09/05/10: Logan's Worship Blog

God of this City (Bluetree)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

My dear friend and accountability partner, Daniel Carson, was on one of his many trips around the world when he heard an unknown band called Bluetree playing a worship chorus that specifically asked God to move in their city of Belfast, Ireland. As the guitarist for Chris Tomlin, Daniel felt God leading him to tell his own band leader about this song.

A few days later, Daniel was back in the States and had me listening to "God of this City" on Bluetree's myspace page. There was something special about it, but I dismissed it in my own mind, as I wasn't sure how it could be used in a worship set. Later that day, we met with Chris for lunch at Chuy's in Austin and heard his own dream for the song. "This passion tour we're about to go on," Chris said. "We'll sing this song everywhere we go, asking God to bring revival in each city along the way."

Less than a year later, a new Passion album was released entitled - "Passion: God of this City." I'm thankful for people like Daniel and Chris who have a vision for worship beyond that of my own. At the Heights, we sing this song for the the greater Dallas area, for God desires to do greater things through us to reach our community, not just in service, but in our conversations, as I will explain through the lyrics of "Call to Action"...

Call to Action (Logan Walter)

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Philemon 1:6

I wrote this song in response to our church's call to "serve" or "engage the community with our service." But this Sunday, Gary preached about a different way to "engage," as he taught from Philemon about how to "share" or "engage the community with our conversations." There's a line in this song that might seem inappropriate for a "share" Sunday. It reads:

It's not enough to testify with words

Reach out in love, and the message will be heard

And while it's true that I wrote these lyrics with "serve" in mind, I believe this line also applies to "share." How do we "reach out in love" when sharing with those around us? Through our words? Yes! But our conversations must begin with a willingness to listen. Read this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and consider the implications it has for "share":

The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. As love to God begins with listening to his Word, so the beginning of love for others is learning to listen to them. It can be greater service than speaking. There's an impatient, inattentive listening that despises, only waiting for a chance to speak. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Nothing But Your Blood (Matt Redman)

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13

We make the Lord's Supper available to the entire congregation every Sunday morning at the Heights during the 10:50 hour. And though I remind everyone about this sacrament at the beginning of each service, I rarely re-emphasize its importance during the worship set. But this Sunday, before singing this song of gratitude for Christ's blood, I felt led to share something I read in my Tim Keller bible study the previous week. The study is in outline form and addresses the question "How do we worship?" The first answer to this question comes from John 4:23 - we must worship "in Spirit and in Truth." I want you to read the outline for the second answer. Prayerfully consider point "d":

2. We must worship "in Word and Sacrament." Worship is not just a time of teaching and inspiration.

a) It is a re-enactment of our union with Christ through the Gospel.

b) God's unmerited grace comes to us as a word to believe not as a deed to be performed. Therefore every worship service consists of hearing God's word of grace followed by our response to it.

c) God's word is read and we respond with confession of sin. God's word is preached and we respond with song, or with an offering of our lives and substance.

d) But especially in the sacraments - in baptism and the Lord's Supper - we see the gospel re-enacted. The bread and wine are tokens of Jesus' self-offering on the cross, and we respond by giving ourselves to him as we partake of them.

e) in every case, the worship service is a covenant renewal ceremony, in which we renew and deepen our remembrance of what Jesus has done for us and of what we have promised Him.

Other songs from this Sunday:

Christ is Risen (Matt Maher) - see the 08/22 post for my thoughts about Matt Maher

"We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." 1 Thes 4:14

Stronger (Hillsong) - see the 08/22 post for a video of this song

"The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:2