Sufjan Stevens has been filling up our media box recently.  Twitters, facebook, emails, etc.  He’s going on tour. He’s released a new E.P.  He’s releasing a brand new album later this fall.  (Where the heck is my 3^rd state album…that’s all I really want Sufjan!?)  So I thought while we are all enjoying the new music I would post some thoughts on what I’ve learned from Sufjan Stevens about songwriting and loving my community.  Okay, I didn’t quite get to 50 but i did a couple better than 2.  I  hope that along the way some of these reflections might prove fruitful for we seek to live our art in the context of worship leading for the local church.

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1. We should write music that both celebrates and parses our community.

I think we’ve come to the point where we need less worship music that celebrates the great generalizations of God.  We need less songs that sing scriptures systematic theology and more songs that simply sing God’s story back to him.  Because if we don’t have the story right, then the system is going to be faulty.  In other words we need worship music that helps our church’s interpret and internalize the events of redemptive history.  On a micro-level we even need songs that celebrate the events of our own particular church.  What songs have you written recently that sketch out a redemptive moment in your church?

Sufjan Stevens is from Michigan – the first of his 50 states album.  To listen and study this album is to experience a masterpiece of sociology, and anthropology, and ethnomusicology.  In other words…the good human stuff that every pastor should dredge up when pastoring an embodied and localized people. It’s good stuff primarily because it’s real.  It lifts up the struggles and depressions and celebrates the unique and triumphant. Listening to the track open “Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)” or the ode to detroit always inspires.

The closing track on “Michigan” is “Vito’s Ordination Song”.  Vito and Sufjan are both graduates of Hope College in Michigan.  They get reconnected when they both end up in New York City.  Sufjan would visit Vito (who is a great poet) and ask him to write some music.  Eventually Sufjan produced an album of these humble gems called ‘The Welcome Wagon.”

2. The Bible is full of amazing stories that should inspire our songs more often than not.

It always strikes me that most contemporary worship music is actually rather abstract…meandering between lofty generalizations of praise and safely distanced references to our sin and unworthiness.

When one listens through the album ‘Seven Swans’ we are struck by the rich presence of biblical narrative.  Sufjan touches text from Genesis to Revelation.  In ‘Abraham’ he works his own interpretation of the story in Gen 22.  ‘He woke me up again’ is a view of 1 Sam. 3.  The Transfiguration recounts the awkward meeting in Matthew 17.  And the album title itself ‘Seven Swans’ echoes the images in Revelation.  Alot of my friends are writing great music to old hymn texts.  I love these songs and I cherish many of them in my own church.  But I’m also looking forward to the day when these old texts point them back to their own communities and God helps them to write a new song. These folks are getting really close I think.  You can read/listen to a recent attempt of ours here.

3. A great song can serve a number of different musical styles.

This might seem obvious but in various settings of the church this is a fierce battle. Hymns must be led by a proper organ, or at least from a decent piano.  To accompany them with drums and guitars is base.   A rockin contemporary song needs amps and electrical guitars.  It would be lame to use a choir and a piano.

Between the album Illinois and The Avalanche Sufjan gives us some playful enumerations of his hit song “Chicago”.  The ‘acoustic’ version, the ‘Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version,’ and the ‘Multiple Personality Disorder Version.’  To me this is a reminder that there is both possibility and freedom to use a song that is part of the church’s musical canon but still shape it in a way that makes it ‘sing’ for my own local church.  This is cherishing the church both universal and ‘catholic’ as well as local and ‘indigenous.’

4. A songwriter can commit the art to ‘place’ and still not lose their ‘popular’ relevance.

Every time I read or hear about a worship leader who is working at a local church until their new worship album ‘makes it’ makes me both depressed and bemused.  Depressed because I don’t think God calls as many of us as are out there on the road as are, and bemused because these musicians have no idea what a great place the church is to work, write, and create.  Sometimes in darker moments I think that if pastors spent half of the time promoting the gospel as musicians spent promoting their new album Jesus would be back already.

Secondly, too many of the worship songs I hear nowadays are totally devoid of the reeking fabric of community.  How can the church continue to thrive when so many of its songs are written by musicians who aren’t living on the bread and wine of entrenched community? When does talent fall short because of the deficit of faces, and names, and grandchildren?

Sufjan’s two ‘states’ albums were ‘Michigan’ and ‘Illinois.’  Both places where he had spent a good deal of time.  Both albums reverberate with the earth, and flesh, and life of someone who knows and loves the places and people and stories that give life to a local culture.

5. A songwriter should develop the skill of supporting artists and musicians within their gravitational field.

One of my good friends is an artist on Asthmatic Kitty Records. One of the things I have enjoyed most about this is appreciating how Sufjan has encouraged, challenged and incorporated his friends within his vast musical enterprises.   Some of these are strange inventions (Half-handed cloud, or the fabulous DM Stith, others are amazing records like “Done Gone Fire” from Liz Janes (all recorded with 2 Sm57′s and a Roland 8-track), Bring Me the Workhouse from My Brightest Diamond, and ‘The Welcome Wagon” from Vito and Monique Aiuto.

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These are a few thoughts.  Sufjan’s work begs thesis quantity and quality.  in fact i’m wondering when i’ll see a masters dissertation on his work.  anyhow, this is just a blog and i tried to keep tersity in mind…despite the gravity of his extended song titles.

too harsh?  insightful?  inane? what’d I miss?

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Asthmatic Kitty Records

Sufjan on Bandcamp

Nathan Partain is the Chief Musician at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, IN.  Nathan has been a friend, colleague, encourager, fellow traveler, and excellent songwriter for many years now.  Nathan has also written one of my favorite hymn re-writes of all time which wraps up his excellent CD “The Parlor Sessions.”  Nathan’s version is very open and sparse.  In worship settings we tend to lead it with a driving acoustic.  I’ve used this song in every church I’ve led in…from Indiana to London and it has been a unique favorite in each context.

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The Lord is King
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1 The Lord is King! Lift up your voice,
O earth, and all ye heav’ns, rejoice!
From world to world the joy shall ring,
“The Lord omnipotent is King!”

Refrain:
Sing His praise, sing His praise
Lord of lords, Ancient of Days
Sing His praise, sing His praise
All your days, all your days.

2 The Lord is King! Who then shall dare
Resist his will, distrust his care?
Or murmur at his wise decrees,
Or doubt his royal promises?

3 The Lord is King! Bow down you must,
The Judge of all the earth is just;
Holy and true are all his ways;
Let ev’ry creature sing his praise.

4. One Lord, one kingdom, all secures;
He reigns, and life and death are yours:
Through Heav’n and earth one song shall ring,
“The Lord omnipotent is King!”

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Words: Josiah Conder, 1824; alt. by Nathan Partain, 2003
refrain: Nathan Partain, 2003
Music: Nathan Partain, 2003

*image – King David – Courtesy of the Digital Image Archive, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

From a conference hosted by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in 2007.

Here is the link to download most of these articles.

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Chapters and Articles Submitted by Attendees

(read) Borror, Gordon L. “Cracks in the Foundation: Why is the Church struggling with effectiveness?”

(read) Dalbey, Mark L. “Gospel-Centered Worship and the Regulative Principle”, from All for Jesus: Essays Celebrating Redeeming Grace for the 50th Anniversary of Covenant Theological Seminary

(read) Deppe, Dean. “The Double Audience and Two-Fold Function of Hymns in the New Testament”

(read) Farley, Michael A. “The Development of Liturgical Catholicity,” from Reforming Reformed Worship

(read) Glick, Robert. “Songs, Sacraments, and Symbols,” from With All Thy Mind

(read) Gore, Jr., R.J. “In Light of the Covenant,” from Covenantal Worship

(read) Huebscher, Stephen. “Aspects of Heavenly Worship”

(read) Man, Ron. “The Significance of Hebrews 2:12,” from Proclamation and Praise: Hebrews 2:12 and the Christology of Worship

(read) Ruth, Lester. “The Promise of God’s Presence”

(read) Vanderwell, Howard. “Biblical Values to Shape the Congregation” from The Church of All Ages: Generations Worshiping Together

(read) Whaley, Vernon M. “Educating the 21st Century Worship Leader for Ministry”

(read) Witvliet, John D. “Isaiah in Christian Liturgy”

Sorry for those of you for whom this post is a bit of a feedback loop!

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Earlier this spring I blogged about a new book “For the Beauty of the Church‘ that had recently arrived with reflections from a number of people I really respect.  The author (unknown to me at the time) W. David O. Taylor was speaking over at Duke with Jeremy Begbie so I ran over to hear more about the project.   Then about a month later I was up at Calvin College for a colloquium on the Psalms in Worship and ran into the author again.  Then a few days later I was at Calvin for our Worship Renewal Grant meeting and spoke with David during the grant poster session.

At some point the need to google search overwhelmed!

Come to find out he is a super thoughtful guy who, to steal his own byline is an ‘arts pastor who never wanted to be a pastor and never thought he could be an artist.’

David hosted a conference in 2008 down in Austin, Tx that gathered together a number of the artists and theologians who show up in his book “For the Beauty of the Church.”  David was the arts pastor at Hope Chapel in Austin.  Evidently this conference sparked quite a few comets, one of which landed David at Duke University this past year to study with Jeremy Begbie as a ThD student in theology and liturgy.

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Recently, David was asked to speak at David’s Crowder’s Fantastical Church Music conference – happening soon down in Waco, Tx.  David will be speaking on the Psalms in Worship with some thoughts on the wider stream of contemporary worship movement thrown in for comparison.  I met with David last week to tease out some of his perceptions of the movements within the presby/reformed community.  A number of these folk are playing music at the conference – Jars of Clay, The Civil Wars (produced by Charlie Peacock), BiFrost Arts (Isaac Wardell is the music director at Trinity Pres in Charlottesville, Va), The Welcome Wagon (Vito Aiuto is the minister of Resurrection Pres in Williamsburg, NY), and Derek Webb, husband of Indelible Grace veteran Sandra McCracken who are members of a PCA church in Nashville. It’s even more interesting to me that most of these musicians are related to the influence of either Scotty Smith and Christ Community Church (Kevin Twit and Indelible grace got their start here), Nashville or Tim Keller and the Redeemer, New York network.  It’s amazing to me that folks in the Passion movement/ evangelical baptist world are being impacted by the artists/thinkers flowing out of movements in the PCA.  Why is this? Anyone have any thoughts?  I have a few but would love to hear from others.  You can check out Zac Hick’s blog for some more thoughts along this line.

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All that to say, make sure and check out David’s blog as he writes in preparation for the conference.  Great Stuff!!

I’m always amazed, considering the wealth of poetic expression and song in scripture how few of them actually migrate into our worship. Every once in a while I get really convicted about this.  Recently I ran across a new book by Douglas Sean O’Donnell. God’s Lyrics: Rediscovering Worship Through Old Testament Songs that hit me with a bit of fresh resolve to address this in my own context.  I love reading the songs of scripture, the moments where we can trace the circumstances of God’s people and the way they process that in praise and lament.  It’s amazing when we can connect the moments of David’s life with one of the psalms he wrote (Psalm 3 – A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.  Psalm 18 – A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.  Psalm 34,  Psalm 51 – A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba).  This is the stuff of real life – running from God, brokenness in relationships, unanswered prayers.  I can sing these, WE can sing these…maybe they just get buried underneath the distance of time and culture?

Some people would say that these Old Testament songs don’t really belong in our New Testament vocabulary.  Their silence in our worship certainly speaks pretty loudly.  But as the Word of God they must be foundational in laying the groundwork for how we write and choose worship music.  O’Donnell is pretty persuasive in this regard!

O’Donnell investigates the most significant of these Old Testament songs.  Important because they stand at pivotal points in redemptive history. Songs that find their fulfillment in Jesus…songs even that find their response in the Consummation of Revelation.

• The Song of Moses – Ex. 15:1-21 {Listen – folk}  {Listen – choral}
• The Song of Yahweh – Deut. 32:1-43
• The Song of Deborah – Judg. 5:2- 31 {Listen}
• Hannah’s Prayer – 1 Sam. 2:1-10 {Listen}
• David’s Song of Deliverance – 2 Sam 22:2-51
• The Song of Habakkuk – Hab. 3:1-19 {Listen}

You can listen to some musical versions here and download hymn arrangements of these here.

[creative project] - read and study these texts this fall.  Write songs from them that would work in your church context. If you sing any songs based on these texts let me know.  Would love to post links!

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From his observation of these Old Testament texts he provides us with 4 characteristics that imbibe biblical song.  This is foundational wisdom for those of us mired in song shepherding. (nicely summarized by T. David Gordon in the book’s foreward)

• The Lord is the center of every song.  In the text he is addressed, adored, and “enlarged.”
• God’s mighty acts in salvation history are recounted first – our experience becomes 2ndary.
• God’s acts of judgments are rejoiced in. ( note: this one really feels strange)
• God’s ways of living – pursuing daily wisdom and justice are encouraged.

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In part two he takes his observations and weighs them up against contemporary worship music and lyrics.

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Read two great reviews here (from which I borrowed heavily) that go more in depth on how his work critiques and evaluates much of contemporary worship lyrics.

The Gospel Coalition Blog

Reformed Books.net

This time of year always begins to ramp up the work and busyness as we anticipate the return of the full congregation settling back into fall schedules. This is also the time of year that I break out a list of areas in my ministry that I need to refine.  It’s an exciting time to fertilize and prune in anticipation of healthy growth in the Fall!

1. Refine Your Song List

I do this in a couple of ways – I call this time spent ‘pastoring my repertoire’

Balance – I want songs that are going to reinforce the themes of the Sermon series in the Fall (for us the book of Ephesians) and I want to choose songs that will reflect under-emphasized themes.  So, in lieu of Ephesians we will sing songs that reflect the spiritual blessings we have in Christ, grace through faith, the unity of the body of Christ, walking in Love, etc (a simple jaunt through the thematic headings in the ESV) – and in contrast a few songs that strongly speak to both the Spirit’s and the Father’s presence with Christ in all things.

Church Universal - I also want to begin to gather in songs that extend behind my own comfort zone. I always consider this part of being prophetic in my song choices.  I will pursue this through songs from worship leader networks I have.  I will look for songs in surprising places.  Songs from global worship, songs from the Taize community, songs from CICW resources, songs from various web and blog sources.

Evaluate My Own List - What songs did we sing last year?  Are their songs that need to be retired for a season?  Are their songs that need to be sung more consistently?  Are their new songs we sang a lot this summer that people returning for the Fall won’t know?  I will also reexamine my core song list.  Does my core songlist speak to the whole Gospel?  Does it reflect the breadth of emotional concerns the Psalms models?  Is it inter-generationally active?

According to My Actual Congregation – How is my congregation doing?  Has the demographics changed in the past year?  Do I now have a lot of young families, more college kids, more grad and career?  Each of these groups bring unique challenges and opportunities with them to corporate worship.  How is the liturgy and music going to serve and encourage them?  How can my music choices carry them better through their joys and sorrows?  Our musical choices and sensitivities need to be fluid to our actual congregation, not just the one we ideally picture in our minds!

2. Refine Your Musicians

I always gather with my musicians and techs for a general meeting in late august.  We will spend some time hearing from scripture, praying, and working on new songs and arrangements.  We’ll eat together and talk about the contours of worship for the next month or so.  This is also a good time to reemphasize standards, weekly commitments, and get a feel for people’s schedules.  This will help you a ton in anticipating places where you will be thin (vox, instrument, tech) and spur you on to recruit and connect with new musicians and minister to those in overwhelming seasons of life.

3. Refine Your Music to Better Serve Your Liturgy

I always find that the summer months provide some extra space to think about the big picture.  As we moved through the last year what were some of those little moments, promptings of the Spirit, that I need to engage with.   Maybe it’s moving a song around, inserting a new song, increasing or decreasing a praise set, introducing a doxology, being more intentional with preludes or postludes, etc.  Maybe it’s getting kids more involved with music, using the choir less or more often.  Here I’m simply trying to make sure that my house is in order for the coming ministry season.  This will give you more space to pray, disciple musicians, and be creative!

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Is there anything I’m missing?  Let me know!

A couple of months ago I picked up a new CD by BiFrost Arts called “Come O Spirit!” Anthology Of Hymns And Spiritual Songs.‘  After listening through it a lot recently these are the ones I think are the strongest congregational songs.  Also, just read that BiFrost Arts will be helping with music at David Crowder’s Fantastical Church Music Conference coming up in September.  Looking forward to hearing them live!

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From bio on its MySpace page: “Bifrost Arts is a sacred music non-profit that exists to enrich the church and engage the world with beauty and truth.”

Come O Spirit brings together quite the doozy of musicians: Dave Bazan, Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas, Denison Witmer, The Welcome Wagon (featuring Sufjan Stevens), Leigh Nash, Trent Dabbs, Kate York, Megan Roderick, Laura Gibson, Aimee, Wilson, Sam Ashworth, J. Tillman, John Totten, Chris Totten, Kevin Bevil, Shara Worden, Sarah Fullen, Kelly McRae, Evan Gregory, Joseph Pensak, Laura Young, and Liz Janes.

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Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me (featuring Laura Gibson)
mp3 | leadsheet | youtube | info

Just a Closer Walk (featuring Damien Jurado and Rosie Thomas)
mp3 | leadsheet | youtube | info

Lord, I Believe (featuring Liz Janes)
mp3 | leadsheet

Come O Spirit (featuring Aimee Wilson)
mp3 | leadsheet

In honor of some great friends coming into town this weekend to make music I thought I would post a medley of ‘Nothing but the Blood’ and ‘There is Power in the Blood’ from an album we recorded a couple of years ago “Good News, Vol. 1“

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Power in the Blood (Nothing But the Blood of Jesus)
mp3 | leadsheet 1 | leadsheet 2 | Purchase

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What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

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1 Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

Refrain:
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

2 Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood. [Refrain]

3 Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood. [Refrain]

4 Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood. [Refrain]

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text & music: Robert Lowry, 1896
text & music: Lewis E Jones, 1899

When I was leading music out at City Church this summer they sang this fine song from Midtown Presbyterian in Nashville.  It was a great congregational song with the Getty/Townsend balance that strikes somewhere between a meditative hymn and a rockin’ praise chorus.  Randall Goodgame is the songwriter off of The Midtown Project CD.

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Faithful One
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Faithful One, we lift our praise
Toward your light we turn our gaze
The weight of sin is bearing down
We need your grace to save us now

Faithful One
Faithful One
You never fail, You never fail
You never fail to raise the sun
Faithful One

God of Grace I long to live
By the peace you freely give
When lesser things seduce my eyes
Lord, break my heart and make me wise

Faithful One
Faithful One
You never fail, You never fail
You never fail to raise the sun

Faithful One
Faithful One
You never fail, You never fail
Not my will but yours be done
Faithful One

Ancient love hath brought to bear
Kinship with the royal heir
You broke the bread, you poured the wine
Now I am yours and you are mine

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Words and Music by Randall Goodgame
© 2007 Mighty Molecule Music

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Explorations in a Christian Theology of Pilgrimage , Craig Bartholomew (Editor), Fred Hughes (Editor)

I’ve been reading this as part of continuing to wrestle with the Psalms of Ascents.  Pilgrimage as religious experience isn’t a dynamic part of the American Christian landscape while pilgrimage as tourism is a regular part of our lives.  Why is this?  Is it the cultural baggage of pilgrimage associated with Roman Catholicism?  Is it the uncomfortableness we feel with ideas of American Manifest Destiny and western imperialism? This book is a great collection of essays from a number of British theologians and pastors.

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A Sociological History of Christian Worship, Martin D. Stringer

This book by Martin Stringer, Professor of Liturgical and Congregational Studies at the University of Birmingham, has been a fascinating look at the 2000 year history of Christian worship from a sociological and anthropological perspective.  Much of it has been slogging because I don’t have a background in either field.  But the cases studies in each chapter have been utterly fascinating. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the development of Christian Worship as part of the broader picture of history and culture in the Western world.   It has been helpful in teasing out the more complex story of the evolution of worship practices than ‘church’ history often presents.

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Sing A New Song: Choosing And Leading Praise In Today’s Church, David Montgomery

I’ve just started this one so I’ve not too much to say on it.  I was attracted to this one because David offers a perspective on leading music in the church that is fresh because he’s English and not American.  That alone makes the read a great exercise in cultural exegesis.  I’ll steal what Kevin Twit has to say to elaborate…”If you can track this one down it is a very helpful book.  He does a good job responding to elitist arguments and advocates singing hymns set to new music.  He also critiques shallow praise choruses.  But some of his examples are English ones that you may not relate to.  Overall, very helpful, especially for a short little book.”

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Westminster Directory of Public Worship: Discussed by Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson

If you are leading worship in a presbyterian or general reformed context then this book is a must read.  The Westminster Directory of Public Worship was a repository and condensation of wisdom concerning public worship from the great puritan ministers of the 17th century.  Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson do an excellent and pastoral job of opening up the riches of this document which speaks to everything from the public reading of scripture, the solemnization of marriage, to the visitation of the sick, and the burial of dead.

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Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Cultural Liturgies), by James K.A. Smith

This is the first book in a trilogy of works planned from Calvin Professor James K.A. Smith.  It looks to be a daunting but rewarding read. It was interesting to be at City Church in San Francisco last week and to hear Rev. Chuck DeGroat mention it in his sermon.  I’m one chapter in and starting to feel out the landscape -initially James Smith goes about the work of revealing how our desires have been shaped, often more significantly than by our Christian experience, through the liturgy of such modern cathedrals as the shopping mall.  Through this the book reflects upon the power of “secular” liturgies that form and shape human desire and love revealing how our our love is often misdirected. [CICW online discussion] [Great behind-the-scenes Interview at Woodward Theol Society]