This post is one of many church music set lists participating in a weekly Blog Carnival hosted by fredmckinnon.com. 

1. Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed, lyrics by Isaac Watts, traditional Irish melody arranged by Annie Quick.  Despite the fact that this is one of Watts’ best known hymns, this is the first time to my knowledge that we’ve sung “Alas! and did my Savior Bleed” at The 930.  The lyrics are famously convicting and comforting:

Was it for crimes that I had done

He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity, grace unknown,

and love beyond degree!

We didn’t sing the lyrics, however.  As you’ll see below, we sang this song as our communion hymn of the week.  In this opening portion of the service, the band merely played Annie Quick’s melody.  This is a good idea when you’re introducing a new song to your congregation: play it as an instrumental before or after the service (or both) so people can learn it.

After this we heard a Call to Worship based on Psalm 86:8-10.

2. Invitacion Fountain, written by Michael J. Pritzl of The Violet Burning.  This is an effective call to worship song, composed as a call-and-response text that begins with the call -

Let all who are weak, all who are weary ..

and then after carrying on for several lines, provides lyrics for the congregation’s response:

if you lead me Lord, I will follow.  Where You lead me Lord, I will go.

Following this we heard words of confession based on 1 John 1:8-9, then we prayed a prayer of confession together.

3. Merciful God, written by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend.  This song moves us from confession:

Broken I come, helpless in sin,

found at the feet of Your mercy.

Father forgive, may my sin be remembered no more.

to the assurance, in the last verse, that God will keep us from falling and bring us to His kingdom of mercy in the end.  Following this we recited words of assurance from the Heidelberg Catachism Q&A 56.

4. There is a Peace, written by Sojourn’s own Charlie Richardson.  Check out the chord sheet for “There is a Peace” from the Before the Throne page here at sojournmusic.com, and listen to the mp3 for free from the Sojourn Music Facebook page (which you can go to any time from this site’s “Helpful Links” section).

“There is a Peace” led us into the liturgical movement that it represented in our liturgically-themed Before the Throne album, the Passing of the Peace.  After that, Pastor Daniel Montgomery preached on Christian Liberty from Romans 14:1-12, the first of a two-part sermon series on the topic.

5. Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed, written as noted above.  The worship band did it again during our communion and offering time, this time leading us in singing Watts’ powerful lyrics.

6. Here is Love, written by William Rees and Robert Lowry, arr. and additional chorus by Matt Redman.  I love how guys like Matt Redman, who are seen as being at the forefront of the contemporary praise and worship movement, bring back meaningful hymns like this:

On the mount of crucifixion

fountains opened deep and wide

through the floodgates of God’s mercy

flowed a vast and gracious tide

After this we read together from portions of Psalm 105.

7. Great is Thy Faithfulness, written by Thomas O. Chisholm and William M. Runyan.  A great “song for the sending.”  The lyrics let us sing together of God’s promise that His pardon, His peace, His presence, strength and hope are blessings for us every day of the week, not just Sunday:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide

strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

blessings all mine with ten thousand beside

In the 5 pm and 7 pm services they substituted “Great is Thy Faithfulness” for a brand new song that will be on the first of our two upcoming worship albums based on the hymns of Isaac Watts.  The song is called “We Are Changed,” written by Neil Robins, Dave Moisan and me.  And this Tuesday I’ll have live video footage from the studio percussion recording session.  You’ll get to hear a rough mix of the song as Ryan Harvey adds drums under producer Neil’s direction.  Be sure you come back to this site to check it out!

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

Rebecca Dennison - vocals

Jamie Barnes - vocals and guitar

Mike Cosper - lead guitar

Tim Donaldson - cello

Katie Mitchell - violin/viola

Simon Gross - bass

Ryan Harvey - drums

Scott Slucher - liturgical readings

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

Laura Beth O’Nan - vocals

Dave Moisan - guitar and keys

Mike Cosper - lead guitar

Dan Cassin - keys

Bryon Shrock - bass

Smitty Smith - drums

Micah Revell - liturgical readings

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