Download the lead sheet for free here.

It takes a degree of trust to launch out with other musicians into the unknown waters of spontaneous composition. Our tendency, especially as Greek-mindset influenced westerners who rely on empiricism- that is, on what we perceive by our natural senses- is to lean too heavily on the sheet music. It seems safer that way, we like structure.

But does our structure make room for God? He dwells not in temples (structures) made with human hands. He came in the unlikely womb of a young virgin… to the natural minded a woman of reproach. A King? Yes, but born in a stall surrounded by smelly animals and lower class shepherds. The Word was made flesh… the Eternal/Invisible clothed, indeed bound Himself with Time and the Physical so that we who were blind could finally, by faith, see the Father.

The church is a wineskin for the Kingdom of God, not an inflexible piece of pottery that crumbles under the intoxicating pressure of the flowing wine of God’s grace and Presence.

I am not advocating that we have no structure, no wineskin, only that the new wine of the Kingdom of God is poured into the accommodating wineskin that the church is meant to be.

Full piece here.

High Street Hymns’ “Love Shall Be Our Token” is an early favorite for my Christmas music pick of 2009.

Check out the widget above or click here for free stream.

And look!  Free chord charts!

The native language is used alongside English in worship and obviously strikes a chord with the congregation (the videos for “How Great Thou Art” in Korean and “God of this City” in Spanish are particularly moving).

With the nature of our churches and worship becoming increasingly more global and mixed in ethnicity, what accommodations or changes are we as music directors and worship leaders making?

What changes and accommodations are necessary?

They are necessary, aren’t they?

His thoughts about ending the “periennal war over worship” includes these 5 ideas:

1. Rally around Truth, not a truce
2. Acknowledge that preferences are personal
3. Realize relevance and reverence are not at war with each other
4. Embrace humilty
5. Cultivate consensus, not compromise.

Quotables include:

The reason worship wars exist is because the church thinks it is fighting for something permanent when it is actually temporary. Musical styles and service preferences are like a jacket that can be taken on or off depending upon the temperature.

and this:

At the heart of many of our worship wars is, sad to say, idolatry. Our worship of things other than God drives the way we contend for ways to worship God.

When reverence is equated with austerity, it can reveal an idolization of familiarity and comfort and control.

When relevance is equated with a production carte blanche or “freedom of expression,” it can reveal an idolization of trendiness and self and showmanship.

Both relevance and reverence can cloak idolatry of cultural forms and expressions.

Well said.  Read the whole post here.

Simple rope pulling it ain’t. Change ringing is a surprisingly difficult and subtle art that involves a series of coordinated hand movements and a sensitive touch. Ringers time their strokes partly by listening, partly by watching the movement of the ropes around them. A sense of timing is essential because of the one-second gap between the pull of the rope and the sound of the bell.

More here.

(Photo cred:  NYTimes)

Pastor Harlyn Matson and I met at the Saddleback Worship Conference earlier this year, just before his trip to Burundi.  Upon viewing our music video, he immediately requested it for his church.  According to worship coordinator Mike Stonehill, there were few dry eyes in the service.

Kudos to Dr. Matson and Crossroads Community for following God’s instruction for worship by serving the poor.

To debut a Harmony of Hearts presentation in your area, click here.

Follow Me – Leeland

You live among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy
For me to turn away
All my needs You have supplied
When I was dead You gave me life
So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I´ll…
Follow You into the homes of the broken
Follow You into the world
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God
Follow You into the world

Use my hands use my feet
To make Your kingdom come
To the corners of the earth
Until Your work is done
Faith without works is dead
On the cross Your blood was shed
So how could we not give it away so freely?

And I´ll…
Follow You into the homes of the broken
Follow You into the world
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God
Follow You into the world

For more mercy ministry songs, check out the list here.

HT:  Worship Together, which provides a gratis sheet music download and stream, plus a feature in the New Song Cafe which does a nice job stepping you through playing the song (free subscription required).

Is Not This the Fast That I Choose? is a stately choral anthem is based on Isaiah 58:6-12 and clearly states God’s command for good works to accompany our worship and professions of faith.

The use of this for Harmony of Hearts events is graciously donated by John Robert Sall, the composer and arranger, and Director of Music for Abington Presbyterian Church in Abington, PA.

To preview free samples, go here to download.

Would your church be interested in debuting this for us in your area? If you like it and provide me with a date for your presentation, I’ll send the complete set of scores free (which is what we do here at HofH).

Let me know…

HT: Josh Riley and blog.worship.com