SCEFC Set List (8 Nov 2009)

I intended to post this before today, but I didn’t have a chance (just as I haven’t written about my visit to Michigan a couple weeks ago yet either). I didn’t even get the songs picked out until Friday night, and then rehearsal was later than usual last night, at 8:30pm because of the Penn State-Ohio State game. The main part of sermon text this week was John 7:37-39, dealing with Christ being the source of streams of living water for us. As such, I picked out a couple of songs to go with the water theme. We had two new guitarists this week, Meredith and Carina, plus Mike on bass and Suzanne and Erin on vocals. A good-sized group!
Prelude: Unashamed Love – by Lamont Hierbert
I chose this song because of its call for us to calm our busy minds and focus on God and His sacrifice for us. I know I’m easily distracted, at least…
Song #1: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing – by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth
Song #2: I Need a Saviour – by Among the Thirsty
This was the first time we’d sung this song as a congregation, though Mike introduced it last week as a prelude.
Song #3: Breathing the Breath – by Matt Redman
This was the first time we’d sung this song as a congregation as well. I played it last week during communion, and a couple people commented to me how pretty they thought it was. So I decided to have everyone sing it this week! A YouTube link to the song is here, in case you’re curious to hear the version from Matt Redman’s “Facedown” album.
Song #4: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus – by Samuel Trevor Francis
One of my favorite hymns/songs of all time. In addition to awesome lyrics (likening Jesus’ love for us to an ocean that’s all around us), it’s a beautiful Welsh melody in a minor key. Mike likes to give me a hard time for my fondness for songs in minor keys, but minor keys are just so awesome–I can’t help it! 🙂
Closing Song: As the Deer – by Martin Nystrom
I chose this to go with the sermon theme in particular: “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.”
Now I’ll be on a three-week or so hiatus from being on the worship team at SCEFC. Next Sunday my younger brother Jake will be in town (he’s flying in from Wisconsin on Thursday), the Sunday after that I’ll be in Washington state (either still in Yakima following Tim & Hillary’s wedding, visiting family in Spokane, or somewhere in between), and then the Sunday after that I’ll be flying from Minneapolis to Detroit and then driving from Ann Arbor to State College, returning from spending Thanksgiving with my family in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
All of this upcoming stuff with Jake’s visit and then departing for Washington the day after he leaves is why I’m so frantically trying to get ahead on work. Oh yeah, and I have to make a poster by Wednesday to send with Walter to this year’s Chemical & Biological Defense conference in Dallas, as well as take an exam in my Numerical Weather Prediction class on Tuesday night. But even with all of this busy-ness, and with feeling so tired, stressed and worn down lately, I felt like I was able to get recharged to some degree this morning at church. Not fully, but at least some. Sometimes being forced to take a time out is the best thing for us. It’s really easy for me not to take time for God when life gets hectic…