This Week's Songs
The week's new songs are in at www.WorshipTogether.com ! This time around its an European trio: Stuart Townend, Keith Getty, and Krysten Lennox. I had the pleasure of worshipping with Stuart and Keith at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and even speaking with Stuart for a bit afterwards, about the relation between Scripture and songwriting. Anyway, they like to be called, "hymnwriters." Their music is written with public worship in mind, and is designed to be learned and sung easily enough. Further, it's pretty much all Bible-based- not just in message but in content. Most Christian music is Bible-based in message, but not necesarily in content, it seems to me anyway. And there's nothing wrong with having content outside of the Bible, so long as the message is harmonious with Scripture. But these folks choose to remain clearly within the parameters of Biblical content as well as message.
The three songs they are offering as free sheet music this week are: In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found), The Power of the Cross (Oh to See the Dawn), and There Is a Higher Throne.
In Christ Alone is a beloved staple for my youth group. Its melody is among the very best I've ever heard of any hymn (and hymns have the best melodies around- that's often all they really have, musically!) Its portayal of the Gospel is one of the clearest and most invigorating I've heard.
The Power of the Cross focuses on how Christ became sin for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). Most hymns have a pretty clear central theme, with each of the 3 or 4 or more verses picking a different Scripture verse(s) to point out that theme. Not quite so with The Power of the Cross! Verses 1 & 2 work with 2 Corinthians 5:21, while verse 3 glimpses the supernaturals events that happened around the cross during the crucifixion, and verse 4 returns to 2 Cor 5:21 for its message with a quick fuison of Revelation 20:14 and Genesis 3:15 for content. The chorus itself is six phrases (that's alot of phrases for a chorus... especially one that gets sung 4 times) that are all short except for their final words- held out for 5 to 6 beats each. All and all, the combination of the unusually focused lyrics (even more focused than How Deep the Father's Love for Us, I would argue), and the unusually long chorus make for an unexpected, sobering stare at the spiritual event of Christ becomming sin for us at the cross.
There Is a Higher Throne is the simplest of the songs at only two verses and a chorus. It was actually written by Kristyn, which is not suprising once the melody is heard. It has a fairyland feel to it... very fantastic and day-dreamy. The focus here is in Revelation 21, where God once and for all establishes His reign over all of creation and we find our true home in the New Jerusalem. There Is a Higher Throne is the feautered song that the weekly instructional video covers. The instructional video is a surprising 10 minutes long! For the first time that I've seen it, there is more than just one artist on set- the whole crew is there for us! Krystyn explains the writing of the song, Keith gives a thorough demonstration of the piano part (with the keys and hands being in clear sight- thanks be to God!), and Stuart gives an equally thorough demonstration of the guitar part, making more clear the fingerings of the chords than I've seen before from the videos on this site.
They'll be replaced by Wednesday, so get it while it's fresh!
www.WorshipTogether.com
www.GettyDirect.com
Keith & Krystyn
Stuart
The Peace of Christ to You All,
Jake
The three songs they are offering as free sheet music this week are: In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found), The Power of the Cross (Oh to See the Dawn), and There Is a Higher Throne.
In Christ Alone is a beloved staple for my youth group. Its melody is among the very best I've ever heard of any hymn (and hymns have the best melodies around- that's often all they really have, musically!) Its portayal of the Gospel is one of the clearest and most invigorating I've heard.
The Power of the Cross focuses on how Christ became sin for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). Most hymns have a pretty clear central theme, with each of the 3 or 4 or more verses picking a different Scripture verse(s) to point out that theme. Not quite so with The Power of the Cross! Verses 1 & 2 work with 2 Corinthians 5:21, while verse 3 glimpses the supernaturals events that happened around the cross during the crucifixion, and verse 4 returns to 2 Cor 5:21 for its message with a quick fuison of Revelation 20:14 and Genesis 3:15 for content. The chorus itself is six phrases (that's alot of phrases for a chorus... especially one that gets sung 4 times) that are all short except for their final words- held out for 5 to 6 beats each. All and all, the combination of the unusually focused lyrics (even more focused than How Deep the Father's Love for Us, I would argue), and the unusually long chorus make for an unexpected, sobering stare at the spiritual event of Christ becomming sin for us at the cross.
There Is a Higher Throne is the simplest of the songs at only two verses and a chorus. It was actually written by Kristyn, which is not suprising once the melody is heard. It has a fairyland feel to it... very fantastic and day-dreamy. The focus here is in Revelation 21, where God once and for all establishes His reign over all of creation and we find our true home in the New Jerusalem. There Is a Higher Throne is the feautered song that the weekly instructional video covers. The instructional video is a surprising 10 minutes long! For the first time that I've seen it, there is more than just one artist on set- the whole crew is there for us! Krystyn explains the writing of the song, Keith gives a thorough demonstration of the piano part (with the keys and hands being in clear sight- thanks be to God!), and Stuart gives an equally thorough demonstration of the guitar part, making more clear the fingerings of the chords than I've seen before from the videos on this site.
They'll be replaced by Wednesday, so get it while it's fresh!
www.WorshipTogether.com
www.GettyDirect.com
Keith & Krystyn
Stuart
The Peace of Christ to You All,
Jake