image (c) Erik Nykamp "A Tree Planted"

PDF – 2012 Program Book (workshops and worship)

Video and Audio from workshops will be posted here

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to worship with over 1500 people from dozens of different countries, cultures, and denominations.  This diversity is one of the chief joys of participating in Calvin’s Worship Symposium held every year up in balmy Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The theme of this years symposium was ““When Life is Prayer” with a special focus on the Psalms.  This theme corresponded with the publication of a new psalter “Psalms for All Seasons” that every single attender received. (Cardiphonia contributed Psalm 120)

HIGHLIGHTS:

Participating in this seminar:

Seminar 3: Tune My Heart to Sing Your Praise: The Re-tuned hymn (and psalm!) movement in the context of the broader culture, hosted by Greg Scheer and James K.A. Smith and featured Bruce Benedict, Sandra McCracken, Kevin Twit, Eelco Vos, and Isaac Wardell.
When Kevin Twit and RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) began setting historic hymn texts to new tunes, who knew it would grow into a movement with contributions from Indelible Grace, Sojourn Music, BiFrost and others? And who knew that in Europe a similar approach would rejuvenate singing the Psalms? Several leaders in this movement will discuss the cultural background, perform examples of their own songs, and discuss the future of this movement. We’ll give special attention to ways of using this repertoire in the local church.

- Here is a list we put together for the conference of all of the “re:hymned” albums we know of.  http://tinyurl.com/rehymns.

Leading worship

For over 900 people on Friday and Saturday mornings with Greg Scheer, Kevin Twit, Karl Digerness, and Sandra McCracken.

Set List:O God, Our Help in Ages Past (Ps90), To You, O God, I lift up my Soul (25C), Praise the Lord, Sing Hallelujah ((148C), Jesus, Draw me ever Nearer (Getty), Wait for the Lord (Taize), Justice will Roll Down (McCracken)

Friday evening there was a mini-festival to celebrate the new psalter and a diverse group of musicians gathered to play their various compositions led by Martin Tel the chapel director at Princeton Seminary.  We were invited to play our Psalm 120 and were the featured ‘folk’ group of the night.  We show up at about the 38:00 min mark. http://vimeo.com/36081203

Helping with these workshops:

B3: The Psalms of Ascent during Holy Week
The Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134, also called the psalms of pilgrimage) are a collection of 15 psalms that the Israelites sang as they journeyed each year to Jerusalem for Passover.  This session will explore these psalms as resources for leading your congregation on a journey singing and praying with Jesus through Holy Week.

Psalm 130 "Like the Watchman Waits for the Morning" (c) Aaron Collier, 2007

It was also great to see Aaron Collier’s Psalm 130 up in the hallway and included as program art.

C12: Developing Vertical Habits, a panel with Worship Renewal Grant recipients, moderated by Betty Grit
Recipients of Worship Renewal Grants will describe practical resources that helped people of all ages better understand why we do what we do in worship.

Hearing these plenary sessions from NT Wright and Walter Bruggeman.

• Performing a Counter World: the Alternative Reality Offered by the Psalms for the Worlds We Inhabit. Walter Brueggemann
  

“The dominant world given to us by our culture is not the real world,” he said, “and we need not inhabit it. In a world without God there are only idols. The Psalms mediate to us the covenant-making God of Israel.”

• Praying the Psalms: Personal, Pastoral, Theological and Liturgical Reflections.  N.T. Wright (video here)
  

“The Psalms work in us and invite us,” he said, “to live in the radically alternative world that is both creational and covenantal.”

There was even time for a fun outing into the usedbook utopia of Grand Rapids led by the experienced hand of Kevin Twit.

Next week I’m traveling up to Grand Rapids to participate in the Calvin Worship Symposium.  One seminar I’m helping with is “Tune My Heart to Sing Your Praise: The Re-tuned hymn (and psalm!) movement in the context of the broader culture.” We will be looking at the past 10+ years of the re-tuned hymn movement that originated in large part at RUF Belmont with Kevin Twit and Indelible Grace

In preparation for this seminar I’ve been reflecting on my own experience of this movement and some of the cultural streams associated with it.  Here are a number of reasons why I think this movement has been successful and has grown from a local to a national movement.  Many of them hinge on significant cultural movements beginning to change the shape of material and popular culture around 2000 when Indelible Grace was beginning.

1. Folk Music Makes a Resurgence

This movement road an upsurge in the popularity of folk music in the main steam media consciousness.  Building on the renewed popularity of folk music brought to contemporary culture by the Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) Soundtrack (Listen to this 10th anniv interview with T Bone Burnett) and the immense collection of hymns texts in its backpocket Indelible Grace found a rich milieu in which to wed the old with the new in a musical synthesis that filled a pressing need for grassroots sacred song. Observation:  Sufjan Stevens and the rise in interest in Shape Note Singing have been two other movements that I have associated with the emergence of folk.

2. Generation X’rs Revolt Against the Boomer Church

The Boomer generation invented and fueled the Contemporary Worship Movement, CCM, and the Mega Church Movement.  These were often concerned with slick production, positive thinking, and (over)simplicity in message.  Generation X’rs wanted authenticity, deeper theology, more intimate worship settings.  Old hymn texts and folkier music was a perfect fit for the mood of this generation.  Further Question: How does Passion Music fit into this discussion?

3. Lack of Song Choice and Publishing Stagnancy

Prior to this movement there was largely only two places to go for choices in church music – traditional hymnals or the Contemporary Worship Movement (CWM) publishing behemoth. (actually…both are publishing giants) The dichotomy these two groups facilitated and catered to created a stranglehold on churches that fueled the worship wars of the 80s and 90s.  Both groups through either the old mainline denominations or the  new church growth movement kept up their publishing and presence through numerous conferences and magazines.  Pitting Organ and Choirs versus Mega Sound Systems and Praise Bands.  In neither of these places could you find the plaintive voice of folk – The old home of community song.  The time had come for folk music (and the tenets of folk) to make a major resurgence.

4. The Digital Revolution

Indelible Grace arrived on the scene just as the innovations of the internet, file sharing, and the home studio were beginning to change the face of the music industry.  Between 1999-2001 Napster obliterated the way our generation thought about music ownership.  Through the inspiration of Indelible Grace, songwriters in colleges and churches all over the US began to write their own re:tuned hymns and could easily share them over the internet without having to utilize the expensive means of the big recording studio. Cdbaby (founded in 2000) now made it easy to produce and distribute a CD.   As a new generation of songwriters began to explore this new form it was now easy to trade songs.  This grassroots movement spread from college ministry to college ministry and church plant to church plant.  Indelible Grace, staying true to their grassroots even collated many of their own songs and made them available for free on a digital hymnal site.

Note: To date their have been over a 1,000 new songs released on CD’s in this movement…not counting scores more that exist on websites and blogs alone.

There is still time to register (till Jan 19th) for this fantastic worship conference coming up the end of January (26th-28th) in the balmy winter haven of Grand Rapids, MI.  The theme this year focuses on the psalms and corresponds with the publication of a huge new psalter The Psalms for all Seasons.

The Calvin Symposium on Worship has been going on for over 10 years and is largely run and organized by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, which awards a large number of worship grants every year alongside a brisk publishing schedule.  (Our church has recieved two of these recently. Sojourn Music has recieved a number, Indelible Grace got their start with a worship grant).

Here is how the Symposium is described on their website.  You can go HERE to see my blog post on last years conference.  It is a wonderful time to be quite overwhelmed with people, services, music, and folks from most parts of the world.

The annual Calvin Symposium on Worship is a three-day conference sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and the Center for Excellence in Preaching. This ecumenical conference brings together a wide audience of pastors, worship leaders and planners, artists, musicians, scholars, students, and other interested worshipers. People come from around the world to gather for a time of fellowship, worship, and learning, seeking to deepen and integrate all aspects of worship, develop their gifts, encourage each other, and renew their commitment to the full ministry of the church. This year the symposium will explore praying and worshiping through the psalms.

Cardiphonia will be helping this year with two seminars.  One all day seminar on thursday.

Seminar 3: Tune My Heart to Sing Your Praise: The Re-tuned hymn (and psalm!) movement in the context of the broader culture, with Bruce Benedict, Sandra McCracken, Kevin Twit (Indelible Grace), Eelco Vos (The Psalms Project), and Isaac Wardell (BiFrost Arts), hosted by Greg Scheer and James K.A. Smith.
When Kevin Twit and RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) began setting historic hymn texts to new tunes, who knew it would grow into a movement with contributions from Indelible Grace, Sojourn Music, BiFrost and others? And who knew that in Europe a similar approach would rejuvenate singing the Psalms? Several leaders in this movement will discuss the cultural background, perform examples of their own songs, and discuss the future of this movement. We’ll give special attention to ways of using this repertoire in the local church.

and a one hour workshop offered on both Friday and Saturday.

B3: The Psalms of Ascent during Holy Week
The Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134, also called the psalms of pilgrimage) are a collection of 15 psalms that the Israelites sang as they journeyed each year to Jerusalem for Passover.  This session will explore these psalms as resources for leading your congregation on a journey singing and praying with Jesus through Holy Week.

I’m also really looking forward to hearing plenary sessions from Walter Bruggeman and N.T. Wright among many excellent, excellent seminars. Go here for the complete schedule.

• Performing a Counter World: the Alternative Reality Offered by the Psalms for the Worlds We Inhabit. Walter Brueggemann.
• Praying the Psalms: Personal, Pastoral, Theological and Liturgical Reflections. N.T. Wright.

Hope you can make it.  Please grab me if you are there so we can meet!

Bobby Gilles of Sojourn Music interviewed me for his excellent songwriting Blog “My Song in the Night“  You can read the interview here.

Zac Hicks – Without Our Aid

When Kevin Twit began engaging his college students at Belmont University in the late 1990′s with the great evangelical hymn texts of Watts, Newton, Cowper, Wesley, etc he never envisioned how this movement would grow…I would bet that he never imagined the day when these fervent texts would win the garb of modern worship!

Zac Hicks + Cherry Creek Pres produce what I call Arena Hymnrock.  I could imagine David Crowder and U2 equally loving this collection of songs and sounds.  It’s creative, uplifting, straight-forward, and rocking!  Zac has crafted this whole record to show us that even through the density of hymn lyrics you can hear a large congregation singing along.

The album not only covers the full breadth of musical styles in modern worship but also leads us through the whole counsel of God in song through the Trinitarian presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  There is a call to worship from the Father, our response of confession, the Word of the Son, the Table of the Son, the ministry and sending of the Spirit, and the call to be salt and light until the Kingdom comes in consummation.

You can find video tutorials, chord charts, lyrics, and lead-sheets HERE.

Here’s a little bit bout Zac that you probably didn’t know…

- Musically astute in both classical and modern worship settings. As at home with the sounds of a 4-rank organ as with the complexities of modern worship technology.  He likes to listen to this on Sunday mornings and this on Sunday evenings.

- Theologically savvy in both his training and weekly pursuits.  Zac deftly balances the roles of assistant pastor as well as worship leader for two different services at Cherry Creek. He spends his days reading things like this and also like this.

- A Network Encourager.  Zac helped to put together this list and has personally reached out to encourage all of these folks!  I met Zac because he found out about this…but I also know that he spends times with guys more likely to be working on this.

You can follow Zac here –>
twitter: @zachicks | Blog: zachicks.com | Facebook  | Church

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{Zac has graciously given us one CD to give away. The first person to post and tell me what protestant group Nicholas Von Z helped to found wins!}

SONG LIST: (buy at BandCamp)

1. Sola
words and music by Zac Hicks
note: check out the “sola’s” of the reformation here – http://www.fivesolas.com/5solas.htm

2. All People that on Earth Do Dwell (Psalm 100)
A new tune to this historic hymn text written in the 16th cent by William Kethe.
This is about as ancient/future as you get! Here is a version of the orig Genevan Psalter tune.

3. Angels from the Realms of Glory
Traditional Christmas carol re-tuned by Zac. – words by James Montgomery, 1861
This would be a great song to introduce to a congregation where the music of traditional carols feels stilted compared to the normal musical diet. 

4. Mine Eyes have Seen the Glory
Words by Julia Ward How, 1861.
Zac has given this text a total reworking and rescued it from its old nationalistic connotations.

5. Be All the Glory Thine
words by Joseph Hart, 1762

6. Firm and Unmoved are They (Psalm 125)
lyrics from Isaac Watts, 1912 Psalter
Modern worship and the psalms. a match made in heaven.  

7. Hail Thou Once Despised Jesus
Words by John Bakewell, 1757, alt. Martin Madan, 1760; Augustus Toplady
A traditional Good Friday text for holy week.

8. Jesus, thy Blood and Righteousness
words by Nikolaus L. von Zinzendorf, 1739; tr. by John Wesley, 1749.

9. Jesus Christ is Risen Today
Words: 14th century Bohemian Latin Carol; tr. Lyra Davidica, 1708; alt. John Arnold (The Complete Psalmist), 1749.  Another text Zac has re-imagined for us that would be great for special music on Easter.

10. Lord, I Believe (Communion Hymn)
Words: Joseph Hart, ca. 1757-1759
It is difficult to find good communion songs for modern worship. (Justin Taylor link)

11. How Firm a Foundation
Words: John Rippon, 1787; add. lyrics from Psalm 46
Zac rewrote this text in response to a healing in his family.  He deftly weaves a chorus from Psalm 46 into this traditional hymn text.

12. O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright
words: Ambrose of Milan, 4th cent. (with Gloria Patri refrain)
Trinitarian arena rock! And one of the best worship CD closers I have heard.  Amen, Amen, Amen.

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David Taylor, Duke ThD student and avid Artist/Pastor/Blogger is helping to host a conference out of the Anglican tradition on worship and liturgy.  Should be really interesting to a few of you out there. In Durham, NC coming up soon!  Nov 8-10. More info HERE.

Calvin Worship Symposium, Grand Rapids, Jan 26-28, 2012
If you’ve never been to this worship conference this is a great year to check it out.  We’ll be leading a workshop on walking with Jesus through the Psalms of Ascents for Holy Week and participating in a round-table on the new hymns movements with Kevin Twit, Sandra McCracken, Isaac Wardell, hosted by Greg Scheer and James KA Smith.

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First off…I am still working on my review of Zac Hicks’ latest masterpiece “Without Our Aid.” I just need to stop listening and start writing!  But don’t wait for that to pick up the new album HERE.  Justin Taylor’s blog even featured the communion song Lord, I Believe in today’s post. nice.

Here are a couple of albums that will be coming out soon!

The Gathering Church – Durham, NC
After a successful Kickstarter campaign this summer they will be releasing a collection of done-up hymns this Xmas.  Some great musicians here from some great Triangle area bands (Megafaun, Phil Cook, Mandolin Orange, Jeff Crawford, etc). Check out their Christmas album from last year.

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Wen Reagan – Durham, NC
Wen is a grad student at Duke and a fine songwriter and musician.  Cardiphonia was lucky to get him to record a song for our Pentecost collection this year.  Check out his new album “Epiphany” coming out November 1st.

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BiFrost Arts – Charlottesville, Va and International
BiFrost Arts is raising money through a kickstarter campaign to produce and record their third full length album revolving around the theme of ‘Agnus Dei.’  Support one of the most innovative music-arts group working in the church today.  They are even giving away some free music at Noisetrade!

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New Songwriters Blog from Sojourn musicians Bobby and Kristen Gilles. Great stuff here.

Resources for Family Worship

Sojourn Kids has a wonderful page of resources –> HERE
Shorter Catechism Resources –> HERE
Kids Music Resources –> HERE

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It is Finished

Pretty darn good modern worship from Durham singer-songwriter Matt Papa.
Youtube Video of the song HERE

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Anglican Worship Conference

David Taylor, Duke ThD student and avid Artist/Pastor/Blogger is helping to host a conference out of the anglican tradition on worship and liturgy.  Should be really interesting to a few of you out there. In Durham, NC  Nov 8-10. More info HERE.

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New Psalms Song Contest

In an effort to encourage Psalm-singing, Church of the Servant invites congregational songwriters to submit a Psalm-based song to its 2011 COS New Psalm Contest. The winner will receive a $500 award. There is no entry fee and the contest is open to all. Submissions must be emailed or postmarked by October 1, 2011. The song will be premiered in worship on January 29, 2012. Church of the Servant is a Christian Reformed Church. More info HERE.

I’m thankful for Bob Kauflin’s post over at Worship Matters reminding me of this great album that was released this spring from the UK Worship Lable “Kingsway“.  It features new tunes to some of Charles Wesley’s most loved hymns.

Zac Hicks review –> HERE

Massive collection of lyrics from Charles Wesley –> HERE

A short biography of Charles Wesley and links to his hymn texts at the Hymnary –> HERE

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You can get a free download of the MP3 and charts for I Know That My Redeemer Lives at this link. You’ll also be able to see some videos on the project, listen to some samples, and download the album.

You can purchase it from iTunes here, Amazon here, and download a pdf of all the charts for $10.99 here. Individual charts in every key are available for download here.

Track List:

01) I Know That My Redeemer Lives – Tim Hughes
02) Rejoice The Lord Is King – John Ellis
03) And Can It Be – Jason Roy
04) Jesus We Look To Thee – Kim Walker – Smith
05) Jesus Lover Of My Soul – Chris Eaton
06) Come Thou Long Expected Jesus – Brian Johnson
07) Praise The Lord Who Reigns Above – Leigh Nash
08) Jesus The Name High Over All – Chris Quilala
09) O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing – Chris McClarney
10) Love Divine – Jenn Johnson
11) Christ The Lord Is Risen Today – Aaron Keyes
12) Christ Whose Glory Fills The Skies – Mark Roach
13) O For A Heart To Praise my God – Brenton Brown

2010 Worship Grant Recipients Poster Session

Last week PJ and I went up to Grand Rapids to participate in the Worship Grants Colloquium as part of our 2011 grant project “Anamnesis.”  Every church that is participating in the Calvin grants program is required to attend this yearly event with the project director and another member of the grant team (Pj is heading up our Scripture Reading team) We spent two days learning about how to implement the grant program in our local church setting, hearing victories and struggles from last years grant recipients and sharing at meals and events with those full of expectation for next year.  It is an incredibly full couple of days packed with worship, sharing, learning, and catching up with old friends.

Matt on a panel of 2010 grant recipients

One of the great parts of these events is catching up with projects you’ve been keeping tabs on.  We got to participate in two worship grants from last year.  It was great to spent some time with Matt Stevens who has been working on a worship grant at Vintage21 church just down the street from us.  I hung out with Matt in March teaching his worship leaders about the story of the Passover/Lord’s Supper as part of a program learning about liturgy and elements in worship.

Isaac sharing at the grant poster session

Isaac Wardell was also there sharing about the work of his grant at Trinity Presbyterian in Charlottesville, Va.  Isaac, in partnership with BiFrost Arts hosted a fantastic worship/arts conference in St. Louis.  I participated on a panel at the conference.

A significant part of the grant colloquium are times of learning.  One session that particularly struck me was the time we spent looking at the Nairobi Statement on Worship and Culture.  John Witvliet, the Director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship walked us through this.  Here is a brief statement from him on the significance of this document (PDF).

The document is helpful because it calls each of us to give attention to each of these four dimensions of the gospel. To those of us who have pursued cultural relevance with just about all our attention and energy, it calls us to dwell with the transcultural dimensions of the faith and determine which part of our culture we should resist. To those of us inclined to make universal pronouncements, the documents calls us to see the contextual nature of our own formulations and to learn from formulations from other cultural contexts that may challenge, complement, or enrich our understanding. To those of us with few if any contacts with people unlike ourselves, it invites us to the risky and rewarding prospects of forming cross-cultural friendships. The document challenges every leader, every congregation, and every denomination to not only develop their area of strength, but also their area of weakness.

And last, but certainly not least! is the time spent together in service – rich in music, word, liturgy, dance, color, sound, and any other element that is appropriate to list here.  Since the worship grants program attracts churches from almost every church tradition and background it is an eclectic group to say the least.  Highlights this year included hearing Pj read a poem from George Herbert in one service and getting to hear my composition “Come, Holy Ghost” in another service.  What a treat!!  I always leave incredibly thankful for the wisdom, discernment and hospitality of the CICW in navigating us through this time. 

Blessed is the Church that gets to learn and worship with the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

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Redeemer Knoxville - “Rise O Buried Lord“

A collection of songs celebrating the life of Jesus Christ sung through the lens of his last days on earth.  Thematically arranged around the events of Holy Week.

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Sojourn – The Water and the Blood

New album by Sojourn Music inspired by the Hymns of Isaac Watts.  Listen and download at Bandcamp.  Great review HERE by Zac Hicks.

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Patrick Schlabs – Creaturewords

Patrick has created a beautifully arranged album full of songs that strive to use music in all its glory to faithfully tell the gospel story. A great listen throughout.

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The Village Church – God of Victory

The Village Church behind the songwriting chops of Michael Bleeker and Matt Boswell have gifted us a modern worship album full of deep gospel and great performance.

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High Street Hymns – Hearts and Voices

Alex Mejias and High Street Hymns have recently released another round of great songs for the church.  Singable, engaging, and broadly appealing to lots of different musical perspectives. get it.

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COMING SOON…

City Church, San Francisco – City Hymns

First CD from long time Red Mountain Music collaborator Karl Digerness. Featuring the Magik*Magik orchestra and a slew of other uber-talented music gnomes.

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Cardiphonia – Songs for theFiftyDays

Continuing on in the vein of Hymns of Faith and Songs for Lent is a collection of hymns and songs celebrating the Holy Spirit – due to arrive sometime before Pentecost Sunday.  At last count we’ve heard songs from almost 20 different musicians and churches.  Should be a great project!