Bucket Full of Grace

So, here we are at the end.  Day 30 or my 30 Day Worship Challenge.  If you haven't seen the rest, I recommend starting at Day 1. Is a Worship Song Too Emotional, Too Repetitive, Too Self-Focused, or Too Commercialized?  Have you noticed that criticism, especially on the internet, is a way of life.  The way to get views, and therefore clicks, and eyeballs and ad revenue is to be controversial, critical, and get comments.  I'm sure this article won't do that and I don't plan on getting any ad revenue because I am not interested in being controversial.  I'm interested in Grace and speaking the Truth in Love.  So, I'd like to look at how worship songs from Bethel, Hillsong, Elevation, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, John Newton, etc... have been characterized as too emotional, too repetitive, too self-focused, too commercialized, and more by looking in the Word of God to say, guess what! So are the Psalms!   A careful analysis of Amazing Grace could lea...

Let My Words Be Few I have challenged myself to let my words be many over the last 29 days.  I have expounded on my favorite Christian worship songs every day, every morning, pouring over them and sharing those thought with you.  I find this song to always balance me out when I’m talking or in this case writing a lot. Today I'm going to take what this song says to heart and simply let my words be few.  Here is the scripture and lyrics for you to enjoy and to meditate on. Biblical Background Ecclesiastes 5:2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Lyrics You are God in heaven And here am I on earth, So I'll let my words be few- Jesus I am so in love with You. And I'll stand in awe of You, Yes I'll stand in awe of You, And I'll let my words be few- Jesus I am so in love with You. The simplest of all love songs I want to bring to You, So...

Why Do We Sing About Dry Bones Rattling? The dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is a well known prophesy in the Old Testament.  It describes a vision where Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the dry bones and when he does, they rattle and come back together and resurrect into an army.  This motif is common in Christian culture to visualize what is happening when a person is born again.  There is no hope for dry bones to ever live, but God does a miracle that we could never have done on our own to resurrect us and give us new life being born again.  If you haven't studied Ezekiel 37 then this can be a very strange song and I would recommend that this song goes well with teaching on the concepts in it, but not so well as a stand alone worship song if you don't know the context. Controversy and "Grave Sucking" After the release of this song, there was an uptick in the number of people who believed in "Grave Sucking" also known as "Mantle Grabbing" or "Grave Soa...

Biblical Background The theme of this song is in reference to 2 Corinthians 3:17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. However, as with most scripture, this can be taken out of context if you only read one verse.  When read out of context it might seem like we should do whatever we want to do and the freedom is a freedom to sin, to act crazy, to be offensive, etc... Taking the phrase out of context like this would not match up with the rest of the passage of scripture and would also not match up with the rest of the song.  I would highly recommend reading the full thought that the Apostle Paul is writing here in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brou...

Come Thou Fount Confusion During my summers away from home as a Camp Counsellor, I attended a Mennonite Church every Sunday.  One of the most common hymns in this church was Come Thou Fount and I found that I wasn't the only one that was singing along and enjoying the song without knowing what it really meant.  So, let's look at some of the sticking points for people in this song after reading through the lyrics. What Fount? What Mount? Verse 1: Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love. The "Fount of every blessing here is referencing John 7:37-38 when Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit welling up inside a person, like a fountain. 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to m...

What Scriptures is The Blessing Referencing? The Blessing came out a few years ago from Elevation Worship to instant success with millions of views on YouTube over the first 2 days[currently 75 million views at the writing of this article].  The beauty of this song is in its simplicity and use of scripture.  The chorus comes from Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” You likely recognize this as a common benediction in many church services.  It was originally a blessing that God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to give the people of Israel.  Likewise, the bridge is inspired by another encouragement in scripture, Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. A generational blessing that we often talk abo...

Get this song on Amazon Music! Some skyscraper foundations go down 250 feet.  The reason tall buildings need such depth in their roots is because of the wind that makes the building sway and the center of mass of the building.  Having a large, deep, heavy foundation built on rock moves the center of mass of the building down toward the ground.  When the center of mass of any structure is high above the ground and it sways, this will be unstable and the building will fall.  You can see this easily by balancing a baseball bat on your fingertip.  The high center of mass, and not being connected to a firm foundation, makes it unstable.  Now imagine that you connect that bat with steel to a heavy concreted foundation with rebar connecting it to bedrock moving the center of mass to the ground.  The winds can come in gale force and the bat will stand.  That is what we mean when we sing the bridge of this song, "I will build my life upon Your Love, it is ...

Jesus by Chris Tomlin (Amazon Music Link) The Greatest Man in History… Jesus; Had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He did not live in a castle, yet they called Him Lord, He ruled no nations, yet they called Him King, He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today (Lyle C Rollings III, 2008). As the storms of life rage around us, who do we call to?  The only one who isn't flustered by the storm.  He speaks to the storms and calms it.  He calls to us in the midst of the storm and leads us through.  He takes our storm and uses it for His Glory.  Consider the person of Jesus today [Greatest Man in history].  When asked about Himself, he said, "I do only what I see the Father doing." That is what it takes to be the greatest in all...

Before the Throne of God Above -Shane & Shane Version [Amazon Music Link] Some worship music needs to be sung to be appreciated.  The emotion of the music informs the words and the spirit within.  However, there are gems in the hymnal that can stir your soul without a single note being played.  These songs were usually written as poetry first then adapted and set to music later.  Today's song is a beautiful example of Christian poetry coming out of Ireland in the mid-1800s.  See the original poem below: Background Originally written as poetry by Charitie Lees Smith, this song had no accompanying music and has been set to many different tunes over the years.  The current rendition seen in the videos below has stood as the most recent and most popular version of the melody. When Ms. Smith published her own set of hymns she included this one with the note: "May these verses find an echo in other hearts, and be of help, especially in hours of trial, by remi...

Oh Praise the Name [Amazon Music Link] The phrase in this song that really hits me is "His body bound and drenched in tears." I often think of the physical torment that Jesus went through but it is more important to recall His emotional torment.  He was forsaken by His best friends. They even denied that they knew Him.  God, His Father allowed Him to be tortured and mocked to death.  He was not only drenched in blood and sweat but also tears.  He cries out in Matthew 27:46  " My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? " It's not that often that we go through physical torture in our daily lives, but we often go through emotional situations [losses, relationship-problems, loneliness, and betrayal].  Jesus has been through all these things before us and He knows how it feels.  Ask Him for help with your emotional situations.  He has been there and He understands. Biblical Background 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 1   Now  I make known to you, brethren,...