Glorious Christ

Here's a really great tune by Sovereign Grace Music that we've been using at St. Andrews.  The entire album is awesome.  Check it out!!

Forgive Our Sins As We Forgive

Great tune I re-worked recently.  Didn't feel like the music matched up to the mood of the lyrics, so I slowed it down and added a chorus.  I think an easy-to-sing chorus can really bring life to a hymn.  Hope it ministers to ya!

"Practice, Practice, Practice"

"Practice, practice, practice"  These were the 3 words Bruce Hornsby wrote on one of our pastor's business cards at the request of an autograph.  It wasn't for him, though.  It was for me.  Finding himself behind Bruce at the Miami airport, he asked for an autograph, mentioning that I was a piano player and was greatly influenced by his work.  So, having insight into who I am, Bruce wrote, probably without thinking, those 3 words.  Needless to say, I don't have to go back and look at that business card to remember.

This wasn't a new idea for me, but rather, a reminder.  A reminder of how an artist remains proficient at their craft.  Because I play piano in front of a church congregation almost 50 times a year, I get asked alot, "How do you learn to do that?"  My response is always the same: years of continual practice (key word - continual).  I usually will liken it to learning a foreign language.  Hopefully none of you were so unfortunate as I was to have taken a year of Latin in high school, but maybe you took Spanish.  You remember that, in order to even have a chance at passing that class, you had to be continually practicing writing and speaking that language.  The more you did it, the less foreign it became.  The less you did it, the more it would begin to slip.  You may also remember that it came very slowly.  That's hard for us, because it requires mental sweat.  Yet, the reward is great.

As a worship leader, I have to balance my time between a lot of things, and sometimes practicing can slip through the cracks (add a baby into the mix and it falls deeper).  Because I've become proficient at my instrument, I'm able to spend time doing other things.  However, it doesn't mean I'm free from practicing anymore.  In the same way that a person will lose their Spanish if they stop using it, I will slowly begin to lose the brain/hand connection if I don't practice.  Maybe you lead from a piano, or guitar, and maybe even another instrument.  I challenge you to practice your instrument during the week so you can let your heart be set on the Lord when your congregation gathers for corporate worship.

Act of Congress Coming to St. Andrews!

St. Andrews folks - listen up!  Act of Congress (my best friend/brother-in-law's band) is going to be performing at our church on Wednesday July 18, 2012 at 7pm.  You know you were gonna be here for Wednesday night supper anyway, so mark your calendars!!  Admission will be free and a love offering will be collected during the performance.  The band released their second album on March 27 and it is KILLER!  You can download it here.  Although you probably won't hear their music on "Christian" radio (more likely folk or indie stations), the group members are professing Christians and active in their local church.  Here's a little video to get you psyched!!  You can also visit their webpage at here.

Gethsemane

This past Spring our young adults group did a study/discussion by Paul Miller called The Person of Jesus, particularly, the Passion. If you're not familiar with any of Paul Miller's work, you should check it out. Our discussions about Jesus' emotional state during those last 24 hours were so moving that I wanted to somehow seal those discussions into a piece of art that would help us remember it. Needless to say, when I now read the words "troubled in spirit" or "distressed" as they pertain to Jesus, they now carry a lot more weight.

This piece was originally intended to be solo piano, but as I was running through it one last time our electric player, Tom Lippincott, began to improvise over the chords. I'm usually not one to throw in a last minute change to a service we've been planning for months, but what he was playing was sooo good, I never hesitated.

The piece has 3 movements (1. Distress, 2. Sweat-drops of Blood, 3. "Is There Another Way?") and was recorded during the Good Friday service on 4/6/12.

Enjoy!

Another Easter Tune: Death is Ended

Here's the James Ward tune with which we closed the Easter services:

The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done

Here's a demo of a tune we did in our Easter worship. It the original melody with new chords by me.

Worship Fuels Worship

Steven Curtis Chapman came out with a fantastic song back in 2003 called "Moment Made for Worshipping." It's probably one of his lesser known tunes, but it's one of my favorites and is particularly speaking to me now. Here's the 1st verse and chorus:

6:30 Monday morning
I'm here hiding in my bed
A song plays on my alarm clock
As I cover up my head
But somewhere in the distance
I remember yesterday
Singing, "Hallelujah!"
Full of wonder, awe and praise
But now I'm must wondering
Why I don't feel anything at all

This is a moment made for worshipping
'Cause this is a moment I'm alive
This is a moment I was made to sing
A song of living sacrifice
For every moment that I live and breathe
This is a moment made for worshipping

It's funny how I so often associate worship with music. I understand that tendency, though. Worship music was the means God used to save me - wonderful moments of transcendence and awe, and radical desire to surrender my heart. This was my life as a young Christian. But, as we all know, the music eventually stops and we go about our daily lives. As I've had to learn over and over again (and am re-learning now), worship is not merely singing and lifting hands, but is clearly defined for us in Romans 12:1 - "...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

Steven Curtis was on to something. In his song lyric, he reveals that he's like the rest of us, that though we all want those wonderful moments of transcendence to last, they don't. But what he says next is the best of all - "these moments are made for worship!" These moments are opportunities! So if worship is like what Paul is describing in Romans 12, then here's how I worship throughout the week:

• Doing the dishes
• Taking out the trash
• Waking up early with my 11-month old
• Cleaning the showers
• Sweeping and mopping the floors
• Changing diapers
• Opening up my home for a Bible study
• Giving my wife a back rub
• Getting in bed earlier than I want
• Choosing not to browse Facebook when I could watch television with my wife
• Giving the baby a bath and putting her to bed
• Taking the dog to the vet

Do you see a common denominator here? All of these are acts of self-sacrifice. I don't list these to pump myself up, because it's often that I don't do them with the best of motives. But the point is this: Jesus modeled this by washing the disciples' feet, and by doing the same, by serving and sacrificing our wills and wants, we are worshipping Him! Is this not what Jesus meant when He said, "He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal"? Of course it is!

So to bring this full circle: I find in my own life that, when I am worshipping by sacrificing my wants and my life, my worship time at church is heightened. And the contrary is true when I'm not living this way. The reason Paul described worship as self-sacrifice is because that's how Jesus worshipped the Father. It's been modeled for us - the healings, the teaching, the patience with His disciples, the cross - what about Jesus' life was not self-sacrifice? Why should we lable worship as anything but self-sacrifice? And ultimately, the music portion in our church services is also an opportunity for self-sacrifice as well. It's in those times that the music and the lyrics can move us to surrender our wills, and hopefully, propel us to self-sacrifice during our week.