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.
1. Hold On (Keep Your Eyes On The Prize) by Pete Seeger. This traditional song by one of America’s masterful 20th century folk singers uses the story of Paul and Silas’ time spent in jail for preaching the gospel to weave a tail of perseverance, through the power of “the gospel plow.”
You can see one of Sojourn’s bands perform this classic as the first song of the Takin’ It To The Streets TV show that aired last fall on Louisville’s The CW Network affiliate, WBKI-TV. That version featured the lead vocals of Dave Moisan. This Sunday, Charlie Richardson led us in “Hold On” (backed by Lorie King on vocals and Jamie Barnes, Simon Groce and Smitty Smith, respectively, on lead guitar, bass and drums).
2. All Creatures of Our God and King, by Francis of Assissi. This hymn in long meter with the simple refrain “O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Allelulia! Allelulia!” features nice poetic phrases like
Thou burning sun with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam
yet in essence is a simple song calling our attention to the One whom we must praise.
3. Laden With Guilt And Full Of Fears, originally by Isaac Watts, altered and fitted with a new tune by Sandra McCracken. Watts was not only a colorful poet but a first-class theologian, as evidenced from his scripture-informed lyrics, like verse two:
This is the field, where hidden, lies
the pearl of price unknown.
That merchant is divinely wise
who makes the pearl his own.
Here, consecrated water flows
to quench my thirst from sin.
Here the fair tree of knowledge grows —
No danger dwells within.
Watts uses a reference to the ”tree of knowledge of good and evil,” that caused Adam’s fall, to say that the knowledge we need is found in the gospel — the revelation of God in Christ and His atonement for our sin.
4. We Are Listening, by our own Jeremy Quillo. This is the “prayer for illumination” from our CD, Before the Throne. You can hear the mp3 and download the chord sheet from the Before the Throne page on this site. Also, read Jeremy’s article on his writing process for this song.
5. Sovereign Grace, O’er Sin Abounding, a hymn text by John Kent. Once again, we used Sandra McCracken’s adaptation, from her The Builder and the Architect CD. Lorie King led us in this hymn as we formed lines to take communion and leave our offerings in the various offering baskets placed around the room.
We do a lot of hymns, as you’ve surely noticed, and with good reasons. If you haven’t heard my recent interview with Lorie on the integration of hymns into our worship gatherings, check out parts one and two, and subscribe to our podcast to receive future episodes featuring interviews with various Sojourn worship leaders.
6. Where Your Praise Never Ends, by our own Charlie Richardson. This celebration of the hope we have in Christ of eternal life, praising Him with an endless throng of brothers and sisters, might be my favorite of Charlie’s songs. I love this:
Ones that have gone before us,
Saints that have joined the chorus
know of your glory now.
My voice prepares the notes
that I’ll sing before Your throne,
rehearsing the day I’ll see You face to face
We haven’t recorded this one on a Sojourn CD, but you can hear a live recording of this, courtesy of Drake Hatfield’s drakeaudio.com, made during a Sojourn Gathered service last year (featuring the lead vocals of Brooks Ritter).
7. I’ll Fly Away, Alfred E. Brumley’s famous gospel hymn. A good send-off, and a compliment to Charlie’s song that describes heaven as the place where praise to God will never end.
The set list for our two evening services (5 and 7 pm) was identical to our morning services, although as always a different band led the evening congregants, in this case consisting of Dave Moisan on guitar and vocals, Rebecca Elliott on keys and vocals, Matt Harris on drums, Charlie Lucas on bass and Phillip Miller on lead guitar.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for brief text commentary and an audio interview with worship leader, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and professional musician Neil Robins of Dirt Poor Robins, who, along with wife and fellow DPR Kate will be leading a seminar on songwriting Saturday, April 26, 3 pm at Sojourn’s home, The 930.