Album review: Grace Has Come

Sovereign Grace Music have been putting out theologically rich and well-crafted songs  for years in service to the church and congregational singing. I remember the first CD I listened to was “Come Weary Saints”, and thinking at the time, “a whole album on suffering well? Wow!” Grace Has Come is their latest album, which I’ve …

I accidentally the worship song

(W: Recently we’ve sung a few songs that almost went out of their way to be unintelligible. Here’s Cheryl’s thoughts on the fine line between creativity and intelligibility.) Song lyrics are a form of poetry, and poetry should obey grammar, or at a stretch at least poetic grammar. Note that the further you stretch grammar …

Quotable: what’s a hymn and why we still need them

While preparing for the upcoming seminar on hymns at STAND conference this year (I can’t believe it’s less than 2 weeks away!), one of the things I’ve enjoyed is coming across excellent quotes about hymns and singing them. I’ve strung a few of them together for a snapshot of what’s a hymn, why we still need …

Can I change the lyrics to a worship song?

A common question in music ministry is whether we can change the line to a worship song. Sometimes it’s a line that you have no idea what it means (e.g. “Here I raise my Ebenezer”). Or it could be that theologically vague lyric that you want to rescue because it’s set to a really catchy …

On hymns, roots and wings – upcoming STAND 2013 seminar

STAND for the Gospel, a weekend conference hosted by my home church, is a highlight for me each year as I get the chance to serve and build relationships with men and women from across NZ (and overseas) who share a common love for Jesus. This year it’s only $30 (I pay for more dinner …