1. Invitacion Fountain, by Michael Pritzl. We’ve done this one quite a bit over the last few years. It’s a good song to make us aware that we don’t come together to somehow usher in God’s presence, since God is present everywhere. The call is from God; it is our privilege to respond. Pritzl, from The Violet Burning, has structured this song very well, giving both male and female voices good parts to sing and ways to connect with the message of this song, the call to “come and be set free.” Rebecca Dennison and Jamie Barnes led us in these respective parts while Robert James, Sean Brooks and Rebecca Elliott fleshed out the instrumentation (Jamie played guitar, as well). The lyrical structure is intricately conceived but it is easy for a congregation to follow.

2. Seeing You, by Matt Redman. It doesn’t get more theologically clear than Redman’s chorus:

Worship starts with seeing You

Worship starts with seeing You

Our hearts respond to Your revelation.

This is the pattern for Christian worship - God’s revelation and our response.

3. Crippled Soul, by our own Rebecca Dennison. We recorded this one on These Things I Remember and, as usual with Rebecca, it is a good example of a song where the text and the music work together rather than against each other. This song of confession and petition has a slow, bluesy feel appropriate to the poetic acknowledgment of our depraved nature and need for God’s grace. Check out the chord sheet from the These Things I Remember page of this site.

4. Thy Mercy, My God, the hymn text by John Stocker, with a melody by Sandra McCracken. Sandra knows how to pick them, that’s for sure. Her melodies are very sing-able, too.

The fourth verse is as succinct a presentation of the gospel and the triune nature of God as you’ll see in any song:

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,

and the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;

All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine

Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

5. Your Blood Says Everything, by Billy Sommerville. We sang and meditated on this Vineyard song during communion and offering this week.

In the presence of Holiness, I cannot speak / Your blood says everything

We see this pattern in scripture often - when humans encounter God, they’re often speechless and awed. What could we say? Fortunately the blood of Christ is our witness and defense.

6. Jesus Paid It All, by Elvina M. Hall and John T. Grape. I grew up singing this late 19th century gospel hymn, and it’s always nice to be able to sing it again with brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of the songs from that era are very sentimental but the theology suffers. This one, though, presents Christ crucified as the payment for our sins in a direct but poetic fashion.

7. All Good Gifts, by our own Michael Morgan. This is our “benediction song” from Before the Throne (chord sheet available from this site). It was the perfect song to close that album, as well as to send us home today. Check out Michael’s article on the writing of “All Good Gifts.”

Derek Holt, Alex O’Nan, Laura Beth O’Nan, Mike Cosper and Brooks Ritter led worship in our two evening services, with a lineup of songs identical to the morning services save for the substitution of Mike’s “Faithful,” for “Crippled Soul.” You can check out the mp3 and the chord sheet for “Faithful” from the These Things I Remember page of this site.

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Remember to join us this Saturday, April 26 at The 930 in Louisville, 3 pm for a free songwriting seminar led by Sojourn’s Neil and Kate Robins, also of Dirt Poor Robins.

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