hope (there will come a light)
This past Sunday was the second Sunday of Advent, 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:
Like It Was Then by ubcmusic
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
A Branch Shall Come by Jameson McGregor
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, 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:
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light
Afternoon Sun by Jameson McGregor
There by Jameson McGregor
Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent. 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:
Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
After the Dust Clears by Jameson McGregor
There by Jameson McGregor
**Note: You can stream ubc’s advent ep from a few years ago here.
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 (Brightest): This song explores the expectation of Advent Joy, wondering what sort of thing might be that star just out of sight and what changes it might bring to the world as we know it. What might it tear down, and what might it lift up?
Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song proclaims the coming of a fundamental shift to the world where the newborn cries of Light beat back the darkness that plagues our existence.
Peace (Change Everything): This song is plea for God to bring peace into the chaos of our world, from the systems within which we operate, to the cells that compose our bodies.
After the Dust Clears: I don’t really want to talk about this song. Not because I don’t have anything to say, but because I think it invites you to find your own connecting point within it. I suppose it might be worth pointing out that it’s about the way that we carry conflict and the way we embrace reconciliation, but beyond that, I leave it to you.
There: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week’s songs. This is what we said about There then: We sang this song to confess the transcendence of God, and to anchor ourselves to the peace of God in the midst of chaos.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
Yesterday was the second Sunday of Advent. 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:
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
There by Jameson McGregor
Like It Was Then by Jameson McGregor
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 (There Will Come A Light): This song proclaims the coming of a fundamental shift to the world where the newborn cries of Light beat back the darkness that plagues our existence.
Peace (Change Everything): This song is plea for God to bring peace into the chaos of our world, from the systems within which we operate, to the cells that compose our bodies.
There: We sang this song to confess the transcendence of God, and to anchor ourselves to the peace of God in the midst of chaos.
Like It Was Then: This song grasps for some sort of reassurance that Advent hope is merited in our time.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week’s songs. This is what we said about O Come, O Come Emmanuel then: We sang this song to begin Lent with a plea for God to enter as a Light into our dark world.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. 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:
Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light
Afternoon Sun by Jameson McGregor
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
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.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: We sang this song to begin Lent with a plea for God to enter as a Light into our dark world.
Wayward Ones: This is our communion hymn, and it contemplates Christ's self-giving love that is displayed and remembered in the eucharist.
Come Thou Fount: This song invites us to look back on who God has been for us in order to tune our hopes of who God will be for us, which is a primary theme of Advent.
Afternoon Sun: This song raises a question into the thin days of December of whether or not we will see mercy and truth meet, righteousness and peace kiss, and justice flow like a gushing stream, in the coming of Christ, and whether or not we would truly have eyes to see if something so monumental occurred.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song proclaims the coming of a fundamental shift to the world where the newborn cries of Light beat back the darkness that plagues our existence.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
Yesterday was the third week of Advent, 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:
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
Mystery by Jameson McGregor (adapted from Charlie Hall)
Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic
Rise Up by BiFrost Arts
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 (There Will Come A Light): This song clings to the hope that God's inbreaking Kingdom will enter the darkness of our world of broken systems, bringing justice to the oppressed.
Peace (Change Everything): This song pleads for God to bring peace into the dissonance and brokenness of the world, from the socio-political sphere to the cellular level.
Mystery: We sang this song to lean into the present day vantage point of Advent, looking at the way the coming of Jesus intersects with our current way of engaging the world in peace and sanity.
Joy (Brightest): This song contemplates the fact that the Joy that accompanies the inbreaking of the Kingdom is a force that lays waste to systems from which we might benefit.
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 proclaim's God's immanent concern in the plight of the oppressed and marginalized.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
Yesterday was the second week of Advent, and the songs were selected 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:
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
There by Jameson McGregor
Rise Up by BiFrost Arts
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
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 (There Will Come A Light): This song clings to the hope that God's inbreaking Kingdom will enter the darkness of our world of broken systems, bringing justice to the oppressed.
There: This song proclaim's God's transcendence over and above every source of anxiety in the world, and clings to God as an anchor in the midst of the uncertainty and noise of life.
Rise Up: This song proclaim's God's immanent concern in the plight of the oppressed and marginalized.
Peace (Change Everything): This song pleads for God to bring peace into the dissonance and brokenness of the world, from the socio-political sphere to the cellular level.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs: We sang this song to enter into the part of our Story where the people of God were waiting on the Light to enter the darkness.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
Yesterday was the first week of Advent, and the songs were selected 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:
SMS [Shine] by David Crowder* Band
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
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.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: We sang this song to enter into the part of our Story where the people of God were waiting on the Light to enter the darkness.
Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to give voice to our looking back at who God has been in order to calibrate our hope of who God will continue to be for us.
SMS [Shine]: This song offers us language to express what it is like to wait in the darkness hoping that God has not abandoned us.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song clings to the hope that God's inbreaking Kingdom will enter the darkness of our world of broken systems, bringing justice to the oppressed.
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
This week was the fourth Sunday of Advent, 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, 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 (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
Love (Gladdening Light) by ubcmusic
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 (There Will Come A Light): This song focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
Joy (Brightest): This song explores the kind of joy that we associate with Christmas. We take for granted that the wholesale change that Jesus brings about is something that we can be excited about. This song isn't claiming that we shouldn't be excited about, but instead that the joy that arises out of this moment might demand something of us--that perhaps everything we've ever looked to for comfort or for a standard of goodness/love is about to be shown up, and that in God's changing everything, we too will be changed. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
Peace (Change Everything): This song is a plea for peace to come into our lives in a number of ways. The first verse asks when the night will be turned to day, a broad request for an answer to the uncertainties of life. The second verse wonders when our weapons and violence will have no place among us. The third verse longs for the dissolution of our worry and anxieties. And the fourth verse longs for a remedy for the existential concerns of death. Through the chorus, this song raises the question of how exactly God plans on addressing these problems, wondering what a solution would even look like--a king (some kind of leader or outside force to set things right? Or a new way to breathe (a new way to be human--a new way to live)? Neither? Both? But the heartbeat of the song is the plea that closes out each verse: "Oh God, bring peace." This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
Love (Gladdening Light): This song retraces the themes from the other three advent songs, and looks ahead to God's shining a light in our darkness. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: As we near the end of the advent season, we sang this song to once again underscore our longing as we enter this final week leading up to Christmas.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
This week was the third Sunday of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of Joy. 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, 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:
Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
A Great Rejoicing by Crowder (with additions by Jameson McGregor)
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 (Brightest): This song explores the kind of joy that we associate with Christmas. We take for granted that the wholesale change that Jesus brings about is something that we can be excited about. This song isn't claiming that we shouldn't be excited about, but instead that the joy that arises out of this moment might demand something of us--that perhaps everything we've ever looked to for comfort or for a standard of goodness/love is about to be shown up, and that in God's changing everything, we too will be changed. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song was written specifically for advent at ubc. It focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
Peace (Change Everything): This song is a plea for peace to come into our lives in a number of ways. The first verse asks when the night will be turned to day, a broad request for an answer to the uncertainties of life. The second verse wonders when our weapons and violence will have no place among us. The third verse longs for the dissolution of our worry and anxieties. And the fourth verse longs for a remedy for the existential concerns of death. Through the chorus, this song raises the question of how exactly God plans on addressing these problems, wondering what a solution would even look like--a king (some kind of leader or outside force to set things right? Or a new way to breathe (a new way to be human--a new way to live)? Neither? Both? But the heartbeat of the song is the plea that closes out each verse: "Oh God, bring peace." This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
A Great Rejoicing: This song is from ubc's former music & arts pastor, David Crowder. The version I played yesterday was essentially a different song, but maintained the chorus lyrics and some of the themes from the original. This version was tweaked to address our advent theme more directly, playing up the idea of joy being like streams of living water bringing life to dry places.
Joy to the World: We sang this song to engage both of our identities during advent--with our ancient identity, we looked forward to the coming of Joy in the Incarnation on Christmas, and with our contemporary identity, we looked back on the Incarnation and contemplated the way it affects the way we wait for the coming of the Kingdom in the here and now.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
This week was the second Sunday of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of Peace. 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, 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 (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
SMS [Shine] by David Crowder* Band
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
A Lament by Emily Haas
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.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song was written specifically for advent at ubc. It focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs, is available for free download here.
SMS [Shine]: This song voices a longing for an in-breaking of Light into the chaos of the world, which can just as easily be considered a plea for peace to break into in whatever struggles might mark our lives in this season.
Peace (Change Everything): This song is a plea for peace to come into our lives in a number of ways. The first verse asks when the night will be turned to day, a broad request for an answer to the uncertainties of life. The second verse wonders when our weapons and violence will have no place among us. The third verse longs for the dissolution of our worry and anxieties. And the fourth verse longs for a remedy for the existential concerns of death. Through the chorus, this song raises the question of how exactly God plans on addressing these problems, wondering what a solution would even look like--a king (some kind of leader or outside force to set things right? Or a new way to breathe (a new way to be human--a new way to live)? Neither? Both? But the heartbeat of the song is the plea that closes out each verse: "Oh God, bring peace."
A Lament: This song was written by Emily Haas. I asked her for some thoughts on this song, and this is what she said: Everything is meaningless and I rarely believe in God. Some days, a perfectly balanced stone on a windowsill speaks and the eager skip of a kid goat in pasture elicits something eternally good. April sees pictures when she prays and Lauren mutters unintelligible languages. Karina trusts as a child and tells me, "just to ask." I am not comforted. I am not happy and I don't understand why I have health insurance via my parents while a 3rd grader in McLennan County doesn't have dinner. That's a speck. Surely, if God is true, if Christ is the Christ, then there is not a bit of human experience he is unable to redeem. And I lament that the issues are systemic and there's too much to be done and wonder - what is the point? And then, life is full of purpose and I do believe in God// and I have never experienced "hearing" "THE VOICE OF GOD"//and am hesitant to claim, "it was Him!" but maybe I should and I wrote this song because he "said" and "says" these things to me in a way that is contrary to my whirring mind.
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
This week was the first Sunday of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of Hope. 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, 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:
Rescue is Coming by David Crowder* Band
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Anthem by Leonard Cohen
Hope by Jameson McGregor
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.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: This song contrasts mourning/longing and hope especially well. We sang it to begin out time together by locating ourselves both with the people of God before the birth of Christ and with the whole of the people of God in our own time.
Rescue is Coming: We sang this song to proclaim the same desperate hope that we established in the first song. Though we may be able to look around and see how dark the world is, we are awaiting the coming of a Light. The "rescue" we talk about in this song is not one of escapism--it's one of an in-breaking that delivers us from the brokenness of creation, not creation itself.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): This song was written specifically for advent at ubc. It focuses on the hope of the coming of the Light, but hones in on what that means for the darkness around us--namely, the inauguration of its progressive demise. This song, as well as the rest of our original advent songs are available for free download here.
Anthem: Leonard Cohen had a way of capturing the essence of vulnerability and existential longing. This song is about hope, perseverance, brokenness, and beauty, all of which are prominent themes of advent. The hope we carry toward Christmas is a wounded one, and that makes it all the more meaningful.
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 voices the hope we have in Christ, the fire in the darkness. In this image that comes into the world through John 1, we find the most fundamental summation of the Christian story--God set a light in the darkness that the darkness did not overcome. Fire is more real than the darkness, such that there is no amount of darkness that can overcome the light of the fire.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
This was the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, and our songs were gathered around the theme of perseverance (this is the best one-word way I could think of to describe this--more broadly, they were gathered around the theme of clinging to faith in the midst of difficulty). 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 recordings from Sunday morning of a few of them, and below the recordings, 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:
Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints
Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle
Noise by Jameson McGregor
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by Jameson McGregor
Future/Past by John Mark McMillan
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: We sang this song to proclaim the saving work of God in our lives, and to cite the ways that God has been faithful to us in our stories as cause to expect God to continue to be faithful to us.
Fall Afresh: We sang this song to ask the Spirit to continually renew our zeal for life, to provide strength to press on through woundedness, and to transform our hearts of stone into hearts that are attuned to the movement of God.
Noise: This song traces out the gap between what is it to be God and what it is to be us, acknowledges our tendency to make broken promises of our lives, and rejoices in the reality that God continually works to repair us. As no recorded version of this song exists, you can listen to it again through this video:
Hope (There Will Come A Light): Before I played this song, I read the following preface:
In December, we enter the season of Advent, where we sort of put blinders on and enter a drama where Jesus has not yet come. During this time, we look around and see how dark the world is and how it very badly needs a Light. And then on Christmas, God puts a light in the darkness. Over the next few months, we watch the Light grow, until, on Good Friday, the Light is snuffed out. But then, on Easter, the Light comes blazing back onto the scene, and we see that things are changed. And they are. But sometimes this feels less true than others. Like the Kingdom of Heaven, this change is already and not-yet. It’s as if Hope has been planted in the midst of creation. Paul gives us an image of history being “pregnant”—Hope is among us and it is growing. And so, we wait. We wait for a Birth. And now the story has circled back on itself, hasn’t it? In a minute, I’m going to play an Advent song called “Hope,” because we carry the longing of Advent with us all the time, and—even through grit teeth—it is fitting to proclaim that a Light will come into this darkness.
Future/Past: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs. This is what we said about Future/Past then: This song presents the grandeur of God and underscores the fact that God has called us "friends." Taken with the idea of God's faithfulness, this song bolsters our assurance that God is with us in the same way in the midst of the joy and the pain of life, and that, just as our past has been marked by this, we can remain confident that our future will be as well.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
This week was the third week of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of love. I guess it would also be true to say that the theme was simply "advent," but the candle-themes of advent are so intertwined when placed next to eachother, I have no problem saying that all of these songs were sung in light of love. 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 (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic
Love (Gladdening Light) by ubcmusic
Make This Go On Forever (Refrain) by Snow Patrol
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.
This week's set doesn't seem to lend itself to the usual format I use to think about how the songs fit together. These songs were all written as a unit to explore the themes of advent, which means they are pretty thoroughly interwoven with one another. The hope was to create songs that voiced a longing hope that is never quite resolved or satiated, yet is so entrenched in the idea that God is faithful and is actively in the midst of telling a story that isn't over yet, that there is some sort of balance struck between pain and healing, joy and sorrow. As I've said in the previous weeks, I think these songs carry broad enough images for them to take on a variety of layers of significance for different people, so I would encourage you to listen to them again and think about the words. The links to the videos are below. Also, a word about the piece of the Snow Patrol song we attached to the end of each song over the past few weeks: When we say "I don't know where to look//my words just break and melt//please just save me from this darkness," we confess that there are kinds of darkness that we encounter against which we feel helpless and struggle to imagine a way through, yet we know to Whom to take our pleas for salvation. This seems to capture the advent spirit as we look back on the ways that God has been faithful to us as a way of fueling the hope that we carry forward.
Hope (There Will Come A Light)
-JM
This week was the third week of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of joy. 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
All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons & Daughters
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
Joy (Brightest) by ubcmusic
Make This Go On Forever (Refrain) by Snow Patrol
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.
All the Poor and Powerless: I've pointed out before that this song can come off as insubstantial and/or repetitive. The chorus basically just repeats "everyone will praise God," and the bridge basically just repeats "grab a megaphone and tell everyone who God is." I don't think there's any serious problem with the content of these lines, but their repetition feels like it drains their potency. But here's the thing. The verses of the songs create or portrait in which the people for whom this is good news are the poor, the feeble, the underrepresented, the depressed, the complacent, the ones at the end of their rope; and over/against these seemingly hopeless states of being, we find a God who has neither forgotten nor abandoned them. The hallelujah's of this song are what we might think of as "cold and broken hallelujah's"--praises that come from places we might not expect--and since these praises are directed toward the God who loves and is redeeming a fallen world, we find in this song a portrait of joy. This is the stubborn joy that comes along with fixing one's eyes on the faithfulness of God, that refuses to be swayed by our circumstances or our emotions. It's a joy that can coexist just fine in peace and in chaos, in contentment and depression.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): I wrote this song a couple of years ago for the first week of Advent. A few months ago, I wrote songs for all the other weeks, too, so we will sing the whole series of songs over the next few weeks. I recently recorded some video sessions of these songs with some friends in Austin. The video for this song has been posted here.
Peace (Change Everything): This is a song that voices a longing for peace. More accurately, this song voices a longing for several different kinds of peace: peace from existential despair, physical violence and threats, less tangible violence and threats that exist in our minds, and the threats that accompany the natural processes that carry our bodies from birth to death. We'll be singing this song a few more times this month, so feel free to listen to it again here.
Joy (Brightest): This song contemplates the strange nature of the joy we find in Advent--it's a joy that puts our feeble expectations of joy to shame in a way that might be considered destructive. The good news we await on Christmas day just might be bad news for certain aspects of ourselves. I've been more reserved in the descriptions I've offered of the Advent songs as a whole, and this has been intentional. I feel like you could take these songs in many different ways--especially when you take them all together--so I would prefer instead just to direct you to listen to these songs and read the lyrics and think about them for yourselves. As always, you can email me or comment at the bottom of the page if you want to talk about them further. The video of this song is available here.
Make This Go On Forever (Reprise): We once again closed this week's advent song with this reprise from the end of a great Snow Patrol song (spoiler alert: we'll do this next week and the week after as well). The point is to voice the longing that we live in during Advent: while we may not understand how it will happen or when it will happen, we know that God is the One who can save us from this present darkness.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: We sang this song because of the way it marries rejoicing with the hope of peace/reconciliation, which incorporates every Advent theme through which we've journeyed thus far.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM
This week was the second week of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of peace. 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 (There Will Come A Light) by ubcmusic
Future/Past by John Mark McMillan
Peace (Change Everything) by ubcmusic
Make This Go On Forever (Refrain) by Snow Patrol
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.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): I wrote this song a couple of years ago for the first week of Advent. A few months ago, I wrote songs for all the other weeks, too, so we will sing the whole series of songs over the next few weeks. I recently recorded some video sessions of these songs with some friends in Austin. The video for this song has been posted here.
Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to think about the peace that God has extended to us as people who are not necessarily deserving of reconciliation. If you don't know, the "Here I raise my Ebenezer" line is referring to the idea of a monument that would remind us of what God has done for us--it's the "looking back" that we talked about last week as being our source of Hope.
Future/Past: We sang this song to think about the looking back and looking forward that comes along with Advent. The reconciliation that God offers us is not limited to a fixed point in time, but is instead an activity that is carried through all of time--something we can look back at with gratitude and look forward to in faith.
Peace (Change Everything): This is a song that voices a longing for peace. More accurately, this song voices a longing for several different kinds of peace: peace from existential despair, physical violence and threats, less tangible violence and threats that exist in our minds, and the threats that accompany the natural processes that carry our bodies from birth to death. We'll be singing this song a few more times this month, so feel free to listen to it again here.
Make This Go On Forever (Reprise): We once again closed this week's advent song with this reprise from the end of a great Snow Patrol song (spoiler alert: we'll do this next week and the week after as well). The point is to voice the longing that we live in during Advent: while we may not understand how it will happen or when it will happen, we know that God is the One who can save us from this present 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
This week was the first week of Advent, and our songs were gathered around the theme of hope. 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
Deliver Me by David Crowder* Band
Rescue Is Coming by David Crowder* Band
Hope (There Will Come A Light) by Jameson McGregor
Make This Go On Forever (Refrain) by Snow Patrol
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.
Deliver Me: It can be difficult to think/sing about hope without naming any of the circumstances that would demand the looking-foward that comes with hope. This song was intended to open our time together with a hint of tension; a pleading for deliverance. While it provides few specifics we might categorize as the things from which we need saving, it does give us the chance to say at least 6 times, "I know that You're the One to pull me through." The Christian hope, the Advent hope, is not a vague kind of hope--it is a hope singularly focused on the faithfulness of God.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: We sang this song to move from a plea for deliverance, and the acknowledgement that God is the One who is the object of our hope, to asking that God would come and save us--to enter into the darkness we call home and flood it with light.
Rescue Is Coming: We sang this song to put hope into our mouths, proclaiming that rescue is coming. This is a hope we can shout, but its also a hope we can live in--one we can carry with us without having to escape our every day lives. It's a hope that allows us to keep moving.
Hope (There Will Come A Light): I wrote this song a couple of years ago for the first week of Advent. A few months ago, I wrote songs for all the other weeks, too, so we will sing the whole series of songs over the next few weeks. I recently recorded some video sessions of these songs with some friends in Austin. The video for this song has been posted here.
Make This Go On Forever (Refrain): We attached this brief refrain to the end of the offering song because it seems to sum up the longing of advent exceptionally well.
Be Thou My Vision: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs. This is what we said about Be Thou My Vision then: We sang this song for a couple of reasons. First, we sang it to find language to offer along with the people of our congregation who shared their stories with us this week, asking for God's wisdom and presence with us. Second, we sang it to offer the words of the final stanza in light of Christ the King Sunday.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM