This week was the fourth Sunday of Lent, and our songs were selected with this theme 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, there is 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:
Wandering by Jameson McGregor
Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher
In the Night by Andrew Peterson
Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light
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 look over our shoulder at last week's songs. This is what we said about Wandering then: We sang this song to proclaim God's faithfulness to us despite our tendency to try to bend God to our own purposes. As we continue in Lent, it is necessary for us to not misconstrue our fasting as spiritual clout by which we might contractually obligate God to do things for us. We are instead hoping that God will change us.
Come Thou Fount: As we continue through Lent, we are ultimately hoping that some change takes place in us that isn't undone as soon as Lent is over. We mainly sang this song for the final stanza, where we acknowledge our tendency to wander, and express a desire for God to fix us in place.
Lord, I Need You: We really only sing this song during Lent--it expresses something that is always true, but we have fixed it in this season because we are trying to give voice to this truth in a particular way for the duration of these weeks in the hope of experiencing a transformation of self that burns the message of this song into our minds.
In the Night: This song is a journey through the biblical narrative, cataloguing the process of struggle and victory, woundedness and healing, etc., strung together by the refrain "In the night, my hope lives on." We'll add a verse each week during Lent as we move toward Easter, when Hope really takes root.
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.
Be Thou My Vision: We will sing this song every week during Lent to close our time together. As we go back into the wilderness of Lent, we will ask once again for God to be our vision, wisdom, security, and hope.
-JM