You can find a YouTube playlist here with many of the songs suggested below.
Gathering
The Gospel can be an invitation to come before God from our busy lives and Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness (CH 201 / MP 529), Father, we praise you, now the night is over (CH 209), Come now is the time to worship (CH 196 / MP 1040) and Here for you (CCLI) are all well known songs which would pick this up. If you are focusing on the Epistle then you might want a strong focus on Christ with songs such as Christ is made the sure foundation (CH 200 / MP 73), Come and worship Christ the King (Resound) and In Christ we live (WGRG).
Word
Psalm 52 is quite unique in its style of writing and has a powerful message yet has received little attention from writers. There are a few metrical settings to choose from, You cunning liar, why publicise (PFAS 52A) is set to the tune Baca and also available as Why do you use your power to boast (link), and Why so proud, O man of power (Grace / Kimbrough) and Why do you boast, you haughty one (Scheer) which are set to original tunes.
Response
One thing only Mary offered (GIA) focuses directly on today’s Gospel passage while God it was (WGRG) looks at different types of discipleship, including Jesus’ response to Martha. You could also look at songs about centring ourselves on Jesus such as Jesu tawa pano / Jesus we are here (CH 773), Humbly in your sight (CH 496) and Be the centre (CCLI). As always when stories of women appear you could also use songs which look at the important roles played by women in the Bible such as O God of truth and glory (link) sung to Aurelia, There is a line of women (WGRG) sung to the Seven joys of Mary and Bless the arms that comfort (GIA) sung to Cranham. Martha and Mary mentioned in the latter two, although it’s important to note that based on Luke we don’t know that Mary is the same woman who anointed Jesus in chapter 7.
There are some great songs which are based on the Colossians passage, including Christ, of God unseen the image (CH 453) - which is essentially a paraphrase - Christ, you are the fulness (Hymnary) - which adds on paraphases of verses from chapter 3 as well - and The Colossian hymn (Gordon). You can also use other songs which pick up some of the themes from the passage such as Come and worship Christ the King (Resound) and Fairest Lord Jesus (CH 463).
As we spend a few weeks looking at some of the minor prophets then Song of the prophets (CCLI) could be a useful song, which can be sung to Kingsfold, using the first and last verse and the appropriate middle verse for each prophet, while God has spoken by his prophets (Hymnary) could also be used as a general song for this period. For this week’s passage from Amos there is a focus on justice and you could use God of freedom, God of justice (CH 263), God of all comfort (Resound) or Hail to the Lord’s anointed (CH 474 / MP 204), which as well as the original chorale tune has a version for band set to a traditional Irish melody by New Scottish Hymns (New Scottish) and a new version by Indelible Grace (link). Inspired by love and anger (CH 253) is interesting to consider as it is one of the few songs which explicitly references money and poor.
Sending
The Epistle offers us a good sending theme of building our lives and the church upon Jesus and you could pick this up with classic hymns such as At the name of Jesus (CH 458 / MP 41), The Church’s one foundation (CH 739 / MP 640) and Son of God, eternal Saviour (CH 468) while some worship songs to consider include In Christ alone (MP 1072 / CCLI / Getty), Yet not I but through Christ in me (CCLI) or Cornerstone (MP 1334 / CCLI) - the latter being based on the classic hymn My hope is built on nothing less (MP 473 / Hymnary) and it’s also worth suggesting the Kenyan song Kwake yesu nasimama (GSW 34 / GIA) which is also based on this.
Comments