This blog is my participation in the Sunday Setlists for February 14th over at TheWorshipCommunity.com.
Usually busy leading or directing worship for our middle-school service on Sunday mornings, I don’t get to lead Sunday morning at “Big Church” (as we like to call it) but on a rotation, so it’s always a special moment for me when that happens.
For walk-in music I really wanted to push the boundaries a bit, so I picked one of my wife and I’s original songs, “Rejoice in Me” - a high energy, call to worship, that is also the 2nd track on our forth-coming c.d., Songs from the Hope Farm. Here’s an unfinished mix of the song, and a chord chart, if you like the song and want to use it yourself (for some reason this media player doesn't work with FireFox browser - try Safari).
REJOICE IN ME - pdf chords
Honestly, this was probably one our toughest songs for both sets, mainly because there are a lot of fairly complex change-ups, which are fine when performed by a well rehearsed rock band, but which probably should be simplified when played by a rotating Sunday morning band.
The corporate worship set was:
1. “There’s no one like our God” - Vicky Beeching
This song was co-led by my wife, Cyle, and Amy Clack, who did an excellent job. It was once one of our regulars, but we hadn’t sang it since late ’08, so I thought it was about time we brought it back. The band really made it their own, and though it was obvious that some weren’t very familiar with the song.
2. “Glory to God Forever” - Fee
3. “The Doxology”
Since I first introduced “Glory to God Forever” to our High School Youth back when I first heard Steve Fee lead it at NorthPoint a little over a year ago, it has become one our church’s go-to songs. I think it’s rare to find a song with such a memorable melody, yet such solid, singable theology. After a very short introduction, we medlied it into a mostly a capella version of “The Doxology”, and I loved hearing the whole body, together, voices lifted in song.
Following David’s sermon, we had a time of communion, during which we continued with a second set:
4. “The Wonderful Cross” - Isaac Watts, Matt Redman, & Chris Tomlin
I’ve always loved modernized hymns, but this song posed a minor difficulty for me because I needed to quickly tune my guitar to drop-D, then even more quickly return the tuning to standard, while attempting to not interrupt the flow of the service too much. Thankfully, my wife took over on the piano during the 2nd service, as we re-sang the chorus, during which I sang, and tuned my guitar.
5. “How He Loves” - John Mark McMillan
As much as I love this song, we - sadly - had to drop it from the first set due to time restraints. This actually caused a problem, because I had a hard time communicating the change to my wife, which resulted in a bit of confusion, and an extended intro to “Christ is Risen”.
6. “Christ is Risen” - Matt Maher
I remember when Fred brought a live video of this song back on his iPhone from a conference last year - let me just say “WOW!” Probably the most powerful song written last year, since I don’t lead from the piano, and it is primarily a piano song, I reworked some of the piano parts for the guitar, and change up the arrangement a bit to make it work for me. Let me say that when people started just yelling out praises and thanks to God spontaneously at the end, that I was very sad we couldn’t continue in worship through the afternoon.
So, though not a perfect morning, it was a very special time of praise, and I wouldn’t mind reliving the 2nd service a few more times - those times of spontaneous praise when God just makes himself known are very special to me! Thank you, Holy Spirit, for meeting me this morning. Amen.