How Deep the Father’s Love

This hymn we played at church tonight really struck me.  I’m in awe of the juxtaposition of our total sinful guilt and our total redemption through Christ’s merit.

I’m also inspired that this hymn was written only fifteen years ago.  I had feared that we forgot how to write eloquent, deep, theologically complex songs a century or more ago.

How deep the Father’s love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give his only Son

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no pow’r, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer.

But this I know with all my heart-

His wounds have paid my ransom.

Words and Music © 1995 Stuart Townend

O, Praise Him!

I’m in awe of how amazing it is to be loved and cherished by a God who knows and inspires everything. I really needed some encouragement after a tough day today, and got a really uplifting email out of the blue from a friend.

I figured that C. had just called her, but there was actually no ‘cheating’ involved- she had no idea how much I needed the encouragement, just moving at the impulse of God’s love. God used inauspicious human means to remind me that I matter, however improbably, to him.

Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship him in humbleness,
O praise him, Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One:
O praise him, O praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Light of the World

As the leaves continue to fall (only about 15% remain on the trees) I’ve noticed something I didn’t count on.  Everything is so much brighter here with so many fewer leaves to block the sun.  Today is overcast, but there’s still more ambient light than there would have been on a sunny day six weeks ago.  The big oak in our yard is a perfect example.

I’d like to take the tree as a role model: I too show more light through my life when I’m not covered with the glory I fashion for myself.

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. John 12:46

GREAT song about the Light of the World

*no trees were harmed in the making of this post

Divinely Arranged

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

Tonight I had the privilege again of playing with Creekstone’s worship team.  I can’t believe how powerfully God is working with that ministry.  What began as one guy with a guitar has- in a month- blossomed into a full band, with piano, mandolins, harmonica, guitars, banjo, violin and drums.  And none of us were recruited- everyone was just drawn to the church and more specifically to music, and God’s been taking care of the rest.  Everyone can play.  Not just strum some chords, everyone can really play.  And people can improvise and change keys at the drop of a hat.  All the vocalists somehow know their place in the 3-or 4-part harmonies that appeared out of thin air.  Everybody’s on the same page and can sense when we’re going to repeat a chorus or crescendo.

The weird thing is, today’s only the second time we’ve ever played together.  Both weeks we’ve gotten the song list together on Friday or Saturday, and only rehearsed for about an hour before we played .

I’m not writing this to boast, except to boast in Christ, who’s drawn together a talented and eclectic group of musicians, and is using our weakness to show his strength: Something like this could never have come together by man’s effort.  God is clearly in charge, he’s clearly at work, and he’s very clearly using the worship team and the whole church to glorify himself.  Let us be empty vessels for filling.

(This isn’t an official part of the service yet, just fellowship music, so don’t freak out.  We’ll eventually get real rehearsals and arrangements together, but God’s not waiting on our schedule.)

for more pictures see http://mckaycaston.com/pictures-of-creekstones-snf-11809 and also (last week’s gathering) http://mckaycaston.com/pics-from-creekstones-first-snf-in-the-commun

Our song list, for anyone interested:

Blessed Be Your Name

The Wonderful Cross

Give Us Clean Hands

Thy Mercy, My God

How Great Is Our God

Simple Gifts

Yesterday I bought my wife a harmonica.  She’s never really played an instrument before so she was very excited to try it out.  After learning “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which was included in the box, we worked out a little part for some worship songs and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and sat together playing music and singing.

Unfortunately the cat was very upset by the harmonica noise, and wailed desperately when C. played it, and when that failed to stop the noise she started sneaking up on us and biting our arms as a deterrent.  Laughing through the pain, we had such a joyful, simple evening that I had to write about it.  I’m so thankful for simple gifts.  They help cut through the hype we surround ourselves with and bring us close to the heart of God.

Simple Gifts: Harmonica and Guitar

          C         Am                C         Am
  3  3    4   4  -4  5   4     5 -5    6   6 -5   5
'Tis the gift to be sim-ple,'tis the gift to be free;

          Dm                G
 -4  4    -4  -4  -4    4   -4   5    -4  -3  3
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be.

     C               Am              C           Am
 3   4   -3  4   -4   5   4   5 -5    6   6  -5   5
And when we find our-sel-ves in the place ju-st right,

       Dm        G           C    F      C
 -4 4  -4 -4 -4   5   5  -4   4   4   4   4
Twi-ll be in the val-ley of love and de-light.

      Am       C            Am
  6    5  -4   5  -5 5  -4   4
When true sim-pli-ci-ty is gained

              Am7        G
-4  5   5  -5   6 -5 5   -4   -4 5   -4
To bow and to bend w-e shan't be a-shamed.

   C       Am         C         Am
 3  4 -4    5   5 -5  6  6  -5   5
To tu-rn, turn wi-ll be our de-light,

         Dm        G7          C     F     C
 -4   4  -4  -4    5    5  -4  4     4     4
'Til by turn-ing, turn-ing we come 'round right.

C         Am                C         Am
3  3    4   4  -4  5   4     5 -5    6   6 -5   5
‘Tis the gift to be sim-ple,’tis the gift to be free;Dm                G
-4  4    -4  -4  -4    4   -4   5    -4  -3  3′Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be.

C               Am              C           Am
3   4   -3  4   -4   5   4   5 -5    6   6  -5   5
And when we find our-sel-ves in the place ju-st right,

Dm        G           C    F      C
-4 4  -4 -4 -4   5   5  -4   4   4   4   4
Twi-ll be in the val-ley of love and de-light.

Am       C            Am
6    5  -4   5  -5 5  -4   4
When true sim-pli-ci-ty is gained

Am7        G
-4  5   5  -5   6 -5 5   -4   -4 5   -4
To bow and to bend w-e shan’t be a-shamed.

C       Am         C         Am
3  4 -4    5   5 -5  6  6  -5   5
To tu-rn, turn wi-ll be our de-light,

Dm        G7          C     F     C
-4   4  -4  -4    5    5  -4  4     4     4
‘Til by turn-ing, turn-ing we come ’round right.

Appalachian Jam

While we were in Dahlonega we got to see the Appalachian Jam, a weekly bluegrass/string music jam in the middle of the town square.  It’s been going on for a while, but for some reason I haven’t made it out there yet.  What I didn’t realize was that it’s an open jam, and anybody with a will to can join in.  I didn’t bring an instrument!  But Bob, one of the regulars, had brought an extra and offered to let me play it.  I played with the group (consisting of a banjo, a mandolin, a jaw harp, a zither, two fiddles and eight guitars at its peak) for more than an hour, and led the group in “Wreck of the Old 97.”  I even “got the nod” to solo on a few songs.  It was honestly the most fun I’ve had in a while.

A lot of the songs we played were hymns, and I think it’s interesting that even the most blatantly Christian lyrics seem to be accepted by the public when they’re sung under the auspices of traditional music, even outside of Bible Belt Georgia.  I bet a bluegrass group could play with impunity at the Secular Humanist Society social, where a band like Avalon would get kicked out.  They might also be asked to leave for musical reasons.  I foresee a ministry niche in a gospel music string band.

And congratulations to the bride who was apparently getting married near the square.

I forgot to remember to forget

While I was driving in the car this morning, I put on an old song by Shaun Groves I haven’t listened to in a while.  Although I used to put that CD on almost every day, and at one point had the words memorized, I drew a total blank after three words!  But next time I commit the words to memory I’m sure I’ll remember them.   This seems to be the case in anything I try to learn: I have to learn something (a fact, song lyrics, a noun declension) and forget it a number of times before it’s really good and in there.  It also seems that the more complex or mysterious the thing is, the more times I have to repeat this process to understand it.

So how many times do I have to learn and forget that I’m covered by grace?  Why do I still, despite how many times I’ve been around this block, wallow in self-pity and despair when I sin?  Will I ever really understand the freedom Christ has won for me?

Maybe we’re still in school, with the Holy Spirit patiently reviewing yesterday’s lesson at the chalkboard.  I can’t wait till I can pass my graduation test.