another new tune(s)

I could just ignore the fact that I once again have not posted in ages. But let's just acknowledge that and move on. You may be wondering what's up here in Columbia. Well, lots really. In fact, if there are any of you still reading this thing, you will have to remain in suspense a bit longer before I update you on the many goings on with the Daugherty family and the exciting things happening with our church and life here. Today, I post only to tell again of another new tune at Karis. Next week comes the update. So, hold your breath...all two of you.

As for this week's music at Karis I am excited to introduce another great new song. Really, I'm kind of introducing a song and a half this week. I;ll explain the half part later. As for the main new song:

Song Title: At Your Feet

Author: Tim Smith (Worship Pastor, Mars Hill Church, Seattle)

Why Did I Choose It? This song is really grooving with me right now. It's a powerful song of adoration, and I think we are somewhat lacking in those at Karis. We strive so much to be a gospel-centered church, weaving the gospel of Christ and his sacrifice for us into so much of our music, that sometimes I think it can be easy to forget that we're called to adore God not only for what he has done but also for who he is. In fact, the gospel becomes more and more beautiful to us, and Christ becomes more and more our treasure, when we see more fully the holiness of God and how far from his perfections we really are. So historically, the church has tended to open with some form of adoration in response to a Scriptural or other liturgical call to worship. Holy, Holy, Holy would be a prime example of a hymn of adoration that would be perfect for use early in a worship gathering - a song that draws our attention to some aspect of God's glory and perfections.

So this week at Karis, we'll be using "At Your Feet" as a response of adoration to our opening call, which will be a combination of the Jeremy Quillo (of Sojourn Community Church) song "Come and Sing" and Psalm 8 ("O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name..."). The lyrics draw attention to the fact that God's creation declares his glory (Psalm 19) - as we look around, we see God's power in all he has made. But further, it takes Jesus' declaration that God is able to bring praise from the "very stones" if we keep silent (Luke 19:40), and turns it into a call to respond to God's glory with the appropriate response: falling at his feet. The basic idea of the first few verses is, if I see your beauty and don't open my mouth, don't change to conform to you, you will raise up rocks to praise you. So, instead, we cry out with the rocks as the only creatures who have a choice in all of creation. Fall at his feet and declare his glory!

Musically the song evokes a bit of a classic U2 feel, with open spacious verses and a driving rock chorus. The mix between those two elements creates at once a feeling of awe as we sing the verses and bursting energy as we cast ourselves down before the Lord. This tune is as good as any classic and I think it will spread wide within the church as it already has in the Acts 29 network.

My favorite line:
"Wind blows
Skies rain and if I stay
Unchanged
The trees will raise their arms and
Cry out to the Lord Most High."
I love the tie-in there between worship and holiness. With that line, we're singing that if we don't respond to God with our whole being, not only singing and declaring his glory, but also actually changing in response to him (and only by his grace), then the trees will declare his glroy more loudly than we will. We are the only creatures that he has made that can consciously repond with our whole being. The trees simply declare his glory. We, on the other hand declare it with our lips, our hands, our changed lives. I hope we will soak in that truth as we sing this song.

Why teach it right now? On one hand, as I said, I simply think we need more good songs of adoration to sing at Karis, and this one is tops on my list right now. But also, in light of what we're looking at this week, "A City of Light," I wanted to have a chance to dwell together on the truth that looking at God leads to that whole response of praise and ultimately of becoming a light that declares his glory in everything we do as changed people and a transformed community. We're looking at Luke 8:16-18 this Sunday, about being a city on a hill. It's a great time to meditate on what a true response of worship looks like - what it looks like for our church to truly join with the rocks in declaring his glory in the way we were made to, in his image.

Can you hear it? Yes. Go here and scroll almost to the bottom to the list of songs under the band The Parsons. It's in that list. Enjoy!

Now, you're still wondering what the half-song is. Every now and then you come across a little bit from a song that was not intended to be written for corporate Christian worship, but that contains such a nugget of beauty and truth that you can't help but grab onto it. The song "This Low" by The Swell Season is just one of those songs. If you have seen the film Once, you're familiar with this band, even if you didn't realize it. That's the main two folks from the band in that movie, and all of the music is theirs. My wife, parents and I had the chance to see them live back in May, and it was one of the most moving experiences of beauty I have ever had. This paricular song was a highlight of the night, one in which I think I really did have an experience of transcendant worship as they song the long, outro chorus. So it's that chorus that we're using this Sunday to finish our corporate worship with a note of sending. Basically, the lyrics just vamp over various themes in regard to praising "the Light" and sharing it. I think it will be a powerful thing for us to close after taking the supper together, singing together to "raise the Light, Praise the Light, thread the Light (as in weaving the Light into our world like artists), crave the Light, spread the Light..." and so on. It's incredible how, because we are made in the image of God, we all have a sense of the trandscendant God and a right response to him, even if we can't nail it down. There is a certain vagueness in the song as it was written, but it captures a truth about how we should respond to the Light of God, by craving it and thus becoming light ourselves. Good stuff. Check this band out. Many of their songs contain these kinds of nuggets.