Equipping grassroots theologians for creative thinking, engaging, and living.
I just got over a cold, so I haven’t been able to record any new advent songs until today. This is one I wrote a few years ago for the Christmas Eve service at my home church. We pack into a freezing cold barn, sit on barrels of hay, and sing songs between the Christmas story readings. I will definitely be missing the people and the place this Christmas Eve out in Cali. Any way, I think the song is self-explanatory.
Enjoy it Here! (Right Click and ‘Save Link As’ to download)
In Luke’s telling of the Christ child’s coming there is music running throughout. These songs are both substantially important, but also there is something to gain in recognizing that the joy of Advent is best expressed in song. So I sat around googleing Advent hymns until I found one that I thought had the, ‘oh buddy let’s do a holy spirit boogie’ attitude. I ended up settling on ‘Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding’ because it weaves the newness that came with the coming of Christ to the continued call and potential of us to be Children of the light and live a life inspired by the Christ child.
Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding.
‘Christ is nigh,’ it seems to say;
‘Cast away the works of darkness,
O ye children of the day.’Wakened by the solemn warning,
let the earth-bound soul arise;
Christ, her Sun, all sloth dispelling,
shines upon the morning skies.Lo! the Lamb, so long expected,
comes with pardon down from heaven;
let us all, with tears of sorrow,
pray that we may be forgiven;that when next he comes with glory,
and the world is wrapped in fear,
with his mercy he may shield us,
and with words of love draw near.Honor, glory, love, and blessing
to the Father and the Son,
with the everlasting Spirit,
while eternal ages run.
Audio Here (right click and ‘save link as’ to download mp3)
Advent Song 1 here and Song 2 here
Love and Hope are two of the themes of Advent and in this song a connection is drawn between the definitive arrival of God’s Love and Hope in Christ and the invitation for us to participate in their coming. No better place is that made visible than the communion table. There all may come, no matter who they are or where they’ve been, and receive the gift of Love and the promise of hope from God. The act of receiving the Gift of God, is also an act of remembering the work of God in history, but that is not all. As we receive the Gift we are also called and empowered to bear the Gift in our lives into God’s world.
Hopefully this blending of John Pearlberg’s anthem ‘Remembering with Love and Hope’ and the Angelic Choir’s song in Luke’s gospel will encourage you in Advent to receive and bear God’s Gift for all of humanity.
Remembering with Love and Hope (audio here. right click and save as to download)
Glory to God, Glory to God in the Highest
And on earth peace to everyoneRemembering with love and hope, we celebrate the feast
Christ bids us come and dine with him, our host and great high priest
God’s word made known in flesh and blood, a covenant of grace
in manger, cross, and empty tomb, we see God’s loving faceThrough all our lives Lord you are near and to the end of time
In bread and cup yourself you give, our life in yours we find….
Love, Love, Love, Love, Love it comes close to you, close to you (x2)We break the bread and bless the cup, your spirit is out poured
Made one in you, we feast in love until you come o Lord
We trust the pledge of your strong love and pray your kingdom come
when face to face we’ll feast with you in our eternal home
At the end I envisioned a split where the ladies keep singing the Angel’s lines, ‘Glory to God…’ and the fellas follow me in singing the chorus. When I recorded both parts with me it sounded like it would work, but that much of my voice freaked me out.
The first advent song is here.
I have been working on a number of things for advent and one of them is arranging and writing some advent songs that could be used in contemporary worship gatherings or with student groups and such. The first is a wonderful song called, ‘View the Present through the Promise’ which I found the lyrics to in the most recent edition of the Interpretation journal. I have never heard the choir version so I hope the lyricist, Thomas Troeger, doesn’t think I killed his song. Either way, it is great lyrically in that it emphasizes the eschatological tenor of advent. During Advent we celebrate the coming of God in the past, the present (in our own lives and world, and the future (the coming of new creation) and this song nails it. I would say more about how inspirational singing a proleptic song is but the lyrics are by far superior. So may the one who came with new life for the world breath newness into your own soul in order to transform our present in the light of God’s reconciled future.
Listen Here (to download right click and save as)
View the present through the promise, Christ will come again.
Trust despite the deepening darkness, Christ will come again.
Lift the world above its grieving through your watching and believing
in the hope past hope’s conceiving: Christ will come again.Come Lord Jesus Come (x3) And Live In Me
Probe the present with the promise, Christ will come again.
Let your daily actions witness, Christ will come again.
Let your loving and your giving and your justice and forgiving
be a sign to all the living: Christ will come again.Match the present to the promise, Christ will come again.
Make this hope your guiding premise, Christ will come again.
Pattern all your calculating and the world you are creating
to the advent you are waiting: Christ will come again.
If anyone wants all four chords let me know.
I have been sporting my ‘Real Men Marry Ministers’ T-shirt this weekend in anticipation of Alecia’s ordination this Sunday at 4. I am pretty pumped and will be doing a couple things during the service, but what I am most excited about is playing an arrangement of the old hymn ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’ during communion. It is the song that was playing when both of us walked the aisle to make our confession of faith, so it is special to both of us. Alecia is my friend, hero, and lover and I couldn’t be more lucky to be with her or proud of who she is and what God has, is, and will do in her life.
Here’s the Song, I have decide to follow Jesus.
Tuesday May 6th we will be having our primary here in NC so decided to record and post this song. Ever since 9-11 fear has been such a key element of politics in America and has funded a good deal of violence. I have not thought the same about violence, war, and Christian participation in it since 9-11 and have been on a bit of a theological journey, but regardless of where you are now, have been , will be I hope we can agree that as Christians are vocation is to be God’s peacemakers. As peacemakers I can’t imagine being controlled by fear and even feeling better about our place in the world because as a nation we are at war. I can’t imagine it, but I know the feeling too well.
btw: I use a dirty word in the song so don’t listen if you don’t want to hear it. I think i use it theologically but now you know it is there.
I co-wrote this tune with brother Wesley, had a little inspiration by this book, and wanted to sing a worship song that centered on the redemptive work of the God who is love in the world. It is my Youth Group’s favorite song. I even heard it on a student’s Ipod after ‘solider boy.’
Check it out, Download it, Share it, and if you want chords\words click here!
A few weeks ago Mike (the senior minister) asked me to play some music with his sermon on Psalm 46 and I ended up writing a rendition of the Psalm that was weaved through the sermon. A number of people have asked for the song so I recorded in the office today to share. Question: So if you steal lyrics from a Psalm who gets co-writing credit? The Sons of Korah? David? God?
Here’s the Mp3: Peace Be Still
