Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Sojourn's Worship Set List, June 20, 2010

Welcome to sojournmusic.com’s weekly worship music 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. And 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 Thursday at Sojourn’s online journal, TravelBlog.

This set list begins with the first song following our Call To Worship. Slight variations may have taken place in each service/campus.

1. All You Saints! Adopted Ones! written by Brooks Ritter and Jamie Barnes, based on Gadsby hymn 624. As Indelible Grace founder Kevin Twit recently said in a seminar here at Sojourn, there aren’t many songs on the theology of adoption. Yet, it’s such a foundational teaching of the Christian faith. In that spirit comes “All You Saints! Adopted Ones!”

You hear the wearied groans for rest

You lift the orphans , call them blessed

You gave Christ’s blood my righteousness

Let all the world to Him confess…

2. O Help My Unbelief hymn text by Isaac Watts, modern melody and arrangement by Justin Smith. We sang this following a prayer of confession, as a way to further confess our utter dependence on God.

My soul obeys the almighty call

And runs to this relief

I would believe Thy promise Lord,

O help my unbelief

3. We Are Listening by Sojourn’s Jeremy Quillo. We recorded this as a sung “prayer of illumination” on our liturgically-themed Before The Throne record. This is how we used it today as well, before moving into the Passing Of The Peace and our pastor’s sermon. You can:

Next, since it was Father’s Day, we engaged in the Passing Of The Peace and we passed out free copies of Our Home Is Like A Little Church to all fathers in attendance. I wrote this rhyming children’s book with fellow Sojourner Lindsey Blair, and illustrations by Sojourn’s Tessa Janes. The book teaches the biblical concept of the home as a “little church” where the father leads his family to worship the one true God.

Published by Christian Focus a couple months ago, it is already going through a second press run. I’m told that it is currently sold out on Amazon, but you can order it for just $4.49 through Westminster Press.

Following that, Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery preached the first in a short series of messages on Galatians. Here is our under-2 minute video preview:

4. Beautiful Scandalous Night by Steve Hindalong and Derri Daugherty. This has long been one of my favorite contemporary worship songs, and that of many Sojourners. Here, we sang it as our communion hymn of the week:

On the hillside you will be delivered

At the foot of the cross justified

And your spirit restored, by the river that pours

From our blessed Savior’s side

5. Deep In Our Hearts by Isaac Watts, with modern arrangement by Sojourn’s Mike Cosper, Joel Gerdis and Brooks Ritter. This song continued our theme of thankfulness for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross:

Oh gracious God, You’ve heard my plea,

A once cursed prisoner, now released,

Those dreadful sufferings of thy Son

Atoned for sins that we had done.

Atoned for sins that we had done.

6. Only Your Blood Is Enough by Sojourn’s Neil Robins, adapted from “Psalm 51, Part 2″ by Isaac Watts. We recorded this on our latest worship album, Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One.

It leaves no doubt concerning how to be “made right” with God:

Only Your blood is enough to cover my sin.

Only Your blood is enough to cover me.

Following the service at the Midtown campus, Pastor Daniel invited everyone to take a notecard with string (which we’d passed out to attendees) and write “whatever you’re tempted to add to the pure gospel”. It could be something like “Jesus + no drinking,” “Jesus + no TV,” “Jesus + political party activism,” etc.

Attendees then tied their notecards to an art installation just outside of our auditorium. The installation, built this past week under the direction of Art Director Michael Winters, features a cross that is surrounded by a fence. This “fence” is whatever we attempt to add or subtract from the gospel — whatever, in Pastor Daniel’s words, changes the pure meaning of the gospel, which is “Jesus + nothing.” Jesus is our atonement, our sacrifice, our door to the throne room of God.