happy worship songs

have you ever noticed that many or most of our worship songs seem to be happy?  right from the beginning let me say i think that’s a great thing.  we should be coming before our lord and creator with praise and adulation, which certainly creates a happy, positive vibe.

however, have you ever read the psalms? there are laments and psalms questioning god and wondering when he will come through for them. 

-where are these things today?
-why are they not showing up in our worship services?
-are they just not popular?
-where are the songs of confession?
-are we scared?

i personally think this last question is the one that kind of sums it all up.  it seems as though we are probably scared of upsetting god.  we are scared of church attendance dwindling if we aren’t singing and playing the most uplifting of songs (yes, ouch, this one hurts to read). we are scared to wear our questions on our sleeve.  we are scared to show that we don’t have it all figured out.

we need to be allowed the freedom to wonder. to question. to be confused. to struggle. to live. to learn. to make mistakes. to wallow in the depths. to figure things out. to doubt. to not be sure.

not only do we need to be allowed to do these things, but i believe god wants us to.  how can we ever be cemented in our faith and christianity if we take it all at face value? 

and so to me, it only makes sense that our worship and our songs would reflect this aspect of the christian struggle.  but from where i sit, that is not happening.  i want to personally invite you to feel free to express the positives and negatives of the christian life.  if you are writing songs, don’t feel pressured to stick with the present day norm of making everything happy. allow your questions to show through in your songs.  if you are planning services, don’t feel forced to make all the prayers, sermons, dramas, scripture readings, etc happy either. 

let me conclude by saying that i love happy songs.  if you know me you know that i wear a happiness on my face just about every moment of every day.  and that smile comes from the joy of the lord.  but, know that i have my moments and days and weeks where i’m having questions and doubts myself.  in fact i’m working on a song with some friends right now called “now and then” that looks at both side of the coin.

the lyrics so far are:

now and then, i am over you
but that’s okay
cause i am over me too

now and then, i am plagued
with all this doubt
but you come, you come
and work it all out

now and then
i can’t see your face
in anything
so please forgive my unbelief

now and then,
i’m unsure of everything
but you come, you come
and cause my heart to sing

so there ya go.  that’s me on a day when it’s not all perfect and happy.

what are some of your thoughts? written any songs questioning god? what do you do when its not all perfect?

thanks for checkin in!

until next time, don’t be mean to red heads. they are people too. (my friend/roomie chad – he a redhead – told me that just today he was spat upon…i for one do not condone this).

unceasing worship

i have a quote for you to think on this week.  it’s one of those cute little inverted quotes where you switch the places of a couple of the words and it completely changes the meaning but is somehow still insanely profound.  i always wish i could come up with one of those.  but until i do, here is this one:

“it’s not that music and song should lead us into worship, but our worship should lead us into music and song.”

- from harold best’s “unceasing worship.”

*thanks to my friend Daniel Dabney for turning me onto this quote.  i have thought on it now for several weeks, and it rings very true.  it reveals the backwards nature of our view of what worship is. 

i have other thoughts on the quote but i want you to be able to have your own original thoughts about what this means for you in your worship or in your worship planning.

thanks for checkin in!

until next time, turn some lights off in your house. save some money.

key of C chords instructional video

 

this is the second video to teach chords associated with a certain key signature.  today’s is the key of C.

if you are playing a song in the key of C, or have capo’d and are playing in C form chords, you can use this video to learn the chords to play along.

those included are: C, Dm, Em, C/E, F, G, Am, G/B, and variations of many of these chords.

before the throne instructional video

howdy friends…happy thursday.  which also means happy office day. happy grey’s anatomy day. happy 30 rock day. happy national championship day.

today’s video is an instructional video of “before the throne of god above.” i did the version that shane and shane recorded on their album “pages.”   

this is a beautiful song. enjoy it.

 

thanks for checkin in!

until next time, go gators! (just for tonight)

key of G chords instructional video

i have had several people ask me recently how to play the chords in the songs that i make videos of.  or some of the people are wanting to learn how to play guitar and form chords.  so i decided to start making some videos where i teach chords. 

instead of just teaching random chords.  the videos will show the chords you will need to play in a certain key (barring any unusual chords in the song).  so for this first video, i have done the key of G.  that way if you are playing a song in the key of G, or have capo’d and are playing in G form chords, you can use this video to learn the chords to play along.

those included are: G, Am, Bm, G/B, C, D, Em, D/F#, and variations of many of these chords.

the key of C is next so look out for that in the next day or two.

thanks for checkin in!

until next time, pick up a new hobby that you have always wanted to start.

empty me instructional video

howdy friends. someone on youtube had asked me to make an instructional video for this song.  it was fun cause it took me back several summers when one of the worship band’s played it during ciy summer conference.

anyway, the song is by Jeremy Camp and is off his worship album called “Carried Me.”  it’s a simple song lyrically, and is a plea to have more Jesus and less of ourselves.

here ya go:

hope your new year is off to a great start!

thanks for checkin in!

until next time, buy someone an unexpected gift sometime soon.

fresh art for the church

here we find ourselves in a new year.  perhaps we could use some fresh thinking in the church.

in the church we have some of the most talented people the earth has to offer.  sadly so much of this seems to go untapped because a worship service only involves preaching and a few songs (and communion and scripture if we are lucky).  i firmly believe that the church is and should be about finding the most artistic and creative ways possible to express our love to our lord and savior.  since he has entrusted creativity and beauty to us we should use it to worship him.

here are some suggestions for possible artistic expressions we could be using in our worship services (and thankfully in some cases we already are!):

- drama (yes it’s already used to an extent. but how could we be more creative with it? integration into the sermon? acted out during songs?)
- painting
- dance
- creative bible/scripture reading
- hearing songs or scripture in different languages
- instrumental solos

these are just a few of many, many possibilities.  what can you think of? what do you do at your church? 

in so many ways, the church has allowed it’s creativity to operate inside of a small box.  perhaps we can reclaim that!

thanks for checkin in!

until next time, be thinking of what art form you can introduce to the church.