This idea of embracing tension turns our forms of leadership on its head.  It is difficult to be irreconcilably upset with someone, to become embittered by them, to want to turn away from them when we embrace who that person is.  If you are able to see past the actions of a person (and their direct effect on you) and see the pain, the disappointment, the longing for fulfillment in their lives you can't help but feel an overwhelming desire to see them healed.

One of the things I've been working to overcome is my inability to disassociate actions from people.  It is easy to hate actions, it's even biblical - GOD hates actions (i.e. sin).  But it's hard to hate a person.  Think about the people you have conflict with, how many of them do you know REALLY well, how many of them do you love?  Most of the people I struggle in dealing with are people who I only know casually.  I know some better than others, but I don't know how those people tick.  I don't know about their past, I don't know the details of their family history, I don't know what their hopes are, I don't know them well.  On the other hand, I KNOW my friends.  I know what their fears are, I know the pain they are dealing with and why it hurts them so much.  That is not to say that my friends don't do things I don't like like or they don't hurt me at times, but I know the person, the heart, behind the actions.  Since I know that heart and what drives that action and since I love that friend, so I can see past the action.  The act is not the person, it's simply what the person has done.

In Luke 19 we see Jesus interact with Zacchaeus.  Zacchaeus was a wretched person.  He stole from his brothers and countrymen and was responsible, in part, for keeping the Jewish people under the thumb of the Roman empire.  He was despised by EVERYONE.  And yet, Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from a tree and shares the intimacy of a meal with him and brings salvation to the house of a "sinner" (Luke 19:9).  Zacchaeus then undergoes a radical transformation.  It is important to note that Jesus brings his unconditional love and salvation to Zacchaeus BEFORE Zacchaeus' actions are changed.  It's not about the actions of people that matter, it's the person.  GOD's love flows to our hearts beyond what we do.  He first loves us and then our lives our changed.

If we are to follow GOD's pattern we must start with loving people.  We are to love them and let the Gospel do the work of changing their lives.  Only by the love of GOD will hard hearts be melted bringing about the radical change that He desires.  We will still be hurt and disappointed at times, but we will see lives changed, not because we love them, but because Christ first loved us and that love will shine through us in a way the the rest of the world cannot show and will not understand.

Love people.  Embrace difficulty.

Faith, Hope and Yoga

Last year I got into doing yoga.  I picked it up as a supplement to my marathon training, I thought it would add some flexibility and help me avoid injury (I had the first serious injury of my 18 year running career last fall).  So now I do yoga twice a week.  It's a great workout and, for me, yoga is purely physical.  Then a couple of weeks ago I saw a documentary from a few years back on the business of yoga.  To be honest, it wasn't very good and was pretty much a waste of an hour of my life.  But the one thing that struck me as I watched was the emphasis that the yoga purists put on the spiritual aspect of the practice.

Classic yoga comes from the Buddhist traditions with a heavy emphasis on meditation as a means to "ecstasy" or totally self-awareness.  The idea is that through yoga you are able to focus simply on your breathing through a structured series of physical poses.  That singular focus then helps you separate yourself from the world around you.  Once you have separated from the world you are able to shift your focus to your spirit/soul/god and when you can focus on that one thing you will achieve human perfection in a state of enlightenment (that's a little simplified, but the explanation will do for the novice - that's me).

Many will carry this idea of the search for spiritual enlightenment to great extremes.  At the end of the documentary one of the "experts" was heading to India for a three-year "internship" where she would be completely silent and, by the end of the three-years, she would be able to meditate for 24-hours straight.  She claims that this is the ultimate goal in life.

I found myself feeling very sad for all these people as I watched the film.  There is an intense spiritual need that is going unmet in their lives.  They have failed to meet this need so they took up a religious practice that seems to offer them some hope.  Unfortunately, their hope is the fact that if they continue to work out this journey that they can eventually reach whatever it is they were created for.  That is, if they do more and more and more then the universe will somehow reward them based on their efforts.  So these people pour their hearts and their souls into this ancient practice without knowing if it will actually work, but they are confident in their efforts to reach their god.  When I think of the intense disappointment (I really don't think the word "disappointment" begins to cover it) they will face when they die, I'm dumbfounded.

Hope that rests in ourselves is hopeless self-deception.

The truth is, there is only one person in the history of the earth who is worth hoping in - Jesus Christ.  I often admit to others that I have a tendency to slip into a false, works-based salvation theology when it comes to my own life.  I guess this is part of why I feel so bad for these people seeking "ecstasy" and hope in some arbitrary means of breathing and focus.  I get it.  I understand why they try so hard, I understand why they try to clean themselves up.  I do the same thing.  The problem, is that this never works.  We cannot do enough or clean ourselves up enough to enter the presence of the living GOD.

Again, I come back to my hope.  Not a hope that I can somehow be good enough, smart enough, progressive enough, to make my way to the GOD of the universe.  Just the opposite.  My hope is in the GOD of the universe who has made His way to me, whose love draws me to Himself.  My hope is in the GOD who accepts a man who is wicked, foolish, and often backsliding.  All I can do is repent and rest in the love and forgiveness that He offers in exchange for a simple act of belief.

While I will attempt to continually grow and progress in my Christian walk, I will always return to a hope in nothing of what I deserve (that would be the worst reward I could think of), but a hope (a certainty) that, as a co-heir with Christ, my reward will one day be an eternity in His presence.

So, where's your hope?

Sunday Setlist / 9.12.10

Check out the 9:00 am service at Highland Community Church in Highland, IL:

The Continuation [B] (Hunt/Cates)

            Welcome & Announcements

            Offering

            Scripture Reading – Psalm 92:1-8

How Great Thou Art [C] (Boberg)

            Ron Eckberg – Special Presentation

            Message

Let My Words Be Few [G] (Redman)

            Dismiss

The Continuation [B] (Hunt/Cates)

THE BAND:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Electric Guitar/Vocals
Ron Eckberg - Acoustic Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Aaron McDaniel - Lead Guitar
Joe Szoke - Bass

NOTES:

What a phenomenal Sunday!  Today was "Homecoming" Sunday at HCC.  The idea was to invite anyone we know who has ever been a part of the congregation to come back for one Sunday.  We were not trying to "win" people back to HCC, we just wanted to have a time of fellowship with anyone who had a part in the history of the church and the people that have been associated with it.  I thought it was an interesting concept.  As part of this "homecoming celebration" the church leadership asked Ron Eckberg (my dad) to come and share during both services.  As I was growing up my family had close ties with HCC (I learned today that my dad first visited HCC 30 years ago and came without my mom because she was approximately 8 months pregnant with me!), we used to come around several times each year and my dad would do concerts, teach, lead vacation bible schools, and do all kinds of stuff.  We were even close to moving to Highland at one point.  So it was a lot of fun for my dad to come back and share with HCC once again.  The added bonus, for me anyway, was that he also sat in with the band for morning worship.  It was a blast to have him playing guitar and sharing vocal duties with me.

SONGS:

The Continuation - This is a song by Dave Hunt (written with Chad Cates)  If you don't know of Dave, do yourself a favor and check out some of his work (his latest album was called "Love Abounds" and The Continuation is on "Shattered").  When I lived in Nashville, TN I attended Rolling Hills Community Church where Dave was the worship leader for several years.  He is a phenomenal worship leader and a great congregational-friendly song-writer.  The guy is rock solid and very subtle in his approach to leading, he has a knack for getting out of the way and allowing you to follow him into worship.  Spending those years watching him had a great influence on my own style of leading worship.  The song itself is a cool, uptempo tune.  I love it as an intro song, because it's all about coming into the corporate gathering not as something you do each week as another line of your to-do list, but as a celebration of what GOD has done for us and what he continues to do in our lives.  This celebration is an ever-progressing process.  Seriously, check his music out, it will be some of the most productive listening you do all week.

How Great Thou Art - After the scripture reading (Psalm 92:1-8) we HAD to do this song.  There was simply no other choice.  We do the Paul Baloche version that is an upbeat, rolling type song.  It uses the traditional melody with an added tag at the end of the chorus.  This keeps it contemporary, but you still feel grounded in some traditional Baptist roots (not sure I could really explain it, but most of you know what I mean)!

Special guest - Ron Eckberg - My dad then shared with the congregation for about 25 minutes with some songs and stories, and teaching.  Good stuff.  He even let me sit in on a couple songs.

Message - Pastor Larry Wise continued our series on Habakkuk.  Today was Habakkuk 3:1, 2 He focused on the power of prayer and the general awe that we should hold of GOD and of the power He possesses allows us to share in.  Very challenging message today.

Let My Words Be Few - I realized we did this song just a couple weeks ago, but for what Pastor asked we focus on today I felt like it was worth the repetition to focus on the songs we sing to our GOD and the awe and reverence that are accompanied with them.  When we did this song a couple weeks ago it was when I lead solo, so it was nice to put this song together with the full band (plus my dad).  I do love this song and the message that it carries.

That's what we did.  To see what other congregations are doing in their services check out the Sunday Setlist at theworshipcommunity.com.

More than a Good Story

In Donald Miller’s latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, he focuses on what he calls, “living a better story”.  The book looks at our lives as stories that are being told and we are the main characters.  He walks you through all the elements of a gripping story and shows how we walk through those same elements in our lives.  Throughout his explanation he keeps coming back to how GOD is the ultimate author of this story and how He wants us to live out that story in the most significant and fulfilling way possible.

I love reading Donald Miller’s writing.  He’s tremendously thoughtful and thoroughly engaging.  However, the premise of this latest book felt odd to me.  As I was reading I couldn’t help but feel that he had totally missed something.  I kept waiting for it to come around in the end and make total sense, but it never seemed to get there. 

After some reflection I realized how totally self-centered this concept was.  The whole idea that my life is a movie where I am the main character is, in my understanding, incongruous with Biblical Truth.  It leads one to believe that he/she is the most important thing and everything else in the world is secondary to his/her own satisfaction and fulfillment.  Miller would never state it that way and, to be fair, I don’t think he believes that, but that’s how it comes across to me in the book. [please note that I have a great respect for Donald Miller and this is not an attack on him, his theology, or the book as a whole - it is simply about the response the book elicited from my thoughts]

The problem with us being the main character, even if we acknowledge GOD as the ultimate author, is that our needs are first and foremost while the needs, hurts, desires, and lives of those around us are only important as far as they affect our own lives.

I have sometimes wondered if my lot in life is to be a “supporting character”.  Maybe my purpose in life is to never be in a place where I am satisfied, but to be constantly following GOD and pushing others forward in their calling, to an unending struggle with finding a place of my own and never getting there.  This would be a totally selfless life.  Is this what I am, you are, we all are, called to do?  To be totally selfless? 

Sunday school answer: YES!

Real life answer: I have no idea.

I wrestle with reconciling this tension between personal desire and submission of will.  On one hand, I don’t think we have any right to expect to get the things we want or the things we think will fulfill us.  After all, when we understand that we are freed from the power of death through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ what more could we want?  At the same time, if we are trying to follow GOD’s will and we are doing the things we are called to do, the things we were created to do, shouldn’t we feel fulfilled in those tasks?  When we are the people that GOD created us to be there is a great satisfaction there. 

I am drawn in these thoughts to Paul’s remarks in 2 Corinthians 11 as he tells of the hardships he’s faced for the sake of the Gospel (including beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, days on the open sea, etc).  Then in Philippians 4:11 he says, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

Paul was living out his GOD-driven purpose.  Paul was fulfilling the mission set out for him.  Paul was not concerned with his personal outcome so long as he completed the task of speaking and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And yet, he still had a "thorn in his flesh" (2 Cor. 12) that he could not escape and he prayed earnestly that it be taken from him.  Of course, in the end, Paul accepts his lot with this thorn (although I see nowhere where he is happy about the thorn itself, only the Glory of GOD that is allowed to shine through the weakness).

What I get from what Paul tells is a reminder that we live in a world between the “already” and the “not yet”*.  Christ has already won the war.  Our fates are sealed.  The believer is destined to enjoy eternal glory in the presence of GOD while those who refuse Jesus as LORD and Savior are destined to a miserable eternity of separation from our Father as they suffer in Hell.  Although this victory is won we still live in a world where GOD has not unleashed the fullness of his judgment.  Until His justice is dispensed sin will still fight tooth-and-nail on the earth and the battle between good and evil will persist.  It is in the midst of this battle that we will be torn between our personal desires and submission to the will of GOD. 

This means that we, as believers, are NOT home.  We live in temporary bodies on a temporary earth.  Because this is all temporary we will never feel satisfied, we will never feel completely fulfilled.  This doesn't mean that we are to focus solely on ourselves or solely on others.  GOD puts us in places in this life to effect the lives of others.  He puts us in places to be a "supporting character" in the lives of others. But he also puts others in our lives to be "supporting characters" for us.

I don't believe that we are the main characters in a movie about our lives.  However, we all have roles in a million different stories in a movie about GOD.  All of life, in every corner of the earth, is living out the story of GOD's love, hope, glory, redemption, and sanctification of the earth He created.

Live that story.

* For a great, in-depth read on this subject in particular check out “Dual Citizens” by Jason J. Stellman

Sunday Setlist / 9.5.10

Here's a look at the setlist for the 9:00am service at Highland Community Church:

Let Your Glory Shine [D] (Brewster)

            Welcome & Announcements

            Offering

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee [G] (lyrics: van Dyke/ music: Beethoven)

You Are So Good to Me [G] (Pasely/Chaffer/Pasely)

            Scripture Reading - Isaiah 53:1-11

Mighty is the Power of the Cross [C] (Tomlin)

            Communion

            Message - Habakkuk 2:2-20

Give Us Clean Hands [G] (Hall)

            Dismiss

Let Your Glory Shine [D] (Brewster)

Worship Team:
Jonathan David Eckberg - Guitar/Vocals
Tim McDaniel - Drums
Joe Szoke - Bass
Aaron McDaniel - Lead Guitar


Notes:
We've had a couple weeks at church without the band.  I lead with just me and my acoustic two weeks ago and last week we did a combined service with our more traditional and more contemporary services meshing, so it stays pretty low-key.  It was a nice break for all of us, but we were itching to get back into the swing of things and that's what we did.  I think this marks the first time since I've been at HCC that we haven't had an acoustic guitar in the mix.  Kinda strange but lots of fun.  I did play an acoustic-ish part on "Give Us Clean Hands", as I ran my Fender Tele through a Boss AC-2 (an acoustic simulator).  If you listen to it even remotely critically you KNOW it's not an acoustic guitar, but the feel is close enough to pass in a pinch.

The Songs:
Let Your Glory Shine - This Lincoln Brewster tune is a full-force rocker.  The band LOVES playing this song.  We use it as an opener because it's one of those tunes that gets people up and singing and brings a ton of energy into the service right off the bat.  The end of the second verse of the song says "Your love won't be shaken / You're taking who I am and making / something out of nothing for Your cause" into the chorus of "Let Your glory shine through me!"  What an astounding truth.  It reminds me of 2 Cor. 4:7, of how when left to ourselves we are nothing more than fragile, weak, worthless pieces of earth, but we are allowed to carry the all-surpassing power of GOD within our hearts.  With this power we are able to shine with His light in a dark age.  Seriously, how cool is that?

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee - We followed the traditional melody of this song, but we REALLY pushed the tempo and gave it a hopped-up-pop-rock feel to keep the energy up as came out of the time of worshiping GOD by giving back, financially, what He has blessed us with.  Pastor Wise asked to have the worship set move more toward the communion service than the message this week.  "Let Your Glory Shine" was a great way to focus on that.  It's a song that highlights the power of GOD and the ministry He allows us to participate in.  We then move to "Joyful, Joyful...", which again highlights GOD's great power, but moves from it's effect on us to simply marveling at who He is and what He has done in the world around us.  It's really a song that celebrates common grace.

You Are So Good to Me - We floated seamlessly into this song from "Joyful, Joyful...".  We did a version of this song last month that was much more driven and a little funkier than any version I've ever heard recorded and got a great response from the congregation on it.  This Sunday was the perfect time to trot that version back out.  As we came out of a song on common grace, we rolled straight into a more focused song that speaks of saving grace.  This song tells of what GOD has done in the life of the believer and the love that overflows in our hearts because of the love He first showed us.

Mighty is the Power of the Cross - Musically we did a different take on this one.  We kept it very open with lots of space.  I ran my electric through a heavy chorus, lots of delay, and added some tremolo for good measure.  I just played a slow arpeggiated pattern and the rest of the guys played sparse parts and gave it an ethereal quality.  It turned out to be a cool sounding tune.  The scripture reading (Isaiah 53:1-11) focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the blood shed for my sins.  After spending the previous several minutes of the service focused on GOD's power, His boundless grace and love, how that grace and love is poured out in our lives, and the goodness of GOD, it was fitting to bring it all back to the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Everything in our lives, good, bad, happy, sad, funny, and tragic, must always come back to the work accomplished on the Cross.  It is the focal point of who we are and what we believe.  It is where the price for our rebellion was paid once-for-all.  Without it, nothing in our lives matters.  Without the Cross it doesn't matter whether we are great people who help everyone and pour out the greatest acts of kindess on others or we are, quite literally, the worst person on the face of the earth - without the Cross we end in the same place, Hell.  Our communion service is a time to stop and consider the gravity of Christ's sacrifice and to consider if we really believe what his blood accomplished.

Message - Habakkuk 2:2-20

Give Us Clean Hands - I wasn't sure if I had picked the right song as the response this week.  Pastor told me he would be speaking on the wickedness of Babylon and how similar their culture was to the culture we live in today.  This left me a little unsure what direction to take, but this was definitely a Holy Spirit driven choice.  It worked perfectly with the message.  The song asks for clean hands, pure hearts, and a love for GOD alone.  It's a cry for the strength to be a generation that seeks the face of GOD and lays down the idols that we have raised around us.

That was our Sunday.  To see how others congregations around the world worshipped GOD today, you can check out the Sunday Setlist at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

We Sing Our Theology

I was talking with a friend of mine a a few weeks back and we got into the topic of congregational worship through song.  I was telling him about my thought process in selecting the worship set for that particular week.  He asked me if I thought anybody picked up on the thread running through all the songs that week. 

It’s an interesting question.  Does the congregation grasp the entirety of the service? 

We agreed that most people wouldn’t pick up on all the idiosyncrasies of the worship set and the service.  Most will catch the obvious connections, but there are always a few more subtle relationships that will be glossed over.  I think it’s something that may be difficult to fully comprehend even if you’re looking for it.

At first this was a little disheartening to think about.  I mean, I spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that the service flows and the songs follow a logical progression that speaks to the heart of the day’s message and convey Biblical truth.  However, as I thought deeper I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter if everybody "gets it" or not.  The truth is that, whether we intend to or not, we as a congregation sing our theology (I heard a quote to that effect once, maybe it was Martin Luther - I can’t remember).  The songs we use to praise GOD, to surrender to Him, and to repent before Him on a given morning are the things that will shape our thought processes.

I’ve read that people are likely to retain, at best, 10% of what they are taught.  That means that if people are leaving the service and then talking about what was taught that day then they will be lucky to remember about two-and-a-half minutes worth of information (based on a 25 minute sermon).  Even if this much is retained, how many people do you know who walk around quoting their favorite 150 seconds of last week’s sermon?  On the other hand, how many times have you found yourself walking around still singing the songs from Sunday morning on Wednesday afternoon?

The point is that people are more likely to walk out of the service humming a chorus of one of the worship songs than repeating lines of the sermon. 

(NOTE - There’s a whole other related topic about not inflating the importance of the music in the Sunday service.  I think that’s important to note, but I won’t get into it here.)

Music is an interesting study in that it’s one of two things that everybody likes (food being the other).  We all have our own taste in music, but you will never find anybody who flat out doesn’t like music of any kind.  So the songs that we sing on a Sunday morning are more likely to run through peoples’ heads during the week.  This being the case I, as a worship leader, have a great responsibility to take time and reflect on what theology I am leading people into.  Our worship sets can’t be about the songs I like to sing, the newest music on the radio, or even a catchy melody.  None of those things are bad and I think it’s important for those things to play into our musical selection, but they have to come AFTER sound theology.

A musically well-crafted worship set that does not speak pure Biblical truth is a waste of time and energy.  Not to mention the fact that it can even draw the ire of GOD.  In Amos 5:21-27, we see a people who worship GOD with their lips, but are devoid of knowledge of and surrender to who He is.  It is because of this empty lip-service that they are left without GOD's presence.  What GOD desires is not a perfect song transition, or beautiful four-part harmony, or wailing guitar solos, what GOD desires is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).  Once again, the focus of our worship of GOD through song must begin and end with theologically sound, exaltation of who GOD is, what He's done in our lives, and our proper response to Him. 

So where do we go from here:

For me (and for worship leaders everywhere) – I must dig deep.  I can’t settle for a worship set that simply sounds good and that I think is fun and energetic.  I must constantly seek to lead the congregation, challenge them, push them to worship with rich theology.  This may, at times, go against my personal preferences, but the highest importance must be in the function of our songs and the purpose of our praise.  Our worship is not displayed for our own pleasure, but for the pleasure of our GOD and King.

For you – Take some time this Sunday to think about what you’re singing.  Not just the song you’re in the middle of, but the songs that came before.  How does the GOD who created the heavens and the earth and you, the GOD who sacrificed His Son for you, the GOD who works all things for His good pleasure accomplish all you’ve sung about?  How do His characteristics manifest themselves in all the songs?  This might mean you close your mouth and instead of singing a verse and chorus of one song you meditate on the words your brothers and sisters are singing.

Your personal worship will radically changed when you grasp the fullness of who GOD is and way tat plays out in the worship of the corporate gathering.