I've been listening to this song a lot recently, it goes some way to describing where I'm at just now. God wants us to tear down the walls, loose the chains and free our hearts for Him. He wants the best for us, He wants our hearts. Giving our hearts back to Him is the least we can do.

Isaiah 6:8 shows us Isaiah's prophecy of the Lord asking "Whom shall I send, who will go for me", and of the response - "Here I am, send me". Seize the opportunity, stand up, put your hand up for the Lord, He will give you the tools you need. I pray this would be your anthem this week.

(It's a stirringly good video too.....)

Bless you,

Ed

 

Rend Collective's "Organic Family Hymnal" (on which this is track 1) can be found here on iTunes 

I've just finished reading one of the most amazing books I've ever read. I saw Banning Liebscher speak and lead the ministry at the Jesus Culture event in London last October, and was instantly struck by his passion, fervour and relentless love for the Lord, and I bought his book.

As a reader, I tend to start books read 40-50 pages and then buy another one. I have so far done this with no less than 7 books this year, and felt that this trend was becoming ridiculous. At the start of this week I prayed and asked the Lord to tell me what I should be reading. Rather than tell me directly, He responded with the words "Burning Ones". I know that this is a song by Jesus Culture (from the Consumed album), and set about listening to that track. This word has been slowly unpacking itself this week, and I believe it is in the bridge of the song where the Lord's word has it's heart:

"So let this light be like a fire, Let our lives be like a flame, Fill our souls with Your desire, Let our passion bring You fame"

Passionate, God-centred lives, burning like fire, shining light for all to see (in a nutshell). Banning's book "Jesus Culture" has the subtext "Living a life that transforms the world". Section 3 of this book is called "Burning Ones". This is the book the Lord was pointing me to.

This book begins with words to the effect of "You're reading this book because You are one of a new breed of revivalist emerging in the earth. God has chosen you to be integral to this." Did not see that coming! After an initial few pages of "Lord, are You sure?" He began to reveal things to me. He started to show me that some of the struggles I'd been through are not unique, and that in Him I have been given the greatest love I will ever know. Keeping that a secret is not an option.

At the aforementioned Jesus Culture event in London I was healed of a problem with my wrist that I'd suffered with for 16 years. Banning was leading a time of ministry in which the Lord gave Him words to pray for "anyone who had a problem with arthritis or arthritic symptoms, specifically in relation to joints". Yep. Then, "anyone who has been suffering with this problem for over 10 years". Kelly (my wife) was sitting next to me and prayed for me, and I wasn't sure whether it had been healed. I had (and in fact still have) a click in my wrist when I rotate it, and because that hadn't gone, I was unsure as to whether I had been healed. After a second round of prayer it still hadn't gone, so I was still unsure.

I had for several years been periodically wearing a wrist support for this ailment, and in fact had been wearing it up until the day of the event. Suffice to say, I haven't worn it since. Every day my faith grew that it had in fact been healed to the point where there could be no doubt. Banning's book contains countless testimonies like this, and there are people everywhere who need to know God's healing power. I now feel compelled to go and find some of them!

To this end, having read everything Banning has to say on this subject, I intend to endeavour to Advance the Kingdom in whatever way I can. My prayer for you is that you will ask the Lord to show you His heart for you. This book tells in hundreds of places just how much the Lord wants you, how much he wants to use you to advance His Kingdom and reveal more of His love to you and others. Bless you.

A collection of new versions (with new tunes) of Charles Wesley hymns (entitled Love Divine) has been released this month - and it has, for me, posed a question - am I personally for or against updated hymns?

I have had a fair amount of experience over the years of being part of teams leading worship, and of leading worship alone, and one thing that experience has taught me is that consistency of rhythm, melody, and pitch is key to enabling accessible worship. Hymns create something of an interesting situation when leading congregational worship, as in many cases different members of congregations have been brought up singing these hymns to differing tunes. Never has the phrase "all singing from the same hymn sheet" been more apt than in sung worship. Think of well-known hymns such as "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and "Amazing Grace" - all of these hymns have several versions already - do we confuse yet more people by bringing another version of this to the table?

With this in mind, producing an album where every track has a different tune to the one we're used to is potentially ambitious. I must confess, I'm not yet sold on the idea. This is by no means a negative reflection upon the artists (and there are a few notable ones to choose from) - Mac Powell's version of "And Can It Be" is emotive, with an affable melody. Chris Eaton's "Jesus Lover of My Soul" has a beautiful minor chord progression, with a great building atmosphere, good use of drums and ethereal backing vocals. There is some nice synth work and a bright feel to Mark Roach's "Christ Whose Glories Fill The Skies". All good tracks in their own right, and there are indeed some hymns I have never heard before in here. And it is here you find my counter-argument to new versions of hymns - that songs that may have been forever confined to the history books can be re-worked and brought to the fore in albums such as this. Moreover, in some cases, once inaccessible (through melody, quick changing chords, or general predictability) hymns can be reworked, maybe simplified, and actually made better through re-working.

Here, for me is a case in point:

How many versions of this song exist? Hundreds, maybe thousands. What a way to reach out to people, to give them a familiar song to sing, and yet to do it in a new way, with a recurring praise chorus. I'm not saying for a minute that this version is better or indeed more relevant as a whole than any other version of the song, but for me it gives a great hymn a bit of a lift. For you, there may be another version of this song, sung by a different worship leader, a gospel choir, or even an instrumental version that creates that same intimacy in worship, and that too is fine. For me, hymns provide a bedrock, a foundation for worship - Matt Redman once commented that Wesley wrote hymns for pretty much every life situation, and that was his way of communicating with the Lord. Most of Wesley's hymns will not be sung in many churches, yet this new collection proves that by studying what has gone before, we can draw inspiration for what is to come, using hymns that are several hundred years old.

With all this in mind then, am I for or against this idea? I am largely for the idea, though I believe that worship leaders need to be sensitive to their congregation. Rocking out Bluetree's version of "When I Survey" may be what you feel is necessary for the church, but a little pragmatism is sometimes necessary. Try different feels for songs and see what the church worships to - for that should be the goal - a church in worship.

Let me know what you think on this subject - I'd love to hear your views.....

I was recently at a worship seminar Q & A session, sitting a few rows in front of a chap who asked if lyrics to already-produced material could be adapted for Sunday morning worship if thought inappropriate or inaccessible to the congregation. The line in question was something about "Heaven, Earth and a sloppy wet kiss....", and having not heard the song I was somewhat intrigued. One of my good friends on our worship team then posted this video link and it came together:

My first observation about this potential bone of contention is that I've now listened to several versions of this song, and watched the relative videos, and not one person appears to be in the slightest bit concerned at singing a line that may fall out of their comfort zone for singing collectively. But then, isn't the collective spirit of worship such, that we should all be singing the same lyrics together and engaging in the same time of worship? The passion surrounding this song is highly contagious. The manner that the song is built back up from the line in question is such that you take on the characteristics of the lyrics - get yourself into a worshipful state, and it is nigh on impossible to stop your "heart turning violently inside of your chest". This song challenges you to cast aside all negativity and focus on what really matters - his enduring and undying love for us.

High upon my playlists in recent weeks have been Jesus Culture. Their approach to this song (on the "We Cry Out" album) is somewhat more laid back to begin with, using soft delayed guitar and soft synth pads to create a more "atmospheric" feel. Kim Walker's vocals really make this song, and her transference from lower to upper singing register in the second verse is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Once again the passion is astonishing, and it is very easy to get drawn into the feel of their worship. Jesus Culture's version is here:

So how do we do this song in church on a Sunday morning? In my humble opinion, purity is the key. Pray for a worshipful church, a passionate church, a humble church. Pray for the Lord's grace, pray for His power, pray for His mercy. Pray that you'll see more of Him, that more of His love will be revealed to you in so many more ways than you could have ever imagined. Pray that He'll show you what you are singing. This song is amazingly powerful, but is one that must be believed to be attempted. I pray that the Lord will bless you with the grace, passion, mercy and power to give this song back to him in praise.

Is the way in which we all approach worship becoming the same? Should [or indeed, does] all modern worship sound like mainstream acts such as U2 or Coldplay? How do we translate this "big" sound into something acceptable for small church Sunday morning worship? All of these are pertinent questions to be asked by worshippers in today's church, and yet, by trying to achieve any of this, are we still keeping the worship at the centre? Today's blog will take a moment to have a look at how we can attempt this. Like me, you may have at some point discovered bands like Jesus Culture, Hillsong United, the Passion band, or Mercy Me, and thought "Wow, I wish we could have worship that great!" This is an entirely natural reaction, when 5000 watts of PA and several talented worship musicians are playing your favourite worship songs in a way you believe you could only dream of. So how can we replicate this in our own churches on a Sunday morning? The answer in musical and physical terms is that we probably can't, and having established this, we should probably work out what we can do. Hard though it may be to accept, bands like these spend hours practising together, probably play at least 200 worship sets a year in this format, and so this could therefore be regarded as "natural" to these guys. "Natural" is a word not often bandied around when it comes to worship. Worship is providing worthy praise to a Holy God, part of which involves interaction and engagement with the Holy Spirit, so is worship therefore "supernatural"? On the flip side however, we are using music (a gift from the Lord) in order to facilitate this worship, and by using instruments we are instigating this process in the "natural". With me so far? What I am getting at is, that with worship being instigated by music, we must be confident and assured in what we are playing to begin with. If we are to use music to lead a congregation into worship, we must be natural with the songs and arrangements that we choose, leaving our minds and hearts open to God's plan for the morning. Confidence, faith and intercession are therefore the key elements of standing up at the front and leading a congregation into worship, and music provides the medium for this to happen. This is a true gift, as it means that worship can be great and pleasing to the Lord, whether we have a lone singer/guitarist leading at housegroup, or a 7 piece band with the world's supply of PA at their disposal. The key is for worship to be natural. As a Vineyard churchgoer, I love the intimacy of worship songs. Listen to "Make Your Home in Me" from the "Hungry" album and you'll see what I'm getting at. Lyrics such as "Now that I am here with You, there's no place I'd rather be, Now that I have felt Your touch, make Your home in me" demonstrate to me the intimacy we can achieve through worship. The musical style of this song is also relevant, it's very laid back, with a focus on the lyrics, and importantly, it has a beginning, a middle and an end. I'd urge You to listen to lots of worship music, with a view to working out not whether or not you like a particular song or worship leader, but why you like them. Once you have built up a collection of the attributes of worship music you like, you will find your natural way of expressing worship through music. Also, remember that interpretation of songs is sometimes more important. Just because you don't like a particular version of a song, it doesn't necessarily make it a bad song. Find a version that fits your playing style, and see if it changes your opinion.