Come All, Who Love the Slaughtered Lamb, Tune: Strawbridge
1 Come all who love the slaughtered Lamb, And suffer for His cause; Enjoy with us His sacred shame, And glory in His cross; His welcome cross we daily bear, Hated, reviled, oppressed; We only can His truths declare Who calls the sufferers blessed.
2 Our Master’s burden we sustain, Afflicted for His sake, In loss, reproach, distress and pain, A strange delight we take. We drink the consecrated cup Our Savior drank before, And fill our Lord’s afflictions up, And triumph in His power.
3 His power is in our weakness shown, And perfectly displayed; The strength we feel is not our own, But flows from Christ our Head. With consolations from above He fills our ravished breast; The Spirit of His glorious Love On every soul doth rest.
4 He takes His suffering people’s part, And sheds His Love abroad, And witnesses with every heart, “Thou art a child of God.” Surely we now believe and feel Our sins are all forgiven; The outward and the inward seal Confirm us heirs of Heaven.
5 Then let us all our burden bear, To Christ our souls commend, Joyful His lot on earth to share And patient to the end. “Be faithful unto death,” He cries, “And I the crown will give”; “Amen,” the glorious Spir’t replies, “We die with Thee to live.”
New Hymn Tune: Come All Who Love the Slaughtered Lamb
It’s a great joy to have this published in an upcoming hymnal, but also to hear it sung in a few congregations. I wrote this tune several months ago and had it reviewed by some great musicians. The end result, I pray, is that it is used for the glory of God!
Here is a recording of it and the music attached.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Life, Liberty and Happiness: A 4th of July Testimony
I remember when I became a U.S. citizen. Good friends from church came out to support me. I was wearing a stunning red tie and smiling like a kid in a soccer store. It was a day I won’t forget.
As I enter this 4th of July, I find myself thankful, honored and overwhelmed with all sorts of feelings used to describe the story of a bare-footed little kid who grew up in Northeastern Brazil and now is a father of five living in this great country.
Sovereignty is good. It is right. And I believe there is much wisdom in that threefold pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness. By and large, this country provides the best and most excellent environment for the pursuit of this trinity of virtues. There is a swelling of movements in our day moving things in the right direction. This is the first 4th of July outside of the bondage of Roe v. Wade. God has been merciful and blessed us, and in this light, we should rejoice with greater fervor! He has answered our prayers and we should feast in gratitude. Yet, we must always be vigilant in using our liberties to worship the Three-and-One Creator instead of chasing after speechless idols. If we stand firm, Roe is only the first of many victories God has in store for his people.
Washington has become a place of secret handshakes, unwarranted transactions, political elitism, sophist rhetoric, and cowardice. We have traded happiness and found contentment in a pot of stew. We gave up the perilous fight to amuse ourselves to death. And for these reasons, we should find refuge in God’s unchanging nature and in the Church’s glory. When we chase the horses and chariots philosophy, we will succumb to the wrong power and source of wisdom.
On a day like this one, it is essential to give thanks for this nation, but keeping things in the right perspective is even more critical. We are first and foremost heavenly citizens planted in this bright-stars country to proclaim allegiance not to a president but to one true King. The intrinsic value of this nation does not grant life, liberty, and happiness; it is the inherent perfection of a heavenly country that urges us to such pursuits. And we should pray as visibly as the bombs bursting in the air that this nation would join that divine proclamation. After all, we are Americans. We are not pessimists. We know that even in the darkest moment of this country’s history, God is still on the throne, and He does not hit the pause button to the advances of his kingdom.
Happy 4th of July! Be good citizens of this nation. With every juicy bite of watermelon, with every patriotic song, with every red, white and blue decoration, give thanks to God. But don’t forget your first love. Don’t forget to sing psalms so loudly that the enemies will think there is an army of giants coming at them, to speak the truth so firmly that Washington will be unable to shut her ears. Love so convincingly that godly marriages would be honored. Obey the Lord your God, petition his mercy that God would spare us in doing evil and bless us in doing good. And may good triumph over evil in this land.
26th Psalm-Roar at Providence Church
We are having our 26th Psalm-Roar at Providence celebrating the end of Easter tide on June 3rd. If you live near Escambia County, we welcome you to join us.
Below are all the psalms we will be singing with the audio and music attached. In some cases, there is a youtube version of each hymn and in others, the audio link is attached.
The first five psalms are contemporary tunes from Nathan Clark and Greg Wilbur. The latter six are classic tunes from The Book of Psalms for Singing.
26th Psalm-Roar of Providence Church, Easter-tide 2022
Psalm 4, Answer Father, When I Call
Psalm 6, Gently, Gently, Lay Your Rod
Psalm 14, The God Who Sits Enthroned On High (AUDIO LINK)
Psalm 32, Blest is the Man
Psalm 68, Let God Arise in All His Might
————
Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd (Crimond)
Psalm 40:1-12, I Waited for the LORD (Audio Link)
Psalm 98, O Sing a New Song to the Lord
Psalm 128, Blessed the Man That Fears Jehovah (Audio Link)
Psalm 148, From Heav’n O Praise the Lord
“John Calvin called the Book of Psalms ‘an anatomy of all parts of the soul.’ All the range of emotions are expressed; the Psalms weave an emotional fabric for the human soul. These inspired lyrics take us by the hand and train us in proper emotion. They lead us to emotional maturity.” – Kevin Swanson
“…we at the same time infer, that the custom of singing was, even at that time, in use among believers, as appears, also, from Pliny, who, writing at least forty years, or thereabouts, after the death of Paul, mentions, that the Christians were accustomed to sing Psalms to Christ before day-break. I have also no doubt, that, from the very first, they followed the custom of the Jewish Church in singing Psalms.” – John Calvin
Liturgy scribblings
The things we do that most shape our imagination are the repetitive acts; in fact, human beings live as if there is a happy expectation of repetition. No one lives constantly in surprise mode.
The most beautiful rhythms of our lives were developed through persistence. But we have grown to believe that life needs to be dramatic and unpredictable; that we need a cycle of shock and awe to get us through.
But the common is the thing that shapes our experiences. We are made to be liturgical creatures because God created a world of order from the beginning. He created seasons, he established time to guide our rhythms; he offered the world a gift of 6×1; work and sabbath.
Liturgy shapes our rhythms and rituals.
The Psalter teaches us that there are seasons to lament, seasons to rejoice; seasons to lament and rejoice in a short period of time. It teaches us the language of life through all of its dimensions.
CREC Lenten Devotionals and Readings for the Family
Psalm-Roar, Psalms and Hymns of Lament
Psalm-Roar, March 5th
Psalm 40:1-12, I Waited for the LORD
Psalm 56, Be Gracious Unto Me, O God
Psalm 102A, To This My Prayer
Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O My Soul (Antiphon)
—-
Psalm 119G, Unto Me, Thy Word Remember
Psalm 119X, Before Thee, Let My Cry Come Near
Psalm 130, LORD, from the Depths to Thee I Cried
Wilt Thou Forgive (Donne)
And Can It Be!
Theology That Is Sung
I have said for a long time that the future belongs to musical theologians; not only the trained theologian or the gifted musician but the ordinary human being who loves theology in all its musicality. Theology that is sung is theology that is lived out. In fact, the best theology is the one that produces faithful voices in the congregation. I have always been skeptical of those who view theology divorced from its musical realm. God created a world with rhythm and patterns that inform our sharp notes, major and minor chords. In God’s world, even the rocks sing.
This is the reality because faithful music brings us immediately into the realm of war in environments that are not friendly to the Gospel. It gives the boldness to fight when our hearts are not eager to do so because music stands as its own instrument, the Christian’s resistance to tyranny; the voice of hope in a culture that sings to the tune of death.
As the Gospel shapes more and more cultures, one of the powerful effects it will have is the creation of more and more choirs shaped not by professionals, but by ordinary men and women, young men and maidens. The call to warfare, the banner of contra Mundum, is a festive call to sing heartily the songs of imprecation and joyfully the songs of Zion as if it’s the sole duty of every saint.
The center of resistance is not in the protests at D.C. or the political opinations on social media, but in the church being the church; singing her songs with zeal.
So, we carry on with the vigor of sons and daughters ready to follow in the train of Messiah Jesus.
Eulogies and Sermon for the Memorial Service of Rev. Dr. Gregg Strawbridge
This episode shares two tributes to the late Rev. Dr. Gregg Strawbridge. The first one is a moving tribute by his daughter Joy, and the second is by a pastor trained under Gregg for Gospel ministry. Both offer a powerful glimpse into the life of this image-bearer who now stands before the presence of God. The episode concludes with the sermon I delivered at the Memorial Service.
You can watch the entire memorial service here.
You can read Rev. Steven Wedgeworth’s In Memoriam piece at Mere Orthodoxy.
You can listen to Dr. Strawbridge’s sermons and lectures on wordmp3.com