Songs
Word
Head over to the Worship Community to see what others sang and read this week... click here.
Six Keyboard Shortcuts Every Computer User Should Know
According to a statistic published in The Atlantic, 90% of computer users don't know what Ctrl+F can do. As a result, we've put together a list of common, handy shortcuts and tricks that every computer user should know. If you have a friend or family member who could use a lesson or refresher, send this post along.
Before we get started, let's tackle some basics. The CTRL is an abbreviation for Control, and it's the main key on your Windows PC that you use for keyboard shortcuts. If you have a Mac, you also have a Control key, but your primary keyboard shortcut key is Command. Like Alt/Option and Shift, these are modifier keys. When you press them, nothing obvious happens. When you press them along with another letter or number, however, you can make your computer do things faster. We're going to talk about some handy shortcuts you can use with these keys.
Control+F (or Command+F on the Mac)
Obviously we have to begin with Control+F since the statistic is begging for it. Control+F, or Command+F on a Mac, is the keyboard shortcut for the Find command. If you're in a web browser and want to search text on a web page, pressing Control+F will bring up a search box. Just type in that search box and it'll locate the text you're typing on the page. Control+F may work in other applications, too, when you need to find something. For example, Microsoft Word and other word processing applications use this keyboard shortcut.
Control+N (or Command+N on a Mac)
Pressing Control+N, or Command+N on a Mac, is the command for creating something new. In a web browser, this will make a new window. In a word processing, image editing, or other document-based application this keyboard shortcut will create a new document.
Control+S (or Command+S on a Mac)
Now that you know how to create a new document with your keyboard, you should also know how to save one. Control+S, or Command+S on a Mac is the keyboard shortcut for saving a document. If this is the first time you've saved the document you'll be presented with a new window that'll ask you what to name it and where you want to save it. If you've already saved it once before, this keyboard shortcut will simply save your changes.
Control+P (or Command+P on a Mac)
If you want to print the document you just made, Control+P, or Command+P on a Mac, is the keyboard shortcut that will open the print window. From there you'll be able to check your settings, choose a printer, etc. When you're ready, just click print and your document will be printed. This keyboard shortcut works in pretty much any application with printable content, including your web browser.
Alt+F4/Control+Q (or Command+Q on a Mac)
Alt-F4 (and sometimes Control+Q), or Command+Q on a Mac, is the keyboard shortcut for quitting the current application. In Windows it will be the currently open that's in focus on the screen. On a Mac this is also generally the case, but sometimes it's not as clear. To know which application is going to quit when you perform this keyboard command, just look in the upper left corner to see it's name.
Enter (or Return on a Mac)
The enter key, or return key on a Mac, is useful for a lot of things. When a dialog window pops up and asks you to press okay or cancel, you can usually just press Enter instead of clicking okay. In Windows you can tell which button will respond to enter because it'll have a dotted box inside of it. On a Mac the button will be blue instead of gray. Enter can also be used for other things, like submitting forms on web pages from any text field in that form.
These are just a few shortcuts to get you started. To learn more, advanced shortcuts, see ourshortcuts of the day.
We had one of the best music days we've ever had at Third Avenue last Sunday. It was incredible--loud, heartfelt, worshipful, and exciting, even on the songs that aren't "naturally" exciting, if you know what I mean. I remember listening to the congregation sing behind me, hearing people say "Amen" at the end of the songs (a fairly rare thing at our church), and a couple of thoughts hit me. One of my goals at Third Avenue is to work against music ever becoming an "issue" for the church. It's always seemed to me that Satan must take a peculiar pride in the tactic of taking music---which God intended to be a beautiful means of worship to Him---and turning it into a line of division and battle among His people. So a couple of thoughts hit me, and I decided to share them with our church. Maybe they'll be helpful to you, too.
First, it fills my heart with joy (no kidding!) that the success or failure of our music on Sunday mornings depends on whether our congregation shows up ready to sing. It's amazing, really. When we as a church show up prepared to engage in the service, excited to worship Christ and hear from his Word, our music succeeds in a big way---the voices fill up our sanctuary like a flood, and it's beautiful to hear. When we as a church don'tshow up, though, when we're distracted, down, and thinking about anything and everything but the worship of God, our music is really bad. It's quiet, empty, and completely without energy. I realize it might be a strange thing to say, but I'm glad that's how it works! I actually think it's a very good thing that our congregation bears a good deal of responsibility for how our services go each and every Sunday. When I feel that kind of weight---that my attitude and state of mind affects not just me but the entire congregation---it makes me pay more attention to my heart and engage more with the service.
Second, and closely related, I think we ought to encourage every member of our churches to sing every song in the service with gusto, even if they don't particularly resonate with the song. Every Christian has a certain set of hymns and songs that deeply resonate with them---the melody, the words, an experience they had when they first heard it---and our natural tendency is to give those favorites everything we've got . . . but then sort of check out when the next song is one we don't particularly like. But here's the thing: When you sing in a congregation, you're not just singing for yourself; you're singing for every other member of the congregation, for their edification and building up in Christ, too. In I Corinthians 14:26, Paul tells us that when we come together, everything we do--including our singing--is done for each other. Singing hymns is not just an opportunity for each of us, as individuals, to worship God in our own way. It's an opportunity for the church, as a whole, to worship God together. That means that even if you don't like a particular song, it's likely that someone else in the congregation resonates with it deeply---they feel about it the same way you feel about your favorites---and so you have a responsibility to love that person by singing that song with all the heart you can muster. In other words, don't check out on songs that aren't your favorites; sing them! And sing them loud and heartily, not because you particularly like them, but because you may be helping to edify another brother or sister whose heart is engaged deeply with those songs. Worship isn't finally an individual experience; it's corporate. And everything we do--everything, Paul tells us, including our singing---should be done for the building up of the saints.
Martin Luther was once approached by a man who enthusiastically announced that he’d recently become a Christian. Wanting desperately to serve the Lord, he asked Luther, “What should I do now?” As if to say, should he become a minister or perhaps a traveling evangelist. A monk, perhaps.
Luther asked him, “What is your work now?”
“I’m a shoe maker.”
Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make a good shoe, and sell it at a fair price.”
In becoming a Christian, we don’t need to retreat from the vocational calling we already have—nor do we need to justify that calling, whatever it is, in terms of its “spiritual” value or evangelistic usefulness. We simply exercise whatever our calling is with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and standards—and with a renewed commitment to performing our calling with greater excellence and higher objectives.
One way we reflect our Creator is by being creative right where we are with the talents and gifts he has given us. As Paul says, “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (1 Corinthians 7:20,24). As we do this, we fulfill our God-given mandate to reform, to beautify, our various “stations” for God’s glory–giving this world an imperfect preview of the beautification that will be a perfect, universal actuality when Jesus returns to finish what he started.
"... vocation is played out not just in extraordinary acts - the great things we will do for the Lord, the great success we envision in our careers someday - but in the realm of the ordinary. Whatever we face in the often humdrum present - washing the dishes, buying groceries, going to work, driving the kids somewhere, hanging out with our friends - this is the realm into which we have been called and in which our faith bears fruit in love. We are to love our neighbors - that is, the people who are actually around us, as opposed to the abstract humanity of the theorists. These neighbors constitute the relationships that we are in right now, and our vocation is for God to serve them through us. The doctrine of vocation, though it has to do with human work, is essentially about Gods' work and how God works in and through our lives...
The doctrine of vocation helps Christians see the ordinary labors of life to be charged with meaning. It also helps put their work in perspective, seeing that their work is not saving them, but that they are resting in the grace of God, who in turn works through their labors to love and serve their neighbors."
It is an error to think that those who flee worldly affairs and engage in contemplation are leading an angelic life. . . We know that men were created to busy themselves with labor and that no sacrifice is more pleasing to God than when each one attends to his calling and studies well to live for the common good (Calvin's Commentaries, Luke 10:38).
A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and every one by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another. . . (An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility).
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
(Psalm 139:13-16 ESV)
'Hymns of Faith - Songs for the Apostles Creed' is a concept album for the church. It is based in a collection of hymns written on the 12 articles of the apostles creed by Samuel J. Stone in 1866.
It was initially conceived as a sort of "flashmob" project for a loose collection of songwriters for the church.
the challenge…two weeks to write and record music to one of a collection of hymns written on the articles of the apostles creed. Hymns both arcane and beautiful in their meditation on the tenets of the Christian faith. (We thank Brian Moss for getting us started here!)
'Lyra Fidelium - 12 Hymns on the Apostles Creed' was published in 1866 by Samuel Stone as a devotional exercise to encourage the working poor in his English congregation. Building off of their weekly repetition of the Apostles Creed in worship he hoped to excite a greater interest in the expanse of biblical teaching grounded in each article.
This has been a challenging and stretching, a 'formative' exercise for us and we hope that listening to them will be both a comfort and deepening for you and your faith in our great triune God.
We give this as a gift to the church in celebration of both 'Reformation' and 'All Saints' Sundays. We ask that you would 'pass it on' and give a gift to the persecuted church via 'The Voice of the Martyrs'.www.persecution.comcreditsreleased 31 October 2010
produced by www.cardiphonia.org
Gathered Worship
I like to call public worship “gathered worship” to emphasize several things including this very value. God commands that we worship Him in several spheres of our lives – in private, in our families, and with our local churches. I’ll write more on these spheres next time in our seventh and last worship value. It is certainly true that worship is for God, and in an overarching sense, directed to God; after all, we are to worship God, not anything or anyone else. But at the same time, God wants our gathered worship to be edifying to the church. He has designed the church’s public gatherings as a time when the entire church can participate, utilize their spiritual gifts, and be edified. Look at how Paul instructs the Corinthian church after their worship had become unbalanced as they focused on the supernatural gifts to the exclusion of other aspects of worship: “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (1 Corinthians 14:26) When Paul says “let all things,” he is referring to all things pertaining to public worship.
Edification and Exaltation
We see the wonderful balance of simultaneous brotherly edification and Godward exaltation in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Notice how we are to sing to one another, with thankfulness to God. That’s why worship songs can either be directed towards God, be about God (in the third person), or be simply to the gathered church. A few examples: “The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures;” (Amazing Grace, God in the third person) “Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;” (Holy, Holy, Holy, directed to God in the first person) “Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.” (Onward Christian Soldiers)Performance and Participation
Too often, especially as churches grow and either hire or attract more talented musicians, public worship can become a playground for musical skill rather than a platform for encouraging and fostering participation by everyone. I don’t mean to set up a tension between musical excellence or skill and congregational participation, as if to get people to participate we should intentionally offer music that is of lower quality. But the value of congregational participation should necessarily shape and limit the music that we make in gathered worship. That’s why for centuries, hymns have been written in certain meters. The poetry of hymns is limited so that the lyrics can be set to tunes that people know, and so that the poetry is more accessible to people of all intellects. Likewise, when we write or choose songs that we want our people to sing, they should be artistically limited in range, tempo, and meter. We should choose singable songs and lead them in a singable way.
The Function of Music in Worship
This leads us to naturally question what the function of music in gathered worship should be. Throughout the Bible, we see music used in various ways in worship, but they can be grouped into two broad categories. First, music is used as a stand-alone offering of praise, and the participation of others is expected to be passive. Second, music is used to encourage, support, and enhance congregational singing. When the inherent power of music is wed to truth-filled lyrics it becomes a mighty tool that God uses to help us connect our minds and hearts and feel the great doctrines that we sing. Because the New Testament doesn’t specify whether or not we should use instruments in our congregational singing, and doesn’t specifically mention praising God with instruments, I believe that this second function of music should be the primary way music is used in gathered worship. While this doesn’t completely exclude our use music as an offering by itself (as in so-called “offertories,” music performed for the congregation), it does, however, call us to examine what the purpose of our musical offerings is in light of our entire worship services. We must remember the overarching command to let all things be done for edification and ask such questions as “will this musical performance help our people prepare to engage with public worship or distract them?” Worship should never become an artistic playground. There is a time and place for artistic expression and experimentation, but that should be outside of our normal, regular gathered worship.
Beyond the Songs
This idea of encouraging participation by all goes beyond simply the songs that we sing. The New Testament is replete with commands involving “one another.” Many of these are naturally obeyed in the context of gathered worship. Our readings, prayers, and other liturgical elements should also be written and led in such a way as to encourage participation by all. Our people participate during public worship in two ways – either actively or passively. Passive participation involves listening and observing; this is how we participate in sermons. Active participation involves interacting with our voices and bodies (i.e. posture). Our services should seek to balance passive participation such as listening with active participation such as speaking and singing.
Encouraging Participation
Because of our culture’s natural drift towards passive participation, pastors and worship leaders should take up the call to help their people actively participate. This means leading by example and by giving much thought to the mechanics of leading such as giving clear bodily, verbal, or written guidance for when to sit, stand, kneel, read responsively, read congregationally, when to begin singing, etc. These small details can go a long way to helping people feel comfortable to join in without fear that they will be singing or speaking alone. Some practical suggestions for how to increase meaningful participation are to choose songs that are singable, limit the use of brand new songs, help the congregation understand the lyrics through verbal or written explanations, and to limit the volume of the instrumentation used to accompany singing so that the people can hear themselves sing. Singing songs or particular verses a cappella (without accompaniment) is a wonderful way to highlight the beautiful sound of the congregation singing.
In conclusion, our worship services should be designed in such a way to encourage and foster participation by the entire congregation, not just by the leaders performing and directing the service. In this way we will obey the command to “let all things be done for building up.” As the late Robert Webber put it, “worship is a verb,” it is something that we do, not that is done to or for us. May our churches grow in passionate participation so that as non-believers observe our worship they might fall on their faces, worship God, and declare that God is really among us (paraphrased from 1 Corinthians 14:25).
Songs
Celebrate The Great Week with new and re-imagined hymns.
Preview new songs from Redeemer Church of Knoxville's upcoming album Rise O Buried Lord.
Each day of Holy Week, a new song will be available for streaming along with readings and reflections based on the events of Easter.
The week between Palm Sunday and Easter is not intrinsically holy, except that all time is holy, since it belongs to God. But we can make it holy by setting it apart for sacred focus.
May I encourage you to do that, for the sake of seeing more of the greatness of Christ. He reveals himself through his word. Take up his word and focus your attention on him in his last hours. Set aside some time this week to fix your gaze steadily on him as he loves you to the uttermost (John 13:1).
The passages in the Gospels that record his final hours are:
You may find that a volcano erupts in your soul. Like it did for me 28 years ago.
It's that time again! Palm Sunday. Christians all around the world will celebrate Jesus' glorious and triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We call it the "deep breath before the plunge" into holy week. Jesus was betrayed, abandoned, falsely arrested, tortured and brutally murdered before the week was up. And we know why - to save us.
At Servant's Heart Fellowship we always go big on this day - palm branches for everyone to wave as we sing Hosanna! Join us as we celebrate our king. He is worthy of all this attention (and so much more).
"preparation and repentance during which we anticipate Good Friday and Easter. In practice, many congregations choose to focus Sunday worship on the themes of repentance and renewal." - The Worship Sourcebook
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Have Mercy On Us (Song of Confession)Jason Sessoms, Adapted from the BCP “Confession Of Sin”
We confess we’ve sinned against You
In thought and word and deed
By what we’ve done and left undone
It’s Your forgiveness that we need…
…now. For the sake of Your SonHave mercy on, have mercy on……us. For the Sake of Your SonHave mercy on, have mercy on…us
We’ve not loved You with our whole heart
Nor our neighbors as ourselves
We’ve humbly come now to repent
To say truly how sorry we are…
May we delight here in Your will
Here on out walk in Your ways
Give us what we need to live
To the glory of Your Name…
An effective corporate worship leader,
aided and led by the Holy Spirit,
skillfully combines biblical truth with music
to magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ,
thereby motivating the gathered church
to join him in proclaiming and cherishing the truth about God
and seeking to live all of life for the glory of God.
It’s as if we don’t fully understand the weight of what will happen when we see Christ. Do we honestly believe that we will still be concerned with what others think about us at that point?
Christians sing together during corporate worship gatherings. Colossians 3:16-17 helps us understand why. Paul tells us that worshiping God together in song is meant to deepen the relationships we enjoy through the gospel. This happens in three ways (or three R’s):
1. Singing helps us remember God’s Word.
Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly…singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” The “word of Christ” mostly likely means the word about Christ, or the gospel. Songs whose lyrics expound on the person, work, and glory of Christ tend to stay with us long after we’ve forgotten the main points of the sermon.
2. Singing helps us respond to God’s grace.
While no one is exactly sure what “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” refers to, we can at least infer some kind of variety in our singing. No singular musical style captures either the manifold glories of God or the appropriate responses from his people.
We’re also told to sing with “thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Singing is meant to be a whole-hearted activity. Emotionless singing is an oxymoron. God gave us singing to combine objective truth with thankfulness, doctrine with devotion, and intellect with emotion.
3. Singing helps us reflect God’s glory.
Doing “everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,” implies bringing God glory. Worshiping God together in song glorifies God for at least three reasons. First, it expresses the unity Christ died to bring us. Second, because all three persons of the Trinity sing (Zeph. 3:17;Heb. 2:12; Eph. 5:18-19). Finally, it anticipates the song of heaven when we’ll have unlimited time to sing, clearer minds to perceive God’s perfections, and glorified bodies that don’t grow weary.
Worshiping God in song isn’t simply a nice idea or only for musically gifted people. The question is not, “Has God given me a voice?” but “Has God given me a song?”
If you trust in the finished work of Christ, the answer is clear: Yes!
So remember His Word, respond to His grace, and reflect on His glory.
Bob Kauflin is a pastor, songwriter, worship leader, and author of Worship Matters. Bob serves as the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries and blogs at www.worshipmatters.com. He and his wife, Julie, have 6 children and an ever growing number of grandchildren.
"... vocation is played out not just in extraordinary acts - the great things we will do for the Lord, the great success we envision in our careers someday - but in the realm of the ordinary. Whatever we face in the often humdrum present - washing the dishes, buying groceries, going to work, driving the kids somewhere, hanging out with our friends - this is the realm into which we have been called and in which our faith bears fruit in love. We are to love our neighbors - that is, the people who are actually around us, as opposed to the abstract humanity of the theorists. These neighbors constitute the relationships that we are in right now, and our vocation is for God to serve them through us. The doctrine of vocation, though it has to do with human work, is essentially about Gods' work and how God works in and through our lives...
The doctrine of vocation helps Christians see the ordinary labors of life to be charged with meaning. It also helps put their work in perspective, seeing that their work is not saving them, but that they are resting in the grace of God, who in turn works through their labors to love and serve their neighbors."
"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" - Matthew 10:37
O Lord My Lord,
This is thy day, the heavenly ordinance of rest, the open door of worship, the record of Jesus' resurrection, the seal of the sabbath to come the day when saints militant and triumphant unite in endless song.
I bless thee for the throne of grace, that here free favour reigns; that open access to it is through the blood of Jesus; that the veil is torn aside and I can enter the holiest and find thee ready to hear, waiting to be gracious, inviting me to pour out my needs, encouraging my desires, promising to give more that I ask or think.
But while I bless thee, shame and confusion are mine: I remember my past misuse of sacred things, my irreverent worship, my base ingratitude, my old, dull praise.
Sprinkle all my past sabbaths with the cleansing blood of Jesus, and may this day witness deep improvement in me.
Give me in rich abundance the blessings that the Lord's Day was designed to impart;
May my heart be fast bound against worldly thoughts or cares;
Flood my mind with peace beyond understanding; may my meditations be sweet, my acts of worship life, liberty, joy, my drink the streams that flow from thy throne, my food the precious Word, my defence the shield of faith, and may my heart be more knit to Jesus.
