03/07/10: Logan's Worship Blog

Each week, this blog includes:

I. Songs for the 1050 service at the heights

II. Stories behind those songs

III. Scriptures for those songs

I. Set List

You are Here (Logan Walter)

Changed (Logan Walter)

Call to Action (Logan Walter)

You are Good (Logan Walter)

Bread of Life (Logan Walter - never been played! wrote it this week! yikes.)

II. Song Stories

1. You are Here - I'll write about the theology of this song in a later post. For now, all you need to know is that this song has been played in space, thanks to our good friend, astronaut Shane Kimbrough, and his lovely wife, Robbie, who chose the music for Day 9 on the international space station. It is probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to us. You can hear Shane give us a shout out from space at 1:02 on this YouTube clip: Dutton in Space

2. Changed - Before we step onto stage for a time of worship, I often pray that we will simply encounter God's presence, because I know that if we truly encounter the Living God, our lives will be changed. It seems elementary, but how many times do we leave church with changed hearts and minds,? How many times do we allow the face of God to burn a new imprint of Holiness upon our souls? Most of the time we leave the same way that we came: thinking about lunch, craving a nap, dreading Monday morning. We find out in Isaiah 6 that a true encounter with God demands better of us: Isaiah 6:1-8

3. Call to Action - Part of being on staff at "The Heights" is having accountability, which we have with John Wills (executive pastor) and Dave Rogers (too many job titles to list). We respond to questions about our lives as we read through books, such as "Jim & Casper Go to Church." In this book, Jim Henderson (a pastor) visits several American churches with a guy named Matt Casper, who is an atheist.

Throughout the book, Casper keeps asking Jim (and this is a paraphrase): "Jim, this Jesus I've heard about and read about...He doesn't just believe in something, he does something about His beliefs. He heals the sick, feeds the hungry...Jim, where's the "call to action" ** in the church?" Last year, our church focussed on "Serve," reaching out the the communities around us. So the song was inspired both by the book and what was happening in our church community.

**Jim visited our church this summer and we had the honor of playing this song for him. He loved it! And he said, "Casper's a total music buff; he will be so stoked to find out that he helped inspire a rock song."

4. You are Good - We played this one for the first time last week, and nobody filed a complaint, so we are playing it again. Do you want to know a little worship leading secret? There's a formula to introducing a song. It goes like this:

a. week one: introduce the song

b. week two: if the song goes well, play it again to familiarize the congregation with the lyrics and melody

c. week three: give it a rest. nobody wants to hear the same stuff three weeks in a row

d. week four: play it again, in hopes that the church will be able to internalize the song.

Ok, ok. There's not really a formula, and if there is, I don't follow it very well. Worship is not meant to be formulaic, but that doesn't mean that worship leaders can't use reason. Common sense is of God, and as people of God, we are called to use Common Sense well! Dave Rogers, Heights staff member and accountability partner, once told me that people need to hear something three times before they remember it. This is another unofficial statistic, but I usually adhere to it. That's why we don't introduce a song at a church camp, unless we can play it at least three times throughout the week.

Great. Now that I've told you the secret formula, I don't want to use it anymore. "You are Good" next week. Three times in a row. Deal with it.

5. Bread of Life - I've never done this before, but I am going to have the congregation be seated and introduce this song to them, just me and the acoustic guitar. The band hasn't even heard it!

It's inspired by the 19th century hymn, "Break Thou The Bread of Life"** and chapter two of Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology," which my small group discussed this week. Some songs, such as "You are Good," are simply meant to be songs of praise. Other worship songs have a function (ex: "You are Here" and "Welcome Here" function as a Call to Worship). "Break the Bread" has a specific function in a worship set. It's meant to be played before the sermon, as we ask God to speak to us through His Word. In the spirit of the hymns, the music is simple and singable. Very simple. In fact, don't get your hopes up. It's the most simple song I've ever written.

But the words are True:

Break the bread of life, o Lord

break the bread to me

as you broke the bread, o Lord

that day beside the sea

throughout your word i seek you Lord

my spirit longs for thee

so break the bread of life, o Lord

break the bread to me

bless your holy word, o Lord

bless your word to me

as you blessed the bread, o Lord

that day by galilee

then all my chains shall fall away

and i shall find my peace

so bless your holy word o Lord

bless your word to me

Bread of life

You are the bread of life

you became flesh, my righteousness

Jesus you are

Bread of life

You are the bread of life

you became flesh, my righteousness

Jesus you are

throughout your word i seek you Lord

my spirit longs for thee

so break the bread of life, o Lord

break the bread to me

Break the bread to me

Break the bread to me

**I've actually never heard "Break Thou the Bread of Life." The lyrics were written at the end of the second chapter in Grudem's book, so I wrote some words and music, using the lyrical themes from the hymn.

III. Song Scriptures

1. You are Here - I

Psalm 99:3

Let them praise your great and awesome name—
he is holy (set apart).

Isaiah 7:14

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (God with us).

2. Changed -

Isaiah 6:5

5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

3. Call to Action -

Matthew 25:40

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

4. You are Good -

Psalm 25:8

8 Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

5. Bread of Life -

John 6:35

35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.