Posts Tagged ‘praise and worship’
Reconciling My Opposite Perceptions of Joel Osteen & Israel Houghton
<![CDATA[Life is full of irony. For example, one of my favorite worship musicians that I respect tremendously, happens to serve the congregation of a church led by a pastor that I have very little respect for. Because they are both very prominent personalities, and because their ministries are often recontextualized for purposes that extend far beyond…
Read MoreJam of the Moment: Blessed Be Your Name
<![CDATA[ (editor’s note: this post was originally written about a year ago, and I”m just now getting around to posting it.) Artist: Ashmont Hill Album: Ashmont Hill Song: “Blessed Be Your Name” Despite being a worship leader (and thus, professional Christian) whose job includes assessing and incorporating popular praise-and-worship choruses into our weekly church music…
Read MoreJam of the Moment: Only Help
<![CDATA[Tye Tribbett, Fresh, “Only Help” So I’m going through some things. Like, the kind of “going through” that you might hear from one of the saints who’s been around the block a few times and is waiting on the Lord to get their breakthrough… that kind of “going through.” One of the things I’ve noticed is…
Read MoreIf A Tree Claps In A Forest And No One Actually Hears It, Is It OK for Sufjan Stevens to Write A Song About It?
<![CDATA[So, on a lark, I decided to Google the phrase "the trees of the field will clap their hands" because of the tune "Ye Shall Go Out With Joy" that the ICC worship team pulled out for the 1st Sunday of Advent. What I found was a Youtube video of a song by Sufjan Stevens,…
Read MorePANIYM: The Presence of God
<![CDATA[Is God in the house, or not? As my friend Cole would say, it’s foolish to assume that God is present just because you experience a certain emotional reaction. It could be God, or it could be the skill with which the saxophonist is playing. There are times when God has been present and those…
Read More