Setlist 3-27-2016

This week was Easter, and our songs were gathered around that theme. 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:

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

How Great Thou Art

Hope by Jameson McGregor

Because He Lives

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. 

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've added a verse to the song each week of Lent as we made our way to this week.  This song as a whole is an exercise in looking back to look forward--looking at what God has done in dark places as a reassurance that God will not abandon us to our own darkness.  

Death In His Grave: We sang this song to proclaim the death of Death in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and also to think about the changes this brings about for our own lives.

How Great Thou Art: We sang this song to praise God on perhaps three different levels.  First, we have images of God forming worlds on the cosmic scene.  Second, we have the Easter story.  And third, we have the future hope of reconciliation between God and creation on a large scale.  God's "greatness" in this song might be attributed to the fact that God not only made the cosmos, but takes notice of humanity within that sprawl--and not just "notice," God emptied Godself out for the good of the divine-human relationship--and so, we can expect that God will continue to be this overwhelmingly loving creator for us.

Hope:  On Easter, we get the resolution to a plot we have been following since Advent.  In the midst of the darkness of Advent, we held out hope that a light would come.  And we found on Christmas that God lit a fire in our darkness.  In the weeks since, we have watched with bated breath to see how the Light fared in the darkness.  On Easter, we see conclusively that the darkness did not overcome it.  This song is about that story, and it's about the analogues of that story that we experience throughout our own lives.  God is still lighting fires in our darkness, and the darkness is still not overcoming them.  And now, on Easter, we have reason to believe that this isn't a story, but the story.  

Because He Lives:  We sang this song to remind ourselves that the Resurrection has an effect on our daily lives--that it is relevant for our own outlook on life.  Everything is different because of this moment.  Everything has changed.  Every story now gets woven into a greater story, and tragedies don't triumph in the end.

Doxology: During Lent, we put the Doxology to bed, and replaced it with Be Thou My Vision.  Now is the time to bring it back.  We will once again close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos.

-JM

Setlist 3-20-2016

This week was the sixth Sunday of Lent, also known as Palm Sunday, and our songs were selected with these themes 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:

Here Is Our King by David Crowder* Band

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Up On A Mountain by The Welcome Wagon

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. 

Here Is Our King: We sang this song because it was Palm Sunday.  We sang these words to take the posture of the crowds welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem.  This is in some ways strange, because we know that Jesus was not actually bringing about the political revolution that they expected, and we also know that this disappointment would ultimately make them turn on Jesus with the authorities.  Perhaps this can serve as a reminder to us that there is a difference between who God is and who we expect God to be, and the former is the one that deserves our worship.

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Just A Closer Walk With Thee then: We sang this song to declare one of our intentions as we walk through Lent together--to reach the other side as people who are more fully formed in the way of Christ.  When we sing this song at ubc, the second stanza is probably the most important, underscoring that the Christian life is one in which we all falter from time to time, but that our burden is shared by Jesus.  In Lent, this takes a slightly different meaning as we think about our time in the wilderness together.  Even in this more intentional time of formation, we are prone to wander, but we can press forward knowing that Jesus understands our struggles.

Lord, I Need You:  We sang this song because as we continue to seek transformation in this last week of Lent, we need God to be the one who changes us.  The petition in the bridge of the song (teach my song to rise to You when temptation comes my way), is in some ways answered in singing this song, as the chorus raises a song to God in the midst of temptation.  We have been singing it often during this season to allow God to root these words deep within us.

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.

Up On A Mountain: We sang this song to fast forward to Thursday night when we remember Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane, where he has essentially already been abandoned by his friends, and is terrified of what is to come.  If you aren't familiar with this song, you should check it out:   

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 3-13-2016

This week was the fifth 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:

Come Thou Fount

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

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. 

Come Thou Fount: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Come Thou Fount then: 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.  

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: We sang this song to declare one of our intentions as we walk through Lent together--to reach the other side as people who are more fully formed in the way of Christ.  When we sing this song at ubc, the second stanza is probably the most important, underscoring that the Christian life is one in which we all falter from time to time, but that our burden is shared by Jesus.  In Lent, this takes a slightly different meaning as we think about our time in the wilderness together.  Even in this more intentional time of formation, we are prone to wander, but we can press forward knowing that Jesus understands our struggles.

Deliver Me: As we near the end of Lent, we sang this song to express that we continue to rely upon the Spirit to pull us through and to change us into people who are more like Jesus.

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 3-6-2016

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

Come Thou Fount

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

In the Night by Andrew Peterson

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

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 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

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

Setlist 1-31-2016

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of prayer.  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 Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder* Band

Your Love Is Strong by Jon Foreman

Fall Afresh by Jeremy Riddle

Pain by Jameson McGregor

SMS (Shine) by David Crowder* Band

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. 

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to begin our time together conceiving of all of creation praising the Creator.  Interestingly, this song spends a great deal of time regarding the movements of planetary bodies as praise.  We may consider prayer broadly as a form of address to God, so, naturally, praise would fit the bill for some form of prayer.  Thinking this way, we might consider prayer the natural state of the cosmos--a fundamental part of what it is to be.

Your Love Is Strong: This song has Jesus' model prayer (the Lord's Prayer) embedded into its DNA, both broadly in the verses and explicitly in the bridge.  In using this prayer to frame the repeated "Your love is strong," we proclaim to both God and ourselves the driving assurance behind the Lord's Prayer.

Fall Afresh: This song is itself a prayer to the Holy Spirit asking for revitalization.  We sang it, in part, to practice addressing the Spirit in prayer together, and also specifically to practice voicing the desire for the Spirit's presence among us.

Pain: This song is about the fact that God can handle brutal honesty about our pain in prayer.  There is a strong (that almost feels like an understatement) tradition in Scripture of the people of God voicing their pain to God--both in crying out for help and in raising a charge against God--and God never seems to smite people for their honesty.  God can take it.  God can take it because, through Jesus, God understands our pain.  And more than just being willing to listen to us voice our pain, God is faithful in working to weave our most tragic stories into a story that is decidedly untragic.

SMS (Shine): We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about SMS (Shine) then: We sang this song to give voice to the longing that we all share at one time or another to be lifted out of dark places, or at the very least to be given some kind of glimpse of God when we feel abandoned.  We voice this longing confidently, knowing that God hears us when we call and does not cast us aside.  

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 1-24-2016

This week, we celebrated ubc's 21st birthday, and took time to look back over our history to observe God's faithfulness. All of the songs we sang came out of ubc through the ages, and gave voice to some of the core convictions of our community.  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:

Here Is Our King by David Crowder* Band

SMS (Shine) by David Crowder* Band

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

All I Can Say by David Crowder* Band

Wild One by Jameson McGregor

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. 

Here Is Our King: We sang this song to begin our time together embracing the joy of Christmas that shines through Epiphany, in declaring that the Love of God has come to us in Jesus, and to hold this love in our minds as we began thinking about God's faithfulness to our community over the years.

SMS (Shine): We sang this song to give voice to the longing that we all share at one time or another to be lifted out of dark places, or at the very least to be given some kind of glimpse of God when we feel abandoned.  We voice this longing confidently, knowing that God hears us when we call and does not cast us aside.  This song also has a special place in the history of ubc because the community worked together to assemble an absurd number of lite-brites to make this music video, which won a Dove Award:  

Wayward Ones: We sang this to confess that we are broken, unreliable people, and to worship God for extending self-sacrificial love to us nonetheless.  This song has been a great gift that Tye gave our community in his time as Worship & Arts pastor, and it is the title track of an album he released while on staff.  You can listen to it here.

All I Can Say: We sang this to confess that God is with us in our suffering.  One of the great things about this song is that it provides a way to engage God when we have little to nothing to say other than that we are hurting, yet allows us to confess that God is with us even when we feel abandoned.

Wild One:  We sang this song to confess that God is not bound by who we expect God to be, but is instead far greater than our most grandiose ideas of who God is.  

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 1-10-2016

This week was the first Sunday after Epiphany.  Epiphany is an interesting season.  It begins with the Epiphany (the Star, wise men, etc.), which begins a journey through moments in Jesus' life that serve to reveal Jesus' divinity and mission (baptism, miracles, Transfiguration).  These moments are "epiphanies" in their own right, but the church calendar postures them as looking over their shoulder at Epiphany (that's why its the first Sunday after Epiphany, rather than the first Sunday of Epiphany/the epiphanies).  Anyway. Our songs were gathered around the theme of what the Incarnation reveals to us about who God is.  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:

Heart Won't Stop by John Mark McMillan

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

Because He Lives by Bill Gaither

Wild One by Jameson McGregor

Holy, Holy, Holy

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. 

Heart Won't Stop: The language of this song is taken from Psalm 139, and it proclaims the fact that we cannot outrun the love of God, and there is no hole that we can dig ourselves that is deep enough to convince God to finally leave us alone.  In the Word becoming flesh in Jesus, God sends a clear message about just how far God is willing to go to set things right with Creation.  And while this self-humbling of God is profound on its own, we know that this is not the part of the Christian story where we see God go the furthest for us.  We sang this song because it reminds us that God-with-us is a label that God took upon Godself on purpose, and God did not ask humanity what we thought first--we are loved, whether we think it is appropriate or not.

Amazing Grace: We sang this song to look at the significance of the Word becoming flesh from a different angle, where we think of the fact that God's choosing to be God-with-us has fundamentally changed the way that we exist in the world.  God-with-us means that we are not left to our own devices, but rather have a Fellow Traveler in the world Who knows our struggles and feels our pain, yet does not mirror our faults.  When this understanding meets the love of God, we find something we might call grace.

Because He Lives:  I normally think of the Resurrection when I hear this song, but I think it carries, at the very least, a double entendre.  We sang this song because the fact that the Word became flesh--the fact that God chose to be God-with-us--means that we can have a new kind of Hope.  The darkness of Advent has been pierced by a Fire in its midst, and the darkness cannot overcome it.  If nothing else, at this early part of the Christian story, we know that the Story is far from over, and this is the hope we carry with us, facing each new day with expectation.

Wild One: We sang this song because the Word becoming flesh reveals to us that God is not pinned down by who we expect God to be.  The people of God were not expecting a Messiah like Jesus.  Our most pristine theological categories struggle to make sense of why God would enter our mess of a world in vulnerability rather than destroying it and starting over.  The aim of this song is to refocus our minds on the fact that it is God--God-with-us-- who is worthy of our worship, not our most comfortable picture of God.  That is to say, we must constantly be looking for a God who is on the move, who is dynamic, rather than assuming that we figured God out long ago.  The God revealed in Jesus is a God who is full of surprises and is not easily categorized or mapped out.

Holy, Holy, Holy: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last week's songs.  This is what we said about Holy, Holy, Holy then: We sang this song to specifically locate our worship of Jesus within the scope of the Triune God.  

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 1-3-2016

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:

Joy to the World

O Come All Ye Faithful

Holy, Holy, Holy

Hope by Jameson McGregor

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. 

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

Setlist 12-20-2015

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

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. 

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)

Peace (Change Everything)

Joy (Brightest)

Love (Gladdening Light)

-JM

Setlist 12-13-2015

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

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

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. 

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

Setlist 12-6-2015

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

Come Thou Fount

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

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. 

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

Setlist 11-29-2015

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

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

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

Be Thou My Vision

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. 

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

Setlist 11-22-2015

This week was Christ the King Sunday, so our songs were gathered around the theme of kingship.  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

Revelation Song by Jennie Lee Riddle

All Creatures of Our God and King by David Crowder* Band

Be Thou My Vision

How Great Thou Art

Crown Him With Many Crowns

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. 

Revelation Song: We sang this song to begin our time together singing about God's holiness/power/all of those things we might associate with God being above and beyond us all.  While this is not the primary image of God given in the Christian story, it is important to remind ourselves that God is indeed mysterious, powerful, elusive, holy, etc, so that we will realize how scandalous and amazing it is that this same God cares to have a relationship with us.

All Creatures of Our God and King: We sang this song to contemplate and proclaim the significance of God's kingship for the whole of the created order--not just humans.  To say that Christ is King impacts more than humans--it impacts the way stars explode, the way animals go on about their lives, and the way plants climb out of the dirt.

Be Thou My Vision:  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.

How Great Thou Art: We sang this song in the middle of our service to proclaim the glory of God in creation (both past and present), the life and death of Jesus, and the future hope of redemption, in the midst of stories that were marked both by tears and bold faith.  In some way, we raised this language to remind ourselves of the story in the midst of which we are living--one where God is putting the pieces back together, not spreading them apart.

Crown Him With Many Crowns: I occasionally ask Josh if there are any songs he wants me to include in a set.  This week was one of the few times he had a suggestion, so I jumped on it.  I had not thought about this song since I was a small child, so I had to go look up the lyrics.  It took all of 10 seconds for me to be convinced that this song needed to be in our Christ the King service.  In many ways, Christ the King Sunday is about speaking the truth of Jesus' Kingship into a world where such an idea seems like nonsense (because of how broken things are).  A thing I love about this song is the way it weaves together God's transcendence and immanence, and God's suffering and victory.  These tensions provide a window into a deeper truth about God and God's story.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 11-1-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of redemption.  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

Chariot by Page France

Noise by Jameson McGregor

Because He Lives

Heart With No Companion by Leonard Cohen

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. 

Chariot: The Christian story, in broad strokes, is about God redeeming a fallen world.  In terms of humanity, this means that God chooses to initiate making things right with us, and entering into our stories to weave them into a greater Story.  This song narrates what we might consider to be the end of this story, though it might just as well be called the end of the introduction.  When we sing about a big party at the end of all things, and categorize it as a happy ending, we are proclaiming this alongside the fact that even the most pious of us slip up along the way.  God's redemption of us is in spite of our own failures, and it is centered in the love of God that doesn't play by the rules.

Noise: This song begins with the acknowledgement that there is very little we can say with confidence about God--or at the very least, there is little we can say with confidence in its complete accuracy.  As much as we might think we know about God, we are incapable of getting our pictures of God to line up just right.  This is why the chorus narrows its talk about God to what God has done for us--and leaves it fairly vague in the process.  The song then turns to thinking about what God knows about us, namely, that God understands our pain and our doubts.  Why?  Because God became human in Jesus.  This is a much more intimate knowledge of the human experience than we could assume merely from God's having created humanity.  Instead, God lived humanity.  This is important when we think about redemption because it means we are known in the darkest parts of our being, yet God has still not abandoned us to our own devices.

Because He Lives: We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last weeks' songs.  This is what we said about Because He Lives then: We sang this song to name the hope of the resurrection of Jesus over/against the pain of loss.  This is not merely future hope, but infuses every moment of life with great significance, making it worth living.  

Heart With No Companion: This song is fairly simple.  It's about the love of God reaching to us through all measures of pain.  This love comes from beyond this pain, and is untainted by it, yet it is a love that we might call shattered--it's calibrated to reach brokenness.  I think the thing I love most about this song is the variety of images Cohen uses to describe who this love is directed at: the captain without a ship, the mother without a child, the lonely, the wayward, the ballerina who can no longer dance.  While they aren't all the same, many of them point to people who have a passion or a self-identity that they are unable to fulfill.  The love of God reaches this person with the message of "you matter.  you are valuable."  In thinking about redemption, we would do well to remind ourselves that God also wants to redeem the way we view ourselves and our place in this world.

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

Setlist 10-25-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of healing.  Yesterday we had a celebration service for the life and legacy of Kyle Lake, our former pastor, marking 10 years since his death in 2005.  If you weren't able to attend the service, I'd encourage you to go check out kylesfilm.com where you can read about Kyle's story.  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

Because He Lives

How He Loves by John Mark McMillan

Rescue Is Coming by David Crowder* Band

Wayward Ones by The Gladsome Light

Hope by Jameson McGregor

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. 

Because He Lives: We sang this song to name the hope of the resurrection of Jesus over/against the pain of loss.  This is not merely future hope, but infuses every moment of life with great significance, making it worth living.  

How He Loves: John Mark McMillan has a video telling the story of this song--I think it is important to hear him talk about where this song came from, so I really hope you'll watch it. He wrote this song in response to the death of a close friend, and we sang this after Craig, a close friend of Kyle's, had just shared with us about the way in which Kyle was a gift of God to him and to ubc, and about the journey he has had since then.  I suppose there are several reasons we needed to sing this song in this service, but perhaps the greatest is to put a voice to the fact that the love of God is not beaten back by the anger and grief of loss.  Instead, this love holds strong through those seasons--in the midst of those seasons.

Rescue Is Coming: Josh asked me to put this song in the set this week because he remembered Kyle having a visceral and joyful reaction to it one of the first times Dave played it at ubc.  He told the story of that moment before we sang it and encouraged us to join with Kyle in that moment in singing this song.  As with Because He Lives, this song sets our eyes on some sort of future hope, but the purpose is to affect the here and now--to not give up in the midst of pain--to have the courage to let deep wounds heal.  [Note: Letting deep wounds heal does not mean getting the scars lasered away--while wounds can be debilitating, scars are vessels of memory and carry the story of healing in their own way.]

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.

Hope: We sang this song to proclaim a story that is fundamental to the story of the cosmos: God lit a fire in the darkness that the darkness did not overcome.  We can think about this in many ways--creation and the life/death/resurrection of Jesus are pretty straight-forward examples-- but we sang this song to proclaim it as the story of ubc in the past 10 years.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 10-18-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of struggle.  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

Amazing Grace by Citizens & Saints

Future/Past by John Mark McMillan

Oceans by Hillsong United

Unyielding by Sarah Dossey Keilers (Dossey)

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

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. 

Amazing Grace: We sang this song as an exercise in perspective--to champion what God has done for us already over/against the struggles that we now face.  When I find myself in the midst of a difficult or dark time, and I can't see the end of it, that sometimes the only comfort I can find is in looking back on the things that God has brought me through in the past, and that is sometimes enough to convince me that there will be a day when my present pain is something I can look back on as well, knowing that it ended.  Probably the most straight-forward line of this song for our purposes this week is Through many dangers toils and snares i have already come//Twas grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.  I want to be clear that I am under no illusion that looking back can cancel out the struggles we face in the present, but I am convinced it can be enough to give us strength to keep moving forward.

Future/Past: I suppose this song, too, is an exercise in perspective.  We sang it to put into our mouths an expression of the fact that, though God commands unlimited cosmic power--and is thus a fundamentally superior and more real Person than any of us--God has bent low to regard us not simply as creatures who exist, but creatures with whom God desires to relate; creatures for whom to care.  This is great and terrifying news for us, and it makes a difference in how we view both the future and the past.  It means that there is significance to every moment that is beyond us; that there is hope in the midst of struggle around which we cannot wrap our minds.

Oceans: We sang this song to proclaim that God not only delivers us from struggles, but is with us in the midst of them.  God's faithfulness to us allows us to keep our eyes above the waves of chaos, which is to say that we can maintain a sense of perspective marked by trust in the midst of uncertainty--that our eyes can in some way maintain contact with God, though the rest of us in caught in despair.

Unyielding: Sarah has written a blog about this song on her band site--check it out!

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 that God is faithful to us even when we consistently misconstrue what it is to be faithful.  The verses of this song imagine various ways in which we recognize the power of God, then try to harness this power for our own devices--with what seem to be the best of intentions--and how God chooses to continue to journey with us anyway, coaxing us into understanding that God is not one to be tamed.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM

Setlist 10-11-2015

This week, our songs were gathered around the theme of the divine-human relationship.  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

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Wandering by Jameson McGregor

Diamond by Sarah Dossey Keilers [Dossey]

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons & Daughters

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. 

Death In His Grave: We sang this song to reflect on what God has done for us in Christ.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus, God changed the way that death works for humanity.  Thinking in terms of the divine-human relationship, these events become something of a starting point or center.  These events are God's extended hand to humanity--they pose a question; something to the effect of, "i have come further than seems appropriate to make things right--are you willing to enter into reconciliation with Me?"  Or perhaps, "I have fixed what was broken between us.  Do you realize what that means for you?"

Just A Closer Walk With Thee: This song explores the tension between the kind of life we are inclined to live when let to our own devices, and the kind of life that Jesus has shown us how to live.  We have a tendency to beat ourselves up when we knowingly fail to live like Jesus, but this song suggests that there is a better way to handle failure.  The line in the second verse, "In this world of toil and snare//If i falter, Lord, who cares?//Who with me my burden shares?//None but Thee..." God does not wait for us to fail so that God can have cause to be angry with us, but instead shares our burdens--God knows how far the gap is between the way we are and the way Jesus has shown us to live, and carries this weight with us.  Instead of lingering in self-pity or self-disgust, we can move forward knowing that we are not alone.

Wandering: We sang this song to proclaim that God is faithful to us even when we consistently misconstrue what it is to be faithful.  The verses of this song imagine various ways in which we recognize the power of God, then try to harness this power for our own devices--with what seem to be the best of intentions--and how God chooses to continue to journey with us anyway, coaxing us into understanding that God is not one to be tamed.

Diamond: To read Sarah's thoughts on this great song, visit the blog on her site here.

All the Poor and Powerless:  We sang this song to look over our shoulder at last weeks' songs.  This is what we said about All the Poor and Powerless then: We sang this song to proclaim God's identity as a God who is present with the lowly, the powerless, the hopeless, the hurting, the self-loathing, the addicts, on and on.  This is a God who not only lowers Godself to interact with humanity, but the lowest parts of humanity.

Doxology: We close our time together each week with this proclamation that God is worthy of praise from every inch of the cosmos. 

-JM