Check out the creative worship music from Sojourn in their Over the Grave album. Check out Steve McCoy’s review. “Warrior” grooves to some robust theology.
Tag: Worship
EP Release Reflections
As we made our way down 6th street around 6pm, things were just starting to pick up. More people. More sounds. More
cars. Well, at least more than when we were there hours earlier for our church gathering at The Parish. We made our way up the stairs to The Parish to find a transformed venue! Candle lit, draped tables, merch tables, and a booth for the Austin Children’s Shelter (all door proceeds went to ACS).
People slowly made their way to the Austin City Life EP Release Party. Lamar Stockton and the Resonate Band opened with folk style worship, followed by an energetic set by J.J. Plascensio and the Gateway band. More people kept coming. By the time the ACLÂ band took the stage, we had about 100 folks there. The whole night was worshipful, from cokes and conversation to violin and vibrant singing. But the next six songs were intensely worshipful. What was relaxed and fun became serious and reverent and joy-filled.
I worshiped by watching and by singing, by reflecting on God’s remarkable grace poured out in downtown Austin, filling a club with worship, community, and a sense of mission. Just two years ago there were eight people in my living room dreaming about what it would look like for a community to address the brokenness of the city with the hope of the gospel. As I looked around, I saw changed lives, worshippers of Jesus, and a remarkable counter culture of light in a dark corner of our great city. God has done so much in such a short amount of time.
Listen to the whole Austin City Life EP for free. Produced by Andy Melvin.
Check iTunes to purchase the album. If you can’t wait, email Miranda to have a cd mailed to you for $10.
Austin City Life Worship
I’m excited to announce the June 28 release of Austin City Life’s first worship cd One. You can preview the tracks at our ACL MySpace. The mp3s and chord charts will be available around June 28, (perhaps sooner). Keep an eye on the usual places: iTunes, CD Baby, Rhapsody, Noise Trade, and so on. You never know when stuff will leak out 🙂
The EP is a product of worship from a community for a community. Each of our three worship leaders have contributed to this 6 song album, drawing on their unique gifts and artistry to produce songs that don’t quite fit within the usual worship stream. Some of the distinctives include:
- City focused
- Gospel-centered
- Martin Luther on the Spirit
- High Colossian Christology
- Ancient hymns to progressive tunes
- Reflective worship that builds and crescendos
- Integration of Gospel, Community, and Mission in the song writing
I hope you are compelled to worship God in all of life through the power of his Spirit in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ through this music. May we lift our voices and our hearts in Christ-cherishing praise all our days.
Preparing for Sunday on Saturday
In preparing for sabbath, what Christians designate as Sunday, I have often struggled to know how to best “prepare” on Saturday night. I have often discovered that late night and/or intense entertainment late Saturday results in disconnected worship and community on Sunday mornings. And, as a pastor, prayer is an important part of pre-Sunday preparation. There’s certainly no one-size-fits-all here, but the principle of sabbath preparation is vastly overlooked by most Christians. We would do well to explore the principle, to reflect on our practice, and to consider our subsequent Sunday posture. Is it one of anticipation, of communing, learning, repenting, delighting, growing, loving, and serving? Or is it just one more event on the calendar with a twist of the spiritual?
Laura Winner reflects on similar things:
Of course, “Sabbath” observance begins on Friday evening. So does, or should, “Sunday” celebration begin on Saturday evening? I remember a family from my childhood who had been missionaries in Sudan who followed this practice. Even as a kid I can recall being both puzzled by and attracted to such a rhythm to life (though I didn’t call it that then, of course!). HT:JT
What would sabbath be like if we started with just a ten minute rhythm? A few minutes of prayer and Scripture meditation before we went to sleep? What if we aimed those reflections on considering Jesus, talking to him, loving him? Would Sundays look any different?