Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Baby Dedication Music Set List At Sojourn, October 19, 2008

I was on a mini-vacation this weekend but thanks to The Planning Center (and worship arts pastoral assistant Jamie Barnes, who helps Pastor Mike with service planning and who keeps everyone up-to-date on the schedule), and with photos by Dan Canales, here is the worship music set list for this week’s service here in Louisville, which included 22 baby dedications on a Baby Dedication Sunday.  This is posted in cooperation with other church music set lists as part of the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com.

1. Psalm Three, written by King David, Isaac Watts, and Sojourn’s own Rebecca Dennison.  The brand new ESV Study Bible records this as part of its note about Psalm 3: “here is how David models genuine faith in his dire straits, and readers can learn to do the same in theirs.”  This goes with what Dr. John Witvliet wrote in Worship Seeking Understanding concerning how to use psalms of lament, described last week here at sojournmusic.com.  We will record ”Psalm 3″ for one of our two upcoming worship CDs, so you’ll all be able to hear it then.

On a related note, Tuesday I’ll post an inside look at one of the recording sessions for our next CD.  You can hear bits from a couple brand new songs and see some of the folks making the music.

2. Sing Alleluia, written by Steve Hindalong and Marc Byrd, adapted from the classic Call to Worship anthem “All Creatures of our God and King” by Francis of Assissi. 

3. O Help My Unbelief, hymn text by Isaac Watts, music by Justin Smith, from the Indelible Grace record Wake Thy Slumbering Children.  Watts was the very definition of a cross-centered hymn writer:

To the dear fountain of thy blood,

Incarnate God, I fly;

Here let me wash my spotted soul,

From crimes of deepest dye.

4. All I Have is Yours, lyrics by me and music by Rebecca Elliott.  The congregation sang this contemporary hymn of offering, appropriately, following the baby dedications.  You can view the chord sheet from our Before the Throne page and hear the mp3 from our Myspace page, myspace.com/sojournrecords.

In this baby dedication picture, you’ll see that at Sojourn we have all the parents and babies come up to the front together.  The average age of a Sojourn attender is just over 28 years old, which means that we’ve had a “first time parent” explosion the last three years.  Anyway, after the parents dedicate their babies to Christ and pledge to bring them up in the ways of the Lord, all of us in the congregation raise our hands and pledge to help these parents do so, as part of their family in Christ.

5. Sovereign Grace, O’er Sin Abounding, hymn text by John Kent, music by Sandra McCracken from her record The Builder and the Architect, featuring hymns new and old.  It’s a good congregational song for meditating on the Lord’s Supper or for singing as a celebration of assurance:

What from Christ that soul can sever

bound by everlasting bands?

Once in Him, in Him forever;

thus the eternal covenant stands

6. Cling to the Cruficied, hymn text anonymous (from Bonar’s “Lyra Consolationis”), alteration and music by Kevin Twit of Indelible Grace.  This was the second Wake Thy Slumbering Children songs of the service.  We’ve done this one several times now.  It has an easy swing feel and a melody that makes it easy for the congregation to participate.  The lyrics urge us to cling to Christ, bestowing various titles upon Him that teach us more about Jesus as we sing.  At various points in the three verses we urge each other to cling to:

• the Mighty One
• the Living One
• the Bleeding One
• the Gracious One
• the Pard’ning One
• the Coming One
• the Faithful One
• the Healing One
• the Reigning One

The order of the evening services, which I believe did not have a baby dedication, was a little different.  The band opened with My Maker and My King, hymn text by Anne Steel, adaptation and music by Sojourn’s Mike Cosper.  Hear the mp3 and view the chord sheet from our Before the Throne page.  This is a great song to open up the gathering portion of our worship service with, because it’s full of blues-rock energy couple with highly-focused lyrics of adoration.

They omitted “All I Have Is Yours,” while the rest of the songs remained the same as the morning services.

Worship band for the 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. services:

Kate Robins: vocals

Charlie Richardson: vocals and guitar

Abby Harvey: piano

Mike Cosper: electric guitar

Bryon Shrock: bass guitar

Ryan Harvey: drums

Lachlan Coffey: liturgical readings

Worship band for the 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. services:

Rebecca Elliott: vocals and keyboard

Brooks Ritter: vocals and guitar

Mike Cosper: electric guitar

Charlie Lucas: bass guitar

Matt Harris: drums

Dave Richards: liturgical readings

Come back here on your Monday lunch break (those of you reading this before then) and I’ll have pictures posted of this weekend’s Sojourn Fall Festival.  These pictures were taken by Dan Canales, who regularly photographs our worship bands for sojournmusic.com.