Welcome to the sojournmusic.com weekly set list review. You can find links to the set lists of this church and many other churches each week in the Worship Blog Carnival at theworshipcommunity.com. You can learn about some of the songs we sing at Sojourn Gathered each week in advance of the Sunday service by reading my “Getting Ready For Sunday” post each week at Sojourn’s online journal, TravelBlog. Photos this week by Dan Canales, Ryan Harvey and Chuck Heeke, featuring baptisms from both campuses and all five services.
1. Blessed Are The Poor In This Life written by Sojourn’s Charlie Richardson and Jeremy Quillo. The evening and Sojourn East bands played “All My Tears” instead. “Blessed Are The Poor In This Life” is a simple, effective song that centers on this teaching of Scripture:
Blessed are the poor in this life.
Life is more than the things we buy.
All who seek righteousness, Shall be satisfied
They shall be satisfied
2. From The Depths by Jeremy Quillo. We sang this song during a special time of lament for the people of Haiti. The song followed a psalm-based prayer and time of reflection on the tragedy Haiti has endured in the past week. You can hear the “From The Depths” mp3 and view the guitar chords and lyrics at our These Things I Remember page (hit “preview” for the mp3 — we’ve put the full song on there).
We celebrated seven baptisms during this week of Sojourn Gathered, spread across both our campuses and each of our five services. It’s always a joyous time. We hear the new believer’s story of salvation (read by a friend), then partake in the baptism together by raising our hands and joining with the pastor in proclaiming “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit …”
3. Thy Mercy hymn text by John Stocker, modern melody by Sandra McCracken. I love how the final verse credits the triune God’s complete redemption of those in Christ: goodness, covenant love, mercy, pardon and righteousness — all brought to us by Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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.
4. I Sing The Mighty Power Of God by Isaac Watts. This song reminds us that, while we can’t immediately comprehend why God allows tragedy to arise sometimes, He is in control:
I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God’s command, and all the stars obey.
5. Thorns by Charlie Richardson. The East campus band played the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” instead. “Thorns” is a great Sojourn original that we nevertheless have not yet recorded. The band sang it a couple years ago on “Fox In The Morning,” the morning talk show by Louisville’s FOX Network affiliate, WDRB. This week we used it as our communion song. The words were especially appropriate for this service. Prior to communion, Pastor Daniel Montgomery had preached on “Friendship” from the book of Proverbs.
You no longer call me slave
You now call me friend
Should I ever leave you Lord,
You’ll bring me back againYou wore a crown of thorns
That I might wear a crown of life
You lead me home
Help me find my way to you
6. Lift Up Thy Bleeding Hand hymn text by Cecil Alexander. Modern melody by Andrew Osenga. This is another song that flowed well and reminded us of God’s providence, even in light of the Haitian earthquake:
When penitential grief has wept
O’er some foul dark spot,
One only stream, a stream of blood,
Can wash away the blot.’Tis Jesus’ blood that washes white,
His hand that brings relief,
His heart that’s touched with all our joys,
And feels for all our grief.
7. Awake My Soul by Sandra McCracken. This is one of my favorite songs, recorded at various times by McCracken herself, Caedmon’s Call, and McCracken’s husband, Derek Webb. It was a great “go home” song for us this week:
I trust no other source or name,
nowhere else can I hide
This grace gives me fear, and this grace draws me near
And all that it asks it provides
Worship band for the 9:30 and 11:15am services at The 930:
Lorie King — vocals
Charlie Richardson — vocals and guitar
Mike Cosper — lead guitar
Shane St. Clair — keyboard
Bryan Todd — bass guitar
Buck Buchanan — drums
Worship band for the 10am service at Sojourn East:
Kate Robins — vocals
Neil Robins — vocals, guitar
Joel Gerdis — vocals, guitar
Daniel LaChance — keyboard
Robert James — bass guitar
Andy Meyers — drums
Worship band for the 5 and 7pm services at The 930:
Megan Shaffer — vocals
Brooks Ritter — vocals and guitar
Justin Shaffer — lead guitar
Mike Cosper — slide guitar
Brian Meurer — bass guitar
Smitty Smith — drums
Larry, our son Joel helps to lead worship at this fast growing church . . . he is now at the Louisville East campus now at 300 and growing rapidly