As usual in my musical wanderings I was prepared for an onslaught at what should have been the most anticipated theatrical release of the summer: the Remedy Club Tour, of course!
So Morgan and I went to get tickets, then we had dinner and became excited about Crowder. We had a great time with the, uh, 40 other people in the theater?! A few people clapped and randomly sang along quietly but overall we all just watched and had a low buzzing joy reverberating over our collective heads. :)
The dvd is great. I am definitely going to buy it at some point and make my friends watch it with me. The cinematography is good, the editing is pretty mindblowing (on one song the footage switches back and forth between ATL and NYC seamlessly, it's beautiful!), and of course the music is great!
The one sidenote is that I have never considered any of the members of the Crowder band particularly good-looking; talented, thoughtful, brilliant (bwack and his wizadry), artistic, etc but not so much attractive. THE CAMERA LOVES JACK. I had already thought about ten times, "geez, I never noticed how attractive Jack is!" when my sister leaned over and was like, "Who is that guitar player, again?!" and then we both started laughing hysterically. Anyway, way to go Jack, you definitely stole the good camera angles! Not to mention played a mean banjo.
So my sister and I got tickets to go see the Remedy Club Tour DVD on the big screen. For the uninformed, this new DVD is being released in movie theaters for one night. I find this fairly hilarious because I think the Crowder band excels at seeming really accessible and indulging super enthusiasts like myself with fun interactive things: think the Remedy summer scavenger hunt, the goodreader videos, the streaming video of their recording process, etc.
But this I think will be hilarious. I mean, usually I wouldn't wear a Crowder tshirt to a Crowder concer but, in this case, surrounded by other Crowder fanatics would it just be funny? Will we sing along like a real concert? Will we eat popcorn and raisinets like a movie?! I'll let you know how it goes...
So I've spent five nights at Rocky Mountain National Park in the past 13 days, before that was catching up with friends in Florida and now am trying to catch my breath so that I can plan a month-long camping trip with Emily and pack to move to Pennsylvania. But that's not why you're here!!!
Whilst camping these last few weeks I realized an indispensable part of camping is music- on round 2 at RMNP I brought my ipod speakers and it was wonderful. I have been mentally creating a playlist for my trip with Emily but these past few days brought to mind songs that have been definitive for trips in the past
Cross Country with my mom and sister, circa 1995- ALABAMA'S GREATEST HITS (i.e. the compromise between my mom wanting to listen to Hootie and the Blowfish and my sister and I wanting to listen to Alanis Morisette, now I think I would choose EITHER over Alabama but their music is sentimental to me now, so there you go.)
Driving up to Camp Skyline with Morgan this song MUST be played up Lookout Mountain, 2001 to present- Sheryl Crow: Kiss That Girl (ignore the anime, in fact go to a different screen and think about growing up and driving up a mountain when the air starts to smell like who you really are)
Epic Roadtrip with Claire, summer 2006- David Crowder Band: Everything Glorious
Camping trip with Claire, two weeks ago- Jars of Clay: Love Song for a Savior
Camping trip with Lola and Kat, just returned- Kansas: Carry On My Wayward Son
I just love the Crowder band. I can't help it. They are awesome and hilarious.
*Hogan rocking the violin, just makes me unreasonably happy. *Jack's hair is almost as crazy as Crowder's beard. (which apparently it was suggested that he band it whilst filming new song cafes, a la Charlie Hall- he declined)
I am so small I can barely be seen. How can this great love be inside me?
Look at your eyes. They are small, but they see enormous things.
- Rumi
I heard this line in the middle of mewithoutYou's song, "Four Word Letter, Pt 2," and immediately thought of David Crowder's "Everything Glorious."
My eyes are small but they have seen the glory of enormous things which leads me to believe there's light enough to see that
you make everything glorious you make everything glorious you make everything glorious what does that make me?
I have to admit that I'm dorky enough to really appreciate things like shared source texts. I feel the same way about little musical riffs that just-maybe pay homage to each other, allusions to other artists or people in songs, or songs that complement each other in terms of lyrical growth or theme. I think this is why I like making themed playlists- I really like to sythesize and connect the dots.
For example I love Psalm 24, here are some of my fave songs that reference it.
Jon Shirley: Who Can Ascend? Chris Tomlin/Charlie Hall: Give Us Clean Hands Rich Mullins: My One Thing Matt Redman: Lead Us Up the Mountain, Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?
Okay, I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that I love this song but I CAN'T HELP IT! I don't know why it sort of initially makes me cringe. Is it because there is something reminiscent of Matt West that rubs me the wrong way or is it because the opening verse is catchy but the lyrics are, like, what?! Apparently we have Bill Staines and his perky banjo to thank for this but I would be quite interested to know where that came from!
I really like the sentiment of the words (I can't sing so I like it when Matt says things like, "sing louder! God gave you that voice, so He deserves to hear it!" to people like me.) but am I the only one who thinks of this when I hear the words "bird on a wire"?
So despite that this song makes me really happy and, trust me, when I am in my car there will be car-dancing!
Plus after the cartoony lyric, I really like the words to this song. I like the emphasis on community (something I feel like Matt has always managed to describe well) and JUSTICE! Yes! I am so often turned off by singing "worship" songs that are all about our inner, individual relationship with Jesus with no context for finding Jesus in the least of these. Instead of praising the Lord joyfully I find myself stewing over scriptures like:
Amos 5
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, [b] I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Isaiah 10
1 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,
2 to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?
Isaiah 5
8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.
9 The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: "Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.
12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.
15 So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
16 But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.
So I like the final verse which point us to what worship is really about- if we follow Matt's injunctions throughout the song (lay down our sin...remember the day our freedom began) we can't help but be moved in this direction.
I appreciate the upside-downness of this song; that's what the Kingdom is about! And, yes!, it's absurd!
Finally, despite the uncertain beginning the song ends up rocking and I can't wait to hear Matt and the guys rock it live. I especially love the drums towards the end. Plus it has that extremely reckless, joyfully vulnerable, lack of pretension a la Crowder's "Undignified."
One of my roommates once declared that even King David would be embarrassed to dance with me (thanks Ronnie.) but with this song we could definitely give it a shot!
look like a fool matt maher
all God's creatures got a place in the choir some sing low and some sing higher some just hang out like a bird on a wire waiting to fly home
all God's children are the apple of his eye even the ones we can't stand sometimes but because [...] just to go outside and i need something to sing with this neighbor of mine
and that's why grace is so amazing! that's why love is so absurd! and that's why i sing for a God of changing that's why i don't care if i look like a fool!
all God's people got a reason to live joy for the hard days and true love to give and we raise our hands and lay down our sin and remember the day our freedom began
(chorus) foolish grace is so amazing! that's why love is so absurd! that's why I sing for a God of changing! that's why I don't care if I look like a fool!
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked giving the homeless a place to rest visiting the prisoner lifting up the lowly by our fruits may you shine on us! shine on us! shine on us! Lord, shine on us!
You know there are certain songs that have played a special role in your life or taught you something really true and those are the songs I never get tired of, a few of those songs for me are: Like a Child: Jars of Clay
I don't think I've really listened to this song for years but I put it on in my car today and it was crazy to me that I used to listen to that song sitting in my same car back in 2001 and it was deeply my prayer: dear God, don't let me fall apart... Maybe There's a Loving God: Sara Groves Of all the songs I've "kidnapped" people to listen to this one is probably number one for forcing people to soak in. Stephanie from my freshman women's Bible study gave me this CD and this song was so transformative to me because it bravely asked questions I struggled with and had answers I was only beginning to learn to hope for: am I the chance result of a cosmic accident? ...maybe it's a selfish thought (I have never prayed a lot), but maybe there's a loving God.
Isaiah 61: Matt Maher
I tried to memorize the 61st chapter of Isaiah for a long time. It was part of reading Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" and I recognized the power of this scripture and wanted it to dwell in me richly. I wrote it down, I carried it in my pocket, I could NOT memorize more than "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me."
And then I heard Matt sing it. Forget lyrics, go look it up in your Bible!
Come and Listen: David Crowder Band My senior year of college after a very transformative summer I heard this song and it so perfectly encapsulated what I wanted to say with everything in my life. I wanted to shout these words to sit everyone down with my earbuds and say, "this is me, this is my life, don't you want to hear what God has done?! Because it's unbelievable." I would stop in my tracks when it came on my ipod and it was hard for me to not lift my hands in praise or just weep for joy. I love the simple authenticity.
let me tell you what He has done for me, let me tell you what He has done for me, come and listen, come and listen to what He's done
Mercy Moves Me: 100 Portraits It's the utter intensity in this song that makes it so relatable because it's desperate and so am I.
I was hiding in the dark when they found the body
I was swearing by the truth I was living a lie
I was holding out a hand to take what was not mine
O You found me could not lift my head
Love is Patient Love is Kind Your mercy moves me everytime
Many of you are probably familiar with the phenomenon of summer Christian music festivals. Whoever decided that what Christians REALLY wanted to do as singles, families, and youth groups for a week of their summer was camp in a field, eat unhealthful food, and listen to tons of music was a GENIUS.
Last year my friend Anne, got me the hookup to work the sweetest job (mainstage crew!) at the Lifest festival in Wisconsin. We are going back again! I just bought my plane ticket into Chicago and am psyched for July to come so we can be crazy music fans again. Whilst, of course, excelling at stage set up, which we undoubtedly do. :)
I few days ago I saw someone had posted some of their top favorite songs for worship and that made me think about some of my favorite songs. I am going to be thinking about my favorite for corporate and personal worship but these past few days made me think about my favorite songs for the Easter triduum. (This year's songs for lent are here)
1. How Deep the Father's Love For Us: Stuart Townend Nothing does this song justice except to listen to it. It's the kind of song that makes me feel like writing anything is just in vain. Watching The Passion makes me hear this song.
why should I gain from His reward?I cannot give an answer.but this I know with all my heart:His wounds have paid my ransom.
2. Sweetly Broken: Jeremy Riddle Last night this song just started going through my head as I thought about what it means to be drawn into Christ's sacrifice.
At the cross You beckon me, draw me gently to my knees and I am lost for words, so lost in love, I am sweetly broken- holy surrender. I am broken before You, Lord.
I was under You wrath, now through the cross I'm reconciled!
3. The Wonderful Cross: Chris Tomlin & JD Walt (based on Isaac Watts' hymn) I love theologically deep hymns, they are the best.
See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?Oh the wonderful cross!bids me come and die so that I may truly live.
4. Fairest Lord Jesus: (translated by Joseph Seiss from the original German, written by Jesuits- sweet!) I'm listening to Christy Nockels. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, Who makes the woeful heart to sing.Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man!
5. Surely We Can Change: David Crowder Watching The Passion last night I couldn't help but hear an echo of this song when Judas kisses Jesus on the cheek.
And the problem is this: we were bought with a kiss. But the cheek still turned, even when it wasn't hit. And I don't know what to do with a love like that. And I don't know how to be a love like that.
6. Beautiful Jesus: Kristian Stanfill
Your love oh God displayed for us As crimson covered over sin and shame Your majesty for all to see In raging storms and quiet cloudless days
Beautiful Jesus Beautiful Savior Nothing is greater, brilliant Creator, Friend of mine!
These are just the songs that have been running through my head these past few days...
