This past Sunday was the second Sunday of Christmastide, 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:
Amazing Grace by Citizens
Rise Up by Bifrost Arts
Eternal Anchor by ubcmusic
Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light
After the Dust Clears by Jameson McGregor
Noise by Jameson McGregor
This week was the second week of Christmas, so our songs were gathered around the theme of Incarnation. 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:
Hope by Jameson McGregor
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.
Joy to the World: We sang this song to celebrate together the coming of the Light of God into our present darkness. One of the most important parts of this song comes quite early: let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing. It's important because it emphasizes the significance of the coming of Jesus not only for humans, but for the entire cosmos. To say that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us is to say that the Word took on Time and Space as well.
O Come All Ye Faithful: Thinking about the Incarnation may result, on the one hand, with a sort of awe-inspired word vomit wherein on describes the theological significance of the Word becoming flesh (or something like that), and this certainly has its place. On the other hand, it may result in a sort of speechless awe--sort of like when you meet a baby (!) for the first time and just keep saying things like "those cheeks" or "aw man" or "what a little person," (you get the idea, the words aren't really what you're trying to express). Both of these results may well be called adoration, and both of these responses are represented in the lyrics of this song. We sang it to spend some time living in those spaces together.
Holy, Holy, Holy: We sang this song to specifically locate our worship of Jesus within the scope of the Triune God.
Hope: This song is about the relentless faithfulness of the God who is God-with-us. It continually references God's having lit a fire in the darkness that the darkness did not overcome over/against some condition of darkness that we might now face. Furthermore, it looks ahead in the hope that God is working to redeem every broken piece and to silence every twisted word. In a very literal sense, this song is relevant for our theme of Incarnation because Jesus is this fire in the darkness.
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