Congratulations to all our writers for populating a Dropbox full of incredible sending songs. We were overwhelmed by the quality of submissions and look forward to getting many of these songs in the hands of our church leaders for incorporation into worship services. Stay tuned to our site for a new page of “sending songs”, free to download and use. Congratulations to all who participated!
Congratulations to 1st place winner, Joel Payne. Joel leads Resound Worship, a collective of songwriters who provide the church with inspiring songs, as well as encouraging grass roots songwriters in local churches. He says this about his song, Holy Ground.
People often casually talk about the church building as the ‘house of God’ as if it is the new temple. But in the New Testament it is within God’s people that the Spirit dwells. This song takes the idea of ‘holy ground‘ from Exodus and flips it to say that everywhere we go throughout our daily lives as Christians becomes de facto holy ground. When we leave the church building we don’t leave holy ground behind us, we take it with us. Maybe on Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon the refrain ‘holy ground‘ would buzz through our heads and we’d remember and we would live our lives of worship. The approach of cantor/congregation with unison singing and hands and feet making the rhythm is an attempt to make it feel participatory and retain the sense of being sent by someone.
Congratulations to 2nd place winner, Stephen Newhall. Stephen serves as an associate pastor at Littleton Christian Church in Colorado. He says this about “Psalm of Descent”
Israelites sang together as they made their way up towards the temple, but no songs were sung as they descended. Often our return from worship is also without song. The western church does a beautiful job of calling in, brining low, raising up, but we lack songs to sing as we go.
The idea for this song was birthed after a conversation this past summer at the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship when a member of the seminar asked “is there a biblical genre of Psalms of Descent?” Though that might not be an official biblical category, that one question was enough to inspire the creation of this song.
After we have celebrated our resurrected Christ as a collective, we scatter and we scatter: we disperse, yes, but we also spread the seeds of the gospel. To say it another way, it perhaps a needless and cheeky addition, in order to scatter we must first scatter.
Congratulations to 3rd place winners, Karin Simmons and Devin Pogue. Karin is a singer songwriter living in Nashville. Devin serves as Pastor of Worship Arts at City Church in Minneapolis. They say this about “Send Us Out”
Send Us Out was written at a Work and Worship artistic retreat. The lyrics are pulled and adapted from the Kenyan Rite liturgy’s closing prayer. We wanted to have an upbeat song that sends the congregation back into the world to love and serve all those around them. The song doesn’t resolve at the end because the work isn’t over…
Corporate worship must actively push and propel worshipers back into their work in the world. It must bless and send the priesthood out to extend their worship into their vocational parishes. Gathered worship in the sanctuary must become scattered worship in the streets.
– Cory Willson and Matthew Kaemingk “Work and Worship”