Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Sojourn’s Worship Service, May 31, 2009

This set list is one of many that you can find at the worship music set list blog carnival at fredmckinnon.com, featuring many different kinds of churches. I’m reporting from the morning set list this week, which differed on several points from our evening set list.

1. Shelter Me, by Buddy and Julie Miller.  I’ve shared most of the lyrics with you here in this weekly series, at one time or another.  It’s such a well-written song, and a favorite with many Sojourners:

the earth can shake the sky come down
the mountains all fall to the ground
but i will fear none of these things
shelter me lord underneath your wings

We then heard the Call to Worship, based on Psalm 91, and responded by singing:

2. Refuge, by Sojourn’s Neil Robins, adapted from Isaac Watts’s “Psalm 31, part 1.”  You can hear a portion of this song on the preview video in our Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One page.  Of course, that also means that it is one of the songs on this brand new CD, which will ship on Tuesday, June 16 if you pre-order now.  The Sojourn band will also have advance copies for those who attend the Advance ‘09 Conference this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina and the accompanying Re:Sound event this Friday night. Here is the chorus to “Refuge”:

I know my days are in Your hands
though I draw near to dust
You are the God in whom I trust,
You are my refuge.
So lift up your voice and sing aloud,
and praise Him all you saints,
How wondrous is His grace,
He is our refuge.

When then prayed a corporate confession, adapted from a Puritan prayer.  You can hear a short interview regarding Sojourn’s use of public confession in worship services in the “Why We Do What We Do” series.

3. May Your Power Rest On Me, by Sojourn’s Joel Gerdis and Neil Robins.  This is another one from our upcoming Over The Grave worship album.  I’ll be able to share it with you very soon.  And speaking of sharing, of course last week we uploaded the first mp3 from our new album to our Facebook and Myspace pages. We’ll do another one this Tuesday.

But speaking of “May Your Power Rest On Me,” it’s a big, anthemic ballad based on Watts’s “Hymn 15,” and beautifully sung on the record by Kate Robins, of the rock band Dirt Poor Robins:

May your power rest on me
You are strong when I am weak
I can bear all things when temptation springs
For you sustain me all my days

4. I Have To Believe, by Rita Springer.  This is a solid song of assurance, and one that we’ve enjoyed singing over the past couple years during Sojourn Gathered services:

He said He can move mountains

He said that He’s forever true

And if He said He can move mountains,

Then He can move mountains, He can move MY mountain, He can move YOUR mountain too …

We then heard and recited Words of Assurance from Hebrews 13:5-6.  Remember that you can read and freely use many of our corporate readings, posted at theopensourcebook.org, a joint collaboration between Sojourn Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

Then following the Passing Of The Peace, Sojourn Kids Director Jared Kennedy preached his first sermon for Sojourn, from 2 Samuel 7.  David proposes to build a temple for God, but God settles him, promises a lasting kingdom to his heir, and says that the heir will be the one to build the temple.

5. Be Thou My Vision, our Communion hymn of the week.  This traditional, anonymous Irish ballad cries out for true communion with Christ:

Be thou my Wisdom,
and thou my true Word,
I ever with thee
And thou with me, Lord
Though and though only
First in my heart
High King of heaven ,
My treasure thou art.

6. King of Glory, by Chris Tomlin.  Sometimes people say, “You guys do a lot of your own songs at Sojourn, and a lot of old hymns.  Do you do anything by well known contemporary worship leaders?”  Well yes … we do good songs from all time periods, including plenty of songs by modern worship leaders like Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin.  This is one of them, and we’ve enjoyed singing it as a song of celebration and a declaration of our allegiance for years:

There is one God He is Holy
There is one Lord over everything
There is one King He is Jesus
King of glory strong and mighty

Next we engaged in a group reading from Galatians 4:4-7, leading into our final song of worship before being sent, as the scattered church, into the city of Louisville:

7. Awake My Soul, by Sandra McCracken.  This is a favorite of mine, and of many others.  Every line of the song is a jewel, and the final verse is an exclamation point on any Christian worship service and any Christian life:

When I stand on the edges of Jordan

With the saints and the angels beside,

When my body is healed, and the glory revealed,

then still, I can boast only Christ.

We closed our time of congregational worship with this Benediction:

Go now, and rest in God’s promises. He has set you free from the chains of sin and offered you refuge in the shelter of Kingdom. Go now in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.

And also with you.

Worship band for the 9:30 am and 11:15 am services:

Brooks Ritter — vocals and guitar

Kate Robins — vocals

Neil Robins — lead guitar

Dony Irwin — bass guitar

Daniel LaChance — keyboard

Smitty Smith — drums

Lachlan Coffey — liturgical readings

Worship band for the 5 pm and 7 pm services:

Dave Moisan — vocals, keyboard, guitar

Rebecca Elliott — vocals

Mike Cosper — lead guitar

Jacob Goran — saxophone

Eddy Morris — bass guitar

Ryan Harvey — drums

Michael Morgan — liturgy readings