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“A Mighty Fortress is our God”(German, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott) is the best known of Martin Luther's hymns. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527-1529.[ It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages.The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 46.The most popular English version, "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing," was translated by Frederick H. Hedge in 1853. Another popular English version by Thomas Carlyle begins "A safe stronghold our God is still."
Click here to read more about this great hymn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mighty_Fortress_Is_Our_God
Click here to worship along with Steve Green:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRJHKzU_t1M
Click here to listen to an organ arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E54lZUnMucc&feature=related
Click here to purchase "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"
"On Eagles Wings"
"On Eagles' Wings" is a sacred song composed by Michael Joncas in 1979 after Vatican Council II, when the Catholic Church began using vernacular hymns at Mass. Its words are based on Psalm 91. The song was then published by North American Liturgy Resources and was later purchased by New Dawn Music, a subsidiary of Oregon Catholic Press. It quickly proved to be quite popular as a contemplative song at Catholic Masses as well as at Protestant services; it is now sung in churches of many denominations including Pentecostal churches and was performed at many of the funerals of victims of September 11. It is often performed either at the beginning or the ending of a Roman Catholic Funeral Mass.
by Michael Joncas
1. You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"
And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.
2. The snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear: under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield.
3. For to his angels he's given a command to guard you in all of your ways; upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Click here for an arrangement of the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRea9qnjK4
Click here for a visual memorial with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=70bJHNTxtZU
Click here to purchase Michael Joncas' "On Eagles Wings"
"Everlasting God"
Brenton Brown wrote this song after both he and his wife had being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Brown described their illness in the following excerpt from Christianity today. Brown: It's called fibromyalgia, a form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. What defines it are the symptoms, the most obvious ones [being] fatigue. You feel jet-lagged most of the time. There are other symptoms like nausea, muscle pain, muscle aches. There's no known cure. Basically it was just like waking up one day and finding out that I had someone else's body. Very strange. I wasn't thinking as clearly. And over the last three years we've basically had to relearn how to live life with our new bodies. It's been a challenge. Chronic Fatigue is a little bit like having mono[nucleosis]. You feel very fatigued, very drained. And no matter how much you sleep, you're still going to feel tired. You can never shake off that tired feeling. I just kept going for six months. And then my pastor, the board of our church and the group of doctors that I was seeing all decided, "This is not working. You're not going to be able to force your way through this." Brenton Brown, born in South Africa, is a Christian songwriter and worship leader. He left South Africa for Oxford, England in his early twenties on a Rhodes Scholarship. While studying politics, philosophy and theology he joined the Vineyard music (UK), serving as worship pastor at the Oxford Vineyard, UK, and eventually as coordinator of the Vineyard (UK) Worship Development Team. His songs, Lord Reign in me, All who are thirsty, Humble King, Hallelujah [Your love is amazing] and Holy were recorded on the popular Vineyard UK projects during this time. He has since left the UK and now lives in Malibu, California with his wife, Jude. Brenton is an artist on the worship label Survivor and in 2006 released his first solo album, Everlasting God with Survivor in the UK and rest of the world, and with Sparrow in the United States and Canada.
Check out Brenton’s ministry here:
www.brentonbrownmusic.com/
Click here to listen to him share about how the song came about
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePOcs88kqw
Click here to listen to Lincoln Brewsters' arrangement
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2nz6PG8KM&mode=related&search=
Click here to listen to Brenton Brown & Paul Baloche
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLWwnVBuF8
Click here to purchase "Everlasting God"
"You never let Go"
This powerful new song by Matt Redman has been described as follows from Christianity Today:
"You Never Let Go" begins with a quiet piano and moody atmospherics that mirror far-from-ebullient lyrics based on Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death/You're perfect love is casting out fear/And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life/I won't turn back, I know you are near…The chorus is a loud, exultant proclamation that God will never let go of us and in it Redman uses the minor-key construction to subtly (and maturely) declare that God's love is still valid, even in the midst of pain.
Click here to listen watch the video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIAdgLR1ZGw
Click here to read more about Matt Redman on his myspace - you can play the song directly from his stand-alone player and can buy the song from his website
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=120781688
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fearAnd even when I’m caught
in the middle of the storms of this lifeI won’t turn back I know You are near
And I will fear no evil For my God is with me And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear? Whom then shall I fear?Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the stormOh no, You never let go In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go Lord, You never let go of me
Click here to purchase "You Never Let Go"
"O Love that Will not Let me Go"
George Matheson began to lose his sight before he was a year old; at 17 he was almost completely blind. A brilliant student in spite of this handicap, he gained his B.A. at the University of Glasgow in 1861, his M.A. in 1862, and a B.D. in 1866. He was ordained in 1868 and appointed as parish minister at Innelan, Argyll, on the Firth of Clyde. In the manse there on June 6, 1882, he was, he says, “Suffering from extreme mental distress and the hymn was the fruit of pain.” This pain was not caused by a broken engagement, as that had happened about 20 years earlier, but it might have been a bereavement or his concern over the inroads that Darwinism was making in the church.
This hymn was written very quickly in the space of minutes only, as though it was dictated by an inward voice, and not revised or retouched afterwards. The one exception that was later suggested and agreed upon was in the third stanza where “I climb” now reads “I trace.” In spite of the author’s statement that it was written in 1882, June 1881 may be the correct date. The words, as in most of Matheson’s poems, are not easy to understand on first reading, but become clearer after much thought. The text uses metaphors for a God who will not leave His child forsaken: first Love, then Joy, then the Cross.
Click here for an arrangement by David Phelps:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fchS9fwIznw
Click here for a quartet arrangement by the Gaither Vocal Band:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O6z1t4sveQ
Click here to purchase the Gaither Vocal Bands' version:
"Your Love O Lord"
Johnny Mac Powell (born December 25 1972), originally from Montgomery, Alabama, is an American singer-songwriter and producer who formed the Christian rock band Third Day with guitarist Mark Lee. Powell won the 2001 Gospel Music Association award for "Male Vocalist of the Year". Background After his family moved from Alabama to Georgia, Powell attended McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Georgia, where he met Lee and became involved in a band known as "Nuclear Hoedown". This experience resulted in further collaboration when he began writing songs about his faith, formed a Christian band, called Third Day, and eventually landed a record deal with Gray Dot Records. Powell lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Aimee and their three children Scout, Cash, and Camie Love.
Click here to visit Third Days' website:
http://www.thirdday.com/
Click here to visit their myspace:
http://www.thirdday.com/
Click here to worship along with Third Day:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mP4LhdE4vc
Click here to purchase "Your Love Oh Lord"
Offertory this Sunday is "How Beautiful" by Sue Ann Sullivan:
Born in 1958 Twila Paris is often compared to famed songwriter Fanny Crosby for her musical homage to God, Twila Paris is among "modern inspirational music's most prolific singer-songwriters," according to Thom Granger in the All Music Guide. She has frequently been referred to as "the modern-day hymn-writer" and has written and recorded many charting singles in Christian music since the early 1980s, including more than 30 number-one hits. Her songs are gentle prayers put to music, with an up-tempo soft rock sound that closes the gap between traditional and contemporary inspirational music
Paris is often cited as one of the foremost trailblazers of the modern hymn style and one of the only living hymnists in the tradition of hymn-writing set forth in England and the United States decades prior. Some of Paris' songs have been included in the hymnals by a variety of churches including the United Methodist church and various Charismatic churches. Paris was heavily influenced in her early career by the music of Keith Green, Kelly Willard, and Jamie Owens-Collins. Her #1 single, "Do I Trust You" was written in response to Keith Green's untimely death in 1982. Willard and Owens-Collins sang background vocals for her on her Keeping My Eyes On You album.
How Beautiful the hands that served The Wine and the Bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked The long dusty road and the hill to the cross
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
How Beautiful the heart that bled That took all my sins and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
And as He lay down His life We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died Willing to pay the price
Willing to pay the price
How Beautiful the radiant bride Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
How Beautiful when humble hearts give The fruit of pure love so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
How beautiful the feet that bring The sound of good news and the love of the King
How Beautiful the hands that serve The wine and the bread and the sons of the Earth
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ
Click here to learn more about Twila Paris:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJfSp_rceFs
Click here to worship along with Twila Paris:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJfSp_rceFs
Click here to purchase Twila singing "How Beautiful"
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