Jamie Brown

Another Free Song: God of All Power and Grace

One of the songs on my church’s new live worship CD that I wrote is called “God of All Power and Grace”. I wanted to share the story behind the song, the lyrics, and then a free recording and chord chart.

I wrote the bulk of this song several years ago in my church’s former main sanctuary. I had been on staff at that point for a couple of years and had been witnessing God making our worship more and more free on Sunday mornings. I was trying to find a song that helped articulate what we were experiencing in corporate worship, since this kind of freedom was new to a lot of people. We weren’t just singing words off a page or off a screen. We were actually encountering the glory of God together and experiencing his manifest presence as we sang to him.

So I ended up writing this song to help us express three things: (1) praise to God, (2) reasons why we praise God, and (3) what happens when we praise God. God is the God of all power, but also the God of grace who calls us to himself and helps us to praise him. The lyrics evolved a bit over the years and we finally settled on these for the CD:

Verse 1: God draws near to us when we praise him

God of all power and grace
Be enthroned in the midst of our praise
As we lift or voice to bless You
God who inhabits our praise
We welcome You in this place
As we lift our song before You

Chorus: We gather to magnify the name of Jesus – and as we do that, God frees us even more

We lift You up, we glorify
You who are worthy, You who are mighty to save
Be lifted up, be glorified
Here in Your presence, You free us to offer You praise
God of all power and grace

Verse 2: Jesus is worthy of worship because he saved us and bought us with his blood

God of all power and grace
We who were lost have been saved
So we lift our voice to bless You
God, our Redeemer and Friend
We know mercy and love without end
So we lift our song before You

Verse 3: Our worship here on earth is a foretaste of worship for all eternity

God of all power and grace
When we look upon Your holy face
We will lift our voice to bless You
God who all heaven adores
We will worship You forevermore
When we lift our song before You

You can purchase the whole live CD here.

You can download a free mp3 of this song here: God Of All Power And Grace MP3

You can download a free chord chart of the song here: God of All Power and Grace CHORD CHART

Childlike Worship

A few weeks ago I was leading worship at my church’s 11:00am service when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was my almost-three-year-old daughter, Megan, dancing to the music, with her arms in the air, her eyes closed, and a huge smile on her face. I don’t get choked up that often during worship, but this did it to me. It was a beautifully sweet thing to see.

She’s still too young to have gotten all self-conscious. Yet. Some day she will, sadly, and won’t feel comfortable doing this. One of my prayers for her is that she grows up to be a worshipper, and I hope she’ll still dance, but at some point she’ll get self-conscious and will learn how to dial back her expression of praise. What a shame.

And she’s also still too young to get judging glances from the congregation. Since she’s still a little girl people think it’s cute and smile at her. If she was a teenager, or a grown woman dancing in the aisles with her hands in the air, she’d get dirty looks. Even I would be tempted to talk to the ushers about how we might “handle” her. And again, what a shame.

It’s no wonder Jesus was drawn to little children. And it’s no wonder he wants us to be like them. They’re not all self-conscious and self-righteous. They’re uninhibited. They get it. They haven’t “learned” how to dial their worship back yet. Children run to Jesus. The mature, grown-up disciples are the ones who do the hindering. Go figure.

Lord, give me a soft heart towards you. Help me not be so self-conscious. Make me more like Megan, with my eyes closed, hands raised, and a smile on my face. Help me unlearn how to dial it back. Help me to worship you and you alone. May my worship be more and more childlike the older I get.

Oh, and please don’t let Megan (and Emma) ever grow up. Thanks.

Don’t Surprise Your Pastor

Every pastor is different.

Some want to be very involved in the music portion of the service. They want to help choose the songs, they express their opinion on what songs they do and do not like, and they expect/facilitate regular communication with their music leaders.

But others don’t want to involved much at all. They let their music leaders pick the songs, they don’t express an opinion unless you ask them, and they don’t expect/facilitate any kind of regular communication with their music leaders.

In the first case (the involved pastor), you have to learn how to receive regular feedback from someone who you have no choice but to submit to at the end of the day. This can be tricky depending on their personality and management style.

In the second case (the uninvolved pastor), you have to learn to exist sort of like an island, but you’re also never quite sure if your pastor is happy with what you’re doing or not. And you usually will only hear from him when he’s not happy.

Some pastors are a little of both. They’re involved, but also a bit uninvolved, and your job as their music leader is to try to read their minds half of the time, while also accommodating their wishes and requests when they make them known.

But while every pastor is different, I can guarantee you that in one respect, every pastor is the same. They don’t like being surprised on Sunday morning.

Think about all the hundreds of things on their minds, not the least of which is the sermon they have to deliver. They are having to balance so many different demands, needs, dynamics, personalities, politics, and expectations, while also attempting some sort of mental and spiritual focus in order to execute all of the different Sunday morning responsibilities.

The last thing they need is for their music leader to try to sneak something past them, or do something that shocks them, or do something that’s totally different from what people are used to, or do something that is sure to result in several emails in his (and your) inbox that afternoon.

I’ve learned this lesson the hard way, by the way. I offer it to you for free.

Take the time – ahead of time – to communicate with your pastor anything he needs to know. I put these things in a “heads up” category for my pastor. It can be anything. I’m using a new drummer and he might be a little loud. I’m doing a different arrangement of this hymn and it might feel strange at first but it will work, I think. I’m going to do two songs before the welcome this week, not one. I’m going to have the congregation read a Psalm during this song. Whatever. Anything that might catch him by surprise.

And then give him the opportunity to give feedback. Ask him for it. Yes, you’re opening yourself up to have to make a change. That’s the point.

So, whether your pastor is involved or uninvolved, do yourself, your congregation, and your pastor a favor and keep him in the loop. I promise you your pastor will appreciate it.

You Can’t See Them But They’re Singing Along

I usually don’t have very profound thoughts when I’m running. This is because I usually don’t really enjoy running. I do it because it’s good for me and I feel better when I exercise, but I’m not one of those guys who just loves to go out for a run. I think those guys are weird.

But a few days ago I was running on one of the beautiful wooded trails near my house and God to spoke to me. He spoke to me through the chorus of a thousand singing crickets.

I had been running for 30 or 40 minutes when it dawned on me that for the duration of my run, for 4 miles or so, there had been the constant sound of crickets singing. Loudly. Thousands of them, if not more. Enough to drive you a bit crazy if you let them. I hadn’t really noticed the cacophony of noise because I’m usually just trying to keep from collapsing, but when I did finally notice it, that’s when God broke through and spoke to me.

He said: you can’t see them but they’re singing along.

He was right. I hadn’t seen a single cricket. They were hidden in the bushes and trees and not out on the paved trail hopping around making themselves obvious. They were invisible to me. But they were definitely there.

Why was this realization so profound? Because God was telling me that it’s the same way on Sunday mornings.

All I can see on Sunday mornings is what’s physical. I see the music on my music stand, the microphone in front of my face, the congregation in the room, the band to my right and left, the words on the screen, and that guy who never ever sings along standing in the balcony. What’s with that guy, anyway?

What I can’t see is “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).

I can’t see “all the angels… standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures” who fall on their faces before God’s throne “saying, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen’” (Revelation 7:11-12).

I can’t see this heavenly worship just like I can’t see the crickets in the trees. I can’t see the “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” of angels worshipping in heaven (Revelation 5:11), but I know that they’re singing along with me as I stand at my microphone on Sunday morning.

This is awe-inspiring. This is encouraging. This is amazing. When we gather together to worship God, and when we as worship leaders stand to lead our congregation, there is a cacophony of heavenly worship that’s singing along with us.

I have a new appreciation for the invisible crickets who sing their songs invisibly from the trees. They remind me that I’m a part of something cosmic and heavenly and invisible, and that’s the unceasing worship of the Lamb upon the throne.

Having a Good Rehearsal… In Your Head

Did you know that you don’t need a room, a stage, equipment, a microphone, an instrument, or any other musicians to have a good rehearsal? Sometimes, all you need is your head.

Not that having an actual rehearsal in a physical space with real live human beings and some sort of instrumentation and equipment set up can’t be helpful. It’s a good idea to have that kind of rehearsal when you can.

But if you’re going to be leading worship for something, you should be running through the songs, and the transitions. You’ll be going over what you’ll play, what you’ll say, and what you’ll pray. You’ll hang out on the parts where you’re not quite sure what to do. You’ll run through different scenarios. You’ll fiddle with different arrangements. All within the confines of your brain.

This way, when you do have an actual rehearsal, and when it comes time for the actual service, your head will (literally and figuratively) be in the game. You’ll be able to lead your fellow musicians and fellow congregants with more ease. You’ll be freer to worship because you won’t be wondering what you’re going to do.

Find some quiet time to mentally prepare and rehearse for leading worship. You might find it helpful to do this while you exercise (for me, it makes running go by more quickly), sit in traffic, drive to church, stare out of a window, sit at a piano or with your guitar, or just lying in bed. Try to focus and run through things from the beginning. Make mental notes or actual notes if you think of anything that you need to remember. Otherwise, just walk through the songs and transitions and get comfortable with where you’re headed.

You’ll be glad you did when real rehearsal or real service starts. All the time you take in advance of leading worship or rehearsals will pay off. Even the time you spend in your head!