Friday is Top Five Day

it has been pretty fun for me to think back over the past thirteen years here at north point and consider all the different songs we have used in our worship experience.  i don’t think for a moment that singing is the only way we worship the creator, nor do i believe that it is nearly the most important…but it is a significant part of it…especially the way we do it here!

on the past two fridays, i’ve list both my favorite high energy songs and my favorite mid-tempo songs.  both serve a purpose for me, though my love for loud, explosive songs of praise will not be denied!

today, i’m going to list my favorite slow, contemplative music.  there are critics who say that our use of music in worship is manipulative and contrived.  don’t get defensive.  it is…sometimes.  there is something about music that moves emotions and stirs my heart.  my feelings are touched, my mind is stimulated, my body reacts, my will is challenged.  it’s potentially powerful.

when that music is offered to god, it can be all of that and more.  here are some of my favorite slower songs that didn’t make my top five:

1. Oh How He Loves Me

2. We Enter In

3. Come Home Running

4. Psalm 9

5. Come Ye Sinners

6. Still

7. The Old Rugged Cross

8. Blessing

9. Lord You Have My Heart

10. By The Grace of the Lamb

these are all awesome songs…some we haven’t sung in years…but i will never forget them.  they are permanently part of who i am.  so…here’s my top five:

5.   Word of God Speak – by Mercy Me (short, simple, powerful)

4.   He Knows My Name – by Tommy Walker (i found this song years ago on a calvary chapel worship cd called “dry bones dancing”…i’ve never heard anybody sing it except north point!)

3.   You Are My King – by Chris Tomlin (one of tomlin’s earliest songs…before anybody knew who he was…i don’t normally like the whole “repetitive” thing that goes on in a lot of worship circles…singing the same chorus over and over and over again…but this is one song that always leaves me wanting to sing it one more time)

2.   It is Well With My Soul – by Horatio Spafford and Philip Bliss (maybe the most famous and well known hymn ever…you should do a search and read the story behind the song, if you don’t know it…i like the up-tempo way we do it at north point, but i miss the majesty and power and richness of it’s original ballad form.   there is nothing like it!)

1.   This Road – by Jars of Clay (this song was penned for “voice of the martyrs” and the international day of prayer for the persecuted church six or seven years ago.  i cannot sing it without experiencing polar opposite emotions…radical identification with fellow believers who worship in the most severe conditions of human suffereing…and the absolute wonder that god allows me to experience the life i have).

there you have it.  what about you?  is there a slower song that moves you that’s not on my list?

#music #worship