Setlist 2-28-2016

This week was the third 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:

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle (with an addition by Jameson McGregor)

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

All I Can Say 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 look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Fall Afresh then: We sang this song to confess our need of the Spirit's presence in Lent because the Spirit is the One who is able to transform us into people who are more like Jesus.  Also, as we continue our communal journey through Lent, reckoning with our place in a culture marred by sexual violence (this part of our Lenten journey is introduced here), we are seeking that the Spirit would shape our imaginations to find new ways of being the presence of Christ in our world.

Wandering: 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.

All I Can Say: We sang this song because the middle of the Lenten journey can be taxing, and it is important to remember that God is with us in our struggles.  Furthermore, we sang this song because it voices the core sentiment of feeling worn out or harmed in general, and there are many among us who need to be able to voice these words--even if it is in singing a song with a room full of people.

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.

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

Setlist 2-21-2016

This week was the second 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:

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

House of God Forever by Jon Foreman

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle (with an addition by Jameson McGregor)

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. 

Lord, I Need You:  We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs. This is what we said about Lord, I Need You then: This song is a confession that we rely on the presence of God in order to acknowledge our sin, and for the strength to begin the hard work of repentance.  It ends with a petition to have God teach us to break the habit of self-sufficiency when trying to become people who are more like Jesus, and instead to turn to the One who can help when we struggle along the way.

House of God Forever: We sang this song to declare God's presence with us in the wilderness of Lent.  Though this is a time marked by struggle, we are not alone, and thus we do not rely solely on our own strength to make it through this time.

Fall Afresh: We sang this song to confess our need of the Spirit's presence in Lent because the Spirit is the One who is able to transform us into people who are more like Jesus.  Also, as we continue our communal journey through Lent, reckoning with our place in a culture marred by sexual violence (this part of our Lenten journey is introduced here), we are seeking that the Spirit would shape our imaginations to find new ways of being the presence of Christ in our world.

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.

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

Setlist 2-14-2016

This week was the first 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

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. 

Wandering: We sang this song for two reasons.  First, to confess that God is faithful to us as we wander in the wilderness of Lent.  Though this time of self-examination is difficult, God is with us in the midst of it.  Second, in the spirit of examining our lives and being aware of our sin, to point out that our sin is sometimes located in the way we try to use God for our own purposes, and to praise God for finding ways to evade our grasp without evading God's love for us.

Lord, I Need You:  This song is a confession that we rely on the presence of God in order to acknowledge our sin, and for the strength to begin the hard work of repentance.  It ends with a petition to have God teach us to break the habit of self-sufficiency when trying to become people who are more like Jesus, and instead to turn to the One who can help when we struggle along the way.

Deliver Me: We sang this song to reiterate the basic spirit of the previous song--that we rely on God for any hope of transformation toward being people who are more like Jesus--but in a more direct, petitionary way, asking God to deliver us from our sin, and confessing that God is the one to pull us through.

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.

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

Setlist 2-7-2016

This week was Transfiguration Sunday, which, fittingly, is the Sunday we read and reflect on the story of Jesus' Transfiguration in front of Peter, James, and John.  Our songs, in one way or another, focused on the glory of God.  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:

How Great Thou Art

This is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickham

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons and Daughters

The Transfiguration by Sufjan Stevens

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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. 

How Great Thou Art: We sang this song to begin our time together singing about the grandeur of God, which is precisely what is at the center of the Transfiguration story.

This is Amazing Grace: We sang this song to think of the glory of God in a different way.  While the Transfiguration points to a visually spectacular display of the glory of God in association with Jesus, we may find a much more accurate picture of God's glory in placing descriptions of God's cosmic power side-by-side with a description of God's grace in the sending of Jesus to set things right with us.  This is a Transfiguration all its own when the God whom we have every reason to fear is revealed as the God who loves fiercely and is in the habit of choosing grace over destruction.

All the Poor and Powerless: We sang this song to reiterate a primary theme from the previous song--that, while the Transfiguration shows Jesus infused with power and glory, He came to those who have neither of those things in life.  So, lest they assume that their lack of prestige or "good luck" is a reflection of God's opinion of them, they too witness a Transfiguration when Jesus snubs the social and religious elite and takes notice instead of the nobodies.

The Transfiguration: This song is a real jewel in that it essentially just narrates the Transfiguration without coming off as trite.  This is why we sang it, but I'd also like to point out the portion of the song that focuses on the cloud descending on the mountain.  Sufjan leans into the visceral side of this experience that includes the confusion and perhaps terror of being in the midst of this cloud that is talking, with this barrage of repetitive and mysterious phrases.  Also, if you haven't heard Sufjan Stevens play this song, please look it up.

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