Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Sojourn’s Worship Music Set List For Sunday, 2/15/09

You can find the link to this set list and the sets of many other churches in the Blog Carnival at fredmckinnon.com.

1. Fellowship So Deep, Aaron Senseman and Kinley Lange, recorded on the Caedmon’s Call record In The Company Of Angels 2. Most of the time we use “Fellowship So Deep” as a song for the sending/benediction or a song of assurance before the Giving of the Peace.  But it makes for a fine Call To Worship as well:

Let us sing of our Redeemer, and of His love that made us free

And know this gift is ours forever: a fellowship so deep.

A fellowship so deep.

Following this, we read and meditated on a prayer of confession, written by John Calvin and adapted by Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper.  As I told you in an earlier blog post, Mike has launched a website with Nathan Bierma of the Calvin Institute For Christian Worship that aims to present readings, prayers and litanies and other resources for free use and adaptation by interested parties.  The site, theopensourcebook.org, also offers worship planners the option of submitting their own resources for possible inclusion.

2. Lead Us Back, words by me (Bobby Gilles) and music by my friend Brooks Ritter.  You can read the story behind this modern hymn of confession, and you can also hear the mp3 and view the chord sheet from our Before The Throne page.

Brooks and I have recently teamed up again to write a song called “Living Faith,” based on an Isaac Watts hymn called “A Living And A Dead Faith (Hymn 140),” which will be on the upcoming Sojourn CD, Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, volume one.

3. We Are Listening, by Sojourn’s Jeremy Quillo.  This is a sung Prayer of Illumination, before the reading of God’s Word and the sermon.  We recorded it on Before The Throne — you can find both the mp3 and the chord sheet here on sojournmusic.com. Also, read Jeremy’s “Story Behind The Song” for more about “We Are Listening.”

Following this and the Giving of the Peace, Sojourn elder-candidate James Santos preached his first sermon at The 930.  James continued with our Old Testament sermon series, focusing on the Sinai assembly and the Ten Commandments.

4. Holy, Holy, Holy, lyrics by Reginald Heber in 1826, music by John B. Dykes nearly four decades later. Heber was the first person to compile a hymnal ordered around the Church Year.  He wrote “Holy, Holy, Holy” to be sung on “Trinity Sunday,” which is observed in the Christian calendar eight Sundays following Easter.

We Sojourners sang it as our Communion hymn this week.

5. Only Your Blood Is Enough, written by Sojourn’s Neil Robins (also of the rock band Dirt Poor Robins), adapted from “Psalm 51, part 2” by Isaac Watts.  This song will be a part of our soon-to-be-released worship CD Over The Grave: The Hymns of Isaac Watts, volume one, a vibrant, indie-pop companion to the more acoustic volume two, to be recorded later this year.  Neil and Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper traveled down to Nashville last week and completed mixing and mastering on this record, so it won’t be long before, as Neil says, “You’ll be able to taste this music with your ears.”

I am ashamed, conceived in sin — I’ve always been

Born in a world where Adam’s fall corrupts us.

Rooted is the seed of death in life’s first breath.

The Law demands a perfect heart — but I’m defiled in every part …

For only Your blood is enough to cover my sin

Only Your blood is enough to cover me.

6. We Are Changed, by me (Bobby Gilles), Neil Robins and Dave Moisan, based on the little-known Isaac Watts Hymn 95 “Not All The Outward Forms Of Earth” (also sometimes known as “Regeneration”).  SONGWRITER NERD ALERT: I very purposefully gave this song a passive-voice title, to underscore the fact that we cannot accomplish our own salvation.  We can do nothing on our own — God must do it.  Yes, this is an example of how pedantic I am, over every aspect of lyric writing.

We are changed, no longer in chains

once were enslaved, but the Son has come

and conquered the grave — so we are changed.

We are changed — not by the things we’ve arranged,

not by the work our hands have done,

it’s through Your Son that we are changed.

“We Are Changed” will also be part of Over The Grave: The Hymns of Isaac Watts, volume one.

Photographer Dan Canales is out of town this week — sorry for the lack of photos.

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

Brooks Ritter — vocals and guitar

Rebecca Elliott — vocals and keys

Lindsey Lewis — vocals

David Weir — lead guitar

Simon Groce — bass guitar

Smitty Smith — drums

Lachlan Coffey — liturgy readings

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

Dave Moisan — vocals, guitar, keys

Kate Robins — vocals

Neil Robins — lead guitar, keys

Jacob Goran — saxophone

Eddy Morris — bass guitar

Ryan Harvey — drums

Brandon Rogers — liturgical readings