We introduced this song yesterday:
In many ways I think Oh Happy Day is telling of a shift in the way I’ve been approaching song selection and arrangement recently. I’m not one to sing happy, cheery songs. Typically my sets in the past have been fairly low-key, intimate, and “worshipful.” It was almost as if I believed that slower, more reflective songs were more “serious” and therefore, better worship songs. Now, it wasn’t that I wouldn’t crank the distortion or rock out… I just wouldn’t be doing a song that talked mostly about how happy we all are.
Anyhow, as I spend time in the Psalms I see over and over again how important celebration is in Israel’s praise history. Sure there’s laments, confessions, and cries for help. But within it all is overwhelming anticipations of God’s goodness. He has been good to His people and will continue to do so.
So this week’s set was about that. Looking back on what God’s done (and He’s done so much) and looking forward to what He will do.
Here’s how it went down:
- Oh Happy Day (t. hughes)–First time. LOVED it. Great start to the service!
- Jesus Lord of Heaven (p. wickham)–we’ve been doing this one a lot and I feel like our church is really starting to own it.
- My Glorious (delirious)–eh… I had big plans for this and we sort of botched the intro. So musically, it was off, but it’s still a great song and it worked out just fine.
- Mighty To Save (hillsong)–another first for RVC. Everyone picked it up really quick. I think it’ll be a regular for us.
After the sermon, we closed with:
- Mighty To Save Reprise–just the bridge
- Salvation Is Here (hillsong united)–always a good one!
So yeah… lots of upbeat rockers! I felt pretty good about the service. There were some musical things that I’d have liked to see happen that didn’t, but we don’t practice during the week right now, so that’s what we get!
Tags: Church, Delirious, Faith, God, Hillsong, Hillsong United, Jesus, Phil Wickham, River Valley Church, Salvation Is Here, Tim Hughes, Worship
so good. I crank that one when it comes on the radio…
I think us as worshipers want to get caught in that more mellow, worshipful state…and those are easy to get into if we’re tired and lethargic. but lately I want to just dance. I think we need to get back to understanding how much Christ wants to see us get excited.
way to change it up a bit!