Music is a big part of Christmas too.  My favorite Christian song writer, Andrew Peterson, has written a Christmas concert titled, “Behold the Lamb of God”.  He’s toured with his band the last 10 years performing it all over the country.  You can purchase a DVD of the performance or buy the score so that your church can do the concert as well.  (Find all the stuff in the Rabbit Room store).

Listen to how real he makes the birth of the Christ feel in the song, “Labor of Love”.  (lyrics posted below)

If we forget the unglamorous reality of Christ’s birth, our faith is will be filled with glamorous vanity.

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David’s town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother’s hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David’s town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

It reaches into the hidden depths of my hope in Christ and reveals to me the wonder and beauty of His victory for us.  The lyrics of this song pass through my lips, but it is not I who is singing:  it is the Spirit who proclaims ” Jesus has overcome, and the grave is overwhelmed.  He is Risen! And I will rise!”

It’s more than an ‘instant classic’.  It’s more than a simple song that recaptures an often misconstrued teaching in Christianity (the resurrection).

It’s my hope.

Chris Tomlin’s   “I Will Rise”

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Oh, praise Him - Alleluia
Thou burning sun with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

The first verse allows us to sing a loud praise to the one who created the most prominent features of the heavens:  the sun and the moon.  Just as the setting of the sun and rising of the moon are consistent and beautiful parts of our life, so is the Creator who put them in their place.  His love and grace are just as consistent and beautiful in our lives…

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in heav’n along
Oh, praise Him - Alleluia
Thou rising moon in praise rejoice
Ye lights of evening find a voice
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

Does all of creation really find a voice and shout out praises to their Creator?  Why not?  I was driving around Chicago to NW Indiana to go to a family birthday party the other day when I looked up into the sky and saw the most unique cloud formation.  I was driving straight toward a long line of parallel cloud formations that seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth.  Its unique beauty was overpowering.  It made me want to shout praises to my Creator!

Let all things their creator bless
And worship Him in humbleness
Oh, praise Him - Alleluia
Praise, praise the Father praise the Son
And praise the Spirit three in one
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

Praise, praise the Father praise the Son
And praise the Spirit three in one
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

But creation does not just praise the Lord, it also groans in longing for restoration to occur (Romans 8:22).  Sin has invaded all of creation and caused the breakdown of its relationships with one another and with God himself.  Only in Jesus can new life be found.  Only by the Holy Spirit can this new life be discovered.  So we close our song today by remembering this and praising the God who came down into his own creation to restore it!  Alleluia!

Tomorrow, we’ll dig into the lyrics – which bear almost no resemblance to the original St. Francis poem.  Enjoy the video and we’ll see you back here tomorrow…

Here is the popular version of the lyrics…

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Oh, praise Him - Alleluia
Thou burning sun with golden beam
Thou silver moon with softer gleam
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in heav’n along
Oh, praise Him - Alleluia
Thou rising moon in praise rejoice
Ye lights of evening find a voice
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

Let all things their creator bless
And worship Him in humbleness
Oh, praise Him - Alleluia
Praise, praise the Father praise the Son
And praise the Spirit three in one
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

Praise, praise the Father praise the Son
And praise the Spirit three in one
Oh, praise Him - Oh, praise Him
Alleluia –  Alleluia - Alleluia

Watch the video below to hear the song performed.

Brandon Heath’s song, “Wait and See” really strikes me every time I hear it.   It tugs at a longing I have in my heart to know that I am valued and important in God’s eyes.  Let’s dig in and see if it tugs at yours too…

I was born in Tennessee
Late July humidity
Doctor said I was lucky to be alive

I’ve been trouble since the day that I got here
Trouble till the day that I disappear
That’ll be the day that I finally get it right

Brandon starts off with a short autobiographical sketch, looking at his own birth as both fortuitous and unfortunate.  Life itself is precious, but sin and trouble pervade the living.  What can we possibly hope in, if, through no fault of our own we are born into a world full of suffering and disillusionment? The chorus answers…

There is hope for me yet
Because God won’t forget
All the plans he’s made for me
I have to wait and see
He’s not finished with me yet

For some reason, God will not forget us.  Even through we’ve been trouble to ourselves, our loved ones, and even to God himself ever since the day we were born, he has plans for us.  We just have to wait and see what’s in store for us.

I never really was that good in school
I talked too much, broke the rules
Teacher thought I was hopeless fool alright

I don’t know how but I made it through
It’s one of those things that you’ve gotta do
But I always had a knack for telling the truth

It’s not hard to allow someone to take your hope away.  A disapproving teacher, a gossiping friend, an unfaithful spouse – each can produce so much difficulty in your life that you wonder what you’re even doing with your life.  But they don’t love you like God loves you!

There is hope for me yet
Because God won’t forget
All the plans he’s made for me
I have to wait and see
He’s not finished with me yet

God’s plans for you are not finished!  He made you unique and set before you a special calling!  Now for the bridge…

Still wondering why I’m here
Still wrestling with my fear
But oh, He’s up to something
And the farther on I go
I’ve seen enough to know
That I’m, not here for nothing
He’s up to something

Clarity of purpose is not often gifted to the young.  But trust is!  Brandon trusts that even though he can’t yet see the purpose for which God is calling him, he trusts that he is NOT here for nothing.  Time to wrap up the song…

So now’s my time to be a man
Follow my heart as far as I can
No telling where I’m ending up tonight
I never slow down or so it seems
But singing my heart it’s one of my dreams
All I gotta do is hold on tight

There is hope for me yet
Because God won’t forget
All the plans he’s made for me
I have to wait and see
He’s not finished with me yet

What a statement of faith. To trust & believe that God knows us, loves us, and has plans for us in this life makes us so full of hope that we just can’t contain it!

While all of that is good news, the last line always sticks with me:  that God is not finished with me yet.  I need to hear it over and over again: that there’s something more that God has planned for me.

How does this song speak to you?

Shock and Awe followed.

It’s true, though.  I really don’t hear/listen to/dwell upon/ingest the words of hymns or praise songs while I’m in worship.  I tend to blame this upon my years of instrumental music training.  When I hear music I get lost in the beauty of a well-crafted melody, wrapped up in the uniqueness of the instrumentation, or excited to hear the development of the initial theme throughout the song.  In the midst of all that, I don’t usually notice if my vocal chords are piping out, “Lift high the cross” or “Blessed be your name”.

Eventually I learn the words.  Eventually I digest them and meditate upon them.  But the raw beauty of the music captures me first.  And I love that!  But I also have a need to meditate upon the great words the authors of these songs took so much time to craft.  I wonder if you feel that need too.

Based on my own whims and your requests, we’ll take a look at the lyrics of Christian songs to see what value they have for us.  In this way, I hope that these songs & words will come alive for me and for you!

We’ll start tomorrow by looking at a song whose lyrics actually do pull me in every time I hear it on the radio:  Brandon Heath’s “Wait and See”

Check out the lyrics here.

Watch him perform the song live below.