This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of need. 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 atjamie@ubcwaco.org.
Songs
This is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickham
Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher
Shadow by Jameson McGregor
House of God Forever by Jon Foreman
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 express our need for God to partner with us in life and in our acts of worship. At ubc, we often talk about seeking to be formed in the way of Christ. This choice of words centers our attention on God's action within us. We don't get to pass through life without trying to do things (live like Christ, eat pizza, dance, throw dinner parties, worship, etc), but the things we do are worthwhile because of what is done in us by God.
This Is Amazing Grace: We sang this song to think about the radical grace of God, who is clothed in unlimited cosmic power, yet cares for humanity enough to endure suffering and to patiently coax us into a relationship with Godself.
Lord, I Need You: We sang this song to remind ourselves quite clearly that we need to turn to God when we think the least of ourselves. The grace we sang about in the previous song means we don't have to be afraid that God is going to run out of patience with us. Furthermore, we don't have to try to make ourselves look and less broken than we are in order for God to want to come to our aid. The Christian life is the life of a work in progress.
Shadow: Sometimes in Christian circles, we talk about "dying to self." I won't claim to fully understand this image, but I think it communicates the idea that, though the way we operate as humans is ultimately a selfish existence, Jesus calls us to focus our attention on God and other people. This song is about the lingering impulse to keep our thinking turned in on ourselves that we have to kill in some way daily, and that we are are ultimately in need of God's help every day to make this happen. I wanted to write a really long post explaining the ins and outs of every image in this song, but I think these few sentences are enough to provide the context for you to read the lyrics for yourself and see what the images say to you. As always, feel free to email me with any questions or concerns about this new song.
House of God Forever: We sang this song to take a look over our shoulder at last week's songs. Here's what we said about House of God Forever then: We sang this song to proclaim that God does not simply pay attention to us or pursue us. Instead, God draws us near--takes care of us. At this point, we are a far cry from what we might expect of the Holy God we sang about in the first song.
Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.
-JM