“O Holy Night” Adolphe Adam
I’m a little obsessed with this song and I think it speaks for itself as to why it is and always will be my favorite Christmas song. Here are a few of my favorite arrangements.
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify featuring all the songs from Music Monday, feel free to follow it along with the posts.
“How He Loves” by John Mark McMillan (performed by David Crowder Band)
If you’ve ever seen or heard me lead worship or just know anything about me as a worship leader, you’re probably surprised that I’m just now sharing this song…in other words, I use this song a lot. Why? Because I love it. I think it’s one of the most powerful worship songs ever written, on par with “Shout to the Lord”, “Awesome God”, and “Oceans”.
The music is great but what really gets me are the lyrics. You spend the entire song dwelling on how much He loves each and every one of us. My two favorite lines from the song are incredible representations of just how much He loves us.
He is jealous for me
Jealous is such a powerful word that typically carries a negative connotation. Here it’s meant to express how badly God desire to have your attention. He doesn’t just want it, he’s jealous for it. He’s jealous for you. I had never really thought of it before. Scripturally, we know that God is jealous God, it’s plainly written down for us, but it’s something that hadn’t really dawned on me until I sang it. He doesn’t just love me, He’s jealous for me.
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking
Some scientists have suggested that we know less about the deepest parts of the ocean than we do about space, that’s how deep and vast the ocean is. McMillan compares God’s grace to the ocean and I think that’s about as close as we can get to describing the vast mystery that is God’s grace (and it’s still not even close to being enough). His grace and His mercy and His love for us is so vast that we’re drowning in it, it’s inescapable. That thought just makes me smile every time I sing this.
How fortunate we are to have a God that loves us like He does. As undeserving as we are and as much as we try to reciprocate we simply can’t because we can’t begin to fathom His love.
(Side note: I’m a “unforeseen kiss” kind of guy.)
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify featuring all the songs from Music Monday, feel free to follow it along with the posts.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I Thessalonians 5:18
Being thankful is not always easy. It’s something I try to practice on a daily basis as I pray and think on the blessings I’ve received but not something I always accomplish. Of course, there is usually an emphasis on it around this time of year as Thanksgiving approaches. However, it seems this year there is more emphasis on what is wrong with the world. There has been a harsh focus for the past week on political and social differences with little focus on what is good and right with the world. I wanted to share with you some things for which I am thankful. I hope it encourages you to spend some time considering all you’ve been given.
Christ, Mom, Dad, Denise, Tori, Griff, Brittany, Addison, Logan, Jordyn, Korban, Lawson, Becca, Bradley, Maria, Goggy, Grandad, Kay, Scott, Ashlyn, Natalie, Lauren, Nathan, Clark, Jeff, CUMC, Matt, Zach, Pat, Joan, Berk, Michael, LPYC, Jim, Amy, Sarah, FUMC-Trussville Youth, Bluff Park UMC, ministry opportunities given to me, mercy, grace, the cross, music, and Advent Conspiracy.
This is just a small list of things currently on my mind but there are so many other people and things that I could share with you. I have lived a blessed life, even when I maybe wasn’t able to see it or realize it.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving Day.
“Lux Aurumque” by Eric Whitacre (performed by the Westminster Cathedral Choir)
I loved being a member of the University of Montevallo Concert Choir. I have many fond memories singing with this ensemble and built many friendships through my participation in this group. During my first semester, we sang what has become one of my favorite choral Christmas pieces, Lux Aurumque. It was the third time I’d ever sung an Eric Whitacre piece and he’d already been a favorite composer of mine before then. The text, the music, the phrasing…combine it with some signature Eric Whitacre cluster chords and it’s a hauntingly beautiful way to capture the spirit of Christmas. I know that not everyone is a fan of “classical” or choral music, but I don’t know how someone can not be mesmerized when listening to this piece.
Lux,
Calida gravisque pura velut aurum
Et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum.Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and angels sing softly
to the new-born babe.
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify featuring all the songs from Music Monday, feel free to follow it along with the posts.
I really enjoy giving gifts. There’s something exciting to me about picking out a gift for someone and giving it to them to celebrate a holiday, commemorate an occasion, or just brighten their day. That’s just another reason Christmas is exciting to me. (Side note: I feel like all my recent and near future posts are about Christmas but meh, ’tis the season). I spend a good deal of time thinking about the gifts I give in hopes that they will be wanted, practical, and appreciated.
I try to take the same approach when people ask me what I want for Christmas. A few days ago, as I was thinking about who I was buying for this year, what I was buying them, and what I wanted, I was shown a video for an organization called Advent Conspiracy.
Numbers can be very shocking…and the fact that Americans spend $450 billion a year on the holiday season is hard to swallow even without taking into consideration the fact that $10 billion would solve the worlds water crisis. Here’s another shocking fact: that video was made in 2008…it is currently estimated that Americans spend close to $601 billion on the holidays. $601,000,000,000.
There is another organization called Sole Hope. Sole Hope was founded by friends of a friend to provide shoes for children in Uganda who otherwise wouldn’t own a pair. Not only do they have to walk around barefoot in rocky dirt, they have to encounter jiggers that live in that dirt (Jiggers, not chiggers). It only costs $10 to provide a pair of shoes for child. $10. I own a pair of Cole Haan wingtips, they are my favorite shoes and they cost $250. The cost of those one pair of shoes could literally put shoes on the feet of 25 children.
Now, this is not meant to be a guilt trip. I don’t feel bad for owning my Cole Haans, I don’t feel bad for buying Christmas gifts for my loved ones and I certainly don’t want you to feel bad for it either. My goal is not to get you to give up everything for Christmas and give all your money to solve the world water crisis or put shoes on the entire continent of Africa. However, imagine with me for a second what could happen if we just cut back. Instead of spending $100 on a Christmas present, we spent $50 and then gave $50 to Advent Conspiracy. Instead of spending $1000 on Black Friday, we spent $500 and gave $500 to Sole Hope.
I’ve decided to cut back on my gift giving and holiday spending this year and I’m asking anyone intending to buy me a present, to donate instead. I’ve chosen Advent Conspiracy and Sole Hope for my own purposes but you can donate to whatever cause you see fit to be best served with your money. For every dollar I spend on a Christmas present, I’ve chosen to put $2 towards one of these two charities. I live within a budget as do most people so I simply can’t spend what I might normally spend on presents, I have to cut back…but it’s something I believe can make a difference.
I don’t know, maybe I’m naive, maybe I’m too hopeful, but there is something incredible about the idea that I can make a difference just by cutting back. If we’re just willing to adjust our lives slightly, together we can change someones life.
Make a difference by donating to Advent Conspiracy or Sole Hope.
It’s no secret to anyone that I love Christmas. I mean love it. The music, the movies, the decorations, the tacky sweaters…it makes me happy. For one reason or another, some people seem to take offense to my love of Christmas extending to before Thanksgiving and even Halloween. To these people, I say: get over it.
I love Christmas and I want it to last as long as possible. You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. Feel free to wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving if you want. Feel free to wait until Christmas Eve if you want. I’m not going to fault you for celebrating Christmas the way you want to and I expect the same from you.
Here’s the thing: being pro-Christmas isn’t being anti-Thanksgiving. I like Thanksgiving. I like the idea of our families coming together to be thankful for our blessings from throughout the year and football. Just because I begin listening to Christmas music or talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving, doesn’t mean I hate the holiday. I’m not going to force my music on you so don’t get upset with me for choosing to listen to it.
I’m not going to lie, about four months ago, I dreaded the thought of Christmas this year. The Christmas season has always been important to me and it was a big deal to me and my ex-wife. It was something we both shared…and the thought of having to go through the season recently divorced honestly scared the hell out of me. I thought I would only be able to dwell on the lost memories and therefore be depressed. Instead, my mind has been more clear than ever before of the “reason for the season”.
Christmas is a time to celebrate a God who, for our sakes, loved us enough to take on human form and come down to a dark world with the sole intent of enduring the cross and sanctifying us with his sacrificial death. Why am I supposed to wait until after Thanksgiving again? It’s cliche but I don’t care because it literally is the greatest story ever told. It is the most perfect gift ever given.
So if I want to sing “O Holy Night” on November 1st or watch Charlie Brown Christmas on November 12th, don’t be upset. You celebrate how you want and I’ll celebrate how I want. Neither my wanting to celebrate early or you’re wanting to celebrate later is greater than the other, it’s just different perspectives that ultimately achieve the same goal of recognizing the beginning of a great sacrifice. I hope you enjoy this holiday season, I know I will. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.
“Born is the King (It’s Christmas)” by Hillsong Worship
If you know me at all, you know that “Christmas is my favorite” just like Buddy the Elf. That’s why I start listening to Christmas music in October every year…and that’s just for my own personal pleasure. When I was directing choirs, I started listening in August to make our Christmas concert and Advent service selections.
I indulge the fact that most people aren’t quite as in to Christmas as me so I don’t make a big deal about my listening to the music until after Halloween but I simply can’t wait until after Thanksgiving like so many people request.
I first heard this song a couple years ago. The first thing I like about it is that it’s a contemporary Christmas worship song, those are few and far between. What I like most about it is that it’s upbeat and reflects the beauty of this season…the idea that we serve a God who loves us so much that he would come down and take on human form to save us from ourselves. Christmas is celebratory because it’s a time for us to reflect on why we even have a reason to celebrate in the first place.
“Goodwill to all the earth
And peace divine
All of the earth rejoice
It’s Christmas time”
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify featuring all the songs from Music Monday, feel free to follow it along with the posts.
I used to love playing Pokemon on my GameBoy Color. And I’m lying when I say “used to” because a friend recently showed me how to get the game on my iPhone and now 2-3 times a week, 12 year old Trey reawakens for some mind-numbing Pokemon action. When I was really into it, I would research and use all these different strategies to get better and better (let’s all take a moment for how incredibly nerdy I was)…One of the strategies was pretty basic, right before something big or important was about to happen, you save your spot in the game, that way if it doesn’t go the way you want, you can reset by turning the game off and then on again to start over from your saved point. I used it often.
I can think of several times that being able to use this strategy in real life would have been really nice. I’ve made plenty of bad decisions in my life, who hasn’t right? Sometimes it would’ve been great to have my place right before that decision “saved” and then I could just magically go back to that exact moment if things didn’t go how I liked. It doesn’t even have to be the big moments or decisions in life either. There are some days that just don’t go the way I’d like, things I can’t even control, that would be awesome to reset.
That’s, at least, how I always feel in the moment. See, when we are facing adversity, indecision, complications, etc., it’s understandably hard not to focus on what is wrong. It’s easy to forget Romans 8:28 and forget that God is working for us while we are working for His will. As I look back at all the times I made decisions that turned out bad or those days where everything that could go wrong went wrong, I see a negative and frustrated person who wanted that reset button. Then as I take time to reflect on the aftermath of those bad decisions and terrible days, I see a person who is covered by the mercy and grace of a God who loves him enough to work for his good.
I’m glad that life doesn’t have a “reset” button. Not figuratively, I mean literally. Anyone can change their path in life at any point if they want to bad enough, I get that…I mean that I’m glad life doesn’t have a literal “reset” button or “on/off switch”. Some choices I’ve made that seemed “bad” in the moment have even led me to bigger and greater things than I ever could have possibly imagined happening in the first place. We serve a great, big, loving God. The next time you find yourself searching for that save and reset button right before you face the elite 4 (Pokemon reference), spend some time searching for the One who is always working for your good.
“Forever Reign” by Hillsong Worship
Good. Love. Light. Hope. Peace. True. Joy. Life. More. Lord. Here. God.
One of the biggest reasons I love this song is how it talks about all of the ways God is and wants to be to us. Listed above are all words which are used in this song to describe who God. He is good, He is love, He is light, hope, peace, true, joy, life, Lord, here, and God…but the word that stands out most to me is more. He is “more than my words will ever say”.
Despite all of these being great ways to describe our heavenly Father, we can never adequately capture the depths of His love and affection for us. We can never fully understand or explain exactly who He is to us and what we mean to Him. The best part is that we don’t have to understand, explain, or describe Him completely. Our best is never truly good enough but it’s all He asks of us. All He wants is for us to run to His arms.
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify featuring all the songs from Music Monday, feel free to follow it along with the posts.
“Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)”
I think it would be impossible to have a blog series talking about worship music and not include this song. It’s easily one of the most popular worship songs out right now and I have yet to meet someone who isn’t moved by it’s lyrics or music.
This song is all about faith in dark times, something which obviously speaks to me more than usual right now. I love the whole theme of being called into dark places, being called into hard times yet taking comfort in the fact that we can rely on Him. Nothing from the lyrics stands out to me more than “You’ve never failed and you won’t start now”. It’s just so refreshing to hear and/or sing those words about God’s faithfulness.
Everyone knows the original version sung by Taya Smith of Hillsong. Because she sings it so powerfully, I’ve always thought of this song as “females only”…that was until a month ago when I discovered Shane and Shane’s cover. It’s got a totally different vibe to it, much more acoustic and male lead vocals, but it’s every bit as powerful. I’ve included both the original and the Shane and Shane cover below.
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify featuring all the songs from Music Monday, feel free to follow it along with the posts.
'til only You remain 