Last year we released an album of songs celebrating the Incarnation. We called it Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. It was the CD my family started the day with this morning. Here are the words to the opening song, Christ the Lord, written by my good friend, Mark Altrogge.
How my happy heart rejoices
I can hear the angel voices
“Christ is born” they all are singing
From the sky this good news bringing
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring His children home
To bring His children home
Death and darkness surely tremble
Light has come to all the people
The Lion comes to crush the serpent
He comes a Lamb, a lowly servant
Let the earth rejoice
O …
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Last year we produced our first “Christmas” CD, called Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. It contains twelve original songs that celebrate the incarnation of our Savior, and I think it’s one of our strongest projects. We wanted to put this album out because every Christmas a worship leader’s dilemma is finding new songs to sing. So we decided to contribute some new ones to the mix.
I’d love for more people to know about this CD. So I’m going to give away a free copy of the Savior CD to the first 100 people who e-mail me and fulfill the following conditions:
1. You write a blog that gets over 1000 hits a month
2. You’ll write a review of the CD by December …
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Last year we released our first CD for Christmas, Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. It’s made up of twelve original songs that explore and respond to the miracle of the incarnation. When I say the songs are “original,” I mean that we didn’t include favorites like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Although, I don’t know if Christmas songs get much better than that.
The CD contains many songs that can be sung all year round, but the focus is the Son of God taking on human flesh and giving up his life to bear our sins and reconcile us to the Father. One of my favorites is “Emmanuel, Emmanuel,” by Mark Altrogge. It has a wonderfully infectious chorus that boldly proclaim …
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During my private worship this morning I was reading Mark Dever’s commentary on the New Testament, Promises Kept, transcribed from messages he’s given at his church. This morning I happened to be reading his sermon on 1 Timothy. Providentially, it was a message he first gave on Dec. 19, 1999, so it contains numerous references to Christmas. I wanted to share some of his comments with you, along with my thoughts.
1. Christmas isn’t about who’s been "naughty or nice."
"The news we have to declare as Christians is not fundamentally about our law-keeping or our obedience. The glad tidings we bear are not for ‘good people.’ It is ‘for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly, and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for
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A friend just e-mailed me to ask me about a comment he heard me make at the last New Attitude Conference. I mentioned that I frequently listen to soundtracks when I’m studying, reading, or writing, and he was wondering which ones I have. I enjoy soundtracks because they don’t have words and if I haven’t seen the movie (which is often) I can make my own associations. They also enable me to thank God for the gift of common grace which enables unbelievers to write music that expresses in some small degree the beauty and creativity of God.
As I’m in the process of writing my book, I’m listening to music a lot these days. Since Christmas is approaching, I thought I might make some recommendations for potential gifts
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Yesterday afternoon I took Julie and our two youngest daughters to see The Nativity Story. Although the movie has mostly received not-so-great reviews (too slow, not very creative, etc.) I thought it was very well done and enjoyed it. Mary and Joseph were well chosen for their parts and did a credible job capturing the differing emotions that would accompany their unique situation. Although I wondered if 21st century parent-teen relational conflict was read back into the story…
I’m always affected when I see biblical characters and stories believably portrayed in movies. I understand that except for the creative license taken with certain elements, the story is based on truth. It’s not simply a nice kid’s story that adults can enjoy. More to
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This question came from Jeff:
One of the members of my worship team is struggling with the line from one of your songs, Glory Be to God. The line is “Being’s source begins to be.” She feels that it communicates that God is not eternal, that there was a time when the second Person of the Trinity did not exist and then began to be. I have tried teach her that language always has to be interpreted in context and that the line is basically highlighting the mystery of the incarnation - that Jesus was both infinite God and somehow a finite man
(or baby)…Is it acceptable to change the line of the song when we sing it to “Being’s source becomes a babe”? I would rather not, but
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Kyle wrote in to ask:
Could you recommend any other CD’s of "contemporary" congregational songs about the incarnation? I always struggle planning worship services as Christmas approaches, because the songs with which we are all familiar seem strange in anything other than their traditional musical setting. Do you know of A) Good band arrangements of well-known Christmas carols, and/or B) New songs that are thoughtful and appropriate for congregational worship?
I hope it doesn’t sound self-serving to say that I think you’ll find a number of these songs on Savior, our CD that will be out next month. It will contain twelve new songs that celebrate and expound the miracle of God becoming man. Most of them are appropriate for congregational worship.
I also did a post last year on what
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Every year at Christmas time I eagerly look for the new CD’s that will potentially provide new songs to celebrate this season of hope. I particularly look out for songs that emphasize the incarnation as well as the reason Christ came - to save us from our sins. While there are some wonderful Christmas hymns already written, the mystery of the incarnation is so awe-inspiring that I always think there can be more.
Earlier this year a few of the Sovereign Grace song writers got together for a retreat and worked on songs devoted to the theme of God becoming man. I’m happy to let you know that those songs (along
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I know it’s a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but this afternoon I spent some time in Matt Wahl’s office. He’s heads up graphic design for Sovereign Grace Ministries. We were looking at some of his ideas for the cover of our next music project, called “Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man.” It’s intended to be a kind of all-year-round Christmas CD, filled with primarily congregational songs that focus on the miracle of the incarnation.
If you’re like me, at the end of every year I look forward to pulling out the songs I’ve known since childhood that reflect on the glories of Savior’s birth and all it means. Last December I wrote a post on it. But each year I also hope to discover songs
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