Music for Sunday 31 January 2010
January 29, 2010 by Rob Westwood-Payne
Filed under News, Random Jottings, worship meetings
On Sunday morning Cradley Heath Songsters will sing Lowell Alexander, Dave Clark and Tony Wood’s song, Calvary is the sea, at The Salvation Army in Cradley Heath.
Are you in the midst of pain and misery? No doubt you may question where God can be in the difficult situation you find yourself in. It is at times like this that we should look to the cross of Jesus, which stands firm in the middle of our stormy seas. One glimpse of the cross should calm our fears and remove our doubts.
Through the cross we remember that God loved us before we were born.
Through the cross we see that God cannot be uncaring when he willingly gave the life of his Son for us.
Through the cross our cries of “unfair” are stilled in the face of the realisation that Christ did not deserve to die for our sin.
Any doubts we have about the love, goodness and justice of God vanish at the foot of the cross.
And so our song concludes:
If I should ever doubt your love,
My only prayer would be,
That you would keep your rugged cross,
Etched upon my memory.
No sacrifice I could give for you,
Could match what you’ve given me,
For my everything is but a drop of dew,
And Calvary is the sea,
Calvary is the sea.
On Sunday evening, we stay focussed on God’s faithful provision, by singing Chris Tomlin’s song, Forever.
The text from this song directly comes from Psalm 136. Written by Chris Tomlin, the song gives us magnificent form and compelling content for worship. Note the antiphonal pattern: God speaks and his people respond. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. The Psalms always sharpen our focus on the target of our worship. The sharper our focus, the more profound will be our worship.
We praise the Creator, who by his understanding made the heavens, who spread out the earth upon the waters. God speaks: from the rising to the setting sun. And we respond: His love endures forever.
This song takes us on a journey. We are being led somewhere. True worship begins with awe-filled praise of the Creator. We then confront the fallenness of the creation through confession. At just the right moment we are ushered into the most holy place, the place of atonement, where we taste redemption and respond to God as his new creation. For the life that’s been reborn, his love endures forever.
As we journey into worship with the Psalmist, we are inspired to creatively continue onward and upward with the praise he has begun. Sing Praise! Sing Praise! Forever God is faithful. Forever God is strong. Forever God is with us. Forever! Forever!
Why not join us for our meetings at 10:30am and 6:00pm at The Salvation Army, Meredith Street, Cradley Heath, B64 5EP?
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Rob Westwood-Payne grew up in The Salvation Army at Norwich Citadel. He left Norwich to study at the University of Warwick and became fully involved in the music centre there culminating in his conducting Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to a full house in Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He also transferred to The Salvation Army at Coventry City, where he became Songster Leader at the age of 21. He was made Songster Leader at Cradley Heath in April 1998 shortly before marrying Gail in the following October. He is a former leader of the West Midlands Divisional Youth Chorus and is currently Programme Director at the West Midlands Divisional Summer School for The Salvation Army. He is an Associate Solicitor in the Licensing Team of a national practice based in the south west.
