Sometimes the music that we choose for worship – just seems to fit so well. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit you know. At Messiah, we choose our music months in advance because the use of a Lectionary allows for this level of preparedness. Of course, we might update our song choices as the date approaches should the Holy Spirit moves us in some other direction.
Several months ago, I chose “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?” for this coming Sunday. Right now, it feels so right to me on so many different levels that it just has to be the Holy Spirit’s guiding hand.
Let me explain, and we’ll start with the song lyrics:
Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?
Verse 1:
Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar?
When the people rose to sing of;
Jesus Christ the risen One.
Verse 2:
Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing of;
Jesus Christ the saving One.
BRIDGE 1:
And we can see that God You’re moving.
A mighty river through the nations.
And young and old will turn to Jesus.
Fling wide you heavenly gates;
Prepare the way of the risen Lord.
Chorus:
Open up the doors and let the music play,
Let the streets resound with singing.
Songs that bring Your hope,
Songs that bring Your joy,
Dancers who dance upon injustice.
Verse 3:
Do you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song.
And all the streams flow as one river;
To wash away our brokenness.
BRIDGE 2:
And here we see that God You’re moving.
A time of jubilee is coming.
When young and old return to Jesus.
Fling wide you heavenly gates;
Prepare the way of the risen Lord.
CCLI Song No. 1097028
© 1994 Curious? Music UK (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
Martin Smith
This is a song of hope, joy and unity in Christ. I originally chose it for this third Sunday in Advent because of the lyric “prepare the way for the Lord” and it’s natural tie-in to John the Baptist and the season of Advent. But as the date grew closer; other lines in this song began to resonate with me. For example, if you are a WELS reader (as many of you are), you will quickly associate with the “Year of Jubilee” line. Also, we are doing a responsive reading of Psalm 71 on this particular Sunday by age groups (young & old) which align with the song lyric “When young and old will turn to Jesus.” You can view our planned reading of this Psalm here:
Lastly, we are between Pastors right now and there’s a subtle air of brokenness among us, so the lyric that states: “When all the saints join in one song. And all the streams flow as one river; To wash away our brokenness” takes on a beautiful meaning. And by the way, our Shepherd is watching over his flock in South Windsor CT because we are being led by an interim semi-retired Pastor who’s just wonderful; and I might add, perfectly willing to worship God through the use of Contemporary music. I’ve heard it said that music transcends time! Our hymns certainly attest to this fact.
We are going to be singing this song with a lot of energy on Sunday. Music is such a wonderful gift from God. I have every expectation that as we come together in unity and belt out this chorus that God will be moving, people will tremble, our brokenness will be washed away, and yes the darkness will tremble as well. He does every time that our worship is this spirited.
Miracle Maker
September 29, 2009 at 7:30 am · Filed under Delirious? ·Tagged Delirious?, John 5:1-18, Miracle Maker
There’s a haunting song called “Miracle Maker” by the band known as “Delirious?”. That’s a statement not a question, as the question mark is really part of their name.
The song is about Jesus healing a crippled man at the pool in Bethesda (John 5:1-18). This is an incredible story and it’s an incredible song. It’s one of the healings by Jesus that was not a result of the patient’s faith. All too often, we hear Jesus say “your faith has healed you.” Not this time. In fact, it seems that Jesus healed him out of pure mercy and compassion. The man could not get into this pool quick enough on his own to be healed and he had been this way for 38 years. It’s also of note that this man did not seek out Jesus to be healed; Jesus sought him out. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, the man did not even answer “yes”, he just described his pitiful situation (Vs 7).
You can hear the song and learn to play it on the guitar here:
Note – This is not a congregational song. It is a great song for a Praise Band to play during the Offering if your Pastor has just preached on John 5:1-18.
There is one thing peculiar about the scripture text. Namely, where is verse 4 (see below)?
The Healing at the Pool
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7″Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Life Through the Son
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Here is verse 4, omitted in the NIV, from the King James version:
4For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society
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