A number of years ago I realized that it would be really helpful to the church to sing a few Christmas songs after Christmas.  Our people needed to experience, sing, rest and reflect on the reality of Christ’s birth beyond the life craziness of Christmas week.

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Here are a couple of reasons why we should consider singing Christmas music after Dec 25th.

1. It Teaches us Good Liturgical Habits – We tend to confuse and conflate Advent and Christmas in our churches.  If we celebrate December 25th as the birth of Jesus then it makes sense to me that this monumental redemptive event deserves a few Sunday’s of our focus.  IN FACT, for churches that follow the traditional Liturgical calendar Dec 25th actually begins the 12 Days of Christmas with the season of Epiphany following close after.  So, most of the story that we sing in Christmas music actually doesn’t unfold until the weeks and months after Christmas.  Allowing a few Christmas songs to cheat into January gives people some time to work out the beginning of their savior’s life and to cherish all that his birth means for us, our world, our future hope.  When we do this it also helps to shape our Advent season with a greater focus on longing and second coming themes. I often have conversations with worship pastors who struggle to communicate BOTH Advent AND Christmas in the same seasons…they get confused and conflicting messages from pastors and other staff also struggling to pile in all that the December church season demands.  (I would say this same logic applies to Easter – Sing the big Resurrection songs for a few weeks AFTER Easter!)

2. It Helps us to Rest in the Reality of the Incarnation –   December is such a hectic season that our people rarely get a chance to REST in the glory of the Incarnation.  Before we’ve put away the decorations, stockings and stuffers from Christmas we are rushing into the new year and making plans for Lent, Easter, world domination or whatever.  When we sing Christmas songs after Christmas people listen and reflect on the lyrics in a much more profound way then is possible in the December haze.

3. The Incarnation is a Truth to Proclaim Every Sunday – When we quarantine Christmas music to the month of December we run the risk of our people thinking that the incarnation only matters one month a year. Every sunday at our church there is a focus on proclaiming Christ’s death and resurrection.  Yet, we can’t arrive at either of these without the incarnation.  By singing Christmas songs after Christmas you take a small step to widen God’s people’s understanding of their savior and the gospel ramifications of His birth!

4. It’s Counter-cultural and Subversive – Singing Christmas songs after Christmas is incredibly subversive, counter-cultural, and almost blasphemous in the world’s eyes.  Yup. A great reason to do it!  The World forgets about Christmas after Dec 25th…and for all that the world gives us we want to forget it too! (Unless you count the after xmas sales..again, not helpful!)  But in this silence we can create some space to really teach our people about what Christ’s coming truly means.  It means not the end of gifts and celebration — but continuing to celebrate and talk about the coming of the greatest gift we’ve EVER been given!

Hope that is helpful…a few brief thoughts. Would love to hear your feedback!

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Songs We Have Used:

Joy to the World (Isaac Watts based in Psalm 98)
mp3 | leadsheet | info

Go, Tell it On the Mountain
mp3 | leadsheet | other versions

Savior of the Nations, Come (Benedict arr.)
mp3 | leadsheet | capo

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
mp3 | chords | leadsheet | info

Joy Has Dawned (Getty,Townend)
mp3| leadsheet

This is the Christ (McCracken arr.)
mp3 | chords

Angels from the Realms of Glory (traditional)
Bill Mallonee arr, Modern Worship arr | Zac Hicks arr | | leadsheet | info |

Who is This, So Weak and Helpless (McCracken/Miner arr)
mp3 | leadsheet

O Sing a Song of Bethlehem (Louis Benson)
mp3 | video | leadsheet | info

The Son Forsook the Father’s Home (benedict arr.)
mp3 | chord chart | leadsheet

Hail to the Lord’s Annointed (The Welcome Wagon)
mp3 | leadsheet (link to buy)

Once in Royal David’s City (Trad/Sufjan Stevens arr.)
mp3 | leadsheet

Simeon’s Song – (Consolation – Shape Note)
mp3 | leadsheet | (c) | info

See HERE for Epiphany songs and HERE for more Xmas themed songs.

Here are a few resources for you as you think of your prayers for this Sunday, the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  Sorry these are coming so late.

- Prayer of Lament from City Church, San Francisco (pdf)

- Christ the King – Resources on learning to lament

- Prayer on 9/11 from Sojourn Church (via Mike Cosper)

- Prayer at Ground Zero - from Justin Taylor/Between Two World

- John Witvliet – A Time to Weep: Liturgical Lament in times of crises.

(Condensed outline from the above Witvliet article)
A Basic structure of a prayer of lament, mirroring the structure of the Psalms.

• Our lament begins with invocation, a startling confession that even in times of crisis, we approach a personal and accessible God.
• Then, our lament freely addresses this personal God through the picturesque gallery of images used in direct address in the psalms.
• Our prayer continues with bold lament. We bring our most intense theological questions right into the sanctuary.
• Then our prayer continues with specific petition: heal us, free us, save us.
• Finally, our prayer ends with expressions of hope, confidence, and trust, however muted they might be by the present situation.

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Psalms of Lament to incorporate into your Prayers.

Community – 12, 44, 58, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 89*, 90, 94, 123, 126, 129

Individual – 3, 4, 5, 7, 9-10, 13, 14, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27*, 28, 31, 36*, 39, 40:12-17, 41, 42-43, 52*, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 61, 64, 70, 71, 77, 86, 89*, 120, 139, 141, 142

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Songs of Lament

Psalm 51 – God, Be Merciful to Me – by Indelible Grace
listen | chords | leadsheet 

Psalm 129 -  Up From My Youth, May Israel Say – by Cardiphonia
mp3 | leadsheet

Psalm 130 – Out of the Depths - by Karl Digerness
listen | leadsheet
Adapted from “Out of the Deep I Call” by Henry W. Baker, 1868 

Psalm 130 – From the Depths of Woe – by Chris Miner
listen | chords | leadsheet

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Prayers from the BCP

4. For Peace


Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn
but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the
strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that
all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of
Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and
glory, now and for ever. Amen.

5. For Peace Among the Nations

Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the
world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among
them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they
may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.

6. For our Enemies

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Dr. Reggie Kidd - Worship Leader/ Pastor

Worship Leaders – here are a few practices that most preachers make a part of their weekly preparation that we can learn from.

1. Think both Series and Sundays.

Most preachers are constantly working on a series of sermons as well as the content for a single sermon.  This accomplishes a couple of goals.  One, scripture communicates ideas both in a longer narrative form (think OT historical books like Judges and Ruth) and in precepts and doctrine (think Paul – epistles).  You need both of these working in concert to truly reflect sola scriptura. (Actually scripture uses a large number of different genre’s of literature to communicate God’s story…does your music reflect this diversity?)

You can pursue this in a couple of different ways:

1. Thematic Series: If your preacher is preaching a thematic series then get his list of sermons topics and any scriptures that he plans to use.  Spend some time studying this list and making thematic and scriptural connections with songs that are in your reportoire.  Good places to search themes and topics are CCLI , Worship Together and Hymnary. If you are missing songs that support his main theme then find or write songs to support that. Also, try to pick a few songs that reflect doctrine’s in tension or in contrast with his sermon series.  Our worship must always hold the tensions of scripture before God’s people.  Jesus being both man and God, etc.

Here is an example – Advent

2. Expository Series: If your preacher goes through books at a time then spend some time reading and working through that book.  Make your own list of themes and phrases that stand out to you.  Put together a list of songs that reflect those themes.  You can use tools such as the hymnary to research songs that were inspired by the sermon texts.

Here is an example – Ephesians

2. Learn from history and learn from your contemporaries

Most preachers are constantly reading and listening to sermons. This is how they improve their preaching, learn from the greats, and hopefully get a larger sense of how the Spirit is speaking to the church in the present. As worship leaders we need to explore the same strategies for our growth both spiritually and as leaders.

You can pursue this in a couple of different ways:

1. Study the history of worship in the Christian Church.  We do not worship in a historical void.  God works in and through our sense of time and space. He sent his Son at the appointed time and place and now we wait for the completion of all things.  When we worship we should strive to use all of the ways that the Holy Spirit has spoken through the church to communicate the Gospel. When we do this we learn how various era’s have built their work on scripture, for better and for worse.

Check out these resources:
Andrew Wilson-Dickson – The Story of Christian Music
Paul Westermeyer – Te Deum: The Church and Music
Bard Thompson – Liturgies of the Western Church
Reggie Kidd – With One Voice
Lester Ruth – Walking Where Jesus Walked
Tim Keller – Evangelistic Worship

2. Study and interact with the worship services of Worship Leaders you respect and admire.  I regularly read and study the liturgies of other worship leaders.  It’s helps get me out of ruts, I learn, I admire their craft, I worship in a different setting and context, I find resources I can use to bless my own church.

Check out some of these resources:  and email them if you have questions!
City Church, San Francisco (Karl Digerness)
Sojourn Church (Mike Cosper, et al)
Redeemer Pres Indy (Nathan Partain)
Covenant Pres Chicago ( Paul van der Bijl)
Trinity Pres CVille (Isaac Wardell – BiFrost)

Engage with Set Lists at ‘the worship community’

3. Listen and study a lot of different kinds of music.  We like to listen to what we like to listen to.  Especially when it comes to worship music. It’s important that we listen to the best of what we use on Sunday’s, and then devote additional time to listening to music, worship and otherwise, that stretches our boundaries and our comforts.  I love to download mixes that others have crafted, pick up themed collections from Amazon, and get suggestions from other worship leaders on what they are listening to.

Reggie Kidd – Bach, Bubba, and the Blues Brothers
Zach Hicks – The Similarities Between Baroque and Rock Music

3. Learn to craft worship and song like preachers craft sermons

It doesn’t take to long working in the office with a preacher until you realize what an immense task it is to craft a new sermon each week.  As musicians we are really lucky.  Usually we are using songs written by other people, and we only have a limited number that we use in every season.  Preachers could preach sermons written by other men…who wouldn’t be blest to hear the sermons of John Calvin, or Spurgeon, or Keller each week?  Yet a preacher is called to bring the Word of God to a specific people, in a specific context, with a unique spiritual makeup that makes it inappropriate for them to preach others sermons.  As Worship Leaders we need to play our part in this task of crafting worship and song to speak to a specific context.  All to often we fall back on songs and arrangements crafted for other contexts that don’t fit our own.  We don’t do the hard work of parsing our own community — what are their needs, their deficiencies, their strengths?

Here are a few resources to help you with this weighty work:

Zac Hicks – How I Choose Songs for Corporate Worship
Bruce Benedict – Five Things I Learned about Songwriting from Sufjan Stevens
Keith Getty – 10 Ideas for Good Songwriting
Bob Kauflin – Songwriting resources at Worship Matter blog
John Newton – Songwriting 101
David Taylor – Questions of the Preacher (Worship Leader)

"May Hour Pentecost" by Makoto Fujimura

This past week Cardiphonia released a large collection of songs [Pentecost Songs] celebrating the person and work of the Holy Spirit in conversation with over a 1000 years of texts for Pentecost Sunday (June 12).  The response to the project was so verdant in its musical presence that I hoped to continue the conversation with other forms on what it means to worship the 3rd person of the Trinity.

To that end I asked David Taylor, a Thd student in theology and the arts at Duke, an avid blogger at “Diary of an Arts Pastor” and the editor of “For the Beauty of the Church” if he would engage the project in a conversation on the Holy Spirit in faith formation and worship.

Here is the brief article he was kind enough to craft for us:

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June 12, 2011

w. david o. taylor

Reflection for Cardiphonia Pentecost Album

“Christian worship is, therefore, our participation through the Spirit in the Son’s communion with the Father, in his vicarious life of worship and intercession.” – James Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace (1996)
.

“[The Spirit] who created a praiseful worship of the Father and the Son in ways that were authentic to all the cultures and centuries in which the gospel has been confessed, will do the same in new ways that are authentic to the end of the twentieth century. The prayer of the Spirit will be liturgical, in continuity with what has gone before, but it will also be free, creative and spontaneous.” Tom Smail, The Giving Gift: The Holy Spirit in Person (1994)

The first thing to say about the Holy Spirit is as obvious as it is regularly forgotten: nothing is possible in Christianity without the Spirit. In fact, without Pentecost we remain estranged from the saving purposes of God in Christ. John Calvin certainly said as much. As did St. Athanasius and Jonathan Edwards.

It is surprising, then, and not a little distressing, to note how often our speech habits as Christians follow a binitarian rather than a trinitarian pattern. Listen to the preacher’s sermons. Read through the devotional books. Watch the blogs and prayers. Grab a hymnal. Once you begin to look for it, you see it nearly everywhere. God language and Christ language suffuse our common life as Christians, yet Spirit language receives only scant attention, surfacing far less even than language of “spirit” or “spiritual.”

The weak pneumatology that often surfaces in our doxological life as Protestants stretches far back. (A certain reading of St. Augustine might bear part blame.) We frequently conceive the Spirit’s role in passive rather than active ways. The Spirit becomes the harmony of the Trinity rather than the harmonizing One. He becomes the static presence of divine life instead of a Person with dynamic functions, dimly perceived through his works of inspiration and sanctification, but quickly fading, yielding to the more prominent roles of Father and Son.

To my mind, it isn’t the Spirit’s “invisibility” that is at stake, it is the Spirit’s de-personalization and therefore the weakening of the trinitarian character of classical Christian faith that is at stake. Our speech habits and our practices of worship simply make manifest what we uncertainly believe.

It doesn’t have to be this way, of course, and both Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 AD) and this Pentecost album summon the church to a more vibrant pneumatological faith. The one reminds us of the worship that is proper to the Spirit, while the other invites us to inhabit this worship.

St. Gregory writes in his thirty-first Oration:

“Look at the facts: Christ is born, the Spirit is his forerunner; Christ is baptized, the Spirit bears him witness; Christ is tempted, the Spirit leads him up; Christ performs miracles, the Spirit accompanies him; Christ ascends, the Spirit fills his place. Is there any significant function belonging to God, which the Spirit does not perform?”

Gregory spends a germanically long paragraph answering in the negative. No, there isn’t a function or a title that belongs to the Godhead which does not also belong to the Spirit. The Spirit makes all right worship possible, to be sure, as John 4, Romans 8 and 1^st Corinthians 14 demonstrate. But the Third Person of the Trinity is also deserving of our adoration. All that God actively performs, the Spirit performs. Thus He is to be glorified.

This is good and well, but what if we lack means to enact this reality in our public worship? We revert to broken binitarian patterns. So this is where Bruce Benedict and his merry band of troubadours do the church right. They provide the church what Charles Wesley believed essential, namely the musical means to practice right theology, where the good news of Pentecost can become soaked into our hearts and minds and bodies.

In Ephesians 5:18-20 St. Paul declares that the filling of the Spirit occurs as we or perhaps to the extent that we speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. From Greg Scheer’s haunting “Glossolalia” to Benedict and Mills’ reworking of the ancient hymn, “Veni, Creator Spiritus,” the music of Pentecost Songs makes this Pauline insight a rich possibility for local congregations. They introduce a broad variety of Pentecost hymns into our worship “play list” and so remind us of the Spirit’s essential and ubiquitous role in the Christian life.

So I say, bravo, songwriters! Thank you for your courage and energy. Thank you for your generous service to the body of Christ. May you be blessed in your creative endeavors even as we the people of God will be blessed by the singing of your songs at Pentecost—and beyond Pentecost too.

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Some Further Reading:

Steve Guthrie, Creator Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Art of becoming Human.

NT Wright – Worship and the Spirit in the New Testament

Sinclair Ferguson, The Holy Spirit

St. Athanasius – Letters on the Holy Spirit

St. Gregory – On the Holy Spirit

Charles Wesley published two small collections of hymns reflecting on two earthquakes that struck London in 1750.  They weren’t major earthquakes like what has recently struck Japan but they explore various ways of responding to natural disasters – as we wrestle with God’s control and influence of nature and our desire for his protection and peace.

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Editors Remarks:

On February 8, 1750, London was hit by a significant, but not catastrophic, earthquake. John Wesley was in London (Charles currently serving in Bristol) and records the event in his Journal. He followed his account with the comment: “How gently does God deal with this nation! O that our repentance may prevent heavier marks of his displeasure!” As this shows, the Wesley brothers shared the common assumption of their time that earthquakes, major storms, disease epidemic and similar events were more than just “accidents of nature.” They were considered to be providential acts—sometimes as expressions of divine protection (thwarting the French fleet) or punishment, but more often (particularly in mild cases like this) as portents to awaken complacent humanity to our spiritual failures and duties.
Exactly one month later, on March 8, Charles Wesley was taking his turn directing the work in London when a second earthquake hit—a stronger shock, but still not catastrophic. The event is noted in Charles’s MS Journal in an unusual way. He gives the date, marked with an asterisk, and then left a full page and a half blank. He obviously intended to insert more detail about the quake at some point, but he never returned to do so. He did, however, send a brief account in a letter to his brother, who was then in Bristol (printed in John’s Journal entry for March 8).
Charles also rushed into print before the end of the month, Hymns occasioned by the Earthquake, March 8, 1750. The hymns emulate the common spirituality, calling for the British populace to acknowledge God’s gracious warning and repent of their sins. But the collection ends with a hymn of reassurance, affirming God’s power to protect God’s people.

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Earthquake Hymns, Pt. I (1750)

Earthquake Hymns, Pt. II (1750)

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Hymn based on Psalm 46.
1 God, the omnipresent God,
Our strength and refuge stands
Ready to support our load,
And bear us in his hands:
Readiest when we need him most,
When to him distressed we cry,
All who on his mercy trust
Shall find deliverance nigh.

2 Kept by him we scorn to fear
In danger’s blackest day,
Starting at destruction near,
Though nature faint away,
Though the stormy ocean roar,
Though the madding billows rise,
Rage, and foam, and lash the shore,
And mingle earth and skies.
3 Let earth’s inmost center quake,
And shattered nature mourn,
Let the unwieldy mountains shake,
And fall by storms uptorn,
Fall with all their trembling load
Far into the ocean hurled,
Lo! We stand secure in God,
Amidst a ruined world.

4 From the throne of God there springs
A pure and crystal stream,
Life, and peace, and joy it brings
To his Jerusalem:
Rivers of refreshing grace
Through the sacred city flow,
Watering all the hallowed place
Where God resides below.

5 God most merciful, most high,
Doth in his Sion dwell,
Kept by him their10 towers defy
The strength of earth and hell;
Built on her o’ershadowing Rock,
Who shall her foundations move,
Who her great defender shock,
The Almighty God of love,

6 All that on this Rock are stayed
The world assaults in vain,
Ever present with his aid
He shall his own sustain:
Guardian of the chosen race,
Jesus doth his church defend,
Save them by his timely grace,
And save them to the end.

7 Furiously the heathen raged
Against his church below,
Kingdoms all their power engaged
Jerusalem t’ o’erthrow;
Earth from her foundation stirred,
Yawned to swallow up her prey,
Jesus spoke, she owned his word,
And quaked, and fled away.

8 For his people in distress
The God of Jacob stands,
Keeps us, ’till our troubles cease,
In his almighty hands:
He for us his power hath shown,
He doth still our refuge prove;
Loves the Lord of hosts his own,
And shall forever love.

9 Come, behold the Almighty Lord
In robes of vengeance clad;
By the desolating sword
What havoc hath he made!
He hath sent his armies forth,
States and kingdoms to o’erthrow,
Marched in anger through the earth,
And ravaged all below.

10 Lo! Again in tender love
He bids their discords cease,
Calms their spirit from above,
And melts them into peace;
Breaks the bow and burns the car,
Instruments of fatal ill,
Quells the horrid din of war,
And bids the world be still.

11 Sons of men, be still, and know
That I am God alone,
I my saving power will show,
And make my goodness known;
All shall with my will comply,
Fear the name to sinners given,
Bow before the Lord most high,
The Lord of earth and heaven.

12 For his people in distress
The God of Jacob stands,
Bears us, ’till our troubles cease,
In his almighty hands:
He for us his power hath shown,
He doth still our refuge prove,
Loves the Lord of hosts his own,
And shall forever love.

The whole bible is a letter from the Triune God to us.  A letter that takes so many different forms – both in theme and in type (narrative, poetry, gospel, etc).  The first couple of chapters of Revelation are even more unique in that they are letters addressed, letters ‘written’ by Jesus Christ to the cities where his church has grown and bore some fruit – for good and evil.  As you walk through the New Testament and read the letters of paul, peter, and john you forget about these letters of Jesus in Revelation.   We certainly don’t consider them as often as we should.  The letters get lost in the vast cosmological swamp of Revelation.  I was struck by these letters because I happened to be reading through this section of the Olney’s hymns at the same as our new pastor Geoff Bradford is wrapping up a series at his present church (Liberti-Philly) on the letters to Jesus to the 7 churches in asia minor.  Here are a few books that Geoff recommended along with the hymns from John Newton.  {Stay tune for one more ‘Revelation’ post with an exhaustive list of hymn texts inspired by Revelation}

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The Seven Churches of Asia - by Robert Murray McCheyne

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To the One Who Conquers: 50 Daily Meditations on the Seven Letters of Revelation 2-3 - by Sam Storms

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Confession of Faith/reading (from Revelation 2 & 3)

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John Newton wrote hymns based on five of the 7 letters to the churches of Asia.  Here is a PDF of them.

Hymn based on the Letter to Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7)

Here are a number of thoughts and tips for reading scripture in public worship.  During the Advent season, many churches often read scripture in worship more than usual and need a few pointers in how to direct congregation members of all ages helping out.

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Public Reading of Scripture is the proclamation of God’s Word.  Honor that through prayerful-heartfelt preparation and presentation.
1 Tim 4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

1.     Prepare Prayerfully. You are not just giving a public reading; you are giving a reading of God’s holy Word.  Therefore, you must come before the Author of the text humbly and ask Him to use you to proclaim His Word (in speaking and in attitude).  Pray for deeper understanding of and fresh insights into your passage.  Ask the Spirit to help you ask the right questions of the text and pay attention to the right details as you study the text.  Your goal is not to be a “dramatic” reader; your goal is to be an authentic, Spirit-filled storyteller. Excellent storytellers know and understand their stories.  If you have not adequately prepared yourself, you communicate the message that “this text was not worthy of my attention, so it is not worthy of yours either.”

2.     Know the text thoroughly. Check the pronunciations of names and difficult words.  The scriptural texts read in the special services are usually very familiar ones.  One of your tasks will be to make the familiar unfamiliar during your preparation.  Do not assume you already know the text.  Find out the background or context of your text.  Commentaries and Study Bibles are helpful here.  Check out other translations of your text (Biblegateway.com is a good place to visit).  This can be helpful in unpacking phrases that might be difficult to understand.  You may want to listen to a professional do the reading first so you will get an idea what the passage should sound like.  Audio Bibles are wonderful tools to help.

3.     Practice diligently and creatively. Print out your part of the text on separate paper, allow enough space in between the lines for marking it up with cues such as when to pause, when to crescendo / decrescendo, when to pick up / slow down the pacing, which words to give special emphasis, and practice variations intonations with words and pitch changes for different roles.  Practice it before a mirror and watch your posture.  Take it one step at a time.  Begin with a phrase, complete a verse, add the next phrase, and recite two verses, until you know your text well enough that you can confidently look up at people frequently. Finish well. Anticipate the end of your reading with a slowed tempo. Look up as you prepare to end.  A liturgical responsive reading after the scripture is a wonderful way to keep your people engaged in listening.

Practical Tips (Mike Farley)

Here are some practical tips for effective Scripture reading:

1. Use of the body

§  Stand upright and with good posture.
§  Take deep breaths to support reading, and breathe by expanding the diaphragm (not raising the shoulders).
§  Some eye contact helps emphasize the personal nature of the act.

2. Mechanics of reading

§  Practice aloud repeatedly.

§  Enunciate clearly.

§  Use sufficient volume to be heard comfortably by all hearers.

§  Read slowly enough to allow attentiveness to details and time for the congregation to absorb and feel the impact of Scripture’s weighty importance.

§  Read quickly enough to communicate the flow of thought and/or the movement of a narrative sequence.

§  Avoid stumbling, especially over words difficult to pronounce.

§  Leave space for natural pauses according to punctuation (commans, periods, semi-colons, etc.)

§  In one’s rehearsal for the reading, over-dramatize the emotions expressed in the text or the various possible emotional responses that the text seeks to evoke in order to discover the emotional high points of the text.

§  Emphasize what is most important with use of volume, vocal inflection, pace, and spacing. No manner of reading is neutral; rather, the manner of reading always interprets the text by what it emphasizes or highlights in different ways (or by what it fails to emphasize or highlight). Therefore, attempt to discover objective features of the text that indicate the words that are most important in the literary structure and primary theological purposes of the text. Practice the differences in meaning and impact when emphasizing different words.

§  When practicing, read from a copy that allows you to mark up the text with cues for reading.

—

—

Further Resources:

(c) Kyle Ragsdale, 2010 "God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth"

Here are some resources on studying The Apostles Creed to go along with our new collection of songs on the apostles creed “Hymns of Faith”

Reformed Theological Seminary-Orlando is preaching through the Apostles Creed this Fall in chapel.
You can follow the talks on Itunes U

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JI Packer – Affirming the Apostles Creed

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Luke Timothy Johnson – The Creed

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Alister McGrath – I Believe

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Karl Barth – Faith of the Church: A Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed According to Calvin’s Catechism

Karl Barth – Dogmatics in Outline

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Casper Olevianus – Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed

A collection of sermons Olevianus preached on the basic articles of the Christian faith. It serves as a reminder that the Reformed tradition did not see itself as separate from the universal church, though it was principally opposed to Rome. Rather, Olevianus and his tradition argue for a Reformed catholicity rooted in the ancient confession of the church.

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St. Augustine – The Augustine Catechism: Enchiridion of Faith, Hope and Love

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Our congregation celebrates the Lord’s Supper every Sunday and we always have non-Christians present.  We print these prayers in our bulletin to give those who are investigating faith a place to direct both their anxieties and their searching hearts.

*borrowed and adapted from City Church, San Francisco.

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PRAYERS FOR THOSE NOT TAKING THE LORD’S SUPPER

Prayer for Those Searching for the Truth
Lord Jesus, you claim to be the way, the truth, and the life. Grant that I might be undaunted by the cost of following you as I consider the reasons for doing so. If what you claim is true, please guide me, teach me, and open to me the reality of who you are. Give me an understanding of you that is coherent, convincing, and that leads to the life that you promise. Amen.

Prayer of Belief
Lord Jesus, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but through you I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you for paying my debt, bearing my punishment on the cross, and offering forgiveness and new life. Knowing that you have been raised from the dead, I turn from my sins and receive you as Savior and Lord. Amen.

Prayer of Commitment
Lord Jesus, you have called us to follow you in baptism and in a life of committed discipleship in your church. Grant that I may take the necessary steps to be one with your people, and live in the fullness of your Spirit. Amen.

I’ve been working on resources for our church’s series in the book of Ephesians and stumbled on this collection of hymns based in the Apostles Creed.  Brian Moss‘ lovely retuned version of “The Church’s One Foundation” led me here.  “The Church’s One Foundation” is author’s Samuel J Stone’s hymn to support the article on “the holy catholic church, the communion of saints.”

{From the Hymnary} This collection of hymns arose out of a theological controversy in the mid-nineteenth century. John W. Colenso, Anglican bishop of Natal, South Africa, wrote a book that expressed critical views of the historicity of parts of Scripture and questioned some articles of the Christian faith. Samuel J. Stone, a clergyman in Windsor, England, was one of the people who defended the orthodox Christian faith. He did so in part by publishing his Lyra Fidelium; Twelve Hymns on the Twelve Articles of the Apostles’ Creed (1866).  The collection contains one hymn text for each article in the Apostles’ Creed – 12 in all.  He suggests tunes for each text from Hymns Ancient and Modern, which he helped edit.

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Reading the preface of this collection is a fascinating glimpse into a pastor’s reasons for hymn writing.  In this instance Samuel Stone was interested in writing a collection of hymns to expand the poor’s understanding of the Apostles creed which they often repeated in public and private devotion.  He hoped that by writing a ‘simple and attractive explanation of the Creed in the popular form of a series of Hymns, such as might be sung or said in private devotion, at family prayer, or in public worship‘ that it would have a greater impact on the mind and heart than any number of more intellectual books written at the time.

His process was exhaustive and one that we should adopt for every song we write for the church .

1. He gather’s all of the sciptures together that might be helpful, or give light, or inspire the topic he is writing about. He really allows the thoughts and movements of scripture to form his own thoughts and concerns.

1b. In the case of the Apostles Creed he is also allowing the church to form his songwriting concerns.  He is allowing the church to shape what is important to sing.  He is being challenged to write from the scriptures about things that he might never write about!

2. He gather’s all of the scriptures together and writes a short prose paragraph that unites them together in a way that might be translated into poetry. Ultimately it’s important that we can translate scripture into our own mind and our own language.  If we are going to successfully teach, communicate, and inspire others in song.

3. He writes hymns that reflect and trace out redemptive history. It’s fascinating to read his hymns and watch the way he tells the story of the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation.  When I’ve left his hymns I’m edified, enlightened, and encouraged!

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*As songwriter’s how are we actively engaging the worship habits of our congregation to greater inform them with meaning and biblical truth…in such a way that it indwells their normal habits of devotion. What is one habit of worship in your context that you could write a song for that would deepen their understanding?

Check out our attempt to write music to each of these hymns

Hymns of Faith – Songs for the Apostles Creed

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Article I – I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth
hymn – No one else but Thee, for evermore

Article II – and in Jesus Christ His only son our Lord
hymn – God the Father’s Only Son

Article III – Who was concieved by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary
hymn – The Son forsook the Father’s home

Article IV – Suffered under pontius pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
hymn – My Savior! I behold Thy Life

Article V - He descended into Hell: the third day he rose again from the dead.
hymn – All the sacrifice is ended

Article VI – He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty
*hymn - For Every Soul in Need (Michael Van Patter)
Listen | Chart

Article VII – From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead
hymn – Wistful are our waiting eyes

Article VIII – I believe in the Holy Ghost.
hymn – God the Spirit, we adore Thee

Article IX – The holy catholic church, the communion of the saints
*hymn – The Church’s One Foundation (Brian Moss)
mp3 | leadsheet | igrace hymnal | youtube

Article X - The forgiveness of sins.
hymn - Weary of earth and laden with my sin

Article XI – The resurrection of the body.
hymn – Winter in his heart of gloom

Article XII - the life everlasting.
hymn – The world is sad with hopes that die