Last week, April 2, the song I wanted to do my weekly Musical Notes post on, was a special version of “I Love You, Lord”. What makes it special when we sing it at Bethlehem, are the two extra verses that Pastor John Piper wrote for the song. I tried finding the lyrics last week, but to no avail. I finally emailed Bethlehem’s office and they were kind enough to send me the lyrics. I hope they bless you as they have blessed me.

 

I Love You, Lord

by Laurie Klein (v. 1 & music)
by John Piper (v. 2, 3)

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship you, O my soul, rejoice!
Take joy, my King, in what you hear:
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

I love You, Lord, and I stand amazed;
My sins are gone! May Your name be praised!
Exult, my soul! And behold His face;
I will ever sing, O my King, of Your grace.

I love You, Lord, and for You I wait:
Your promises and Your power are great!
Make haste, my God, may I taste Your ways;
I will magnify Your sweet peace all of my days.

Music and Verse 1  © 1978 House of Mercy Music
(admin. by Maranatha! Music) CCLI# 130553

 

In case you are unfamiliar with this song, you can click here for an example of the melody. You can click here for a guitar chord sheet. And you can read the interesting story of the song (minus John Piper’s words) here.

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∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

 

For the second year in a row (at least), my church has done something wonderful for Palm Sunday. They had the combined children’s choirs enter the worship service holding and waving palm branches while the congregation was singing the hymn “All Glory, Laud and Honor”. Then later, the children sang a choral arrangement of “Hosanna”.

This tradition at Bethlehem Baptist beautifully focuses our hearts on the day we are remembering each Palm Sunday. Does anyone else know of any other worship traditions which honor Palm Sunday?

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∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

This past Sunday, we sang this song. It is a very deep and thoughtful song, which I am more and more appreciating. It may soon become my #1 favorite song. I hope it blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

  

How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

by Stuart Townend

How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
(REPEAT last two lines)

Copyright 1995, Kingsway’s Thankyou Music CCLI #74901

  

This is yet another modern hymn by Stuart Townend. I have already blogged about one of his other great hymns “In Christ Alone”. For this song I was able to find a pdf versin of the words and music in a sheet music form, here. For an idea as to the melody you can listen to a sample of the tune here. And if you are interested, you can order an octavo edition of an arrangement of this song (for use in choral music) here.

Update: For the story behind the song, click here.

I try to do a weekly post about some modern worship song we sang in our church service at Bethlehem on Sunday. This week’s time of praise was wonderful! We sang two of my favorites that I have already blogged on: In Christ Alone, and Before the Throne of God Above. Yet it was a song we sang in our Sunday School class which I would like to highlight today.

The song is entitled, “Jesus, Hope of the Nations”. Here are the words:

 

Hope of the Nations

by Brian Doerksen
Jesus hope of the nations
Jesus comfort of all who mourn
You are the source of Heaven’s hope on earth

Jesus light in the darkness
Jesus truth in each circumstance
You are the source of Heaven’s light on earth

In history You lived and died
You broke the chains You rose to life

Chorus:
You are the hope living in us
You are the rock in whom we trust
You are the light
Shining for all the world to see

You rose from the dead conquering fear
Our prince of Peace drawing us near
Jesus our hope living for all who receive
Lord we believe

 

The song is repeated twice, and the chorus will be repeated once or twice more. It is very moving, and really lifts one’s soul to Christ. One of the features of modern praise and worship songs is that they lend themselves well to expressing emotion. Much more so, in my opinion, than many of the older hymns. Emotion is clearly important in praise, yet it should not be merely created by the music. Rather, it should be participated in and experienced in the heart and soul of the true worshipper.

You can see a projection screen master sheet of this song here, and also a chord sheet here. For a sample of the music’s melody, click here and scroll down to where you see the song’s title and pick your audio player version of the mp3 file to listen to.

This song was written very soon after September 11. It was a fitting time for such a song to have been born! God certainly was behind that, as you can see by reading a little of the story behind the song here. Also, you may be interested in a brief bio of the author, Brian Doerksen. And try checking out the author’s website, BrianDoerksen.Com.

I hope the song encourages you to trust and hope more fully in Jesus Christ. He alone is the Hope of the nations!

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∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7