Sunday night was truly awesome. As we have said, that word should be reserved for God, because He alone is awesome. We are not. The awesome power and presence of the Lord was evident as we worshiped, and it was a privilege to be part of it.
God is to be praised. He is both the source and goal of our worship. His Truth is our foundation. His glory in the church is what we seek. Our greatest joy is found in knowing Him as our treasure.
I commend His grace in you. It shows in the hours of practice you give, in your devotion and dedication, in your growth as a musician, and in your love for others. Thank you for leading well and remaining yielded to the call.
Seven observations from Sunday:
1. You sounded great. Whether playing, singing, or making all that possible via technical engineering, your sound (and look) was dynamic and powerful. While it is strictly surface, it is still true and yet another demonstration of the grace of God. Always remember that authentic worship-leading includes excellence in preparation and presentation.
2. It was a prelude to what is coming. Sunday night didn’t touch the glory of future, heavenly worship, but I couldn’t help but consider it a foretaste of Revelation 4 & 5.
3. Worship brings unity. True worship has God as its goal, and all things sort themselves out from that starting point. When God is magnified, the agendas of ego and selfishness dry up. We were one heart, one mind, one voice.
4. The worship was normal. While the amount of music was more than usual, it occurred to me that the event on Sunday night was not unlike what happens on a weekly basis. We don’t have to wait for seasonal presentations to experience worship like that…and that is a gift from God.
5. The Gospel went out. Scripture promises that sowing seed brings a harvest (Mark 4:26-29). We are the instruments, but the Spirit works in hearts. The wind of the Spirit blows where it wishes; we know not where it comes from nor where it is going (John 3:8). Only God knows the results.
6. We have further to go. We are still holding back in worship. I am holding back, too. You wanted to turn loose but held back. I could see it in your faces. Another staff member told me that they noticed the same thing. When we finally do get completely free in worship – when all of us stand firm in the Truth and in the fullness of the Spirit – who knows what will happen?
7. Complete surrender and obedience brings the fullness of God’s presence. What might happen? Perhaps something like this: When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple. – 1 Kings 8:10-11
We will sing these in June (when we are on rehearsal break) and in August (when we return).
“I AM”
“Yahweh”
“Not Unto Us”
“It Took a Lamb”
“Psalm 24″
“By the Way of the Cross”
“So Great”
“Total Praise Medley”
“Because of Who You Are”
“It Is Finished”
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!” Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! ~ 2 Chronicles 16:31-34
Hymn Story
This hymn is the result of another collaboration between Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend, the combination which has produced so many great hymns in the last decade. The most distinctive thing about this particular hymn musically is its meter (time signature). We don’t often sing mixed meter songs corporately, as they can be very difficult to pick up in one hearing. In Creation Sings, however, the mixed meter just “works”. Though the time signature in the verses shifts every measure between 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 (the choruses stay in 3/4), congregations seem to catch on quickly. This is the mark of an extraordinarily well-written hymn for the church!
This hymn has been featured on albums by the Getty’s (Awaken the Dawn) and by Townend (Creation Sings). Here are videos of both versions; note the vast difference in style between the two! Another mark of a great hymn is its versatility. It’s also one of the main reasons I love using different arrangements of the same hymn in our corporate worship. I believe God loves to see the creativity of his creation! The Getty arrangement lends itself better to congregational use, while Townend’s Celtic/bluegrass acoustic version makes great use of the talents of the musicians in his band.
Lyrics:
Creation sings the Father’s song;
He calls the sun to wake the dawn
And run the course of day
Till evening comes in crimson rays.
His fingerprints in flakes of snow,
His breath upon this spinning globe,
He charts the eagle’s flight;
Commands the newborn baby’s cry.
CHORUS
Hallelujah! Let all creation stand and sing,
“Hallelujah!” Fill the earth with songs of worship;
Tell the wonders of creation’s King.
Creation gazed upon His face; The ageless One in time’s embrace Unveiled the Father’s plan Of reconciling God and man. A second Adam walked the earth, Whose blameless life would break the curse, Whose death would set us free To live with Him eternally.
Creation longs for His return, When Christ shall reign upon the earth; The bitter wars that rage Are birth pains of a coming age. When He renews the land and sky, All heaven will sing and earth reply With one resplendent theme: The glory of our God and King!
Devotion
Most of the time, when people think about God as the “Creator”, we think we think of him “making stuff”; that is, we think of the material origin of the universe. And while it’s true that he is responsible for that, his role as Creator includes much more than that.
Colossians 1:16-17 says of Christ, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” He did not simply create the world and leave it to its own devices. He cares deeply about the things he has made, and is actively involved in sustaining his creation. We see this most explicitly in his incarnation and substitutionary atonement.
Furthermore, as the “Author of life” (Acts 3:15), Christ possesses ruling authority over all the world. He is the sovereign Lord who rightly governs, orders, and judges the lives of his subjects. Though he is reigning in heaven now, he will one day return to “renew the land and sky” (Revelation 21:5) and to “reign upon the earth”.
Using artful language, Creation Sings creatively weaves together these themes of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. The first verse echoes Psalm 19, reminding us that the beauty and order in nature are evidence of creation’s King.
In verse 2, we marvel that our ageless Creator stepped down into time to become Immanuel, God with us! During that climax of human history, the Son “unveiled the Father’s plan of reconciling God and man”; a plan set in place before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-10), a mystery contained in God’s word, but hidden until the time of Christ when it was revealed to his saints (Colossians 1:26).
Jesus Christ was the “second Adam”. Whereas the first Adam was tempted and failed, plunging the entire world into the curse of sin, the last Adam was tested, but remained sinless. Because of Christ’s blameless life and sacrificial death, sinful men are set free to “live with him eternally”! Just as we inherited sin and death through the first Adam, so we inherit life everlasting through faith in the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22-28, 45-49; Hebrews 4:15).
Romans 8:18-23 says that “the whole creation has been groaning together”, waiting with eager longing for the time when the redemption accomplished by Christ at the cross will be fully applied to us upon his return. This passage uses the language of “the pains of childbirth”, echoing Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:6-8, when he referred to wars, famines, and natural disasters as birth pains that precede the end of the age. Both Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul place the blame for these sufferings on the futility to which creation was subjected as a result of sin, but both encourage us to approach these sufferings with hope rooted in Christ’s return. Just as a mother’s birth pains are quickly forgotten in the joy of a new birth, so will all our earthly tribulations be forgotten the moment our Lord appears!
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us!” ~ Romans 8:18
When we consider these truths, how can we not respond “with one resplendent theme: the glory of our God and King”? Let all creation stand and sing, Hallelujah!
