o love that will not let me go

Setlist 2-16-2020

This past Sunday was the sixth Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Mystery by ubcmusic (adapted from Charlie Hall)

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from G. Matheson)

Mother by ubcmusic

The World Is Yours by Jameson McGregor

Where God Has Always Been by ubcmusic

Doxology

Setlist 1-26-2020

This past Sunday was the third Sunday of Epiphany, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Come Alive by ubcmusic

Be Thou My Vision

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from George Matheson)

Boundless Love by ubcmusic

The Word Is Yet Flesh by ubcmusic

Doxology

Setlist 9-22-2019

This past Sunday was the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

How Great Thou Art

The Word Is Yet Flesh by ubcmusic

Mother by Jameson McGregor

What The Dry Years Took Away by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic

Doxology

Setlist 9-15-2019

This past Sunday was the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.   If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Wild One by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic

True Love Will Find You In The End by Daniel Johnston

Eternal Anchor by ubcmusic

Doxology

Setlist 6-16-2019

This past Sunday was Trinity Sunday, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Holy, Holy, Holy

Wild One by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic

Eternal Anchor by ubcmusic

Heart Won’t Stop by John Mark and Sarah McMillan

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Holy, Holy, Holy: We sang this song to begin our time together on Trinity Sunday by proclaiming the mystery of the Trinity.

Wild One: This song offered us language to celebrate God’s not being pinned down by our assumptions about who God is.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: This song helped us proclaim the constancy of God’s love despite the contingency of the love we sometimes offer one another. Also, yesterday was Father’s Day, which, as we noted, is a difficult day for some of us; this song was to offer hope into that despair.

Eternal Anchor: This song is about God’s grafting of the seemingly least likely into the family of God.

Heart Won’t Stop: This song quotes at length Psalm 139, which was Toph’s sermon text. It celebrates the constancy of God’s love in the midst of the ebb and flow of our lives.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

Setlist 3-24-2019

This past Sunday was the third Sunday of Lent, and our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic

There by Jameson McGregor

Mother by Jameson McGregor

Be Thou My Vision

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

In the Night: This song traces the thread of God’s presence within struggle throughout the biblical narrative, and invites us to step into the lineage of hope-in-despair.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: We sang this song as an anchor in the midst of Lent, reminding ourselves that the Living God clings to us despite our shaky discipleship.

There: This song is an anchor of a different kind, reminding us that, while God is present in our suffering, God also stands above and beyond it.

Mother: This is a song about God as Mother, offering comfort and wisdom in the midst of growth and suffering.

Be Thou My Vision: This song will accompany us through Lent, reminding us to turn to God for our vision, wisdom, and security.

Setlist 9-30-2018

This past Sunday was the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Come Thou Fount

All Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder* Band

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from G. Matheson)

Where God Has Always Been by Jameson McGregor

Rise Up by Bifrost Arts

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to turn our attention to who God has been for us, who God is for us, and who God will continue to be for us.

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to join our voices to the whole of creation in acknowledging the grandeur of the Creator.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: We sang this song to grasp for hope in the midst of abandonment. Some of us sang this first-hand, and others sang this on behalf of those who are experiencing a sense of abandonment.

Where God Has Always Been: This song is about God’s consistent identifying with the trampled up the earth, and God’s being-set-against the power structures that do the trampling.

Rise Up: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week’s songs. This is what we said about Rise Up then: This song offered us words with which to ask God to rise to the defense of the trampled of the world, and to remind ourselves what sort of work we are stepping into when we say we are following in the way of Christ.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM


Setlist 8-12-2018

Yesterday was the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Mystery by ubcmusic (adapted from Charlie Hall)

All Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder* Band

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from Ascend the Hill)

Waking Life by Jameson McGregor

Noise by Jameson McGregor

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Mystery: We sang this song to begin our time together proclaiming the death and Resurrection of Jesus, clinging to the sanity and victory of Jesus over the powers and principalities of the world.

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to join our voices with the whole of creation acknowledging the grandeur of what God has made.

Pulse: We sang this song to petition the Spirit of God to reawaken us to our interconnectivity with all of God's creation.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: This song is a plea for God to hold us in the midst of struggle, while also confessing our hope that the love of God has a grip that not even death can break.

Waking Life: This song is about God breaking through the categories that we construct to organize people we perceive to be different from us, replacing our need to fight with a desire to reconcile.

Noise: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Noise then: This song acknowledges the wide gap between what it is to be God and what it is to be us, and proclaims that in spite of this gap, God has moved toward us.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 7-22-2018

Yesterday was the ninth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Crown Him With Many Crowns

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (adapted from Ascend the Hill)

Wearing Thin by Jameson McGregor

All Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder* Band

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: This song invites us into a key pursuit of ordinary time: turning our attention toward being the presence of Christ in our time and place.

Crown Him With Many Crowns: This song offered us language to speak of Christ as Lord of all, and thus to orient our thoughts about power toward Jesus.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: This song offered us words to proclaim that our grasping after God occurs within the context of God's embrace of us.

Wearing Thin: This song is a petition for God to form us into people of zeal for justice and ignite hope in the face of hopelessness.

All Creatures of Our God and King: This song invites us to join our voices with all of creation in acknowledging God as the Creator and Sustainer of all that is.  In doing so, we are invited to consider all of creation as our family.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 6-10-2018

Yesterday was the third Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor (adapted from F. Faber)

Be Thou My Vision

Anthem by Leonard Cohen

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by ubcmusic (arranged)

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Wandering: We sang this song to celebrate God's faithfulness to us in the midst of our inevitable falling short of being the presence of Christ in our time and place during Ordinary Time.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: This song proclaims that God's mercy is beyond even our most generous definitions of mercy, and offers us a new way to conceive of the way God views us, and challenges us to rethink the way we think of other people.

Be Thou My Vision: This song is a plea for God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope in the whole of our lives.

Anthem: This song proclaims that Light finds its way into brokenness, and offers us hope to hold onto in the midst of darkness.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: We sang this song to celebrate and cling to the transforming love of God.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 3-11-2018

Yesterday was the fourth Sunday of Lent, and the songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Be Thou My Vision

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Your Love Is Strong: We sang this song to begin our gathering by proclaiming the self-giving love of God.  

Wandering: This song gave us language to celebrate God's faithfulness to us despite our inconsistent faithfulness to God.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about  O Love That Will Not Let Me Go then: Lent can be a daunting season as we come to terms with our sin.  We sang this song to remind ourselves of the enduring love of God.

In the Night: This song carries us through Lent all the way to Easter.  It is a record of God’s showing up in the midst of despair throughout the biblical narrative.

Be Thou My Vision:  Throughout the Lenten season, we will close our liturgies with these words to reaffirm our desire to seek our vision, wisdom, and security in God alone.

-JM

Setlist 3-4-2018

Yesterday was the second Sunday of Lent, and the songs were gathered with that in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Deliver Me by David Crowder* Band

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Be Thou My Vision

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Fall Afresh: We sang this song to give language to our need for the Spirit to occupy the wilderness space of Lent alongside us and carry out the Spirit's vitalizing work of transformation.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: Lent can be a daunting season as we come to terms with our sin.  We sang this song to remind ourselves of the enduring love of God.

Deliver Me: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Deliver Me then: We sang this song as a petition for God to deliver us from the cycles in our lives that push against being formed more fully in the way of Christ.

In the Night: This song carries us through Lent all the way to Easter.  It is a record of God’s showing up in the midst of despair throughout the biblical narrative.

Be Thou My Vision:  Throughout the Lenten season, we will close our liturgies with these words to reaffirm our desire to seek our vision, wisdom, and security in God alone.

-JM

Setlist 11-5-2017

This was the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

Be Thou My Vision

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Ascend the Hill)

When the Saints by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Louis Armstrong)

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Lord, I Need You: We sang this song to begin our time together with a confession of our dependence upon God to transform us into people who live as the presence of Christ in our particular time and place.  These words offer us a chance to rehearse a prayer that might be offered in some way or another every day.

Be Thou My Vision: This song carries the theme of the previous song, and adds the particulars of God forming our vision, wisdom, security, and hope.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go:  We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about O Love That Will Not Let Me Go then: This song gives voice to the hope against hope that not even death can separate us from the love of God.

When the Saints: This song expresses the truth that we are a part of a story that greatly precedes us, locates us in community with those who have gone before us, and looks ahead to the Resurrection as a great parade that we join as a completed community united around Christ. Since we don't play this song often, I threw together a demo (read: not good) recording of it in case you wanted to listen again:

Wayward Ones: We sing this song every time we take communion to remind ourselves of a couple of things.  First, we are a broken people--though we are seeking to become more like Jesus, we often fail at this.  Second, Christ has given Himself for us despite our brokenness.  We take communion to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, even though we did not, and do not, deserve it.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

-JM

Setlist 10-29-2017

This was the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find a brief example of one way you might think of these songs. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Ascend the Hill)

Murdered Son by John Mark McMillan

Bonfire by Jameson McGregor

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Wandering: We sang this song to proclaim God's faithfulness to us in the midst of our tendency to attempt to steer God toward our own devices.  In doing so, we reminded ourselves that God has decided to pull us into God's story, and our own shortcomings or inconsistencies are not powerful enough to change God's mind about that.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go:  This song gives voice to the hope against hope that not even death can separate us from the love of God.

Murdered Son: This song proclaims the work of God in Christ, holds up the truth about how far God was willing to go to set things right with us, and ultimately poses an open question to us about what this means for a group of people who are seeking to be formed into the presence of Christ in their time and place.

Bonfire: This song traces the vast distance between what it is to be God and what it is to be human, and looks ahead to where that divide is ultimately transgressed.

Death In His Grave: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Death In His Grave then: We sang this song to tell again the story of Christ's entering into suffering to the point of death and emerging victorious over Death and sin.  This story is the foundation of our hope, and one of the most revelatory moments regarding the lengths to which God is willing to go to set things right with us, and it is also an image of the re-Creation that God is actively working in history.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

-JM

Setlist 9-24-2017

This was the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Pulse by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Heart With No Companion by Leonard Cohen

Your Love is Strong by Jon Foreman

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Future/Past: We sang this song to put words to what we are doing when we gather for worship; namely, to locate ourselves within God's Story, which extends before and beyond the part that we occupy.  In locating ourselves within this Story, we both acknowledge that God bends low to encounter us as we are, and greets us with love, and we also make ourselves aware that the way God relates to creation in this Story places a claim on how we are to relate to everything God has made if we are to call ourselves the body of Christ.

Pulse: This song is a confession of our tendency to be selective with our love for people, such that we withhold this love from people we deem to be "others." This confession includes a petition for the Spirit to awaken us to our interconnectivity with the rest of Creation and to relate to everyone we encounter as a creature who is worthy of love.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: This song praises God's faithfulness to us despite our own inconsistent commitments to God.  

Heart With No Companion: This song is a reminder of God's solidarity with the hopeless, and a proclamation that the love of God meets us at our lowest points.

Your Love Is Strong: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Your Love Is Strong then: This song gives us words to acknowledge the work of God in our lives in both mundane and significant ways, and rises into an offering of the Lord's Prayer, where we essentially ask God to keep showing up and to transform us into people who relate to one another in a way that is transformed by the grace we have received.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

-JM

Setlist 9-10-2017

This was the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Hope by Jameson McGregor

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy  by Jameson McGregor (adapted from F. Faber)

Noise by Jameson McGregor

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go 

All Creatures of Our God and King

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Hope: We sang this song to begin our time together by locating ourselves within a story whose hope is described as light in darkness--not light that merely comes after darkness, but light that exists within and alongside darkness.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: This song is a reminder to us that God's mercy is greater than we deem reasonable, and that our thinking is much more bound by rules than God's.  We sang it to proclaim the good news, and to challenge ourselves together to imagine the breadth of God's mercy.

Noise: This song narrates the divine-human relationship, both in broad strokes and on a personal level, and notes two things: 1) humanity consistently fails at being faithful to God, but God always pivots to carry the relationship forward; and 2) God has entered into the depths of humanity and transformed what it is to be human.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: This song proclaims God's constancy in relation to us, and offers us the hope that not even death can separate us from the love of God.

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about All Creatures of Our God and King then: We began with this song to join our voices with the rest of creation in expressing thanks and wonder toward the Creator.  

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

-JM

Setlist 7-30-2017

This was the eighth Sunday after Pentecost.  Our songs were gathered with this in mind, and heavily influenced by the lectionary texts.  Below, you’ll find the list of the songs and artists. Clicking the song titles will take you to the lyrics.  Below the songs, you can find an example of one way you might think of these songs in light of this week's theme. If you want to talk about any of these, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page or email me at jamie@ubcwaco.org.

Songs:

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

There's A Wideness in God's Mercy by Jameson McGregor (adapted from F. Faber)

Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Ascend the Hill)

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Doxology

How They Fit In:

There are many ways to think about the significance of songs and the way they fit together–-this is simply one way you can look at these songs in light of this week’s theme. 

Amazing Grace: This song moves from a general sense of God's grace in our lives to a more particular consideration of what effect the grace of God has on the way we live.  This is gathered into an implicit challenge to live as stories of grace and agents of reconciliation.

There's A Wideness In God's Mercy: This song serves as a reminder of two things: 1) God's mercy extends to us far more generously than we think we deserve; and 2) God's mercy extends to other people far more generously than we think they deserve.  

Mystery: This song champions the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection as a song of hope for all of creation.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: This is a hymn to God's enduring presence with us.  Rather than speaking of the difficulty to hold on to God in the midst of suffering, it proclaims God's presence with those who suffer.  

Hope: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Hope then: This song clings to the hope that the work of redemption made visible in the Resurrection will spread to the entirety of the cosmos.  This hope is characterized as such because, at the moment, things are still not as they should be--the weeds are growing up with the wheat, so to speak.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

-JM