Resolved to Memorize- Come Thou Fount

We all have resolutions for the new year- weight loss, get out of debt, spend more time with family, etc. I've thought a lot about what I can work on in 2015. All of the goals mentioned above are worthy, and I'll probably attempt all of them in the coming months. However, I wanted to go a bit deeper and work on something that will engage both my heart and mind. That's why I've decided that my main goal for this year is to memorize more songs.

My profession is to worship. What a privilege! Each week I get to craft a service that focuses hearts and minds on the Creator of the universe. When Sunday roles around I want to be as prepared as possible to lead in worship. I recently preached on this topic (you can listen to that here) and have become increasingly convicted that I need to do more on the music end to be personally ready. One of the things that will really help me is to memorize the music that I lead each week. This will keep me from being so tied to my music and allow me to connect more with the Lord and those whom I lead. So, with that in mind, I'm hoping to memorize one worship song that is in our regular rotation and that we're singing on the upcoming Sunday each week of the year. Ideally that will mean 52 songs committed to memory; roughly half of the songs that we have in our repertoire at the moment.

The first song, one which we sing often and love dearly at my church, is Come Thou Fount. I've written about this song before on the blog (you can read that here) and it's a great way to start the year.

One of the first things I do as an instrumentalist is tuning up to make sure all the strings are in harmony with one another. Even one string that's 1% out of tune can make the entire instrument sound off. Aligning my heart with scripture is the only way my desires will be in harmony with God's desires. I look forward to learning and singing this one.

If you'd like to memorize along with me, or just have a good copy of the song to sing along with, here's what I'm using.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday Singables: "O Sing a Song of Bethlehem"

Image
Each Sunday of Advent I'll be featuring a different Christmas song we use in our worship. Hopefully, you'll be introduced to some new and engaging songs that will bring freshness to your personal and corporate worship.  ( 12.2 - O Sing a Song of Bethlehem  / 12.9 - Christ the Lord is Born Today / 12.16 - When He Comes / 12.23 - In the First Light ) "O Sing a Song of Bethlehem"  text by Louis Benson, melody by Lucy Broadwood and Ralph Vaughan Williams Alternative arrangement and lyrics-  "How Suddenly a Baby Cries" by Keith and Kristyn Getty , released on Joy: An Irish Christmas , 2011 (this is the Getty's arrangement which gets pretty upbeat at about 1:40 into the song) You can find this original hymn in most of the hymnals at church. It is number 167 in ours. I like both arrangements of this tune as each emphasize different elements. Why I recommend this song for worship- The hymn text of this song traces the life of Christ from the cr...
Read more

Christian Deconstruction

Image
My latest morning live session gave some insights into my own experience with Christian Deconstruction. If you aren’t familiar with this phraseology, think of it like tearing down a house in order to see what the foundation is made of. Many Christians go through this process once they are confronted with a crisis of adversity or prosperity. Jesus spoke about this directly in his parable of the different soils in Matthew 13. While only one of the plants in this parable bore fruit and proved to be genuine, two others looked like legit plants until they were confronted with trials, adversity, or the pleasures of this world. When those came around they were shown to be what they were, a fake plant. Personally, I went through this deconstruction process at the end of 2017. I was very suddenly without a spouse, job, or church. My roles of husband, pastor, ministry leader, and churchman were removed and I was left to consider what my faith really rested on. Was it based on what I wa...
Read more

Lord From Sorrows Deep I Call

Image
These past few weeks I've been wrestling with loneliness. It's been a difficult transition; moving from having someone to talk to about everything to... well, to sharing that with a journal, and maybe a few highlights for my friends. The huge positive is that I talk a lot more with God. I know He's always known me, but I'm feeling like we're communicating better, and more often, than I ever have in the past. However, the loneliness still remains. I know I'm not alone in this life situation. My mother-in-law (how does that work now?) who will always be my second Mom lost her husband several years ago, and I know she's wrestled with this. I have friends who have been single all their lives, seemingly content with their friends and their God, but go through seasons of doubt and discouragement all the same. I know others who have lost a spouse through death or divorce. Still others who simply feel alone even within their marriage and outwardly perfect life. ...
Read more