I knew my love for Guinness was not misplaced! Great article by Stephen Mansfield at Relevant. The gospel gets hold of one successful businessman and his company blesses thousands of people across generations. What would happen if it got hold of five?
All posts by cgray
Hymns That Suck
I am continually amazed at how rich a tradition we have in the hymns of past song writers. Brian T Murphy over at Red Mountain Church in Birmingham pretty much exactly expresses my thoughts on the value of hymns in worship. Since becoming the music director at my church almost 6 years ago, I’ve been a big fan of hymns and re-introducing hymn texts through new music. And yes, I have been guilty on more than one occasion of grumbling about the lameness of more contemporary worship songwriters.
That being said, I really enjoyed Steve Holmes resetting my perspective by pointing out some really, really horrendous (and hilarious) hymns from some of my favorite hymn writers. Fact: The great Charles Wesley wrote over 6000 hymns, only about 20 of which we use today. Conclusion: 5960 of his songs suuuhhuck. Bravo, Steve. Bravo.
Oh, and by the way, “hymns are the dead wood of the service.” Who said that? C.S. Freaking Lewis, that’s who. Ouch.
As a bonus I include this link to the most awesomest worst hymn ever written.
GenerateHope: Open!
A friend from my church started an organization dedicated to helping sexually trafficked women and children escape from forced sex work. Susan hatched this idea almost two years ago, but honestly up until yesterday I had my doubts about whether anything would ever come of it. But yesterday GenerateHope opened the doors to it’s first safe house here in San Diego, and two women moved in. I am utterly amazed and really stoked. Today Susan was interviewed on local public radio station KPBS. Continue reading
Amen… vomit
Good insights on prayer from Brian that got me thinking…
What would God say to me?
How would God actually respond if He was walking beside me, here in my neighborhood, listening to my verbal vomit? How would He reply to my claims, my grievances, my confessions, my version of the story? What would He discern between the lines? What truths would He point out, and which ones would He leave for another time? What questions would He ask me? What council would He offer? What would He say? Continue reading
Thoughts on Music Worship
I think leaders for music worship have two roles that can often be in tension with one another. I’m calling the roles “worship leader” and “lead worshiper”, and I’ve written down some half-baked ideas about them. I’m sure others have already thought this through with much more wisdom and clarity.
My pastor Dick Kaufmann was the first person I heard use the term “lead worshiper”. I like the concept. The “lead worshiper” leads by example, showing people what worship looks like by actually worshiping. It brings to mind images of David going all Soul Train in his loin cloth before the Lord and not giving a rip about what anyone thought—his personal commitment to worshiping God an implicit invitation for others to join in. Continue reading
Lost Bingo
Plus cupcakes!
O Come, Dwell In Me
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O Come, Dwell In Me
Words adapted from Charles Wesley’s hymn, c.1788. Music by Cameron Gray, 2010. ©2010 Rough Harbor Music
O come, dwell in me,
Spirit of Christ within;
Bring Thy liberty
From sorrow and fear and power of sin.
Hasten
The joyful day which shall this night consume;
Old things
They shall be done away and all will be made new.
You make all things new.
Scripture References:
Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 14:23; Romans 8:15; I Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Sacred Harp
Joining a Sacred Harp singing is now on my short list of highly recommended, along with New Zealand and guacamole. The physical power of this strange, haunting, apocalyptic music is not captured at all by this video (sorry Richard). Mellie and I stumbled across Sacred Harp a few years ago through this great documentary. We’ve been waiting for the west coast convention to arrive in San Diego ever since. Very nice folks took us in and even let us lead a song or two.
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
Words & Music: Traditional
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh—sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh—sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Oh—sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh—sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when He rose up from the grave?
Were you there when He rose up from the grave?
Oh—Oh—Oh—Oh—
Tremble, tremble, tremble
All I Owe
All I Owe
Words by Robert M. McCheyne and Matthew S. Smith. Music by Matthew S. Smith. © 2003 Detuned Radio Music (ASCAP) CCLI #4486385
When this passing world is done
When the Dawn has fully come,
When I stand with You in glory
In salvation’s finished story
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not til then, how much I owe*
Chorus:
All I owe You paid for me
From all I owe I’ve been set free
And all I owe proves Your great mercy to me
When I stand before Your throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see You as You are,
Love You with unsinning heart,
Then Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then, how much I owe.
Chosen not for good in me,
Wakened up from wrath to flee,
Hidden in my Savior’s side,
By the Spirit sanctified,
Teach me, Lord, here on earth to show,
By my love, how much I owe.
* I altered the lyrics of the first stanza a bit. The original goes like this:
When this passing world is done
When has sunk yon glaring sun,
When I stand with You in glory
Looking o’er life’s finished story
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not til then, how much I owe
I think these lyrics are okay, but I have a couple reasons for changing them. This is a song about redemption. The imagery of redemption is that the night is over, the darkness is passing, the sun of righteousness is rising over a world made new. When has set yon glaring sun reverses the metaphor (and throws in a pessimistic adjective), casting an unnecessary shadow of melancholy which (to me) feels out of step with the hopeful tone of the rest of the lyrics. Also, the phrase life’s finished story isn’t really accurate. When we stand with God in glory, the real story of life eternal will just be getting started.
I tried to be cool with the original lyrics, but the more I thought about them, the more they bothered me. I couldn’t resist tinkering a bit. Apologies to writer Robert M. McCheyne who authored this poem and Matthew S. Smith who wrote and recorded this song. Maybe I think about this stuff too much.