New songs for modern missional worship, rich in Christian teaching and contextualized in modern culture. Contemporary hymns, psalms, songs of lament and praise written by members of the Louisville, KY-based Sojourn Community.
Reprinted from the August Travelogue:
God created us for community. This belief has been integral to Sojourn throughout our history, reflected in our Sunday gatherings, community groups and interpersonal relationships. Bold, raw, messy love — this is the stuff of which the Church, the body of Christ, is made, and this love for one another is the way in which the world will know we are Christ’s: “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples — when they see the love you have for each other.” — John 13:35
Although it is a far cry from the modern myth of “the artist” as a misunderstood loner, a rebel, this is the culture in which Sojourn’s worship arts ministry strives to operate, the same culture of community that the church as a whole seeks, reflecting the community between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Out of this culture comes Sojourn’s new worship album, Before the Throne, the product of a devotional project designed under the leadership of Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper to explain the nature of worship (see pastoral article, this issue). Composed of one classic hymn and ten original songs written by nine Sojourn writers, Before the Throne features vocal performances by Brooks Ritter, Rebecca Bales, Rebecca Dennison and Kate Robins, and music by members of the Sojourn worship team and local bands like Liberation Prophecy and Dirt Poor Robins. It is our most ambitious and collaborative recording to date.
Following Mike’s suggestion I met with the leader of Sojourn’s Visual Arts group, Michael Winters, in November, 2006 to brainstorm ways to teach the concept of worship as a life lived before God’s throne. We came up with the idea of doing a music CD with original artwork and then honed the idea with Mike.
In early December we hosted a joint breakfast meeting for songwriters and visual artists, with an agenda created by Michael, myself and worship leader Lorie King to explain the concept of the project and open the door for collaborative ideas, as well as announce an open call for song submissions that would illustrate our worship liturgy.
We gave the writers a six-week deadline for completion, during which time we started a private songwriter’s blog for peer review of songs and hosted one of our monthly songwriting workshops. Right after our deadline we gave Mike the fruits of our labor: 45 songs written by 21 writers. Fifteen of the songs were co-written by seven different collaborative teams.
After extensively reviewing the songs, Mike wrote to the songwriting group, “Where can I begin to describe how exciting this project has become? The work that you have accomplished as songwriters is terrific, and the songs you’ve turned in are really great …I’ve taken time to listen and read carefully each one, and I’ve sought advice from a number of others on the edits.”
He further explained that the songs selected for the recording project were what he felt “accomplished the goal of the project: to create songs that clearly expressed the thematic ideas of the liturgy.”
The songs selected also represent the past, present and future of Sojourn songwriting. For instance, Before the Throne begins with “Come And Sing,” by Sojourn’s first worship songwriter Jeremy Quillo, and ends with the Benediction song “All Good Gifts,” by Michael Morgan, whom scarcely anyone knew was a songwriter until the night of the submission deadline, when he emailed in his mp3 and lead sheet.
With the songs chosen, Mike assembled a top-notch band that turned in tight performances which, in spite of their polished sheen, have a “live in the studio” feel, with elements of jazz, rock, country and bluegrass — the kind of musical plurality and authenticity we’ve come to expect from Sojourn recordings.
Michael Winter created artwork for the CD, which has already spawned more artistic ideas. Members of the visual arts team are currently working on an “art in a box” project that will be presented at a major conference in Michigan in the near future: ten images that represent the ten elements of our liturgy, around which the new songs are based.
After you listen to the album and reflect on God’s glory and the things He is saying to you, and the ways you’re responding to Him in worship, then reflect on the communal nature of the project, because this is also a part of our conversation with God. He tells us that we are His but we are also each others’, that we need each other, that our labors are more productive when we work together.
In this reflection and the conversation it engenders in our community, you become a very real part of the collaborative process, as much so as the songwriters, artists and musicians. Think about the lyrics to these songs, which each reflect different aspects of our liturgy such as confession, offering, adoration and celebration of assurance. Discuss them with friends; share them with new Christians who don’t yet understand the full thematic range of our conversation with God. As scholar Calvin Seerveld wrote in “Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves: Alternative Steps In Understanding Art”:
“But no art community can last without its supporting community of non-artists. And unless, through Christian critics, theorists and publicists as well as through the artists themselves, a compassionate public develops to support the maturing Christian artistic offering to the Lord, the results will be meager.”